[Thomas Edison, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing left]

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who is best known for his work in the field of electricity. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park", he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and large-scale teamwork to the process of invention, and because of that, he is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory. He is credited with the development of many important devices and technologies, including the light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera. Edison was a highly successful and influential inventor, with more than 1,000 patents to his name. He was also a pioneering entrepreneur, founding companies such as General Electric and the Edison Electric Light Company. "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."

In the first grade, students summarize the need for money, how money is earned, and how money and credit are used in order to meet needs and wants including the costs and benefits of spending and saving. Students define and explain the roles of consumers and producers in the American economy. Students summarize how historic inventors and entrepreneurs contributed to the prosperity of the nation including Samuel F. B. Morse, John Deere, Alexander Graham Bell, Orville and Wilbur Wright, and Thomas Edison.