Who the Heck Am I ?

I was born in Milan, Ohio on February 11, 1847, the youngest of seven siblings and grew up in Port Huron, Michigan. I educated myself and my first job was as a telegraph operator. During my life, I was known as an inventor and businessman.

My first invention was the electric vote recorder, (U. S. Patent 90,646). Some of my other inventions included the phonograph, carbon telephone microphone, stock ticker and quadriplex telegraph.

I also invented the Kinetoscope (first motion picture camera) and sadly, helped develop the electric chair. Of course my most famous invention was the incandescent light bulb.

In 1874, I opened the world's first commercial laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey where Nikola Tesla and Frank Sprague were two of my assistants. I hold 1,093 U.S. patents. In 1890 I formed the General Electric Company in New York City.

I was good friends with the car genius Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone.

My nickname was "The Wizard of Menlo Park" and I died on October 18, 1931 at my home in West Orange, New Jersey of Parkinson's Disease. My last breath is contained in a test tube at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

Who am I?

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