Thomas Alva Edison (February 11,1847 – October 18,1931) was an inventor and businessman who developed many important devices."The Wizard of Menlo Park" was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production to the process of invention.In 1880 Edison founded the journal Science,which in 1900 became the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors,holding a record 1,093 patents in his name.Most of these inventions were not completely original but improvements of earlier patents,and were actually made by his numerous employees.Edison was frequently criticized for not sharing the credits.Nevertheless,Edison received patents worldwide,including the United States,United Kingdom,France,and Germany.Edison started the Motion Picture Patents Company,which was a conglomerate of nine major film studios (commonly known as the Edison Trust).