Electric light, one of the everyday conveniences that most affects our lives, was not invented in

traditional sense by Thomas Alva Edison in 1879, although he could be said to have created the
first commercially practical incandescent light bulb. He was neither the first person to try to
invent an incandescent light bulb, nor the only one. Actually, some historians claim that prior to
Edison’s version, there were over 20 inventors of incandescent lamps. However, Edison is often
credited because his version was able to outstrip earlier versions due to a combination of three
factors: an effective incandescent material, a higher vacuum than others, and a high resistance
that made the distribution of power from a centralized source economically viable.

People could now carry on their daily lives in the evening. They weren’t limited around their
homes, they could walk the streets easily ever night and they could even go shopping during the
evening.

Productivity is limited to daylight hours when all you have is natural light. Light bulbs
changed the world by allowing us to be active at night. Two dozen individuals, according to
historians, played an instrumental role in inventing incandescent lamps during the 1800’s;
Thomas Edison is credited as the primary inventor because in 1879, he created a fully functional
lighting system, including a generator and wiring as well as a carbon-filament bulb like the one
on the left.