As a young boy, Thomas Alva Edison always wanted to know the answer to the question 'Why?' At the age of ten, he set up his first scientific laboratory in the basement of his home. Soon after, he sold candy on a train so he could buy chemicals for another laboratory he'd set up in the baggage car. He was always wondering and experimenting. Thomas Edison grew up to become a brilliant inventor. He began his amazing career improving the telegraph, and went on to invent the light bulb, motion pictures, and the phonograph. He installed New York City's first electrical system, and he made improvements in almost every means of communication in use today.