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Who invented the lightbulb?

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Re: Who invented the lightbulb?

#21

Post by ljosifov »

turing_complete wrote: post #7

I really recommend "How Innovation Works" by Matt Ridley to better understand the history of different inventions and innovations. It also dispels the myth of the singular event of invention by a single person. Rather innovation is a process of compilation.

I would like to second - "How Innovation Works" by Matt Ridley is an excellent book. I see the kindle version is £1.99 on amazon.co.uk atm - what a bargain. Most innovations we all enjoy and cherish are a product of long chain of trial and error by different people at different times. Often the theory is understood poorly (if at all) at the time of the invention, and developed after. Luck plays a role in particular person X inventing Y at time Z. But given the number of other people (not-X) that come up with similar invention ~Y at similar time ~Z, looks like Y would have been invented by someone at about time Z.

Re: Who invented the lightbulb?

#22

Post by 082349872349872 »

ecmascript wrote: post #2

Politicians before: "Vote for me, we will do xyz, create a great future and change history!" Politicians today: "Vote for me, we will do xyz and change history ...books"

"History is more or less bunk." — Our Ford.

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2018/01/14/fact-check-what-...

(that was 1916. Later, Ford would become more outspoken, leading to current debate as to what degree he sympathised with certain european politicians known for claiming to create a great future and change history.)

Re: Who invented the lightbulb?

#23

Post by doe88 »

m-i-l wrote: post #9

If questions like this become political within a US-specific persepctive, they can have an element of nationalism when considered with a more global perspective. Many people in the UK know the story of UK-based Joseph Swan developing his own bulb, patenting it, setting up a company and selling it, supplying homes and businesses such as The Savoy, and then a US marketer called Edison later coming along and taking cred…

Everything is nationalistic and/or political. Even the ownership of the Mont Blanc's summit is disputed. Frenchs think it is French, italians think it is Italian.

Re: Who invented the lightbulb?

#24

Post by bluGill »

dirktheman wrote: post #10

Related: the Pleasanton fire department has the oldest still functioning lightbulb. Apparently it was manufactured in the late 1890's, and has been in service with the fire department since 1901. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Light

Not the oldest still functioning light. But the oldest in normal use - there are older bulbs in museums that are turned on for special occasions (by experts doing their best to ensure it won't burn out). This bulb is installed and used as a bulb. (though mostly it is there as a historical element - modern bulbs produce more light and would have replaced it if there wasn't a historical reason to keep it around)

Re: Who invented the lightbulb?

#25

Post by frosted-flakes »

sigillum wrote: post #15
m-i-l wrote: post #9

If questions like this become political within a US-specific persepctive, they can have an element of nationalism when considered with a more global perspective. Many people in the UK know the story of UK-based Joseph Swan developing his own bulb, patenting it, setting up a company and selling it, supplying homes and businesses such as The Savoy, and then a US marketer called Edison later coming along and taking cred…

a more vivid example is when a single inventor is claimed by multiple national propagandas e.g. Sklodowska-Curie was a polish woman living in France who discovered radium and polonium.

The same is true of the game of basketball, which was invented by a Canadian (James Naismith) in Massachusetts in 1891.

Re: Who invented the lightbulb?

#26

Post by sradman »

turing_complete wrote: post #7

I really recommend "How Innovation Works" by Matt Ridley to better understand the history of different inventions and innovations. It also dispels the myth of the singular event of invention by a single person. Rather innovation is a process of compilation.

In addition to Matt Ridley, Stephen Johnson has written several popular books on innovation and "The Wizard of Menlo Park" by Randall Stross is a wonderful book on Thomas Edison.

What I find missing in the original Steven Novella article is the role of the dynamo [1] as an enabling technology for the lightbulb, and indeed, the second industrial revolution:

> Commercial electricity production started in 1870 with the coupling of the dynamo to the hydraulic turbine. The mechanical production of electric power began the Second Industrial Revolution and made possible several inventions using electricity, with the major contributors being Thomas Alva Edison and Nikola Tesla. Previously the only way to produce electricity was by chemical reactions or using battery cells, and the only practical use of electricity was for the telegraph.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_generation#History

Re: Who invented the lightbulb?

#28

Post by distances »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #19

Seems Edison invented the light bulb in much the same way Steve Jobs invented the modern smartphone. Both took existing technology, added the missing pieces to make it a wide scale, must have product, created an ecosystem around it, and popularized it to the market, and reaped massive monetary rewards. As far as the regular person is concerned, calling the person most responsible for the widespread adoption of a tech…

> As far as the regular person is concerned, calling the person most responsible for the widespread adoption of a technology the “inventor” is probably more right than wrong.

I really don't see how it would be so. They would be the marketer. Case in point from your example: nobody considers Jobs to invent smartphone, touchscreen, or really any other technological piece. He's credited for the iPhone as a concept that for the first time combined the separate, already existing pieces plus marketing.

Re: Who invented the lightbulb?

#29

Post by samizdis »

m-i-l wrote: post #9

If questions like this become political within a US-specific persepctive, they can have an element of nationalism when considered with a more global perspective. Many people in the UK know the story of UK-based Joseph Swan developing his own bulb, patenting it, setting up a company and selling it, supplying homes and businesses such as The Savoy, and then a US marketer called Edison later coming along and taking cred…

Bill Bryson's book Made in America, although mainly about language (US v British English), also deals with many false and/or disputed claims about who invented what.

On the language side, it also points out that many "Americanisms", oft-derided by certain sorts of English people, are actually nothing of the sort, but rather original English retained in American usage.

An entertaining and informatie read, in my opinion.

Re: Who invented the lightbulb?

#30

Post by noxer »

>While Edison’s contribution to the lightbulb was significant, he did not “invent” the lightbulb. At most he put the last piece into place.....

So he did invent it. Being the first that puts stuff together to get a working result is exactly what everyone means if they say someone invented something. That it builds on existing inventions is the norm.

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