Who invented the electric light bulb?

(Dan Tri Newspaper) - Electric lights are one of the most important inventions in history. They are much safer than previous light sources and allow people to do more after sunset.

Many people believe that the inventor and businessman Thomas Edison, who created the first commercial lighting and electrical systems in America, is the "father" of the electric light bulb.

But according to Professor Ernest Freeberg—a historian and author of a book about how electric lighting changed America—the real story is much more complex and fascinating than that.

It shows that complex inventions are not created by a single genius, no matter how talented that person may be, but by many creative minds and hands working together on a problem.

Creating and transmitting light

In the 1870s, Edison raced against other inventors to create light from electricity. Americans were eager to abandon gas and oil lamps in favor of something cleaner and safer than candles and gas lamps.

When Edison began this challenge, he learned from the ideas of other inventors. They were all trying to find a way to pass an electric current through a thin carbon fiber wrapped in glass, making it hot enough to glow without burning.

For example, in England, chemist Joseph Swan was granted a patent for the incandescent light bulb and lit his home in 1878. Later, in 1881, at a major electrical exhibition in Paris, Edison and several other inventors demonstrated their light bulbs.

Edison's version appears to be the brightest and most durable. In 1882, he connected it to a complete system, illuminating dozens of homes and offices in central Manhattan.

But Edison's light bulb was only part of a much more complex system, which included a large generator along with a network of underground wires and new types of lamps. Edison also created a meter to measure the amount of electricity each household used, so he could calculate the price for his customers.

A sketch of Edison's Pearl Street Station at 255-257 Pearl Street, New York City's financial district. This station, which generated electricity by burning coal, began operating in 1882 and ran until 1895 (Photo: Earl Morter, IEEE Global History Network/Con Edison, Wikimedia).

Invent a “factory of invention”

However, Edison did not solve these technical challenges on his own.

At his farm laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, Edison hired a team of skilled technicians who were well-trained scientists , and he equipped his laboratory with the best tools and materials available at the time.

He liked to boast that he only had a fourth-grade education, but he had enough knowledge to recruit people with the skills he lacked. Edison also convinced banker JP Morgan and other investors to provide financial support to fund his experiments and bring his results to market.

Historians often say that Edison's greatest invention was this collaborative workshop, which he called the "invention factory." It produced many amazing new machines. Edison set the work schedule for the workshop, and he earned the nickname "the Wizard of Menlo Park."

This was the beginning of what we now call "research and development"—a network of universities and laboratories that have produced today's technological breakthroughs, from life-saving vaccines to the internet, as well as many of the improvements in the field of lighting that we use today.

Initiating an electrical revolution.

People have found many ways to use Edison bulbs, such as extending working hours after sunset, opening evening entertainment venues like cinemas and parks; stage directors and photographers can adjust lighting to their liking; doctors use small bulbs for better illumination during surgery, and many other applications of electric light bulbs.

Through these applications, humanity's relationship between day and night has been greatly improved. Edison probably never foresaw how valuable his invention would be.

Today, people can easily get enough light with just the flick of a switch, but behind it lies a whole network of power plants, transmission lines, and poles, operated by teams of engineers and electricians. Electricity has developed into a powerful industry, serving almost all of society's production and living needs.

Edison's first fragile light bulbs were just the beginning of the electrical revolution, contributing to the world filled with light we see today.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/khoa-hoc/ai-da-phat-minh-ra-bong-den-dien-20250930234512206.htm