Thomas Edison"American inventor Thomas Alva Edison was a pioneering figure in science whose inventions and innovations forever changed the way people lived around the world ." (Thomas Alva Edison Scientist, p.1 par. 2) This famous quote is about the inventor Thomas Edison. Edison was a great inventor because he kept trying and trying and trying until he finally made his inventions perfect. He worked very hard on some of his most famous inventions, such as the phonograph and the light bulb. Thomas Edison was a significant figure in American history because his invention of the light bulb greatly helped Americans see and work at night and also inspired others to create better technology. "Thomas Alva Edison is considered one of the greatest inventors of all time." (Thomas Alva Edison Scientists, p.1, par. 3) He was born in Milan, Ohio, on February 11, 1847. He was the youngest of seven children. Edison was not a good student. He was easily distracted and slow to learn. He only attended school for three months. Then, his mother taught him at home. His mother was very amazed at how fascinated he was by experiments and moving objects. In the baggage car of the train called the “Grand Trunk Railroad,” he sold his newspaper and conducted experiments. But, due to an accidental fire, he had to close his laboratory. Around the age of 12, Thomas Edison lost almost all of his hearing. No one understood why, but some thought it was “probably a side effect of scarlet fever” (Thomas Alva Edison Scientists, p.2, par.1) or that the driver had slapped his ears when there was a fire in the trunk. In 1862, Thomas Edison "rapped MacKenzie's three-year-old son from train tracks and the path of a lost boxcar." (Adair...... at the center of the article ......the inventions of. He brought light to the world and showed people that even difficult things can be done if you have a lot of patience. Thomas Edison he proved that they can't be done. You don't have to be smart to achieve much. He didn't learn much in school, but he became a very famous and wealthy inventor. “By the time of his death in 1931, Edison had received 1,093 US patents, a total still untouched by any other inventor. More importantly, he created a model for modern industrial research.” (Biography of Thomas Alva Edison, p.4, par.6)In conclusion, Thomas Edison was a significant figure in the American history. because he invented the light bulb and helped Americans to see in the dark. Many people began to create other advanced inventions using his inventions. He influenced Americans to do so things that might have seemed impossible at first.