Chapter 1:
Success Stories of Great People and Inspiring Leaders
Thomas Alva Edison
Thomas Alva Edison is one of America's most famous inventors. Edison saw huge change take place in his lifetime. He was responsible for making many of those changes occur. His inventions created and contributed to modern night lights, movies, telephones, records and CDs. Edison was truly a genius.
Edison is most famous for his development of the first electric light bulb. When Edison was born, electricity had not been developed. By the time he died, entire cities were lit by electricity. Much of the credit for electricity goes to Edison.
Some of his inventions were improvements on other inventions, like the telephone. Some of his inventions he deliberately tried to invent, like the light bulb and the movie projector. But some inventions he stumbled upon, like the phonograph. Of all his inventions, Edison was most proud of the phonograph.
Edison invented and improved upon things that transformed our world. Some things he invented by himself. Some things he invented with other people. Just about all his inventions are things we still use in some form today. Throughout his life, Edison tried to invent things that everyone could use.
Edison created the world's first "invention factory". He and his partners invented, built and shipped the product - all in the same complex. This was a new way to do business. Today many businesses have copied Edison's invention factory design.
A business friend once asked Edison about the secret to his success. Edison replied, "Genius is hard work, stick-to-itiveness, and common sense". But his "common sense" was very uncommon. More patents were issued to Edison than have been issued to any other single person in U.S. history: 1,093.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven was born on 16th, December, 1770 in Bonn of Germany. His father was a singer in local palace choir. Beethoven's father was a very common person and he was addicted to gambling. However, his mother was a fairly kind-hearted and gentle female. She married an assistant as her first marriage and married to Beethoven's father when her ex-husband died.
Beethoven didn't have access to go to school for the reason that his family was very poor. Nevertheless, he had a special feeling of music when he was very young. His father wanted to make use of his potential to make a big fortune. As a result, Beethoven had to practice playing clavicorn and violin day and night under his father's pressure.
Beethoven had a performance on a stage for the first time when he was only seven years old and he made a huge success. Some famous musicians considered him as the second Mozart. Beethoven learned how to compose music from Nifo and published his first work named Concerto in A minor when he was 11. He went to Vienna to learn how to compose music from Mozart and Haydn.
It seems that he would have a fairly bright future when Beethoven received the first success in 1800. Nevertheless, he was troubled with a terrible matter for years at that time. He found that he has become a deaf person. There couldn't be anything more terrible than that for a musician. He sank into a blue mood for a long time as a consequence.
Beethoven has an enthusiastic heart all the time. But his enthusiasm was often unfortunate. He often tolerated both hope and enthusiasm, disappointment and resistance. There was no doubt that all of these emotions had become his unique source of creation. He fell in love with Julia in 1801 and composed a music named Moonlight for her specifically. To his disappointed, she couldn't understand his noble soul and refused him. Beethoven was upset and despairing for that. It was the most hopeless moment for him and once a time, he wrote down a paper of posthumous papers.
He came to life in 1803 and composed some bright and warm music such as The Second Symphonies. From then on, several more beautiful and marvelous music were produced. Some of them are fairly famous and I think you must have heard about them such as The Eroica and The Storm.
Beethoven finished his masterpiece named The Ninth Symphonies in 1823. This piece of work expressed his world in his dream.
He suffered from pulmonary edema in Dec.1826, which was resulted from a bad influenza. He passed away on 26th, March, 1827 for the reason of suffering from hepatopathy.
It is said that the day on which Beethoven died was raining heavily and storming seriously. It seems that even the God grieved over his death.
Beethoven's funeral was fairly solemn and grand. It is estimated that over 20 thousand people presented his funeral.