Editing Electric light (section)

== History ==
Before electric lighting became common in the early 20th century, people used [[candle]]s, [[gas lighting|gas lights]], [[oil lamp]]s, and [[fire]]s.<ref name="Freebert">{{cite book |last=Freebert |first=Ernest |title=The Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern America |date=2014 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-312444-3 }}</ref> In 1799–1800, [[Alessandro Volta]] created the [[voltaic pile]], the first electric battery. Current from these batteries could heat copper wire to incandescence. [[Vasily Vladimirovich Petrov]] developed the first persistent [[electric arc]] in 1802, and English chemist [[Humphry Davy]] gave a practical demonstration of an [[Arc lamp|arc light]] in 1806.<ref name="guarnieri 7-1">{{Cite journal|last=Guarnieri|first=M.|year=2015|title=Switching the Light: From Chemical to Electrical|journal=IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine|volume=9|issue=3|pages=44–47|doi=10.1109/MIE.2015.2454038|hdl=11577/3164116|s2cid=2986686|url=https://www.research.unipd.it/bitstream/11577/3164116/5/21%20LightElectric.pdf|hdl-access=free|access-date=2019-09-02|archive-date=2022-02-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220214220606/https://www.research.unipd.it/retrieve/handle/11577/3164116/225053/21%20LightElectric.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> 
It took more than a century of continuous and incremental improvement, including numerous designs, patents, and resulting intellectual property disputes, to get from these early experiments to commercially produced incandescent light bulbs in the 1920s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Blake-Coleman |first=B. C. (Barrie Charles) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xMvY_v4kMMQC&pg=PA127 |title=Copper Wire and Electrical Conductors – The Shaping of a Technology |publisher=Harwood Academic Publishers |year=1992 |isbn=3-7186-5200-5 |page=127 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206142310/https://books.google.com/books?id=xMvY_v4kMMQC&pg=PA127 |archive-date=6 December 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="DOEHistory">{{cite web |title=The History of the Light Bulb |url=https://www.energy.gov/articles/history-light-bulb |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220820044316/https://www.energy.gov/articles/history-light-bulb |archive-date=20 August 2022 |access-date=19 August 2022 |website=Energy.gov |publisher=U.S. Department of Energy |language=en}}</ref>

In 1840, [[Warren de la Rue]] enclosed a platinum coil in a vacuum tube and passed an electric current through it, thus creating one of the world's first [[Incandescent light bulb|electric light bulbs]].<ref name="Electrical Review">{{cite journal |title=Notes – Obituary |journal=The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hgwAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA483|volume=24|date=26 April 1889|publisher=The Electrical review, ltd.|page=483}}</ref><ref name="Hannavy2008">{{cite book|last=Hannavy|first=John|title=Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-century Photography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PJ8DHBay4_EC&pg=PA1222|year=2008|publisher=[[CRC Press]]|isbn=978-0-415-97235-2|page=1222}}</ref><ref name="Kitsinelis2010">{{cite book|last=Kitsinelis|first=Spiros|title=Light Sources: Technologies and Applications|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Py64LbBcSwAC&pg=PA32|date=1 November 2010|publisher=Taylor & Francis US|isbn=978-1-4398-2079-7|page=32}}</ref> The design was based on the concept that the high melting point of platinum would allow it to operate at high temperatures and that the evacuated chamber would contain fewer gas molecules to react with the platinum, improving its longevity. Although it was an efficient design, the cost of the platinum made it impractical for commercial use.<ref name="Levy2003">{{cite book|last=Levy|first=Joel|title=Really Useful: The Origins of Everyday Things|url=https://archive.org/details/reallyusefulorig00levy|url-access=registration|date=1 March 2003|publisher=Firefly Books|isbn=978-1-55297-622-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/reallyusefulorig00levy/page/89 89]}}</ref>

[[William Greener]], an English inventor, made significant contributions to early electric lighting with his lamp in 1846 (patent specification 11076), laying the groundwork for future innovations such as those by Thomas Edison.

The late 1870s and 1880s were marked by intense competition and innovation, with inventors like [[Joseph Swan]] in the UK and [[Thomas Edison]] in the US independently developing functional incandescent lamps. Swan's bulbs, based on designs by William Staite, were successful, but the filaments were too thick. Edison worked to create bulbs with thinner filaments, leading to a better design.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/who-really-invented-the-light-bulb|title=Who really invented the light bulb?|website=www.sciencefocus.com}}</ref>  The rivalry between Swan and Edison eventually led to a merger, forming the [[Edison and Swan Electric Light Company]]. By the early twentieth century these had completely replaced [[arc lamp]]s.<ref name="Reisert">{{cite journal|last1=Reisert|first1=Sarah|title=Let There be Light|journal=Distillations Magazine|date=2015|volume=1|issue=3|pages=44–45|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/let-there-be-light|access-date=22 March 2018|archive-date=22 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322204700/https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/let-there-be-light|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Freebert" />

The turn of the century saw further improvements in bulb longevity and efficiency, notably with the introduction of the tungsten filament by [[William D. Coolidge]], who applied for a patent in 1912.<ref>{{cite patent|country=US|number=1082933A|inventor=William. D. Coolidge|title=Tungsten and method of making the same for use as filaments of incandescent electric lamps and for other purposes.|fdate=JUNE 19, 1912|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US1082933}}</ref> This innovation became a standard for incandescent bulbs for many years.

In 1910, [[Georges Claude]] introduced the first neon light, paving the way for neon signs which would become ubiquitous in advertising.<ref name=vanDulken>{{cite book |title=Inventing the 20th century: 100 inventions that shaped the world: from the airplane to the zipper |last1=van Dulken |first1=Stephen |page=42 |publisher=New York University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8147-8812-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aVHRRoQvW60C&pg=PA42}}</ref><ref name=Poster>The dates of the 1910 Paris Motor Show are incorporated into [[:Image:12eSalondelAutomobile.jpg|this poster]] for the show.</ref><ref name=Testelin>{{cite web |title=Reportage – Il était une fois le néon No. 402 |last=Testelin |first=Xavier |url=http://www.xaviertestelin.com/photo-402.html |access-date=2010-12-06 }} Claude lit the [[peristyle]] of the ''[[Grand Palais]]'' in Paris with neon tubes; this webpage includes a contemporary photograph that gives an impression of the effect. The webpage is part of an extensive selection of images of neon lighting; see {{cite web |title=Reportage – Il était une fois le néon |url=http://www.xaviertestelin.com/sujet-6.html}}</ref>

In 1934, [[Arthur Compton]], a renowned physicist and GE consultant, reported to the GE lamp department on successful experiments with fluorescent lighting at [[General Electric Company plc|General Electric Co., Ltd.]] in Great Britain (unrelated to General Electric in the United States). Stimulated by this report, and with all of the key elements available, a team led by George E. Inman built a prototype fluorescent lamp in 1934 at [[General Electric]]'s [[Nela Park]] (Ohio) engineering laboratory. This was not a trivial exercise; as noted by Arthur A. Bright, "A great deal of experimentation had to be done on lamp sizes and shapes, cathode construction, gas pressures of both argon and mercury vapor, colors of fluorescent powders, methods of attaching them to the inside of the tube, and other details of the lamp and its auxiliaries before the new device was ready for the public."<ref>{{Cite book |first=Arthur Aaron Jr. |last=Bright |title=The Electric-Lamp Industry: Technological Change and Economic Development from 1800 to 1947 |publisher=Macmillan Co |date=1949 |url=https://archive.org/details/electriclampindu0000brig |url-access=registration |pages=388–391}}</ref>

The first practical LED arrived in 1962.<ref name=FirstPracticalLED>{{cite web|author1=Okon, Thomas M. |author2=Biard, James R. |title=The First Practical LED|url=http://edisontechcenter.org/lighting/LED/TheFirstPracticalLED.pdf|website=EdisonTechCenter.org|publisher=[[Edison Tech Center]]|date=2015|access-date=2016-02-02}}</ref>

=== U.S. transition to LED bulbs ===
In the [[United States of America|United States]], incandescent light bulbs including halogen bulbs stopped being sold as of August 1, 2023,{{update inline|date=August 2023}} because they do not meet minimum lumens per watt performance metrics established by the [[U.S. Department of Energy]].<ref>[https://www.newsnationnow.com/business/tech/energy-department-light-bulb-ban/ Energy Department moves forward with light bulb ban] from News Nation Now on 4/3/2023</ref>{{Update after|2023|8|1}} Compact fluorescent bulbs are also banned despite their lumens per watt performance because of their toxic mercury that can be released into the home if broken and widespread problems with proper disposal of mercury-containing bulbs.