TIMELINE OF TOM’S LIFE
1847 — Born in Milan, Ohio, on February 11
1854 — The Edisons move to Port Huron, Michigan
1859 — Works as a newsboy on the railroad
1863 — Works as a telegraph operator in cities around the U.S.
1868 — Moves to Boston, Massachusetts; invents an electric vote recorder and applies for his first patent
1869 — Moves to New York City and develops a Universal Stock Printer
1870 — Moves to Newark, New Jersey, to start a manufacturing and invention factory
1871 — Marries Mary Stilwell on Christmas Day
1874 — Develops quadruplex telegraph
1876 — Moves to his new Menlo Park, New Jersey, laboratory to concentrate on inventing
1877 — Develops carbon transmitter to improve the telephone; invents the phonograph
1879 — Invents working electric lightbulb
1882 — Brings electric light to a square mile of New York City from his Pearl Street power station
1884 — Wife, Mary, dies
1886 — Marries Mina Miller and buys Glenmont in West Orange, N.J.
1887 — Builds his West Orange laboratory
1888 — Develops the kinetograph and kinetoscope for motion pictures
1900 — Begins working on storage battery for electric cars
1927 — Works on a natural rubber project for car tires
1928 — Receives a special medal from the U.S. Congress
1931 — Dies on October 18
TIMELINE OF THE WORLD
First “official” telegram sent from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Maryland — 1844
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe is published — 1851
The Civil War — 1861-65
President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated on April 14 — 1865
A cable to send telegrams (and later telephone calls) is laid on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean between America and Europe — 1866
The transcontinental railroad joins East and West Coasts — 1869
Alexander Graham Bell invents the first working telephone — 1876
The Brooklyn Bridge linking Manhattan and Brooklyn is completed — 1883
The dedication of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor — 1886
Eiffel Tower is completed in Paris, France — 1889
The Wright Brothers make their first successful flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina — 1903
Admiral Peary is first to reach the North Pole on April 6 — 1909
The Titanic sinks on its first voyage between Great Britain and America on April 14 — 1912
World War I — 1914-18
The Nineteenth Amendment gives women the right to vote — 1920
Adolf Hitler becomes the Nazi Party leader in Germany — 1921
The stock market crashes on Wall Street in New York City and brings on the Great Depression — 1929 |