Timeline of lighting technology
Encyclopedia
Timeline
A timeline is a way of displaying a list of events in chronological order, sometimes described as a project artifact . It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labeled with dates alongside itself and events labeled on points where they would have happened.-Uses of timelines:Timelines...
of lighting
Lighting
Lighting or illumination is the deliberate application of light to achieve some practical or aesthetic effect. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight...
technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
Antiquity
- 70,000 BCE A hollow rock, shell, or other natural found object was filled with moss or a similar material that was soaked in animal fat and then ignited.
- c. 4500 BCE oil lampOil lampAn oil lamp is an object used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil-based fuel source. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and is continued to this day....
s - c. 3000 BCE candleCandleA candle is a solid block or cylinder of wax with an embedded wick, which is lit to provide light, and sometimes heat.Today, most candles are made from paraffin. Candles can also be made from beeswax, soy, other plant waxes, and tallow...
s are invented. - c. 900 CE Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi (Rhazes) invents kerosene lampKerosene lampThe kerosene lamp is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene as a fuel. This article refers to kerosene lamps that have a wick and a tall glass chimney. Kerosene lanterns that have a wick and a glass globe are related to kerosene lamps and are included here as well...
- c. 1000 The first street lamps appear in CordobaCórdoba, Spain-History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...
, Al-AndalusAl-AndalusAl-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
18th century
- 1780 Aimé ArgandAimé ArgandFrançois Pierre Ami Argand was a Swiss physicist and chemist. He invented the Argand lamp, a great improvement on the traditional oil lamp. -Early years:...
invents central draught fixed oil lamp - 1784 Argand adds glass chimney to central draught lamp
- 1792 William MurdochWilliam MurdochWilliam Murdoch was a Scottish engineer and long-term inventor.Murdoch was employed by the firm of Boulton and Watt and worked for them in Cornwall, as a steam engine erector for ten years, spending most of the rest of his life in Birmingham, England.He was the inventor of the oscillating steam...
begins experimenting with gas lightingGas lightingGas lighting is production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, including hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, or natural gas. Before electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most...
and probably produced the first gas light in this year.
19th century
- 1800 French watchmaker Bernard Guillaume Carcel overcomes the disadvantages of the Argand-type lamps with his clockwork fed Carcel lamp.
- 1800-1803 Humphry Davy remarks first carbon arc when using Voltaic piles(Batteriey) for his electrolse experiments, first electric lamp, over 10000 lm and thus 1000times brighter than candles arc lamp, arc lighting, demonstrated to the public at the Royal Society 1809
- 1802 William Murdoch illuminated the exterior of the Soho FoundrySoho FoundrySoho Foundry was a factory created in 1795 by Matthew Boulton and James Watt at Smethwick, West Midlands, England , for the manufacture of steam engines.-History:...
with gas. - 1805 Philips and Lee's Cotton Mill, ManchesterManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
was the first industrial factory to be fully lit by gas. - 1813 National Heat and Light Company formed by Fredrich Winzer (Winsor)
- 1815 Humphry DavyHumphry DavySir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet FRS MRIA was a British chemist and inventor. He is probably best remembered today for his discoveries of several alkali and alkaline earth metals, as well as contributions to the discoveries of the elemental nature of chlorine and iodine...
invents the miner's safety lampDavy lampThe Davy lamp is a safety lamp with a wick and oil vessel burning originally a heavy vegetable oil, devised in 1815 by Sir Humphry Davy. It was created for use in coal mines, allowing deep seams to be mined despite the presence of methane and other flammable gases, called firedamp or minedamp.Sir...
. - 1835 James Bowman LindsayJames Bowman LindsayJames Bowman Lindsay was a Scottish inventor and author. He is credited with early developments in several fields, such as incandescent lighting and telegraphy.- Life and work :...
demonstrates a light bulb based electric lighting system to the citizens of Dundee. - 1840 modern kerosene lampKerosene lampThe kerosene lamp is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene as a fuel. This article refers to kerosene lamps that have a wick and a tall glass chimney. Kerosene lanterns that have a wick and a glass globe are related to kerosene lamps and are included here as well...
s (oil lampOil lampAn oil lamp is an object used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil-based fuel source. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and is continued to this day....
s that burn fuel from petroleum) - 1841 Arc-lighting used as experimental public lighting in Paris
- 1853 Ignacy LukasiewiczIgnacy LukasiewiczJan Józef Ignacy Łukasiewicz was a Polish pharmacist and petroleum industry pioneer who in 1856 built the first oil refinery in the world...
invents kerosene lampKerosene lampThe kerosene lamp is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene as a fuel. This article refers to kerosene lamps that have a wick and a tall glass chimney. Kerosene lanterns that have a wick and a glass globe are related to kerosene lamps and are included here as well... - 1856 glassblowerGlassblowingGlassblowing is a glassforming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble, or parison, with the aid of a blowpipe, or blow tube...
Heinrich GeisslerHeinrich GeisslerJohann Heinrich Wilhelm Geißler was a German physicist and inventor of the Geissler tube, a low pressure gas-discharge tube made of glass....
confines the electric arc in a tubeGeissler tubeA Geissler tube is an early gas discharge tube used to demonstrate the principles of electrical glow discharge. The tube was invented by the German physicist and glassblower Heinrich Geissler in 1857...
. - 1867 A. E. BecquerelA. E. BecquerelAlexandre-Edmond Becquerel , known as Edmond Becquerel, was a French physicist who studied the solar spectrum, magnetism, electricity, and optics. He is known for his work in luminescence and phosphorescence. He is credited with the discovery of the photovoltaic effect, the operating principle of...
demonstrates the first fluorescent lampFluorescent lampA fluorescent lamp or fluorescent tube is a gas-discharge lamp that uses electricity to excite mercury vapor. The excited mercury atoms produce short-wave ultraviolet light that then causes a phosphor to fluoresce, producing visible light. A fluorescent lamp converts electrical power into useful... - 1875 Henry WoodwardHenry Woodward (inventor)Henry Woodward was a Canadian inventor and a major pioneer in the development of the incandescent lamp.-Work on the incandescent light bulb:On July 24, 1874, Woodward and his partner, Mathew Evans, a hotel keeper, patented an electric light bulb. Woodward was a medical student at the time. Their...
patents an electric light bulb. - 1876 Pavel YablochkovPavel YablochkovPavel Nikolayevich Yablochkov was a Russian electrical engineer, the inventor of the Yablochkov candle and businessman.-Biography:...
invents the Yablochkov candleYablochkov candleA Yablochkov candle is a type of electric carbon arc lamp, invented in 1876 by Pavel Yablochkov.-Design:A Yablochkov candle consists of a sandwich of two long carbon blocks, approximately 6 by 12 millimetres in cross-section, separated by a block of inert material such as plaster of paris or kaolin...
, the first practical carbon arc lamp, for public street lighting in Paris. - 1879 Thomas EdisonThomas EdisonThomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
and Joseph Wilson Swan patent the carbon-thread incandescent lamp. It lasted 40 hours. - 1880 Edison produced a 16-watt lightbulb that lasts 1500 hours.
- c. 1889 Incandescent gas mantleGas mantleAn incandescent gas mantle, gas mantle, or Welsbach mantle is a device for generating bright white light when heated by a flame. The name refers to its original heat source, existing gas lights, which filled the streets of Europe and North America in the late 19th century, mantle referring to the...
invented, revolutionises gas lightingGas lightingGas lighting is production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, including hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, or natural gas. Before electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most...
. - 1893 GE introduces first commercial fully enclosed carbon arc lamp, sealed in glass globes, lasts 100h , 10times longer than hitherto carbon arc lamps
- 1893 Nikola TeslaNikola TeslaNikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer...
uses cordless low pressure gas discharge lamps, powered by a high frequency electric field, to light his laboratory. He displays fluorescent lampFluorescent lampA fluorescent lamp or fluorescent tube is a gas-discharge lamp that uses electricity to excite mercury vapor. The excited mercury atoms produce short-wave ultraviolet light that then causes a phosphor to fluoresce, producing visible light. A fluorescent lamp converts electrical power into useful...
s and gas discharge lamps at the World Columbian Exposition. - 1894 D. McFarlane Moore creates the Moore tube, precursor of electric gas-dischargeElectric glow dischargeAn electric glow discharge is a plasma formed by the passage of current at 100 V to several kV through a gas, often argon or another noble gas. It is found in products such as neon lamps and plasma-screen televisions, and is used in plasma physics and analytical chemistry.-Basic operating...
lamps. - 1897 Walther NernstWalther NernstWalther Hermann Nernst FRS was a German physical chemist and physicist who is known for his theories behind the calculation of chemical affinity as embodied in the third law of thermodynamics, for which he won the 1920 Nobel Prize in chemistry...
invents and patents his incandescent lampNernst lampNernst lamps were an early form of electrically powered incandescent lamps. Nernst lamps did not use a glowing tungsten filament. Instead, they used a ceramic rod that was heated to incandescence...
, based on solid stateSolid state (electronics)Solid-state electronics are those circuits or devices built entirely from solid materials and in which the electrons, or other charge carriers, are confined entirely within the solid material...
electrolyteElectrolyteIn chemistry, an electrolyte is any substance containing free ions that make the substance electrically conductive. The most typical electrolyte is an ionic solution, but molten electrolytes and solid electrolytes are also possible....
s.
20th century
- 1901 Peter Cooper HewittPeter Cooper HewittPeter Cooper Hewitt was an American electrical engineer and inventor, who invented the first mercury-vapor lamp in 1901. Hewitt was issued U.S. patent #682692 on September 17, 1901. In 1903, Hewitt created an improved version that possessed higher colour qualities which eventually found widespread...
demonstrates the mercury-vapor lampMercury-vapor lampA mercury-vapor lamp is a gas discharge lamp that uses an electric arc through vaporized mercury to produce light. The arc discharge is generally confined to a small fused quartz arc tube mounted within a larger borosilicate glass bulb...
. - 1910 Georges ClaudeGeorges ClaudeGeorges Claude was a French engineer and inventor. He is noted for his early work on the industrial liquefaction of air, for the invention and commercialization of neon lighting, and for a large experiment on generating energy by pumping cold seawater up from the depths...
demonstrates neon lightingNeon lightingNeon lighting is created by brightly glowing, electrified glass tubes or bulbs that contain rarefied neon or other gases. Georges Claude, a French engineer and inventor, presented neon tube lighting in essentially its modern form at the Paris Motor Show from December 3–18, 1910...
at the Paris Motor Show. - 1925 The first internal frosted lightbulbs were produced.
- 1926 Edmund GermerEdmund GermerEdmund Germer was a German inventor recognized as the father of the fluorescent lamp. He applied for a patent with Friedrich Meyer and Hans J. Spanner on December 10, 1926, which led to...
patents the fluorescent lamp. - 1938 LightolierLightolierLightolier is a company that manufactures and sells a wide array of lighting fixtures. It was founded in 1904 by Bernhard Blitzer under the name of New York Gas and Appliance Co. When electric lighting started to be more widely accepted, the name was changed to Lightolier, a contraction of the...
, Artcraft Fluorescent Lighting CorporationArtcraft Fluorescent Lighting CorporationArtcraft Fluorescent Lighting Corporation was one of the three most influential business forces in fluorescent lighting fixture development and production in the United States from the commercial introduction of the fluorescent lamp at the 1939 World's Fair....
, Globe, fluorescent fixture making.
- 1962 Nick HolonyakNick HolonyakNick Holonyak, Jr. invented the first practically useful visible LED in 1962 while working as a consulting scientist at a General Electric Company laboratory in Syracuse, New York and has been called "the father of the light-emitting diode"...
Jr. develops the first practical visible-spectrum light-emitting diodeLight-emitting diodeA light-emitting diode is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting... - 1981 Philips sells their first Compact Fluorescent Energy Saving Lamps, with integrated conv.ballast
- 1985 Osram answers with the first electronic Energy Saving Lamps to be very successfull
- 1986 The "White" SON Sodium vapor lamp is introduced.
- 1991 PhilipsPhilipsKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
invents a fluorescent lightbulb that lasts 60,000 hours. The bulb uses magnetic inductionMagnetic inductionMagnetic induction may refer to one of the following:* Electromagnetic induction* Magnetic field B is sometimes called magnetic induction...
. - 1992-94 a team at Nela Parc, Cleveland, GE, with Jack Strok create Ceramic Metal Halide lamps CMH, Philips follows under W.de Kock, calls their versions CDM Ceramic Discharge Metal, sales begin 1994, this technology improves to be the superior lighting technology with up to 150 lm/W with good color rendering and 20.000h life at very high lumen maintainance [4]
- 1994 the new T5 lamps with coool tip are introduced to become the leading fluorescent lamps with up to 117 lm/W with good color rendering. These and almoast all new fluorescent lamps are to be operated at electronic ballsts only.
- 1994 First commercial sulfur lampSulfur lampThe sulfur lamp is a highly efficient full-spectrum electrodeless lighting system whose light is generated by sulfur plasma that has been excited by microwave radiation. The technology was developed in the early 1990s, but, although it appeared initially to be very promising, sulfur lighting was...
. - 1995 Shuji Nakamura at Nichia labs invents first blue and, with additional Phosphor, white LED, and starts a LED boom.