Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman who is credited with developing many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. Nicknamed ‘The Wizard of Menlo Park,’ he held 1,093 U.S. patents in his name and applied the principles of mass production and teamwork to the process of invention, establishing the world’s first industrial research laboratory.