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Incandescent light bulb

Lindsay demonstrated a Constant Electric Light

1835
Dundee, Scotland, UK

In 1835, James Bowman Lindsay demonstrated a constant electric light at a public meeting in Dundee, Scotland. He stated that he could "read a book at a distance of one and a half feet". Lindsay, a lecturer at the Watt Institution in Dundee, Scotland, at the time, had developed a light that was not combustible, created no smoke or smell, and was less expensive to produce than Davy's platinum-dependent bulb. However, having perfected the device to his own satisfaction, he turned to the problem of wireless telegraphy and did not develop the electric light any further. His claims are not well documented, although he is credited in Challoner et al. with being the inventor of the "Incandescent Light Bulb".


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