Ayrton Oneill
The light bulb and the telephone are two of the greatest inventions of all time. Both inventions have had an immeasurable impact on the world, changing the way we live, work and communicate. But which came first? The answer is complicated by the fact that neither invention can be credited to a single inventor. The telephone is often associated with Alexander Graham Bell, who succeeded in making his first successful voice transmission in 1876. However, Elisha Gray was also working on a similar invention at the same time. The light bulb, meanwhile, is mostly associated with Thomas Edison, who patented his incandescent light bulb in 1879 and began commercializing it in 1880. However, British inventors had been demonstrating the possibility of electric light since 1835, and Joseph Swan created a working light bulb in 1877, two years before Edison. So, while the first telephone patent was filed before the first light bulb patent, it's clear that development of the light bulb began earlier.
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What You'll Learn
The telephone or the lightbulb?
The telephone and the lightbulb are both iconic inventions that have had a profound impact on our world. So, which came first?
The telephone was invented by Scottish-born inventor Alexander Graham Bell, who successfully transmitted his first faint but recognisable sentence in March 1876. Bell demonstrated his invention at the Philadelphia Centennial Expo and, in 1877, he set up the Bell Telephone Company, marking the beginning of the telephone's integration into society.
The lightbulb, on the other hand, is often credited to American inventor Thomas Edison. However, it is important to note that several inventors contributed to the development of this technology. In 1800, Italian inventor Alessandro Volta created the first practical method of generating electricity, which is considered one of the earliest forms of incandescent lighting. Later, in 1802, Humphrey Davy produced the world's first electric lamp, known as an electric arc lamp. While these early inventions were not as practical as Edison's lightbulb, they paved the way for his work.
Edison first filed a patent application in 1878 for "Improvement in Electronic Lights", and continued to experiment with different materials. In October 1879, Edison and his team produced a lightbulb with a carbonized filament that could last for 14.5 hours. They continued to refine the design, eventually settling on a bamboo filament that gave the lightbulb a lifetime of up to 1,200 hours. This became the standard for the Edison bulb for the next decade.
So, to answer the question, the telephone came first, with Bell achieving successful voice transmission in 1876, while Edison's lightbulb was first demonstrated in 1879. Both inventions were groundbreaking in their own right and have undoubtedly shaped the modern world.
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Wind or solar energy?
The use of wind energy can be traced back to around 5,000 BC, when people used wind to propel boats along the Nile River. By 200 BC, the ancient Chinese were using simple wind-powered water pumps, and windmills with woven-reed blades were grinding grain in Persia and the Middle East. Windmills were also first used in Hellenistic Greece. By the 9th century, windwheels were being used for practical purposes in the Sistan region of Iran, near Afghanistan. In the 11th century, wind pumps and windmills were extensively used for food production in the Middle East.
The first instance of wind energy being used to generate electricity was in 1877, when Professor James Blyth of Anderson's College in Scotland designed a 10-metre-high turbine to power his holiday cottage. In 1887, Charles F. Brush invented the first windmill used to generate electricity on a farm in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1890, wind power was first used to generate electricity for multiple homes and businesses.
The development of wind energy continued in the early to mid-20th century, but the real push for its development began in the 1970s, when concerns with fossil fuel use came to a head. From 1974 through the mid-1980s, funding from the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy enabled NASA to develop the United States' first utility-scale wind turbines. In 1981, the MOD-2 wind turbine cluster of three turbines produced 7.5 megawatts of power. In 1987, a 3.2-megawatt wind turbine was developed by the NASA wind turbine program.
In 1990, 46 wind farms were online in the US, providing enough power for up to 300,000 homes. By 2021, at least 128 countries were generating about 1,808 billion kWh of wind electricity. Wind energy now accounts for about 10.2% of US electricity generation and 3% of global total primary energy, and generated 7% of electricity worldwide in the early 2020s.
Solar energy, on the other hand, has a more recent history. The first solar energy system was invented in 1860 by French investor Augustin Mouchot, who ran trials on his 'sun meter' machine. However, it was not until 1921 that Albert Einstein won a Nobel Prize for his work in solar energy, specifically for his discovery of the photoelectric effect in 1839. The first commercial wind turbines were sold in 1927, marking the first instance of renewable energy making a splash on a large, commercial scale.
In conclusion, wind energy has a much longer history than solar energy, with the former being used for thousands of years for sailing and hundreds of years for mechanical purposes, while the latter has only been developed and used at scale in the last century or so.
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Apple or Microsoft?
Microsoft was founded first, on April 4, 1975, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Apple was founded nearly a year later on April 1, 1976, in Cupertino, California, by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
The two companies have had a long and rocky relationship, with periods of harmony and acrimony. During the first Macintosh's development and early production years, Microsoft was a critical Apple ally, creating important programs for Apple's PC in the early 1980s. However, the relationship between the two companies soured when they started developing competing operating systems with graphical interfaces.
Apple was the first to release an operating system with a graphical user interface (GUI) on January 24, 1984, with the "Mac System Software 1.0" for their original Macintosh commercial computer. Microsoft released their first retail version of Microsoft Windows (Windows 1.0) on November 20, 1985, almost two years after Apple.
In terms of overhauling their operating systems, Microsoft was the first to do so with Windows 95 on August 24, 1995, followed by Apple with Mac OS 8 on July 26, 1997.
Apple and Microsoft have also competed in the tablet and smartphone markets. Microsoft helped create Windows-powered tablet computers as early as 1991, but they did not achieve the same level of success as Apple's iPad, released in 2010. Apple was the first to deliver a major touchscreen smartphone oriented towards everyday consumers with the iPhone in June 2007.
In recent years, Apple's revenues, profits, and stock price have grown significantly. On May 26, 2010, Apple's stock market value overtook Microsoft's, and in the third quarter of 2010, Apple's revenues surpassed those of Microsoft. This shift was attributed to the declining importance of PC software, where Microsoft dominates, and the rising popularity of the tablet and smartphone markets, where Apple has a strong presence.
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The guitar or the piano?
The piano and the guitar are two of the most popular musical instruments today. The evolution of the piano began with the monochord, a simple instrument consisting of a single string stretched over a soundboard. The dulcimer, a combination of Middle Eastern and European origins, followed in the 11th century. The first keyboard instrument was the Ancient Greek hydraulis, a type of pipe organ invented in the third century BC. The pipe organ enabled instrument builders to learn about creating keyboard mechanisms for sounding pitches. The clavichord, first appearing in the 14th century, was an improvement on the organ and became popular during the Renaissance Era. Pressing a key would send a brass rod, called a tangent, to strike the string and cause vibrations that emit sound over a range of four to five octaves.
The harpsichord, created in Italy around 1500, spread to France, Germany, Flanders, and Great Britain. The harpsichord was able to convey sound more loudly than other instruments, leading many composers to write harpsichord pieces. Bartolomeo Cristofori, an expert harpsichord maker, invented the piano in 1700. He named his instrument the "gravicembalo col piano e forte", which means "the quiet and strong keyboard instrument". The name was eventually shortened to pianoforte, fortepiano, and finally, piano. Cristofori's invention allowed artists to produce soft or loud sounds based on how they hit the keyboard.
The guitar also has a long history, with Francisco Tárrega being a key figure in its development. Tárrega is often credited with the modern playing techniques that most guitarists use worldwide today. He transcribed the works of legends such as Bach and Mozart for the guitar, introducing it into grand concert venues and elevating its status.
In conclusion, the piano was invented first, with the earliest known keyboard instrument, the Ancient Greek hydraulis, dating back to the third century BC. The harpsichord, which the piano was based on, was created in the 16th century, and the piano was invented in the 17th century. The guitar's history is less clear, but it gained popularity in the 19th century due to the contributions of Francisco Tárrega.
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The dishwasher or the microphone?
The microphone was invented before the dishwasher. The first device that could be considered a microphone was invented by Emile Berliner in 1876. This device, called a "loose-contact" transmitter, was capable of transmitting sound over a wire but was not capable of amplifying sound. The first true microphone, which was capable of amplifying sound, was invented by David Edward Hughes in 1878.
The first mechanical dishwashing device was a hand-powered device patented in the United States by Joel Houghton in 1850. This device was made of wood and was cranked by hand while water sprayed onto the dishes. However, this design was not widely accepted due to its slow speed and unreliability. The first successful hand-powered dishwasher was invented by Josephine Cochrane and mechanic George Butters in 1886. Cochrane, a wealthy socialite, designed the dishwasher in her tool shed in Shelbyville, Illinois, because she wanted to protect her china while it was being washed. This dishwasher used a motor to pump hot soapy water over the dishes instead of scrubbers, making it the first to use water pressure to clean dishes.
While the first microphone was invented before the first dishwasher, the technology continued to evolve for both devices over the following decades. In 1893, Cochrane brought her dishwasher to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where it won a prize for "best mechanical construction, durability, and adaptation to its line of work." It wasn't until the 1950s that dishwashers became popular for home use. Similarly, improvements were made to the microphone in the years following its invention. In 1916, Edward Christopher Wente invented the condenser microphone, which improved sound quality and reduced background noise.
In conclusion, while the microphone was invented first, both inventions have gone through significant developments and innovations since their initial creations.
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Frequently asked questions
The telephone was invented in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell, while the first long-lasting incandescent lightbulb was patented by Thomas Edison in 1879.
Trains came first, with the first steam locomotive carrying men, wagons, and iron on a trip through Wales in 1804. The modern two-wheeled bicycle was invented by German inventor Karl von Drais in 1817.
The printing press was invented in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg. The fork is thought to have been invented earlier, in the 4th century AD in the Eastern Roman Empire of Byzantium.
Papyrus was invented first, in Egypt around 3000 BC. Glass was invented about a thousand years later, in Ancient Egypt.
