Lightbulb History

By Lingard

  • Gas Lighting

    Gas lighting of buildings and streets began early in the 19th century, with most streets in London lit by gas as early as 1816.

  • Incandescent Lamp

    Thomas Edison bulbs made after 1880 lasted a whopping 600 hours.

  • Halogen lightbulb

    First lamp to use halogen gas (chlorine) was patented in 1882 but the first commercial halogen lamp that used iodine as a halogen gas was patented in 1959 by General Electric.

  • Light Emitting Diodies

    Nick Holonyak Jr., employed in General Electric, developed in 1962 first light-emitting diode that emitted light in the visible part of the frequency range. It was a red LED.

  • Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb (CFL)

    1976 – Edward E. Hammer invented the compact fluorescent light (CFL) after discovering a way to bend fluorescent tubes into a spiral shape in response to the 1973 oil crisis.