If you think Thomas Edison invented the first electric light bulb, then you would be in the majority, but you’d also be wrong
It’s certainly true that Edison (1847-1931) did invent a light bulb, but he wasn’t the first to do so.
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.
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, which was a year earlier than Edison (to be fair, we should also note that there were a number of other contenders prior to Swan).
Furthermore, in 1880, Swan gave the world’s first large-scale public exhibition of electric lamps at Newcastle, England.
Edison was thrust into the limelight (no pun intended) because many among us learn their history through films, and the vast majority of early films were made in America by patriotic Americans.
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1 Comment
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mega-Cool Edison Bulb Lighting Effects
https://www.eeweb.com/profile/max-maxfield/articles/mega-cool-edison-bulb-lighting-effects
If you think Thomas Edison invented the first electric light bulb, then you would be in the majority, but you’d also be wrong
It’s certainly true that Edison (1847-1931) did invent a light bulb, but he wasn’t the first to do so.
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.
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, which was a year earlier than Edison (to be fair, we should also note that there were a number of other contenders prior to Swan).
Furthermore, in 1880, Swan gave the world’s first large-scale public exhibition of electric lamps at Newcastle, England.
Edison was thrust into the limelight (no pun intended) because many among us learn their history through films, and the vast majority of early films were made in America by patriotic Americans.