This week, on October 21, we celebrate the light bulb.

Legend has it that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, and that the first one started brightening the night on October 21, 1879.

It’s a little more complicated, what with Humphrey Davy creating an arc lamp years earlier, and other scientists creating sparks here and there along the way. One thing that is certain is that Edison created the first marketable bulb.

This is as official as anything: the DOE’s The History of the Light Bulb page, with a great timeline, starting with the first arc lamp in 1803. Another exciting history is from the Edison Tech Center.

Perhaps the most famous light bulb burns in Livermore, California: It is maintained by the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department. The fire department claims that the bulb is at least 116 years old (installed 1901) and has only been turned off a handful of times.

Need an update? Here’s a more modern floor lamp, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art open access collection:

Do you feel enlightened? <groan>