Blue World

Quirky Science

E03 In contrast with popular belief, Edison did not invent the light bulb. Many people contributed to the invention. Mind you, the first lamp was invented around 70,000 BC. Once upon a time we had limelight, which was actually quite unsafe, and then there were arc "arc lamps" - shedding light that blinded movie stars up to the point where they had to wear sunglasses. What Edison did was improve the light bulb to become a practical, affordable and safe product. He tested over 5000 filaments to make the bulb last: from bamboo fiber to a hair out of an assistant's beard. At the same time others were working on light bulbs made with gasses, which we now know as energy efficient lamps. Modern-day lighting innovations are quite startling, a lot of them - we can't even see with the naked eye… Lasers, for example. For the longest time it was merely a pet-theory of the grand Einstein. Nobody knew what to make of this idea that "atoms could release their excess energy as light" When the...