Incandescent bulb

Thomas Edison failed more than 1,200 times in his effort to invent an incandescent bulb. The problem was the filament. He used every material possible including copper, silver and human head hair. Then he put in a carbon rod that didn`t melt and made a bright light. It was a moment of a human being`s creation of the second light after the Prometheus` light. A reporter asked Edison announcing his invention in 1879, "Didn`t you want to give up?" Edison said, "Why give up? I now know 999 different ways that won’t work."

Incandescent bulb is Edison`s core invention among his 1,097 patents. His famous saying, "Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration," is all the more true in this incandescent bulb invention. He created a socket, switch, safety fuse, integrating wattmeter, high-efficient power generator and a switch board. The so-called "Edison effect" that he discovered while testing to enhance bulb efficiency was applied to a vacuum tube. This led to the invention of transistor and integrated circuit, which became the foundation of the electronics industry.

Incandescent bulb was introduced to Korea after 8 years of its invention. On March 6, 1887, a small glass light went on brightening the surroundings after the sun set at Gyeongbok Palace. King Gojong and people around him exclaimed. The bulb was distributed to the private sector in 1898 with the establishment of Hansung Electric. Back then, the bulb had short life span, frequently was turned off and was expensive and thus was called "good-for-nothing light."

The Miracle of the Han River is the fruit of sweat of people working hard under the incandescent bulb. Whether there was light bulb divided city and rural area, and a hole was made on the wall to hang up an incandescent bulb to brighten two rooms. This very bulb is on the brink of disappearing due to the LED lamp that consumes less power and has longer life span. Fewer people will follow singer Lee Yeon-sil`s song "Stand-up bar" whose lyrics go, "On the wall of the bar an incandescent bulb plays on the swings." To those without memory of joys and sorrows, the light bulb has no meaning."

Editorial writer Heo Seung-ho (tigera@donga.com)