Light Bulb & Lighting History

The History of Lighting

Currently the LED light is popular as a result of it's efficiency as well as it's 'brand-new' modern technology. The LED has actually been around for over 50 years. The recent increase of white LEDs is what has brought it into the public eye as a replacement for various other white lights.

In the beginning (RED):

LEDs obtained their beginning as lights for circuit boards as well as small electric tools. Early lights were very durable, had a fairly low lumen output, and were extremely energy effective. In 1961, Gary Pittman and also Bob Biard from Texas Instruments found that gallium-arsenide diode emits infrared light every time it is connected to current. The same year they obtained a patent for infrared LED. Nick Holonyak Jr. established in 1962 the first light-emitting diode that sent out light in the visible part of the frequency range. It was a red LED.

LEDs (BLUE):

LEDs were limited in replacing fluorescent light bulbs as well as neon in lighted signs. It had not been until 1976 that the first 'high' illumination LED was developed by T P Pearsall that could use fibre optic telecommunications. The discovery of blue LED resulted in a much more efficient means to generate white light but the very first ones that were produced were very costly and not readily available.

LEDs (Green):

Throughout the mid-1970s, researchers started utilizing only Gallium Phosphide to make LEDs that released a light green light. These experiments caused enhanced variations of LEDs by the end of the decade. These LEDs could create pure green light. The LED-based lights readily available today aim the blue light at a phosphor, which then emits green light.

LED 21st Century (White):

The 2014 Nobel Prize for physics was granted to three scientists in Japan and the US for the development of blue light emitting diodes (LEDs).

Although red and also green LEDs had actually been around for several years, blue LEDs were a long-lasting difficulty for scientists in both academic community and industry. Without them, the three colors could not be mixed to produce the white light we currently see in LED-based computer system and TV screens. In addition, the high-energy blue light can be used to excite phosphorus as well as directly generate white light - the basis of the next generation of light bulb.

Gradually LEDs have become brighter and also more reliable. Second generation LED technology has the capability to string multiple LEDs into a single circuit. In time, LEDs also came to be preferable for outside use.

Many businesses today are starting to change to LED light with the benefit that it is more environmentally friendly as well as cost effective over time.

Introduction & History of Light Bulbs & Lighting