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The Invention of the Light Bulb: A Bright Idea
The electric light bulb was not the work of one person. This overview follows the many inventors before and around Edison and Swan and how credit is shared.
Tools and Industry
Light and Radiation
Bulbs, LEDs, lasers and radiation detectors.
The Development of the Laser: A Powerful Tool
A broad overview of the laser, from Einstein's 1917 theory to the first working device in 1960 and the wide range of tools that now depend on laser beams.
The Development of the Laser: A Powerful Tool for Science and Medicine
A history of how lasers entered research laboratories, eye surgery and other medicine, from early light-based eye treatments to excimer and surgical lasers.
The Development of the Laser: From Scientific Experiment to Practical Application
How the laser went from a 1960s lab demo, once called a solution looking for a problem, to barcode scanners, cutting tools, printers and communications.
The Development of the LED Light: A Bright and Energy-Efficient Solution
How LED lighting replaced filament bulbs in homes and on streets, what the energy-use trends look like, and why adoption was gradual rather than instant.
The Development of the Light Bulb: A Bright Idea
How 1800s inventors tested platinum, carbon, paper and bamboo filaments, improved vacuums, and why credit for the bulb is shared among several inventors.
The History Behind the Development of the Light Bulb
How gas lamps gave way to electric light, and how power stations, street lighting and wired homes changed cities between the 1800s and the early 1900s.
The History of the Electric Light Bulb: From Incandescent to LED
How filament bulbs, fluorescent tubes and LEDs each make light, and how they compare on efficiency, lifespan, heat and cost as technologies.
The History of the Electric Light: From Edison to Modern Times
How Edison, Swan and others built early electric lighting systems, how direct and alternating current competed, and how power networks grew around lighting.
The History of the Light Bulb: From Incandescent to Efficient
The later stage of lighting: tungsten and halogen lamps, fluorescent tubes, compact bulbs and the efficiency standards that reshaped the household bulb.
The Invention of the First Laser: A Cutting Edge Technology
Theodore Maiman's ruby laser of May 1960 at Hughes Research Laboratories: how it worked, how it was announced, and its first uses in industry and medicine.
The Invention of the Geiger Counter: A Radiation Detector
How Hans Geiger, Ernest Rutherford and Walther Muller developed the gas-filled counter tube, and how it spread from physics labs to nuclear-era monitoring.
The Invention of the Laser: A High-Powered Beam of Light
The theory behind the laser: Einstein's stimulated emission in 1917, the 1950s maser, the Schawlow-Townes proposal, and the disputes over credit and patents.
The Invention of the LED Light: A Bright Idea
The path to the first practical LEDs: early electroluminescence in the 1900s, infrared diodes in 1961, the red LED of 1962 and its first uses as indicators.
The Invention of the LED Light: A Brighter Future
The blue LED breakthrough of the late 1980s and early 1990s by Akasaki, Amano and Nakamura, and how it made white LED lighting and bright screens possible.
The Story of the Electric Light: A Bright Idea
From Davy's arc to Jablochkoff candles and Brush street lamps, this article follows early electric lighting experiments toward practical lamps and public light.
The Story of the Light Bulb: A Bright Idea
A side-by-side look at the people credited with early electric lamps, from Davy and de la Rue to Swan and Edison, and why historians say credit is shared.
The Story of the Light Bulb: From Concept to Reality
A lamp that glows on a bench is not a lighting service. This article covers the generators, wiring, sockets, fuses and meters that made a bulb a product.
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