Theodore Miller Edison

Theodore Miller Edison (July 10, 1898 – November 24, 1992) was the sixth child and fourth son of inventor Thomas Edison, and founder of Calibron Industries, Inc.

Biography

He was born on July 10, 1898 at Glenmont, the Edison home in Llewellyn Park in West Orange, New Jersey. He attended The Haverford School in Haverford, Pennsylvania, and later the Montclair Academy in Montclair, New Jersey. He graduated in 1916. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Edison Sees Son Graduated. |url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9F04E7DE173BE633A25753C1A9609C946796D6CF&oref=slogin |quote= |publisher=New York Times |date=June 10, 1916, Saturday |accessdate=2008-06-19 ] [ [http://www.nps.gov/archive/edis/home_family/fam_album.htm#theo Edison Family Album: Theodore Miller Edison] , National Park Service. Accessed November 21, 2007.] Theodore ended his education at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which he earned a physics degree in 1923. He was the only member of the Edison family to graduate from college.

In 1925 he married Anna Maria Osterhout. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Engaged |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,880723,00.html |quote=Theodore M. Edison, of West Orange, N. J., son of Thomas A. Edison, famed inventor, to Miss Anna Maria Osterhout, of Cambridge, Mass. Her father, a Professor in the Botany Department of Harvard, precipitated wide discussions in 1918 by averring that food could be obtained from sunlight, air, water. |work=Time (magazine) |date=1924 |accessdate=2008-08-04 ]

After graduation, Theodore worked for his father's company, Thomas A. Edison, Inc., starting as a lab assistant. He later founded his own company, Calibron Industries, Inc., and built his own smaller laboratory in West Orange. He earned over 80 patents in his career. In 1925 he married Anna Maria Osterhout, who was also a student at MIT. In later years he became an ardent environmentalist, opponent of the Vietnam War and advocate of Zero Population Growth. He lived in West Orange, New Jersey with his wife Anna until his death on November 24, 1992.cite news |first=Eric |last=Pace |authorlink= |coauthors= |title= Theodore M. Edison; An Illustrious Father Guided Inventor, 94 |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEEDA173DF935A15752C1A964958260 |quote= Theodore M. Edison, an inventor, environmentalist and philanthropist who was the last surviving child of the inventor Thomas Alva Edison, died on Tuesday at his home in West Orange. He was 94 years old. He died of Parkinson's disease, said a cousin, Kim Arnn. After Thomas Alva Edison died in 1931, Theodore Edison took charge of his father's experimental laboratories in West Orange. His father's more than 1,000 inventions included the microphone, the phonograph and the incandescent electric lamp. |publisher=New York Times |date=November 26, 1992 |accessdate=2007-07-21 ]

References

External links

* [http://www.nps.gov/archive/edis/home_family/fam_album.htm#theo Theodore Edison biography] (National Park Service)