In 1879, Thomas Edison invented light bulb. That’s all we know about the discovery of light bulb. So what if I tell you the light bulb was already invented in 1806.  Seventy five years back before Edison even started working on it. Let’s find out who truly invented the light bulb.

Who invented the light bulb in 1806?   

Humphrey Davy was the true inventor of the light bulb. He first came up with the idea of a light bulb in 1806. Although Humphrey conceived the idea first but he took way too long to give his idea life. In 1806, the Englishman Humphrey publicly exhibited the crude device to the Royal Society. This electric lamp was named as Arc Lamp.

The lamp created by Humphrey was too bright for human eye. In that lamp, an electric spark was created between two charcoal rods. Humphrey’s electric lamp could be compared with the welding machine light. Well, that light was very much bright to be utilized in offices and homes. Another problem with the crude device is the amount of energy it required to illuminate. Even high storage batteries were not enough to operate it.

Who truly invented the light bulb?

The credit for the discovery of first incandescent bulb goes to Thomas Edison. In year 1878, Thomas Edison really wanted to create a bulb that consumed low energy and was also comfortable for human eye. So Thomas become serious in researching for a practical incandescent bulb. Thomas along with his team in the Edison’s laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey started on creating the best light bulb. More than 3,000 designs were tested between the years 1878 to 1880.

Patent by Thomas Edison

On October 14, 1878, Thomas filed a patent in the name of “Improvement in Electric Lights”. In the next year (1879), Thomas Edison filed a patent request for the creation of first electric light with carbon filament.

What if the light bulb was never invented?

What if Thomas Edison would gave up? If Thomas stopped trying than we may be using candles which run out really fast. Or perhaps we had no light to see anything at night.

Now you have an answer for the question”who truly invented the light bulb?” Although the full credit for inventing the light bulb not go to Thomas Edison. But we should thank him for the creation of normal light bulb. Thanks Thomas!