What was going on when I was born?

INSIGHTS into the creative genius of Thomas Alva Edison, one of the most prolific inventors of all time, are emerging from a 20-year, $6 million study of his vast collection of personal papers. The new portrait of Edison is marked by his powerful ability - never fully recognized until now - to reason through analogy. It was perhaps this trait more than any flashes of brilliance or cries of ''Eureka!'' that accounted for his great inventiveness. It is now thought that this hidden ability is what transformed one successful invention into another, eventually producing the phonograph, the incandescent light bulb, systems of electric power generation and motion pictures. Born on Feb. 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio, Edison devoted himself to the quest for invention while still in his 20's. At his death in 1931 he left behind more than 3.5 million pages of notebooks and letters, much of it documenting his 1,093 patents. No one has ever produced more.

Robert Holmes a Court, an Australian entrepreneur, turned up the heat yesterday on Asarco Inc., the big mining company that he may be interested in acquiring. Asarco responded by suing Mr. Holmes a Court in Federal court in New Jersey. Mr. Holmes a Court's Bell Resources Ltd. said in Perth, Australia, that it had sought clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act to increase its holding in Asarco to 50 percent. This law requires companies considering an acquisition involving $15 million or more to notify the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission. Then there is a waiting period of 30 days, or 15 for a tender offer, before further action can be taken.

Companies Robert Holmes a Court may try to raise his Asarco stake to 50 percent, he told the U.S. Government. The big mining company, wishing to avoid a takeover, responded to the news by suing the Australian businessman, alleging securities violations. Mr. Holmes a Court currently owns 9 percent of Asarco. (Page D1.) American Natural Resources accused John B. Connally, former Treasury Secretary, of buying stock in the company at a time a ''good friend,'' Oscar S. Wyatt Jr. of the Coastal Corporation, was trying to take it over. Mr. Connally said charges that he had traded on the basis of insider information were ''absolutely untrue.'' (D1.)

New York State, in a Federal antitrust suit, charged yesterday that since 1978 a group of contractors had rigged bids for concrete work on all major public and private construction projects in New York City, including the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. ''It is a stranglehold by a limited number of contractors who have the public by the neck,'' said the State Attorney General, Robert Abrams, after the suit was filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan. Eight companies and six executives were identified in the suit as having formed an ''illegal conspiracy'' to fix prices and allocate contracts. The executives, the suit asserted, prevented outside contractors from competing by threats that they would be subjected to harassment by labor unions and would be unable to obtain supplies of concrete.

The shift to a new generation of Soviet leadership has raised cautious hopes in the Reagan Administration that over the long run this will bring new vigor and decisiveness in the Kremlin and could lead to improvements in Soviet-American relations. But President Reagan and his top advisers expect no significant changes in Soviet foreign policy to emerge over the next several months from the new leadership of Mikhail S. Gorbachev, a 54-year-old party official with a reputation for interest in modest internal economic changes. The Soviet decision to pursue arms talks in Geneva, with only a token ceremonial interruption, is seen by Government specialists as a deliberate Kremlin move to project both strength of leadership and continuity of policy despite the death of the third Soviet leader in 28 months. 'The Image of Continuity' ''Preserving the image of continuity at this point is at least as important as the fact of continuity,'' a State Department official said. ''They are embarrassed at the succession of infirm leaders they've had,'' another Government specialist said, ''and they don't want Chernenko's death to look as though it's hampering them.''

The Kremlin today announced the death of Konstantin U. Chernenko and, within hours, named Mikhail S. Gorbachev to succeed him as Soviet leader. The announcement said Mr. Chernenko died Sunday evening after a grave illness at the age of 73. He had been in office 13 months, and had been ill much of the time, leaving a minor imprint on Soviet affairs. The succession was the quickest in Soviet history, suggesting that it had been decided well in advance. Whereas the Central Committee had taken several days to name a successor to Leonid I. Brezhnev and Yuri V. Andropov, Mr. Gorbachev was confirmed in his new job 4 hours and 15 minutes after Mr. Chernenko's death was announced.

Coming to power at the age of 54, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, the peasant's son from southern Russia, is expected to bring a new style of leadership to the Kremlin. If the expectations prove correct, this leadership will be more open, perhaps, less obsessively suspicious, less burdened with memories of Stalin's terror and the war. For the moment, Mr. Gorbachev seemed anxious to give fire to the program of economic change he had inherited from his mentor, Yuri V. Andropov. He revealed his impatience in a major speech last December when he said, ''We will have to carry out profound transformations in the economy and in the entire system of social relations.''

TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 1985 Succession in Moscow Konstantin U. Chernenko's death was announced by the Kremlin leadership, and hours later it named Mikhail S. Gorbachev, 54 years old, as the new Soviet leader. Mr. Chernenko, 73 years old, had been in office only 13 months and had been ill much of that time. Mr. Gorbachev outlined an urgent agenda to improve the Soviet economy. (Page A1, Cols. 1-6.) Mikhail S. Gorbachev, coming to power at the age of 54, stands to guide the Soviet Union well into the next century. Mr. Gorbachev is expected to bring a new style of leadership to the Kremlin - possibly one less burdened with memories of Stalin's terror and World War II. (A1:2-4.)

Just outside the 43d-floor office window of Gerald G. Probst, the chairman of the Sperry Corporation, looms the Chippendale-topped headquarters of A.T.&T. and the reflective-glass tower of the new I.B.M. building. ''We keep the curtains closed,'' the 61-year old Mr. Probst said the other day, barely cracking a smile, ''so they can't peer in.'' Lots of people seem to be looking hard at Sperry these days, most with an eye toward acquisition. One of them is the ITT Corporation, which made an abortive first effort to merge with the company a week ago. That sent Sperry's stock up sharply. Yesterday, the stock closed at $51.25.

EVERYONE wants to make a good impression, but for some people it is almost a way of life. Such social chameleons, who in every situation strive to make the best impression they can, do so at a psychological cost, new research suggests. Those who always try ''to be the right person in the right place at the right time,'' according to Mark Snyder, a social psychologist at the University of Minnesota, become extraordinarily attuned to the ways others react to them. They continually monitor their social performance, skillfully adjusting it when they detect that they are not having the desired effect. He cites as the psychological credo of such people a remark by W. H. Auden, who said that his private image of himself ''is very different from the image which I try to create in the minds of others in order that they may love me.''

Matthew Kearney graduated from high school in New Jersey six years ago and decided to go to work rather than straight to college. In 1983, ready to hit the books again, he applied to Rutgers University and asked about financial aid. He pointed out that he had lived on his own and earned about $5,000 a year as a builder, factory inspector, cook and bartender. The school noted, though, that the year before Mr. Kearney asked about aid, he had lived with his parents for a few months and had been claimed as a dependent on their income tax return. As a result, it said, he would not be eligible for aid as an independent student.

The American Savings and Loan Association of Florida said today that it would lose a maximum of $55.3 million after taxes because of the failure of E.S.M. Government Securities Inc., a Fort Lauderdale securities broker that closed last week, leaving its customers with more than $300 million in losses. American was one of E.S.M.'s two largest customers. It had announced last Monday only that it would sustain a ''substantial loss.'' The other large customer was the Home State Savings Bank of Cincinnati. Home State closed on Saturday and its offices remained closed today, as a conservator was appointed, indicating that the savings and loan institution had failed. It had announced on Friday night that it was seeking to merge with a healthier institution, but apparently those talks were not successful. A loss of more than $100 million is expected for Home State and its affiliates because of their transactions with E.S.M.