When You Think About It: The Electric Light Bulb

Words and photo by F LoBuono

The thing is, we don't often think about it, if we think about it at all. It's so simple in form and function. It is so much so, in fact, it would be fair to call it's design sublime. Yet, when you do give it some thought, its invention must be considered one of mankind's greatest feats. Its arrival ushered in an entirely new era of not only learning, but LIVING itself. Of course, we are talking about the electric lightbulb.

Before the inception of electricity and the electric light bulb, most great human endeavors, for obvious reasons, were conducted during daylight hours. We don't see well in the dark. Sure, in an attempt to overcome the darkness and extend our activities, we have used various sources to provide artificial light. From camp fires to candles to oil and then gas lamps, man, from the very beginning of time, has looked to conquer the night. But these sources of light provided only a flickering (literally) glimpse of how we might actually accomplish this. In a sense, we were only living half our lives; those in daylight. It wasn't until Thomas A. Edison's brilliant invention of electricity and the light bulb that this was actually achieved. With all due respect to Nikola Tesla, Edison's remarkable creation changed the world forever - and so much for the better.

So simple. Yet, so powerful. Think about it. Look at it. The design is so subtle: thin, blown glass capped by a piece of thin, conductive metal. Inside, a vacuum is created and a few wires are connected to a filament no thicker than a human hair. The electricity is passed through the filament to create heat and, subsequently, light. Still, it took thousands of years of human experience and thousands of hours of experimentation to create it.

In order to truly appreciate the power of electricity and artificial light, think about what our lives would be without them. Those of us who live in the Northeast got just a small glimpse of what life would be like today without power and light. After Super Storm Sandy, all of us lost power for some time. Some lost it for quite a bit of time. And I think we can all attest to how downright frightening it was. It showed us just how much we've come to rely on, and take for granted, the fact that power and light will always be there for us - with the simple flick of a switch.

Sure, the electric light bulb has changed over the years. Now, there are incandescent bulbs, florescent bulbs, LED bulbs. etc. But all of them owe a debt of gratitude to the simple filament light bulb like the one pictured about. Because, When You Think About It, without that first bulb, you wouldn't have scenes like the one featured below.