Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931), US inventor, on the cover of Scientific American (27 February 1909 issue, Edison's signature is at bottom). Edison is shown in his laboratory. His favourite invention, the phonograph, is shown at upper left (original) and lower left (the latest version). Edison's original phonograph was built in 1877. Edison was one of the first inventors to build research laboratories to make and develop inventions. He also founded several companies, and filed over 1000 patents. Scientific American is a science periodical that was established in 1845. See H405/165 for the main picture only.