Thomas Addison Describes "Addison's Disease" 1855 CE. In one such instance, Edison devised for Western Union the quadruplex telegraph, capable of transmitting two signals in two different directions on the same wire, but railroad tycoon Jay Gould snatched the invention from Western Union, paying Edison more than $100,000 in cash, bonds and stock, and generating years of litigation. Addison's 1855 monograph focused on diseases of the suprarenal capsules and contained the classic description of the endocrine disturbance known as "Addison's disease" (also known as chronic adrenal insufficiency, hypocortisolism, and hypocorticism). For the next five years, Edison traveled throughout the Midwest as an itinerant telegrapher, subbing for those who had gone to the Civil War. https://www.biography.com/inventor/thomas-edison. He used his enormous fortune from 355 patents to institute the Nobel Prizes. In 1876, Edison moved his expanding operations to Menlo Park, New Jersey, and built an independent industrial research facility incorporating machine shops and laboratories. Otis Boykin’s noteworthy inventions include a wire precision resistor and a control unit for the pacemaker. From 1870 to 1875, Edison worked out of Newark, New Jersey, where he developed telegraph-related products for both Western Union Telegraph Company (then the industry leader) and its rivals. Though the gasoline-powered engine eventually prevailed, Edison designed a battery for the self-starter on the Model T for friend and admirer Henry Ford in 1912. With this success, he quit his work as a telegrapher to devote himself full-time to inventing. Did you know? © 2020 A&E Television Networks, LLC. ), Exploring the Histories of Information and Media, 4798 entries in 97 categories. In 1868, Edison returned home to find his beloved mother was falling into mental illness and his father was out of work. Exploiting his access to the news bulletins teletyped to the station office each day, Edison began publishing his own small newspaper, called the Grand Trunk Herald. He made a breakthrough in October 1879 with a bulb that used a platinum filament, and in the summer of 1880 hit on carbonized bamboo as a viable alternative for the filament, which proved to be the key to a long-lasting and affordable light bulb. Upon the suggestion of a friend, he ventured to Boston, landing a job for the Western Union Company. In early 1869, he quit telegraphy to pursue invention full time. He held over 1,000 patents for his inventions. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! His rise from poor, uneducated railroad worker to one of the most famous men in the world made him a folk hero.