Introduction:
Attention: Thomas Edison was a great inventor, but did you know he did not have a formal education? According to an article written by US National Parks Service entitled Edison Biography on March 14th, states that Edison was home schooled and his mother taught him how to read (National Parks Service). Even without higher education he became one of the most successful people in his time, but Edison crossed some lines to get to where he is. We all have learned about Edison back in school, but that was only half the story. Edison purposefully tricked people into thinking that all the inventions that came out of his company were …show more content…
Nix states that Tesla favored AC and Edison favored DC, in order to discredit Tesla, Edison showed that AC was dangerous by using it to make the first electric chair (Nix).
Transition: Edison was not the inventor that we remember.
II. Thomas Edison was willing to cross lines to get what he wanted.
A. The light bulb was already an invention way before Edison.
a. According to the article mentioned earlier written by Griswold, states that Edison only perfected the light bulb, Electric lighting was already viable, but Edison and his lab are the ones that made it cheap to use (Griswold).
b. Today there might have been a huge lawsuit for patent infringement but Edison was not charged with anything, in fact he is still remembered today as the inventor the light bulb.
B. Thomas Edison publicly electrocuted animals to discredit Tesla.
a. In a History article mentioned earlier, Nix states that Edison went too far by publically electrocuting an elephant using Tesla’s AC power system (Nix).
b. Again there might have been another lawsuit against Edison for doing this.
C. Edison was willing to do anything to be on top.
a. Even if that meant throwing away his morals to do …show more content…
Thomas Edison was a great inventor, but he is idolized more than he should be.
A. Edison was living a double life; a different side was shown to the public.
a. To the public and history, he was revered and was seen as a genius inventor.
b. To his colleagues and staff he was seen as a bully who will do anything to get what he wants.
c. He was a great businessman, who only showed the public what they needed to see even though it wasn’t the complete truth.
B. We need to that Edison was a normal person; he failed at some things too.
a. In a Reader’s Digest Article written by Brandon Specktor on February 5th, entitled Things You Didn 't Know Thomas Edison Invented, states that he had a failed ore-mining venture as well as a failed concrete house (Specktor).
b. According to Specktor his concrete house was “a monument to one of the most colossal flops in the history of scientific innovation” (Specktor).
c. He had many failed inventions but only the successful are remembered, which gives people the impression that Edison was greater than he actually was.
Transition: Edison lived in history as America’s great inventor but no one wanted to believe that he had a darker side.