Who Really Invented the Light Bulb? - Objectivity 75

[@ATee-vx6dm]

3'07": K said, "...hand blown glass so you have this little wedge on the end where the glass has been snapped off" 4'27": B said, "...the tops there, has that been done by hand?" "Yes they were hand blown," said K, showcasing the world-famous patience of northern librarians.

[@2nd3rd1st]

Type time stamps as 3:07 and 4:27 to create links.

[@thoperSought]

2nd3rd1st I thought that meant 3 feet and 7 inches into the film reel that the video is on...

[@ATee-vx6dm]

+2nd3rd1st I always click those by mistake so I hate them... Sorry :)

[@thoperSought]

A. Tee well, that makes sense

[@John_Ridley]

The segments may not have been filmed in order. Also you never know what parts you're filming will actually make the edit so repeating is sometimes necessary.

[@cheapshotninja]

I'm sure you chaps haven't broken or otherwise sullied an object, but I'm sure that through the Societies history a few objects have been compromised in some manner. It would be interesting to see a video on something like that.

[@MisterTalkingMachine]

If you haven't, you can take a look at episode #65: Magnetic balls and long lost objects.

[@cheapshotninja]

Thanks, I've binged on all the episodes before but at some point it all blends together. Thanks for the reminder though (^^,)

[@PassionPopsicle]

I'd like this comment, but it's on 42 likes and I'd hate to mess with that

[@cheapshotninja]

You're a saint good sir

[@bigbenhebdomadarius6252]

In the U.S., it's fairly well-known--at least among those who paid attention during science class--that Edison didn't invent the light bulb but rather took the concept and made it commercially viable. If you go to his lab in West Orange, New Jersey, they can show you all the different materials Edison tried as filaments. He eventually settled on tungsten in an inert atmosphere.

[@rvtech-sn9ef]

Well just so you know who really invented here in the American continent was Francisco Javier Estrada from San Luis potosi Mexico he inverted couple years before Edison went tell the world he did it after visited Francisco many times also another big lie from the US government is that Edison wasn't born in Ohio either he was born and raised in Zacatecas Mexico in sombrerete Zacatecas to be exact there is records and also the house still has a plate with their last names some records were stolen by us agents that went to investigate where exactly was Edison from and looked the books after that's those pages were gone from.thr birth records

[@John_Ridley]

@@rvtech-sn9ef Here are some periods for you to use next time: ............... I almost died of asphyxiation reading that one long paragraph of a sentence.

[@ElizabethWarne390]

I was amazed by how similar the bases looked to modern ones, actually. You remarked on their difference but I would never have guessed that such early lightbulbs would look so familiar

[@stonemannerie]

had the exactly same thought

[@MisterTalkingMachine]

The manufacturing methods and materials have changed a lot, but the regular screw base has barely changed at all, such as the very common E27 (which stands for 27 millimeter Edison base). Sometimes you can find very old lamps that will screw in modern lampholders, and also the other way around. It may slowly fade as technology evolves in the coming few years though.

[@IFailFirst]

That is known as the "Edison Base". When Tesla won the contract to light the World's Fair, he had to use a 2-pin base. Because Edison didn't invent the light bulb, he didn't have that particular patent. He did, however, have a patent for the screw-type base. Tesla had to use a different base type as to not infringe on Edison's patent.

[@MisterTalkingMachine]

Well, anyway, even if Edison had invented the lightbulb all on his own, the patent wouldn't have granted him rights over all possible lamp connections. In the early days, pretty much all companies had their own bases. It just so happens that most of them faded out of use (kind of what happened later on with early wall outlets), except for a few like the Edison screw, prolly because of how well he established his industry, and because it's relatively cheap and easy to use. Remember seeing a youtube video long time ago of a guy showing a collection of early lamps with some bizarre bases. In one of them, the lamp holder had a bolt that screwed _into_ the lightbulb's base. In another note, derailing the topic just to mention Tesla and yet again state the obvious by saying that Edison didn't do it, has rendered your story mostly incoherent. I suggest not doing that and not behaving like a mindless fanboy.

[@IFailFirst]

I believe I saw the same video you describe. If I remember correctly, it was on EdisonTechChannel, here on youtube. I must apologize for your bias. I was just adding information about bases and a story relevant to the video subject. If that makes me a mindless fanboy, I guess we are in the same boat, as I didn't derail the topic. The topic was about the base, and I mentioned that that was the part that Edison had the patent on. Now, you derailed it to call me a mindless fanboy. I guess you getting your blood pressure up because someone says "Tesla" is biased and to add your own emotional conclusion to my comment is leaning towards fanboydom. I hope you can re-read my comment when you settle down and realize that I didn't say anything to show bias. I do not care. I was just adding info about the base and backing it up with the only story I know about bases that also had to do with the topic of the video. Which is anything but mindless.

[@MaxJNorman]

Gotta love Keith

[@outshimed]

Literally a scholar and a gentleman

[@YaBoiKeith]

you're too kind

[@cameronwebster6866]

his voice sounds exactly like you would think based on his job.

[@bjonri]

I'm surprised this channel isn't more popular, thanks for the good work!

[@theselectiveluddite]

Henry Sutton, here in Australia, is another contender for the light bulb, but he was more interested in it being freely available for hospitals.

[@recbecec]

Brady, have you ever dropped anything fragile while at the Royal Society?

[@elliottmcollins]

And if so, did you get it on camera?

[@johnallardyce4164]

*off

[@codediporpal]

I'm sure they'll eventually get around to a "bloopers" video, where all the delicate objects Brady has dropped or stepped on, shelves he's knocked over, parchments he's spilt coffee on, and books that he's inexplicably caused to burst into flame will be shown.

[@litigioussociety4249]

You should do something on Sir Humphry Davy too. As I know he demonstrated his arc lamp to the Royal Society, I imagine there must be some interesting things associated with him in the archives.

[@2nd3rd1st]

Yeah I remember something about a massive cellar filled with batteries and their toxic gasses, no idea where I saw that though.

[@JerehmiaBoaz]

Was it the BBC Horizon documentary Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity narrated by Jim Al-Khalili?

[@johnallardyce4164]

I have seen the Davy lamp on this channel, so go and have a look.

[@litigioussociety4249]

Seedeng Jawn Wrong Davy lamp. I meant his arc lamp, the electric one, which was the ancestor of the light bulb; I should have been more specific. The Davy lamp they showed was a flame safety lamp not related to electric light.

[@johnallardyce4164]

Litigious Society It ain't my fault, you were not clear.

[@omnirath]

very good video as always thanks !

[@luppa79]

I find the fact that Keith brought those bulbs in a GE Lighting-marked box quite fitting, as General Electric stems basically from Edison's company.

[@cymro47]

Great video. thanks.

[@PinkChucky15]

I definitely didn't know about Swan. I learn so much by watching these videos :-)

[@shez666]

nice to see some recognition for an amazing man from my home town

[@guyh3403]

As always, pretty amazing!

[@shugaroony]

That green lightbulb is a thing of beauty.

[@Na5iR11]

Love these videos.

[@hilasdad9148]

Great, as always.

[@anthonyflores1606]

Keith is looking quite dapper for the first day of summer.

[@andljoy]

They both invented it at about the same time , Swan and Edison went into an agreement to sell them in the US and UK.

[@m8e]

Sándor Just and Franjo Hanaman invented the tungsten bulb. The light bulbs we actually used for ~100 years.

[@matthewmillar3804]

Brady, do you think breaking something will be inevitable at some point? Has Keith ever broken anything? Thanks for making all of your videos, I really like this, numberphile, and periodic videos. Cheers.

[@johnallardyce4164]

Wikipedia: Edison continued to improve this design and by November 4, 1879, filed for U.S. patent 223,898 (granted on January 27, *1880*) for an electric lamp using "a carbon filament or strip coiled and connected to platina contact wires".

[@aMondia]

The picture of Sir Joseph Swan looks a bit like Keith with a false beard.

[@elliottmcollins]

Maybe he's secretly immortal and is hiding out at the archives.

[@AceandDuce]

Yeah he reminisces about all of his old scientist friends.(because he's immortal)

[@steve1978ger]

Every nation likes to claim an invention as its own. In reality, science has been pretty much international for a century or two. For example, who was the inventor of the computer? Turing was pioneering the theory; Zuse was ahead in building a practical device; Atanassov amd Berry did the first electronical computer; Babbage preceded them all by a century but did not finish his machine; and Ada Lovelace recognized what he couldn't quite grasp: that his machine had universal applications. So there isn't really one inventor of the computer, and that holds for most technology.

[@LordFennel]

Isn't the antikythera mechanism supposedly considered the world's first computer too? And that's from around 205 - 100 BCE.

[@steve1978ger]

AFAIK the most basic definition of a computer is that it is universal, i.e. that it can compute everything that can be formulated mathematically, from simple addition over spreadsheets to internet protocols and multiplayer online games. given some additional input and output devices and ignoring the very low speed, the Babbage engine would have been the first such machine in history, but it was plagued by mechanical problems and was never completed and Babbage himself did not realize its full potential. Turing was the first to define such a machine as a mathematical proof; he was building on previous work by Gödel. Zuse was the first to build a working machine (disclaimer: I'm German and this is what I was taught), but he didn't fully grasp the theory, and it was only very recently proven that his machine was truly universal. Atanassov and berry were the first to build one without mechanical components, which is essential for speed and therefore practical application. The abacus is just storage or memory, it doesn't do anything by itself. The Antikythera device, provided that it is understood correctly and that it is genuine, is a specialized mechanical calculator that was capable of a particular task, and therefore plays in the same league as maybe a slide rule or a vintage mechanical cash register.

[@austinfernando8406]

Ireland's got a claim too with Percy Ludgate, he designed a general purpose digital mechanical computer that would've been much faster than Babbage's in about 1909 (he had an article published on it in Nature in 1914) and would have measured about 2 foot per side. He died of pneumonia and somebody threw away his designs.

[@vkillion]

Most people I know (at least those that are scientifically literate) know that Edison didn't invent the lightbulb. He did improve on some existing designs, but mostly found found a way to sell it. He also did a lot of other things that I won't bring up here (see The Oatmeal's Tesla vs Edison).

[@Bobomeetworld]

i like they way they speak..very calming

[@wolfswan5124]

should do a video of the knock on effect of the light bulb and the inventions that followed from the idea of electricity in a vacuum

[@StephenMortimer]

Why not reference the documentary done on Swann's home system ?

[@daanwilmer]

Edison and the light bulb are like Apple and the smartphone: they were the first to make it usable and popular and their name is mostly associated with it, but there are many more people and companies involved in making the end product.

[@elliottmcollins]

This is how all innovations get to market. There's a big collaborative development process, then a whole industrial supply chain. But I get the sense that there was still more individual work done then than there is now. We barely think to attribute the smartphone or 3d printers to one person.

[@zaco-km3su]

Loom up the LG Prada aka LG KE850.

[@Anyideas14]

Where is Keith from?

[@AlderDragon]

Do the Ediswan bulbs still work?

[@mastrammasti5201]

Brady plz do a video on Charles Messier , its his 286th birthday this month!!

[@BariumCobaltNitrog3n]

Also Westinghouse, a rival to Edison, is still in business. What does Edison have going?

[@thomasadams9990]

General Electric is kind of a big deal.

[@steven_003]

1:40 He sounds a bit like a father explaining something to his son. xD

[@lovingboarding]

Amazing how nothing has been broken so far.

[@Osentalka]

Time for a crossover vid with Photonicinduction?

[@cyber746]

I wonder if the lightbulbs still work ?

[@kopynd1]

yer but what concerns me more is who invented the electric bill, simple explanation straight to the point

[@boumbh]

Are they still working?

[@yousorooo]

Given that it's only a simple light bulb, I would say they will still work. However they will burn out fairly quickly since the metal is probably rusted.

[@boumbh]

Derek Leung If it is carbon filament it won't rust. And I think that tungsten in inert gas won't rust either. I would be amazed that the these bulbs still work but... they didn't say so... I heard that old light bulbs had a good longevity...

[@MikeMayer7]

How do I get Keith's job?

[@johnallardyce4164]

See later comments about Keith being an Immortal.

[@PMaldeev]

Actually Pavel Yablochkov demonstrated his incandescent light bulb at an exhibition in London in 1876.

[@Tevildo]

Well, that was just an arc lamp, already invented by Davy in the first decade of the nineteenth century. Swan invented the _incandescent_ lamp. (And Yablochkov exhibited his lamp in Paris, not London).

[@PMaldeev]

You're right it wasn't incadescent but still the demonstration took place in London. Yablochkov was sent to London exposition of scientific instruments as a Breguet representative.

[@PMaldeev]

Although Swan wasn't the first. Before him were Lodygin, Robert-Houdin, de la Rue and many others.

[@ricardo.mazeto]

On 1:38, you can see a whole Hello Internet discussion going through Brady's head.

[@JamesJoyceJazz]

why am i dealing with bayonet fixtures when these globes from the very beginning were already screw bottomed???

[@comsubpac]

What about Heinrich Goebel in 1854?

[@WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1]

Sir Joseph Swan, a Sunderland man. Even here, he is not as famous as perhaps he should be.

[@freedom4life123]

Im a mackem and I knee of him, the even had a factory in Hendon called ediswan :)

[@erictaylor5462]

Edison didn't invent the light bulb, but while everyone else, following Swan's way using carbon filaments, Edison used tungsten, which lasted much much longer.

[@bulman07]

Okay, paused. I thought Joseph Swan as well! #TeamKeith

[@bulman07]

And I live down the road from Sir Charles Parsons' turbine factory! It's now a Siemens plant

[@TheMaplestrip]

Ediswan? I ship it.

[@Renaissance-fw1ox]

it was humphry Davy the only problem is his invention was Impractical

[@vinzent1992]

If you get a locksmith out he'll just tell you that it's an un-pickable lock and that he'll have to drill it..

[@batbawls]

83k subscribers. A damn shame.

[@culwin]

You can't mention Edison on KZbin without hipsters getting mad and talking about Tesla.

[@ColossalZonko]

but what if it's the truth?

[@GruntUltra]

BTW, I hate Edison and Tesla was my hero. Wait.. what did you just do here?

[@andljoy]

Whist true , we would not have modern electricity grids without Westinghouse and Tesla. Edison's DC system was quite crude and impractical for long distance power distrobution

[@johnallardyce4164]

That is because Edison was using DC power, Tesla had to invent AC/DC power for General Electric. Look it up.

[@Wolf3fd]

Wow 100 years old and ALMOST IDENTICAL TO NOWADAYS LIGHTBULBS.... no improvement there :D nice!

[@peterfireflylund]

There are plenty of improvements. They use an inert gas instead of a vacuum, they use tungsten filaments instead of carbon, they use "getters" to get rid of the last bits of unwanted oxygen inside the bulb, etc.

[@litigioussociety4249]

Unless you use the fluorescent corkscrew ones; although, the original Tesla bulbs were also round.

[@johnallardyce4164]

Duh! that is because he worked with Edison and got paid for it

[@AdityaKumar-ij5ok]

1:21 me and boys looking at Einstein's general relativity Wikipedia page. there are no other boys😂😅😭😭

[@ianturpin9180]

Swan sued Edison in the USA and won. So all bulbs sold by Edison were labelled Edison, Swan

[@WacKEDmaN]

didnt Tesla also invent a bulb..which edison took and branded as his own?

[@gazzaboo8461]

Tesla worked for Edison for a time, and in Edison world, employees don't get credit.

[@zakbyington9619]

earliest ever

[@hindosgottenberg237]

Is there any truth to the story that one of Thomas Edison's assistants/underlings was the one to discover the lightbulb?

[@wisedragon173]

hindos Gottenberg No. There were about 20 inventors came up with the light bulb idea from the 1820’s forward, Edison just worked through many of the challenges, from the filament material to household and commercial-sized electrical generators for the basement of that building. Joseph Swan developed what we would call a modern light bulb sometime around 1860.

[@rvtech-sn9ef]

Another light the real inventor was Francisco Javier Estrada from San Luis potosi Mexico he inverted ofciuse Mexican will never be recognized specially from USA also another big lie from the US government is that Edison wasn't born in Ohio yup he was born and raised in Zacatecas Mexico in sombrerete Zacatecas Mexico to be exact the house still has a plate with their last names also Edison visited many times Francisco what a coincidence 2 years after Francisco inverted Edison went tell the world he did it

[@rvtech-sn9ef]

Another lie not light

[@superj1e2z6]

And so the search for the obligatory Edison hate comments has begun.

[@elliottmcollins]

Edison gets such a bad rap thanks to Mr. The Oatmeal. He was an innovator and businessman.

[@fun_kay]

+Elliott Collins well that and he was a zellot with patents that were bearly his

[@TheChipmunk2008]

No, he gets a bad rap because he was a murdering git.

[@MisterTalkingMachine]

I just love/cringe at how people start sucking Tesla 's _inductor_ after hearing Edison's name, even though he wasn't even close to being involved in the video.

[@johnallardyce4164]

3:54 /facepalm ..... Brady, you forgot about TESLA !!!!!

[@-.._.-_...-_.._-..__..._.-.-.-]

As an American, I am appalled that you would have the audacity to call them fairy lights.

[@RonJohn63]

Fairies need the light to see their boots...

[@JohnDoe-lr5fy]

Second.

[@Eric_D_6]

We all know Edison's version was actually invented by an un-paid intern of his lab.

[@ArnimSommer]

Next: who invented radio?

[@comsubpac]

Swadislaus Radiosky of course.

[@nickhill9445]

Well Done Brady! Got through a video without stirring up a political hornet's nest. British sentiment over the EU is perhaps stronger than you imagine.

[@austoful]

Thomas Edison didn't invent it yes, but he perfected the carbon filament! (with his team) and made them affordable.

[@lesterclaypool1]

no and it was not swan either a Canadian by the Mathew Evans years before these two he already had the patten on a working bulb

[@beyondbeyond1965]

+lesterclaypool1 Are you a spambot?

[@zaco-km3su]

I really wonder if Edison invented anything.

[@gazzaboo8461]

Edison was a bit like todays Apple, take what exists and make it more sellable and imply it was your own invention without explicitly stating it by using phrases like we 'developed' a new whatever... That way, people think you came up with the idea and call you a genius.

[@michaelharrison1093]

Yes Edison did invent one thing - the word "Hello" as a word of greating to use when talking on the telephone. He invented this word out of spite to try and displace the then official greating word "Ahoy" which had been proposed by Graham Bell.

[@tabaks]

No, I would not say that Edison invented the light bulb. However, I would make a blanket statement about how he was a unscrupulous abuser of other people's work and ideas.

[@rvtech-sn9ef]

Exactly and USA government helped him in everything the one who invented was Francisco Javier Estrada from San Luis potosi Mexico also another big lie from the US government is that Edison wasn't born in Ohio he was born in sombrerete Zacatecas Mexico

[@LanceBeckman]

wait Brady is Australian?

[@johnallardyce4164]

Yes.

[@Marynz]

3rd

[@ThomasHaberkorn]

wasn't it a German dude?

[@2nd3rd1st]

You're probably thinking of Heinrich Göbel, but there were 22 inventors prior to Edison and Swan who have a claim at inventing incandescent light bulbs.

[@Markle2k]

Limelight is not powered by electricity. It requires a dangerous fuel.

[@Markle2k]

MichaelKingsfordGray Candles are incandescent light by your new standard. Who has the patent on candles? This video is about practical electrical incandescent bulbs, not clever ways to make a gas light brighter by introducing calcium oxide to a hydrogen-oxygen torch.

[@Tuttomenui]

I wouldn't say Edison. Edison was a prick.

[@TimeGallon]

Brits claiming that Brits are better than Americans. No bias here.

[@freedom4life123]

Thats because we ARE better.. We are the fathers of most inventions that paved the way for the civilization that is now. Dont compare US with "GREAT"Britain

[@lesterclaypool1]

three years before Swan did this a Canadian already had the patten thats three years before ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, LOOK IT UP 1874 Mathew Evans ,,,, 5 years before Edison and three before Swan ,,, epic fail

[@TheJohnboyhunter]

lesterclaypool1 Swan was working on incandescent light bulbs from around 1850 onwards and had a UK patent (not patten) for one in 1860. Even then there were many others who had been working on incandescent light bulbs before Swan.

[@TheJohnboyhunter]

lesterclaypool1 Swan was working on incandescent light bulbs from around 1850 onwards and had a UK patent (not patten) for one in 1860. Even then there were many others who had been working on incandescent light bulbs before Swan.

[@oshaugh143]

Others might say Thomas Edison, but I said Nikola Tesla

[@lesterclaypool1]

you might want to look up mathew evans year before both of these two he already had the patten and made a working light bulb three years before Swan and five years before Edison

[@dubsy1026]

lesterclaypool1 no, he was over 14 years after Swan's patent.

[@rchuso]

Edison was a joke - "borrowing" his ideas from others. Tesla did it right.

[@litigioussociety4249]

He was an entrepreneur taking ideas, concepts, and inventions, and finding ways to make them practical and profitable. The inventor claim was part of an advertising campaign he used after having purchased the rights to the light bulb from Swan for use in America. Somewhere along the line culture and media managed to create the notion that Edison invented his light bulb from scratch. In reality, Humphry Davy discovered the basic reaction needed to invent the light bulb.