ReMaking History, Volume 2

Chapter 11 Humphry Davy and the Arc Light

Despite what you’ve heard, Thomas Edison did not invent the first electric light. Although there is still some controversy about this issue, it does seem that he may deserve credit for the first electric light bulb. But more than 70 years before Edison’s 1879 incandescent lamp patent, the English scientist Humphry Davy developed a technique for producing controlled light from electricity.

Sir Humphry Davy was one of the giants of 19th-century science. A fellow of the prestigious Royal Society, Davy is credited with first isolating elemental sodium, strontium, calcium, and barium and with inventing ...