- 1840, first usable light bulb. Warren De la Rue enclosed a coiled platinum filament in a vacuum tube and passed an electric current through it. Worked fine. Platinum had a high enough melting point and could be drawn into wire, but was too expensive.
- 1840-1911 - era of crappy carbon filament light bulbs. Some fooling around with tantalum and osmium, but too expensive. Early tungsten work.
- 1906, William D. Coolidge at General Electric figures out how to make tungsten wire from tungsten powder. Finally, a cheap high-temperature (3410° C) wire. By 1911, GE is shipping tungsten-filament lamps. Same concept as de la Rue, but much cheaper. Tungsten filaments dominate incandescent bulbs thereafter.
- 1840, first usable light bulb. Warren De la Rue enclosed a coiled platinum filament in a vacuum tube and passed an electric current through it. Worked fine. Platinum had a high enough melting point and could be drawn into wire, but was too expensive.
- 1840-1911 - era of crappy carbon filament light bulbs. Some fooling around with tantalum and osmium, but too expensive. Early tungsten work.
- 1906, William D. Coolidge at General Electric figures out how to make tungsten wire from tungsten powder. Finally, a cheap high-temperature (3410° C) wire. By 1911, GE is shipping tungsten-filament lamps. Same concept as de la Rue, but much cheaper. Tungsten filaments dominate incandescent bulbs thereafter.