Who was the creator of the light bulb?

As with many important developments, many people contributed to developing the fluorescent lamp.

The phenomenon of fluorescence was first explained in the mid-19th century by George Stokes at Cambridge University. Other scientists including Heinrich Geissler (Germany) and William Crookes (UK) experimented with generating light by passing an electric current through gas-filled tubes. These devices produced various colors rather than white light, though, and found commercial use only for advertising and entertainment.

Development of a gas-filled bulb that produced white light proved elusive. Even great inventors like Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla were unsuccessful. A major reason for the lack of progress was that efforts concentrated on finding a gas that would itself glow white. It remained for physicist Arthur Compton to make the leap of producing light indirectly via a coating on the tube's glass rather than relying on the gas itself.

Commercial development started in 1934 when Compton reported to the lamp department of the American company General Electric on successful experiments with fluorescent lighting at General Electric Co., Ltd. in Great Britain (a company unrelated to its American namesake). Compton's work was refined by other GE scientists and engineers; the first commercial fluorescent lamps went on sale four years later, in 1938.

The large number of people who were directly or indirectly involved in developing fluorescent lighting resulted in protracted battles - both in and out of court - over who should receive credit, and to what extent each contributed. Despite partisans who would assign primacy to Tesla and/or Edison, there's no historical evidence that either was successful. Interestingly, one person who does receive mention, although not formal credit, is a Filipino electrician named Agapito Flores. He independently came up with the same idea as the much more renowned Compton, but dates on his work and Compton's show that Flores reached his conclusions later.

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