Who was the inventor of fluorescent lamps?

Answer 1

The term "Fluorescent" dates back to approximately 1845-1852 where the English mathematician-physicist George Gabriel Stokes from Cambridge University named this "phenomenon" after fluorite, a strongly fluorescent mineral.
The invention of the fluorescent light is a string of discoveries and developments by many people in several countries. It was developed over 80 years since the invention of the working electric light bulb by Thomas Edison. Like so many things that we take for granted today, fluorescent lighting is the result of numerous small additions to the knowledge and technology of the time.

The development started with experiments in the 1840s by British scientists, George C. Stokes, Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell. A German glass blower, Heinrich Geissler, continued with the experiments and in 1856 produced a vacuum tube that would produce a green glow when a current was passed through it. The tube had little practical value because the green light didn't provide useful illumination. However, Julius Plucker and Alexandre Bequerel experimented with the tube. Bequerel discovered that certain minerals glowed when they were in an operating tube and added coatings to the inside of the tube that would glow.


At the 1893 World's Fair, the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois displayed Nikola Tesla's fluorescent lights.

In 1896, Thomas Edison put a calcium coating into the tube and generated useful light. The short life of the tube meant that it never went into production. Nicola Tesla contributed with variations of the tube, again without producing a commercial product. Daniel Moore continued Edison's work and 1904 saw his tubes being used commercially for some limited applications.

In 1894, D. McFarlane Moore created the Moore lamp, a commercial gas discharge lamp meant to compete with the incandescent light bulb of his former boss Thomas Edison. The gases used were nitrogen and carbon dioxide emitting respectively pink and white light, and had moderate success.

An American engineer, Peter Cooper Hewitt (1861-1921) developed the mercury vapor lamp at the same time. It produced yet another green light output so its practical application was limited.
Peter Cooper Hewitt patented (U.S. patent 889,692) the first mercury vapor lamp in 1901. The low pressure mercury arc lamp of Peter Cooper Hewitt is the very first prototype of today's modern fluorescent lights.

In France, George Claude made neon and argon tubes which glowed red and blue respectively. Although it was not of practical use for illlumination, the neon tubes employed electrodes that were longer lasting than others of the time. Fellow Frenchman Jacques Risler added a fluorescent coating to Claude's tubes and his product made it to commercial production.
In Germany, Friedrich Meyer, Hans-Joachim Spanner, and Edmund Germer all worked on low pressure vapor lamps. Although they achieved technical success, their lamp was never manufactured commerically.

General Electric had interests in the new lighting technology and had purchased several patents including Germer's. It came down to George E. Inman and his team of engineers at GE to turn the technology into a commercially viable product. There were a number of legal battles that were fought during the 1920s and 1930s to establish the rights to the technologies. Because of the number of people who contributed to the product, there were numerous patents that affected it. Commercial sales of fluorescent lamps by GE commenced in 1938.


It has been reported that Agapito Flores, a Philippino inventor, received a French patent for a fluorescent bulb and that the General Electric Company bought Flores' patent rights and manufactured and sold his fluorescent bulb (making millions from it). However, all the inventors named above and more predate Agapito Flores' possible work on any fluorescent bulb.

According to Dr. Benito Vergara of the Philippine Science Heritage Center, "As far as I could learn, a certain Flores presented the idea of fluorescent light to Manuel Quezon when he became president. At that time, General Electric Co. had already presented the fluorescent light to the public."


There are other names that do not get mentioned in this brief answer. Each person made their own important contribution and although they are not mentioned, credit should be given to each person who experimented, played, observed and developed the science and technology surrounding the development. Although the early part of the 20th century saw large companies funding and sponsoring inventors and developers, there were many who carried out work without other funding. Perhaps it is the independent experimenters who deserve special recognition for their work.


See the related links below for more information about the history of the fluorescent lamp.
Bondi Junction Edgecliff Kings s\

Answer 2

The History of Fluorescent Lights Inventors: Peter Cooper Hewitt, Edmund Germer, George Inman and Richard Thayer.

The question was FLOURESCEN LAMP! NOT light!

I t was invented by filipino Agapito flores

Please link site below

http://www.txtmania.com/trivia/inventions.php

Isn't Agapito developed the Fluorescent Lamp circuit? It seems that the use of ballast and starter is unique among other relative inventions.

Answer 3

Between 1895 and 1904, one of Thomas Edison's former employees, Daniel McFarlan Moore, created fluorescent lighting systems. Edison himself had abandoned these experiments.

Answer 4

Agapito Flores (a Filipino scientist)