Editing Limelight (section)

==History==
===Discovery and invention===
The limelight effect was discovered in the 1820s by [[Goldsworthy Gurney]],<ref>[http://www1.chem.leeds.ac.uk/delights/texts/Demonstration_19.htm Limelight – Leeds University] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110219082452/http://www.chem.leeds.ac.uk/delights/texts/Demonstration_19.htm |date=19 February 2011 }}, Retrieved 18 October 2013.</ref><ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iX194mHFAcYC&pg=PA11 | page = 11 | title = The Correspondence of Michael Faraday | isbn = 978-0-86341-251-6 | author1 = Faraday, Michael | author2 = James, Frank A. J. L | year = 1999}}</ref> based on his work with the "oxy-hydrogen [[blowpipe (tool)|blowpipe]]", credit for which is normally given to [[Robert Hare (chemist)|Robert Hare]].  In 1825, a [[Scotland|Scottish]] engineer, [[Thomas Drummond]] (1797–1840), saw a demonstration of the effect by [[Michael Faraday]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Carver|first1=Craig M.|title=A history of English in its own words|date=1991|publisher=HarperCollins|location=New York|isbn=0-06-270013-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofenglish00carv/page/158 158]|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofenglish00carv/page/158}}</ref> and realized that the light would be useful for surveying.  Drummond built a working version in 1826, and the device is sometimes called the ''Drummond light'' after him.

===Early use in the United Kingdom===
The earliest known use of limelight at a public performance was outdoors, over [[Herne Bay Pier]], Kent, on the night of 3 October 1836 to illuminate a juggling performance by magician [[Ching Lau Lauro]]. This performance was part of the celebrations following the laying of the [[cornerstone|foundation stone]] of the [[Clock Tower, Herne Bay|Clock Tower]]. The playbill called it ''koniaphostic'' light and announced that "the whole pier is overwhelmed with a flood of beautiful white light".{{sfn|Bundock|2000|p=6}}<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QRMFAAAAQAAJ |title=The Mechanic and Chemist: A Magazine of the Arts and Sciences |year=1839 |page=354 }}</ref> Limelight was first used for indoor stage illumination in the [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden Theatre]] in [[London]] in 1837 and enjoyed widespread use in theatres around the world in the 1860s and 1870s.<ref>{{cite book
|url = https://archive.org/details/historyofindustr00almq
|url-access = registration
|pages = [https://archive.org/details/historyofindustr00almq/page/72 72]–73
|title = History of industrial gases
|publisher = Springer Science & Business Media
|isbn = 978-0-306-47277-0
|author1 = Almqvist, Ebbe
|year = 2003
}}</ref>
Limelights were employed to highlight solo performers in the same manner as modern [[spotlight (theatre lighting)|spotlights]].<ref>{{cite book
|last = Reid
|first = Francis
|author-link = Francis Reid
|title = The Stage Lighting Handbook (Stage and Costume)
|publisher = A & C Black Publishers Ltd|edition= 6 Rev
|location = UK
|year = 2001
<!-- 1224 pages -->
|isbn = 0-7136-5396-5
}}</ref>

===Early use in the United States===
During the [[American Civil War]] in July and August 1863 calcium lights were used during the siege of [[Fort Wagner]], allowing [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] forces to illuminate their artillery target at night while supposedly blinding [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] gunners and riflemen. Calcium lights were also installed on Union Navy ships.<ref>[https://hamptonroadsnavalmuseum.blogspot.com/2016/09/in-limelight-civil-war-military.html In the Limelight: A Civil War Military Innovation]</ref>

Limelight was replaced by electric [[arc lamp|arc lighting]] in the late 19th century.