Inventions
Fluorescent Lamp
Electrical Engineering
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A fluorescent lamp, or fluorescent tube, is a low-pressure mercury-vapor gas-discharge lamp that produces visible light by fluorescence: an electric current excites mercury vapor to emit ultraviolet light, which in turn makes a phosphor coating on the inside of the tube glow, converting electrical energy into visible light far more efficiently than an incandescent bulb, at roughly 50 to 100 lumens per watt against an incandescent bulb's 16. A team led by George E. Inman at General Electric's Nela Park laboratory in Ohio built a working prototype in 1934, drawing on decades of earlier research by numerous scientists including Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and European researchers into gas-discharge lighting. General Electric began commercial sales of fluorescent lumiline lamps in four tube sizes in 1938, and the company's control of the key patents helped fluorescent lighting spread quickly through offices, factories and homes over the following decades.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Invented By
Nikola Tesla, Engineers Named among the scientists whose decades of earlier research into gas-discharge lighting the General Electric team led by George E. Inman drew on when it built the first working fluorescent lamp prototype in 1934.
Thomas Edison, Engineers Named among the scientists whose decades of earlier research into gas-discharge lighting the General Electric team led by George E. Inman drew on when it built the first working fluorescent lamp prototype in 1934.
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