400 BCE
Chinese citizens use bamboo pipes to carry natural gas captured from volcanic seepage to light their capital city, Peking.
50 BCE
Some public spaces in Rome have rudimentary lighting after dark.
They use large metal oil lamps based on Greek ceramic designs that are already 750 years old, with a fibrous wick and a reservoir of vegetable oil.
1807
Gas lights are installed on London’s Pall Mall by German businessman Frederick Albert Winsor, having first used them to illuminate a garden wall for the King of England’s birthday. Gas production and lighting spreads rapidly across the industrialised world.
1857
French engineers Lacassagne and Thiers install electric lighting on La Rue Impériale in Lyons, France – the first street to be lit by a permanent electrical installation.
1885
Auer von Welsbach patents his first gas mantle, later modified into a fine net of asbestos fibre coated with a mix of 99 percent thorium and one percent caesium. The intense bright light it generates gives gas lighting the advantage over electric for decades to come.
1932
The low pressure sodium lamp is first introduced commercially. It is distinctive because it changes in colour from red to orange to yellow as it warms up. Colours don’t show up well in it but it is still used worldwide because of its efficient conversion of power into light.
1961
The high pressure sodium lamp, also known as the high intensity discharge light, comes to market when the USbased General Electric launches the Lucalox, popular because most colours show up well in it.
2008
Philips unveils the extraordinary Light Blossom, an LED street lamp with solar panels and “petals” that open to act as wind turbines and generate electricity
Chinese citizens use bamboo pipes to carry natural gas captured from volcanic seepage to light their capital city, Peking.
50 BCE
Some public spaces in Rome have rudimentary lighting after dark.
They use large metal oil lamps based on Greek ceramic designs that are already 750 years old, with a fibrous wick and a reservoir of vegetable oil.
1807
Gas lights are installed on London’s Pall Mall by German businessman Frederick Albert Winsor, having first used them to illuminate a garden wall for the King of England’s birthday. Gas production and lighting spreads rapidly across the industrialised world.
1857
French engineers Lacassagne and Thiers install electric lighting on La Rue Impériale in Lyons, France – the first street to be lit by a permanent electrical installation.
1885
Auer von Welsbach patents his first gas mantle, later modified into a fine net of asbestos fibre coated with a mix of 99 percent thorium and one percent caesium. The intense bright light it generates gives gas lighting the advantage over electric for decades to come.
1932
The low pressure sodium lamp is first introduced commercially. It is distinctive because it changes in colour from red to orange to yellow as it warms up. Colours don’t show up well in it but it is still used worldwide because of its efficient conversion of power into light.
1961
The high pressure sodium lamp, also known as the high intensity discharge light, comes to market when the USbased General Electric launches the Lucalox, popular because most colours show up well in it.
2008
Philips unveils the extraordinary Light Blossom, an LED street lamp with solar panels and “petals” that open to act as wind turbines and generate electricity
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