Today, I am thankful for those who do not shy away from giving it the ‘old college try.‘
One of my favorite authors is Walter Isaacson, a historian who focuses his biographies on the great innovators you’ve walked the Earth. In his books, Isaacson spotlights the true creativity that comes from the intersection of science and art. To this end, he has chosen his subjects wisely – individuals like Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, and Steve Jobs. What makes these inventors so interesting is that each had a simple, playful passion which they magnified into some of the greatest innovations for humanity.
On this day (Feb 11), we celebrate the birth of another luminary who married up his love of art and science to become the most famous inventor in the history of the United States. During the second half of the 19th Century, in the face of the Industrial Revolution, the US transformed itself from an agrarian society into an industry-focused powerhouse. Large factories found a home in the sprawling space throughout the heartland with the growth of the textile, steel, and clothing industries. Inventions like the steam locomotive and steam boat helped facilitate the exportation of finished commodities throughout the nation.
At around that same time, a poor Ohio boy, named Thomas Alva Edison serendipitously moved to these growing industries in central New Jersey and started to get busy. He invented the light bulb, the incandescent lamp, the phonograph, motion pictures, fluoroscopy, and the carbon telephone transmitter. In fact, it took less than 4 years between the time Edison invented the light bulb (in 1879) and the time the first incandescent lighting system, using electric utility via an overheard wiring system, was installed in Roselle, NJ (1883). The Wizard of Menlo Park would be the father of the first industrial ‘research laboratories’, from which he would file and receive 1,093 patents during his lifetime.
Why was Edison so successful?
He wasn’t afraid to fail. In fact, when his experiments crashed, he refused to call it failure – rather, as he put it, the experiment was just one more way something did not work. He would go on to say that “many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
So, today, I’m thankful for the courage Edison gave me (and the world) to keep trying until we get it right. As you awake on this cold, dark February day, remember one simple thing: Don’t ever give up.
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