Thomas Alva Edison

Edison is the King of Inventors, and lifelong rival and nemesis of Nikola Tesla.

Born in the 19th century, he was an American inventor whose vast number of achievements are well known. Rather than being one who comes up with original concepts, his specialty was to reconstruct the work of other pioneers into a more easily proliferable forms. He was extremely dedicated to his work, sleeping only three to four hours per day and otherwise fully exerting himself in work at all times. He held cordial relationships with many other inventors, such as Alexander Graham Bell and Charles Babbage, but his rivalry with Tesla was the one exception.