“Many of life's failures are due to people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up” - Thomas Edison. He was one of the best inventors of his time. Thomas Edison was born February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio. He was 12 when he stopped going to school and began to suffer from deafness. It continued to get worse throughout his life. He was twice married and father of six children. His first wife was Mary Stillwell and she later had three children. In 1884 his wife Mary died of typhoid fever. In late 1886, he married another woman named Mina Miller and they eventually had three children. The residents of Menlo Park, New Jersey, were so fascinated by Thomas and his work that they began calling him the "Wizard of Menlo Park." When he died, a memorial tower was built as a tribute to the fact that he was such a great inventor and had changed the world in such small steps, but making a big change. Its laboratories were consolidated under Greenfield Village. They preserved his artifacts, his buildings, his inventions and more to make his legend and his story of what he did to make the world as it is today seem real. If Thomas were alive in the 1930s, he would have had an even greater impact on the world than he did in the late 1800s. The economy, social lives, and professional lives of others would have been enormously impacted. Thomas invented the universal ticker in 1868. The universal ticker was one of many of his inventions that influenced economics. If he had been alive in the 1930s, this invention would not have been invented until the late 1950s. The business world would not be greatly influenced or even created to this extent without Thomas and his inventions. Other inventions...... middle of paper......, Amy. “Legacy of Light: Thomas Edison turned countless failures into a life of success.” Success (2009): 92+. General Gold Reference Center. Internet. March 18, 2010 “Edison, Thomas Alva (1847-1931). » Encyclopedia of World Biography. Thomas Gale, 1998. General Gold Reference Center. Internet. March 15, 2010. “Edison, Thomas Alva.” The Columbia Encyclopedia 6th ed. Columbia University Press, 2000.1260. General Gold Reference Center. Internet. March 15, 2010. Miller, Jerry. “Edison’s baby.” Paved July-August. 2009: 18+. General Gold Reference Center. Internet. March 16, 2010. Steinert-Threikeld, Tom. “Size always matters.” Securities Industry News 21.19 (2009). General Gold Reference Center. Internet. March 17, 2010.Tiffan, Bill. “Strategies for Harnessing Your Potential – Part 2.” Executive physician 35.9 (2009): 80+. General Gold Reference Center. Internet. March 16. 2010.