Light bulb

The invention that LIT UP the world

From the beginning of the dimly lit 1800s, inventors groped around for ways to turn electricity into light.

Davy’s lamp was designed to help miners, as an alternative to fire, which could cause accidents. Joseph Swan’s house in Gateshead, England, was the first to be lit by a light bulb.

Longer-lasting tungsten filaments were invented in 1910.

Switching on

The first electric light was switched on by Humphry Davy when he connected two charcoal rods to a battery in 1809. Davy’s light was bright, but it didn’t last long. It showed that some materials glow when electricity passes through them, but the lights often caught fire. Fellow Englishman Joseph Swan experimented with removing the AiR from the bulb in the 1870s to stop this, but ran into other problems. Did you know? The first buildings with electric light had warning notices in them advising people not to light the bulbs with a match.

It paved the way for...

The first car headlights used oil, but much safer electric ones were invented in 1898.

Neon lights, which contain the gas neon, were invented by Frenchman

By the way... I carried out 4,700 experiments with different materials to find the perfect filament, including hair from a beard.

Meanwhile, in the United States, Thomas Edison was experimenting with light bulbs too. He realized that the filament—the part that gets hot and glows—was the key to long-lasting light. By 1880, his charred bamboo filaments were burning for more than 1,200 hours. After falling out over who invented what, edison and Swan joined forces. Soon, they were bringing light to everybody.

Thomas Edison said, “We will make electricty so cheap that only the rich will burn candles.”

HOW A light bulb’s filament is made out of IT WO R KS material that does not conduct electricity very well. This resistance to the current makes the filament heat up and radiate light. The bulb is filled with nonreactive gases so that the hot filament does not catch fire.

Airtight glass casing

Electricity flows through the wire and into the filament. Filament glows whitehot when current passes through it.

Plugging in

power plantS were set up so electricity could reach everybody with Edison’s bulbs. The world’s first electric company started out with 52 customers in 1882. Before long, people were finding their way home in the dark by the glow of electric streetlights, and flipping switches for lights in their homes. This advertisement for Edison’s bulbs dates from 1909.

How it changed

Light bulbs meant safe, bright lighting at the flip of a switch. Only now, after more than a hundred years, is the basic design being improved to make it more efficient.

the world

Flashbulbs

were invented in 1929, replacing dangerous and

noisy Flash powder. The first practical

light-emitting diode

(LED) was developed in 1962. They can be used as a replacement for light bulbs.