The Light Bulb

A crowded race

Many inventors worked on electric light in the 1800s. Humphry Davy demonstrated bright arc lamps, and several people built bulbs with glowing filaments, but they burned out quickly or were too expensive. The challenge was making a filament that lasted inside a good vacuum and could be produced cheaply.

Swan and Edison

In England, Joseph Swan demonstrated carbon filament lamps around 1878 to 1880. In the US, Thomas Edison and his team at Menlo Park, New Jersey, tested thousands of materials and in 1879 made a carbon filament lamp that lasted many hours, later using carbonised bamboo for even longer life. In Britain, the two rivals combined forces in a joint company, Ediswan, in 1883.

A whole system

Edison's real advantage was building a complete electric system: generators, wiring, meters and sockets. In 1882 his Pearl Street Station in New York began supplying electricity to customers in Lower Manhattan, showing how cities could be lit.

From tungsten to LED

In the early 1900s, tungsten filaments replaced carbon and lasted much longer. Fluorescent tubes and compact fluorescent bulbs followed. Today, LED bulbs use a fraction of the energy of incandescent bulbs and last many years, and many countries have phased out most old-style incandescent bulbs for general lighting.

How it changed everyday life

Electric light changed daily life more than almost any other invention. Factories could run longer shifts, streets became safer at night, and homes no longer depended on smoky gas lamps and candles that caused fires. Evening reading, study and entertainment became easier. The light bulb also became a symbol of ideas themselves, as in the classic cartoon of a bulb above someone's head. Today, switching to LED bulbs is one of the simplest ways households save energy and money.

Did you know?

The Centennial Light, a fire station bulb in Livermore, California, has been glowing almost continuously since 1901, according to its keepers.

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