4. Thomas Alva Edison

Inventor and Entrepreneur

A supreme intellectual and inventor of many appliances that are still being used in our daily lives like Gramophones and Light bulbs, Edison dropped out of school at a very early age. He was often considered to be mediocre at academics and was also referred to as mentally incompetent by his school teachers. In spite of developing acute deafness at an early age and having suffered from several infections and diseases like the scarlet fever, Edison never lagged the enthusiasm for learning and did his small childish experiment all the time in his lonesome world.

 Soon past his adolescence Edison started major works and inventions and is also referred to as the Wizard of Menlo Park due to his demonstration of the Telegraph. Edison was active in business right up to the end. Just months before his death in 1931, the Lackawanna Railroad implemented electric trains in suburban service from Hoboken to Gladstone, Montclair and Dover in New Jersey. Transmission was by means of an overhead catenaries system, with the entire project under Edison's guidance.