It is often said that Thomas Edison was the greatest genius of his time, and only a few people in history changed people's lives as greatly as the inventor of the first electric light. But when Einstein and other scientists called him the God of Invention and a prolific genius, and listed him as a great man in the world, he felt uneasy and even became interested in Genius II.
It is often said that Thomas Edison was the greatest genius of his time, and only a few people in history changed people's lives as greatly as the inventor of the first electric light. But when Einstein and other scientists called him "God of Invention" and "Productive Genius" and listed him as a great man in the world, he felt uneasy and even hated the word genius. He said: "Take out the mystery of nature and apply it to the pursuit of happiness by human beings-I don't know what better service is available when we are in the shortest time in this world."
He also explained: "Genius is 2% inspiration and 98% sweat." He retorted to those who praised him as a genius: "this is a complete lie, and hard work is the real thing." My invention is based on practice and is by no means a genius. "
When talking about his invention, Edison said: "If a person has no achievements in the past and is not enough to praise himself, please ask him to bury himself in his work and not talk too much." I believe in seeking truth from facts and not talking empty words. He also said: "My philosophy of life is work." I want to reveal the mysteries of nature and benefit mankind. This is the best way to spend our short life. When asked about the secret of Edison's success, he said, "Go ahead and never stop until you succeed." You must have perseverance. "These words not only express the purpose of his invention, but also reflect how hard he has worked to achieve this goal. In order to find a filament that can emit light without burning immediately, Edison went to the library to read hundreds of technical materials and made more than 200 abstracts. At the same time, he conducted extensive experiments on various materials that may be used as filaments.
Edison buried himself in his work when he was young. Someone once made such a calculation: "In fifty years, Edison often worked 18 hours a day and six or even seven days a week in his laboratory or factory. According to the calculation that most people work 8 hours a day, the time he contributes to the construction work will cost ordinary people 125 of the labor. " A man who followed him for many years described the first time he met Edison: he was no different from an ordinary young man, covered in grease, like a craftsman, with rough head and clothes, like a tramp, but he was deep-minded and broad-minded. When he saw him, he made people respect him. "Because he was fascinated by scientific inventions, he made a lot of jokes.
"One morning, when the servant arrived early, he was already asleep, and the servant didn't dare to disturb him. But by this time, his assistant had finished his breakfast and used a moment's leisure to fool him once-he put empty plates such as eggs and ham in front of Edison, and when he woke up, he saw these empty plates, dry coffee cups and bread crumbs all over the table. He wiped his eyes suspiciously, thought for a moment, and he really had breakfast, so he smoked a cigarette as usual and began to work! He didn't know it was playing until his assistants laughed! "
Christmas in 65438 was the day when Edison and Miss Mary got married. He forgot this day when he started the experiment and worked until late at night, leaving the bride waiting for him in the bridal chamber.
For another example, when he was studying telegraph technology, he forgot to pay taxes, and the tax bureau urged him to pay more 12% if he didn't pay. So Edison fled in a hurry. There, the line was long and he had to wait. However, when he squeezed into the window, he forgot his name.
Edison was always absorbed in his research and experiments, regardless of time. It is said that he has never worn a watch in his life, so Edison's life is not limited by time.
Edison was a persistent doer, not just an empty talk. 19 14, Edison's laboratory caught fire and was destroyed, resulting in a loss of $4 million. This major blow did not stop him. He said: "I am 67 years old, but I am not too old. I want to start over. "
1924 In May, the United States voted for the greatest man in this country. Edison won the most votes and was elected with honor. The United States of America awarded him the special congressional medal of honor, which is the highest reward of the country. At this time, Edison was 77 years old and still worked in two shifts a day. He never thought of retiring. His motto is: "I seek what human beings need, and then I will take a step forward and try to invent it."
Anyone who has come into contact with Edison is deeply touched by his lack of empty talk. A chief engineer in our country, 1925, was admitted to MIT. He has some connection with Edison. Later, he wrote in a reminiscence article: "In my several contacts with Edison, I felt that he was not empty talk and attached importance to reality. Once Edison came to the factory again, saw our college students and said he would test us. He picked up a light bulb and said to us, "Please calculate its volume?" We are busy picking up paper and pens, some are integral calculations, some are differential calculations ... we have been calculating for a long time, but it is still unclear. Edison smiled and said, you look like scholars, but it's too much trouble. In fact, it is very simple to find its volume. As long as the cup is filled with water, how much water will overflow when the light bulb is put in? This is its volume, which makes us suddenly realize. This talk impressed me so much that I will always remember that we should pay attention to practical results in science and not talk about theory. "
Edison has original reasoning ability, and more importantly, he has an experimental attitude. Before he wants to do a kind of research, the first step is to prepare sufficient preparatory knowledge and investigate how accomplished the predecessors are in this matter. He doesn't believe in the achievements of predecessors, and he must carry out various experiments in his own special way. Therefore, new results are often found.
"Edison took the same road as others, and as a result, he often went to wasteland that others had never been to." One of his assistants for many years once said: The assistant tried many times to make a certain compound, and finally failed, but Edison got a very satisfactory result by the same method.
Edison was always quite confident in his behavior. No matter how he criticized, others ignored his research. When he studied the construction of buildings with iron reinforced soil, many people thought that pebbles added to iron reinforced soil would sink to the soft cement bottom and would never succeed. But he succeeded according to his own plan. He often puts the established facts in his mind first, and then uses his rich originality.
He must write his research results in a notebook, give the notes to his assistant, and let the assistant record the experimental results one by one, and report to him once or several times a day. He spends all day patrolling the rooms of the laboratory, guiding and supervising, and has a strong memory. He can remember all the experiments made by all his assistants one by one. Just like doing experiments by yourself, the notebooks used for experiments are about 200 pages thick, and there have been thousands since Menlo Park's time. In these notebooks, his decades of ideas, designs, drawings and other achievements, as well as countless experiments conducted by subordinates, are preserved.
Edison attached great importance to practicality in his research work, and never bound himself to abstract mathematical deduction and complicated calculation. Ai Asimov, a famous American popular science writer, wrote: "Abstract knowledge rarely attracts Edison's attention. He is a very practical person. His interest is to connect some abstract discoveries of others and make practical and useful devices. " Once, he asked his assistant to design the winding method of the coil in the generator. The assistant pulled it for several days, but nothing came of it. Edison said to him, "Why don't you let the workers make some models?" You can try a rope around the model. In this way, you can decide how to wind it most reasonably, instead of drawing imaginary lines on paper. "The assistant objected," but what you said in the book has no basis! "Edison said," If it is really useful, why bother! " The assistant tried it as he said and immediately found that this method was simple and practical.
The yellow turban insurrectionary uprising at the end of Han Dynasty caused great chaos in the world. Cao Cao sat in the imperial court, while Sun Quan supported Dongwu. Liu Bei, the imperial clan of the Han Dynasty, heard from Xu Shu (a famous digger in the Three Kingdoms period) and (a famous counselor in the Three Kingdoms period) that Zhuge Liang was well-read, so he came to Wolonggang in Longzhong (now Xiangyang County, Hubei Province) with gifts and invited Zhuge Liang to come out of the mountain to help him do things for the country. It happened that Zhuge Liang was out that day, so Liu Bei had to turn back in disappointment. Soon, Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei braved the snowstorm and invited them for the second time. Unexpectedly, Zhuge Liang went out for a walk again. Zhang Fei doesn't want to come again. Seeing that Zhuge Liang was not at home, he urged him to go back. Liu Bei had to leave a letter expressing his admiration for Zhuge Liang and asking him to come out of the mountain to help him save the country's crisis.
After a while, Liu Bei was a vegetarian for three days and was ready to invite Zhuge Liang again. Guan Yu said that Zhuge Liang may have a hollow reputation, but he may not have real talent and learning, so he doesn't have to go. Zhang Fei, on the other hand, advocated calling alone and tying the ground with a rope when he didn't come. Liu Bei scolded Zhang Fei and went to visit Zhuge Liang with them for the third time. At this time, Zhuge Liang was sleeping. Liu Bei dare not disturb him. He stood until Zhuge Liang woke up and sat down to talk to each other.
Zhuge Liang saw that Liu Bei was interested in doing things for the country and sincerely asked him for help, so he came out to help Liu Bei establish the Han Shu Dynasty.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms called Liu Bei's three personal invitations to Zhuge Liang "three visits to the cottage". In Zhuge Liang's famous "Model", there is also a saying that "the first emperor had no interest in ministers, gave up on himself and took care of them in the grass." Sentence. So when the world saw someone go to that person's home several times in a row and ask the person he admired to help him, he quoted this sentence to describe his desire and sincere mood. That is to say, I am not ashamed to ask questions, and I am open-minded to seek talents.