Thomas Alva Edison

Thomas Alva Edison is one of the greatest American inventors who held countless patents,
majority of them related to electricity and power. While two of his most famous inventions are
the incandescent lamp and the phonograph, arguably the most significant invention of Edison is
considered to be organized research.
Early Life:

Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in the historic city of Milan (Ohio). His father was a
versatile person and a man-of-all-work, while his mother was a teacher. Edison was mostly
homeschooled by his mother. Edison became a salesman of fruit, paper and other goods on the
Grand Trunk Railroad at a tender age of 12. With the help of his tiny handpress in a trash car, he
wrote and published the Grand Trunk Herald in 1862, which was sent to 400 railroad employees.
The same year Edison worked as a telegraph operator, trained by the father of a kid whose life he
had saved. Edison was a tramp telegrapher, as he was exempted from military service due to his
deafness. He was recruited in 1868 by Western Union Telegraph Company in Boston.
Early Conceptions:

Perhaps the first invention of Edison was a telegraph repeater in 1864 which worked
automatically, while his earliest patent was registered for an electric vote recorder. He acquired
partnership in a New York electrical company in 1869, where he honed the stock ticker and sold

it. With all his money, Edison paid for his own factory in Newark, N.J., where he hired
technicians to help him with the inventions. His dream was to create an invention factory.
Almost 80 earnest men, including physicists, mathematicians and chemists, were among his
collaborators. Invention to order made him good money at this place.
From 1870 to 1875 Edison devised many telegraphic advances including receivers, transmitters,
the duplex, tape and automatic printers. He also collaborated in 1871 with Christopher Sholes,
also known as father of the typewriter, to ameliorate the typing machine. Edison claimed to
have made twelve typewriters at Newark in 1870. As a result, the Remington Company
purchased his interests.
Edisons carbon telegraph transmitter for Western Union brought a breakthrough for the creation
of the Bell telephone. The money he got from Western Union for the transmitter was spent to
establish a factory in Menlo Park, N.J. One more time, he used scientific talent to register over
300 patents in only 6 years. His electric pen (1877) developed stencils to produce copies.
Other Inventions and Contributions:

Probably his most impressive invention, the phonograph, was patented in 1877. By 1890 Edison
had about 80 patents under his name, and that was pretty much the reason The Victor Company
came into being.
To explore incandescence, Edison and his fellows, among them J. P. Morgan, developed the
Edison Electric Light Company in 1878. Years later, the company became the General Electric
Company. Edison invented the first practical incandescent lamp in 1879. With months of hard
work researching metal filaments, Edison and his staff analyzed 6,000 organic fibers around the
world and determined that the Japanese bamboo was ideal for mass production. Large scale
production of these cheap lamps turned out to be profitable, hence the first fluorescent lamp was
patented in 1896.
Edison made an amazing discovery in pure science, termed as the Edison Effect. He discovered
in 1883 that electrons flowed from incandescent filaments. The lamp could function as a valve
using a metal-plate insert, while taking only negative electricity. A method to transmit
telegraphic aerial signals over short distances was patented by Edison in 1885. The wireless
patent was later sold to Guglielmo Marconi.
The huge West Orange, N.J., factory was supervised from 1887 to 1931 by Edison. This was
probably the worlds most cutting-edge research laboratory, and a forerunner to modern research
and development laboratories, with experts systematically investigating and researching for the
solution of problems.

The Edison battery, made perfect in 1910, used an alkaline electrolyte, and proved to be a superb
storage device. The copper oxide battery, strikingly similar to modern dry cells, was modified in
1902.
The kinetograph, his motion picture camera, was able to photograph action on 50-foot strips of
film, and produced about sixteen images per foot. A young assistant of Edison built a small
laboratory in 1893 called the Black Maria, which was substantial in making the first Edison
movies. The kinetoscope projector of 1893 finally displayed the films. The earliest commercial
movie theater, a peepshow, was established in New York in 1884. After developing and
modifying the projector of Thomas Armat in 1895, Edison commercialized it as the Vitascope.
The Edison Company created over 1,700 movies. Edison set the benchmark for talking pictures
in 1904 by synchronizing movies with the phonograph. His cinemaphone adjusted the film speed
to phonograph speed. The kinetophone projected talking pictures in 1913. The phonograph,
behind the screen, was synchronized by pulleys and ropes with the projector. Edison brought
forth many talkies.
The universal motor, which utilized alternating or direct current, appeared in 1907. The electric
safety lantern, patented in 1914, significantly reduced casualties among miners. The same year
Edison devised the telescribe, which unified characteristics of the telephone and dictating
phonograph.
Services for the Government:

Edison presided the U.S. Navy Consulting Board throughout World War I and made 45 more
inventions. These inventions included substitutes for antecedently imported chemicals (such as
carbolic acid), a ship-telephone system, an underwater searchlight, defensive instruments against
U-boats, among others. Later on, Edison launched the Naval Research Laboratory, the eminent
American institution for research involving organized weapons.
Death:

This multi-genius died on Oct. 18, 1931 in West Orange, N.J. The laboratory buildings and
equipment affiliated with Edison were upheld in Greenfield Village, Detroit, Michigan by Henry
Ford, a friend and admirer.

Taylor Swift Biography

Synopsis
Born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania, Taylor Swift's family moved to
nearby Wyomissing where she started crafting songs at age 5, and at age 16, released her debut
album. Hits like "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me" appealed to country and pop fans alike
and helped fuel the multiplatinum success of her albums, with Fearless the 2009 top-seller. She
has won many awards, including several Grammy Awards, and modeled for Cover Girl.

Early Life and Career

Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania. Swift spent her
early years on her family's Christmas tree farm in nearby Wyomissing. Her grandmother had
been a professional opera singer, and Swift soon followed in her footsteps. By the age of 10,
Swift was singing at a variety of local events, including fairs and contests. She sang "The StarSpangled Banner" at a Philadelphia 76ers game at the age of 11, and began writing her own
songs and learning guitar at 12 years old.

To pursue her music career, Swift often visited Nashville, Tennessee, the country music capital.
There she co-wrote songs, and tried to land a recording contract. Noting her dedication, Swift
and her family moved to nearby Hendersonville, Tennessee, in an attempt to further Swift's
career.

Country Crooner
A stellar performance at The Bluebird Caf in Nashville helped Swift get a contract with Scott
Borchetta's Big Machine Records. She released her first single, "Tim McGraw," in 2006, and the
song became a Top 10 hit on the country charts. It also appeared on her self-titled debut album in
October of that same year, selling more than 2.5 million copies. More popular singles soon
followed, including "Our Song," a No. 1 country music hit. "Teardrops on My Guitar," "Picture
to Burn" and "Should've Said No" were also successful tracks.
In addition to commercial success, Swift received a lot of critical praise for her debut effort. She
won the Horizon Award from the Country Music Association (CMA) and the Academy of
Country Music Award for Top New Female Vocalist in 2007. Swift next released Sounds of the
Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection in 2007. Her renditions of "Silent Night" and "Santa
Baby" were modest hits on the country charts.
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Pop Stardom
In 2008, Swift was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best New Artist category, and won the
Academy of Country Music's "Female Vocalist of the Year" Award, the American Music Awards
"Favorite Female Country Artist" award, and the American Music Association's "Horizon"
award. Around this same time, Swift released her next album, Fearless (2008), which hit the top
of both the country and pop charts and stayed there for 11 weeks. By the end of the year, Swift
had become the highest-selling country artist of 2008.

2009 Video Music Awards

In 2009, Swift netted several awards for her work on Fearless, including "Video of the Year" and
"Female Video of the Year" for "Love Story" at the CMT Music Awards. On September 13, 2009,
Swift also won the MTV Video Music Award for "Best Female Video," making her the first
country music star to win an MTV Video Music Award. The win stirred controversy when rapper
Kanye West leaped to the stage during Swift's speech, took the microphone, and declared that
R&B singer Beyonc should have won Swift's award.
The stunned Swift was unable to make her acceptance speech, and West was removed from the
show. When Beyonc accepted her award for "Best Video of the Year" later in the show, she
called Swift to the stage to finish her speech. West later apologized to Swift privately, and made
a public apology on The Jay Leno Show.

Commercial Success
The attention from the award show made Swift an even hotter commodity. Her concert tickets
began selling out in less than two minutes, and she also made her second appearance on comedy
show Saturday Night Live, this time as both the host and musical guest. Additionally, she became
the youngest artist to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2010 for Fearless.
In 2010, she released the album Speak Now, which featured the hit songs "Mean," "Ours" and
"Sparks Fly." The album was a success, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling
more than one million copies in its first week. She followed that album with Red (2012),
featuring the hit single "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and also selling more than
one million copies in its first week. With her fifth album 1989, Swift became the first woman in
history to release three albums that sold more than one million copies in their opening week.
She was ranked No. 1 as Forbes magazine's highest paid celebrity under 30 in 2012, beating out
Justin Bieber, Rihanna and Lady Gaga with a salary of $57 million. She has also been tapped for
four CMA nominations in 2009"Female Vocalist," "Music Video of the Year," "Best Album"
and "Entertainer of the Year"as well as six American Music Award nominations.
The following year, Swift shared some of her fortune to help others. She funded the $4 million
Taylor Swift Education Center at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. The facility has
three classrooms, a learning lab and a space dedicated to exhibits for children. In an interview
with CMT Hot 20 Countdown, she explained that "music education is really such an important
part of my life. My life changed so completely when I discovered writing my own songs and
playing guitar, and that can't necessarily all be taught to you in school because there aren't
enough hours in the day."
Also in 2013, Swift was honored with the CMA Pinnacle Award for her achievements as a
country music performer and for her "positive impact" on country music, according to CMA
website. She picked up this award, along with two other wins for her collaboration with Tim
McGraw and Keith Urban, at the CMA Awards ceremony held that November. Swift's winning
streak continued at the American Music Awards. For the third year in a row, she picked up the
AMA Award for artist of the year. Swift also took home the top honors for country album of the
year and favorite female artist in both the country and pop/rock categories.
With her next effort, Swift seemed to step further away from her country music roots. She
released 1989, her most pop-sounding record to date, in October 2014. "Shake It Off" proved to
be one of the catchiest tracks of the year, reaching the top of the pop charts. Swift continued to
play with her public persona with the track "Bad Blood," which features Kendrick Lamar. In the
video for the song, which debuted at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards, she appears as a tough,
cutthroat character called "Catastrophe" in this noir action short. Swift recruited a number of top
names to appear in the video, including Karlie Kloss, Cindy Crawford and Lena Dunham.

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Romantic Relationships
During much of 2008, reports circulated that Swift was dating Joe Jonas from the popular
musical group The Jonas Brothers. Neither Swift nor Jonas has ever acknowledged the
relationship. "He's an amazing guy, and anyone would be lucky to be dating him," Swift said at
the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. Whatever their relationship, it seemed to turn sour by the
time Fearless was released. The song, "Forever & Always," is reportedly about Jonas.
Swift was then romantically linked to actor Taylor Lautner, one of the stars of the successful
Twilight saga. The pair reportedly met while filming Swift's big screen debut Valentine's Day,
which hit theaters in February 2010. Unfortunately, the couple didn't make it long enough to see
the premiere as a couple, having broken up in late 2009. Swift then dated singer John Mayer for
a brief period, which ended on bad terms when she wrote the tell-all song entitled "Dear John"
about the womanizer.
From there, Swift was romantically linked to Glee star Cory Monteith and Jake Gyllenhaal in
2010, and Conor Kennedyson of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.in 2012. She found herself dating
another celebrity at the tail-end of 2012, bringing in the new year with One Direction's Harry
Styles. More recently, Swift has been seeing Calvin Harris, a music producer, DJ and singer.