Electrical inventor Peter Cooper Hewitt built on the mid-19th century work of German physicist Julius Plücher and glassblower Heinrich Geissler. By passing an electric current through a glass tube containing tiny amounts of a gas, Plücker and Geissler found they could make light. Although the seals leaked and soon let in too much air to allow the effect, glowing Geissler Tubes became a scientific novelty.
Hewitt began developing mercury-filled tubes in the late 1890s, and found that they gave off an unappealing bluish-green light. The amount of light, however, was startling. Hewitt realized that few people would want his lamps in their homes, and so concentrated on developing a product for other uses.
Industrial and commercial use of fluorescent technology flourished, but it wasn't until the 1970s - with the oil crises bearing down on ordinary homeowners, and demands for efficiency rising - that patents began to be filed for compact versions of the technology that could be used with a standard light socket.
Early iterations of the compact fluorescent light bulb were expensive, and consumers complained of myriad problems - from buzzing, flickering and long start-up time to unpleasant hues.
But watchdog testing over the last 10 years, along with the development of federal Energy Star specifications for compact fluorescents, have helped to eliminate many of these issues, though not all. Consumers, meanwhile - urged to adopt the new bulbs by public service campaigns and utility giveaways - are discovering that, for all the improvements, the compact fluorescent bulb and the incandescent bulb are simply two very different technologies.
Still, with legislation in many countries rendering incandescents unmarketable within the next few years, the compact fluorescent is currently poised as the only mass-market alternative - though other technologies, including LEDs, are on the horizon. --Tom Zeller Jr. (March 27, 2009)"
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