1878 AD |
|
| Now here's a bit of a poser for you -- who invented the first electric light bulb? If your immediate response was "The legendary American inventor, Thomas Alva Edison," then you'd certainly be in the majority, but being in the majority doesn't necessarily mean that you're right. | ||
| a | ||
|
It's certainly true that Edison did invent the light bulb (or at least "a" light bulb), but he wasn't the first. In 1860, an English physicist and electrician, Sir Joseph Wilson Swan, produced his first experimental light bulb using carbonized paper as a filament. Unfortunately, Swan didn't have a strong enough vacuum or sufficiently powerful batteries and his prototype didn't achieve complete incandescence, so he turned his attentions to other pursuits. | |
| a | ||
| Fifteen years later, in 1875, Swan returned to consider the problem of the light bulb and, with the aid of a better vacuum and a carbonized thread as a filament (the same material Edison eventually decided upon), he successfully demonstrated a true incandescent bulb in 1878 (a year earlier than Edison). Furthermore, in 1880, Swan gave the world's first large-scale public exhibition of electric lamps at Newcastle, England. | ||
| a | ||
| So it's reasonable to wonder why Edison received all of the credit, while Swan was condemned to obscurity. The more cynical among us may suggest that Edison was thrust into the limelight (see note below) because many among us learn their history through films, and the vast majority of early films were made in America by patriotic Americans. | However, none of this should detract from Edison who,
working independently, experimented with thousands of filament materials and expended
tremendous amounts of effort before discovering carbonized thread. It is also probably
fair to say that Edison did produce the first commercially viable light bulb. The reason why this is of interest to us here is that Edison's experiments with light bulbs led him to discover the Edison Effect, which ultimately led to the invention of the vacuum tube. |
|
| a | ||
| As one final nugget of trivia, the term "limelight" comes from the incandescent light produced by a rod of lime bathed in a flame of oxygen and hydrogen. At the time it was invented, limelight was the brightest source of artificial light known. One of it's first uses was for lighting theater stages, and actors and actresses were keen to position themselves "in the limelight" so as to be seen to their best effect. | ||
| a | |
|
|
| These notes are abstracted from the book Bebop BYTES Back (An Unconventional Guide to Computers) Copyright Information |
|
