Technology and Engineering Atlas

How Things Are Built
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme

Switch Atlas

Invention

Incandescent Light Bulb

Electrical Engineering

An incandescent light bulb, also known as an incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe, is an electric light that produces illumination by Joule heating a filament until it glows. Thomas Edison's carbon-filament lamp underwent a successful test on 22 October 1879. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Year
1879 1
Sourced to the subject's own accountQuote refers to Thomas Edison's carbon-filament lamp per the source's surrounding text; earlier incandescent lamps by other inventors, including Joseph Swan, are also described in the source.
Connections

Associated With

Electrical Engineering, Fields
Glass, Materials

The incandescent light bulb encloses its filament in a glass envelope.

Irving Langmuir, Engineers
Source Irving Langmuir - Biographical (NobelPrize.org)

In Field

Electrical Engineering, Fields
Source Incandescent Light Bulb (Wikipedia)

Invented By

Thomas Edison, Engineers

His carbon-filament lamp achieved a successful long-duration test on October 22, 1879.

Source Incandescent Light Bulb (Wikipedia)

Long-Form Articles

Who invented the light bulb: a lamp, a patent or a system, Articles
In the Other Atlases

Invented By

Thomas Edison

Also in Energy Atlas: the inventor of this subject.

Sources
1. Incandescent Light Bulb (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia
  • Lead section (entity-description)
    An incandescent light bulb, also known as an incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe, is an electric light that produces illumination by Joule heating a filament until it glows.
  • History section (Edison's test)
    The first successful test was on 22 October 1879.
  • In Field: Electrical Engineering, Lead section
    An incandescent light bulb, also known as an incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe, is an electric light that produces illumination by Joule heating a filament until it glows.
View the Source
Irving Langmuir - Biographical (NobelPrize.org)
Associated With: Irving Langmuir, Biographical, filaments paragraph
Quote, Associated With: Irving Langmuir, Biographical, filaments paragraph
led directly to the invention of the gasfilled incandescent lamp
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.