Electric light bulbs had been around for decades by the 1870s. Most demonstration systems used arc lamps, which seemed far too bright and burned much too hot for indoor household use. In 1878, Thomas ...

__1878: __Joseph Swan demonstrates the electric lamp to the Newcastle Chemical Society in northern England. The incandescent light bulb has become synonymous with Thomas Edison. But Swan was the first ...

Lewis Howard Latimer worked for Thomas Edison and drew patent diagrams for Alexander Graham Bell. A museum in Queens displays his work. By James Barron The Queens home of the Black inventor who ...

The earliest known lamps are some 40,000 years old. Cave dwellers in Western Europe made them by hollowing out stones, and burning animal fat through a wick made of moss. Light is an essential part of ...