| 1847 | Thomas Alva Edison is born on February 11, in Milan, Ohio. |
| 1859 | Edison sells newspapers and candy on Port Huron to Detroit trains. |
| 1862 | Edison publishes the first newspaper printed aboard a moving train. |
| 1868 | Edison gains his first patent, for his electrical vote recorder. |
| 1869 | Edison invents the stock ticker. |
| 1871 | Edison marries Mary Stilwell. |
| 1874 | He invents the quadruplex telegraph. |
| 1875 | He discovers the "etheric force," which leads to Marconi's radio. |
| 1876 | Edison establishes the first laboratory devoted to industrial
research at Menlo Park, New Jersey. |
| 1877 | He invents the phonograph and the carbon-button
telephone transmitter. |
| 1879 | The first practical incandescent electric light bulb is given a
public demonstration with the illumination of Menlo Park. |
| 1880 | He perfects a system of electrical distribution. |
| 1881 | Edison moves bulk of operations to New York City and
begins installation of an electrical distribution system. |
| 1882 | Edison opens the first power and lighting station in London. |
| 1883 | The discovery of the "Edison Effect" leads to the science
of electronics. |
| 1886 | Edison marries Mina Miller after Stilwell dies. |
| 1887 | Edison moves his laboratory to West Orange, New Jersey. |
| 1888 | Edison begins ore-milling experiments. |
| 1889 | He begins development of motion picture devices
the kinetograph and kinetoscope. |
| 1891 | Edison perfects his motion picture camera. |
| 1893 | Shooting begins at The Black Maria, the first film studio. |
| 1896 | Edison invents the practical fluoroscope, which enables surgeons
to perform the first x-ray operation in the United States
and introduces a new spring-motor phonograph. |
| 1901 | He constructs his cement plant in New Jersey. |
| 1903 | He perfects long kilns (ovens) that produce superior cement.
THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY, the first feature film is released. |
| 1905 | Edison reintroduces a dictating machine. |
| 1908 | The Motion Picture Patents Company is formed. |
| 1909 | Edison perfects a practical nickel-iron storage battery. |
| 1912 | He tries to develop auto ignition system for Henry Ford. |
| 1915 | He becomes the head of the Naval Consulting Board, working for
3 years on inventions to help the U.S. Navy during World War I. |
| 1918 | Edison ends his involvement in motion pictures. |
| 1927-29 | He experiments with rubber at his Fort Meyers
laboratory, undertaking a search for a domestic source of rubber. |
| 1931 | Edison dies on October 18, at his home in West Orange,
New Jersey. |