Royal society hunts for Britain's oldest working lightbulb

The search is on for Britain's oldest working lightbulb, still glowing after many decades - and possibly beating what are claimed to be the world's oldest working bulbs in the US, both allegedly still burning after a century.It will pain the Royal Society of Chemistry if there isn't an older bulb somewhere among Britain's estimated 903.6m domestic bulbs, given that it was a British scientist and inventor who first demonstrated a working lightbulb, at a Literary and Philosophical Society lecture in Newcastle upon Tyne, on 3 February 1879.On Monday, the 130th anniversary, the chemists will present a Chemical Landmark plaque to the Newcastle society, where a replica of Joseph Swan's pioneering design will be lit.Although the American Thomas Edison is generally credited with inventing the incandescent light bulb, in fact Swan and Edison were working neck and neck on opposite sides of the Atlantic, and after bitter patent battles, eventually...

Read the whole article on The Guardian - Science

More from The Guardian - Science

Related