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Thomas Edison's Light Bulb
1880
The "incandescent lamp"
Less than a year after he developed the first practical light bulb, Thomas Edison designed this version, the first to have all the essential features of a modern light bulb: an incandescent filament in an evacuated glass bulb with a screw base. The most critical factor was finding the right material for the filament, the part inside the light bulb that glows when an electric current is passed through it. Edison tested more than 1,600 materials, including coconut fiber, fishing line--even hairs from a workers' beard. Finally, Edison decided to use for the filament: carbonized bamboo.
Notes
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Thomas Alva Edison, born February 11, 1847, Milan, OH; died October 18, 1931, West Orange, NJ |
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