Combustion0.3 lm/W
Fire
Day after dark.
The first artificial light source — controlled burning of wood, later animal fat in shells or hollowed stones. It extended the day and changed human evolution.
☀ From fire to photon ☀
Lumen Historiae
A grand chronicle of lighting technology
70,000 years of travel from the first fire to the LED. From a candle at 0.3 lm/W to a modern LED source at 200 lm/W — a thousandfold improvement.
0.3lm/W · Candle
12lm/W · Bulb
20lm/W · Halogen
60lm/W · Fluorescent
150lm/W · Sodium
200lm/W · Modern LED
Era
Technology
Shown
37
milestones
Combustion0.3 lm/W
Candle
Home fire.
Egyptians and Romans produced candles from animal tallow and beeswax. For thousands of years the primary domestic light source.
Combustion0.5 lm/W
Ami Argand
Better than a candle.
Invented the oil lamp with hollow wick and glass chimney — vastly improved air flow and cleaner light than candles. 6–10× brighter than a candle.
Gas1 lm/W
William Murdoch
First gas light.
In 1792 first lit his house with coal gas. In 1802 illuminated the exterior of Soho Foundry — start of the gas lighting era.
Arc2 lm/W
Vasily V. Petrov
First electric arc.
Russian physicist who in 1802 created the first stable electric arc between carbon electrodes. Preceded Davy by seven years but was ignored in the West.
Arc2 lm/W
Humphry Davy
First electric light.
In 1809 at the Royal Institution publicly demonstrated an arc lamp powered by 2000 voltaic cells — over 10,000 lumens, brighter than anything before.
Combustion0.5 lm/W
Limelight (Gurney, Drummond)
Theatre glows.
Very bright light from incandescent lime (CaO) in a hydrogen-oxygen flame. Became the standard for theatre stage lighting — hence "in the limelight".
Incandescent4 lm/W
Heinrich Goebel
Disputed priority.
Allegedly built a working incandescent bulb with a carbonized bamboo filament in vacuum — 25 years before Edison. Historically disputed but symbolic of disputed priority.
Arc5 lm/W
Pavel Yablochkov
Paris boulevards.
Invented the "Yablochkov candle" — a practical arc lamp for public lighting. In 1878 it lit Paris's Avenue de l'Opéra — the first modern street lighting.
Incandescent4 lm/W
Joseph Swan
First electrified theatre.
Demonstrated a working incandescent bulb with a carbon filament a year before Edison. In 1881 lit the Savoy Theatre in London — first public building with electric lighting.
Incandescent5 lm/W
Thomas Edison
Ecosystem inventor.
Developed a commercially viable bulb with carbonized bamboo filament — 1500 hours of life. Built the whole ecosystem: filament, socket, switch, cables, power plant.
Arc5 lm/W
František Křižík
Czech Edison.
Improved the arc lamp regulation — automatic electrode positioning. Gold medal at the Paris exposition 1881. His lamp was produced across Europe.
Gas2 lm/W
Auer von Welsbach
Gas mantle.
Invented the gas mantle from thorium and cerium — a ceramic mesh that glows intensely white in a flame. Extended the gas lighting era by 50 years.
Discharge10 lm/W
Nikola Tesla
Wireless light.
In 1893 publicly demonstrated wireless illumination of a Geissler tube using high-frequency field. Forerunner of all discharge and fluorescent lamps.
Discharge5 lm/W
D. McFarlan Moore
First discharge lamp.
Invented the Moore tube — first commercial discharge lamp with nitrogen and CO₂. Worked at Edison's; his work led to fluorescent lamps and neon signs.
Incandescent6 lm/W
Walther Nernst
Ceramic glower.
Invented the Nernst lamp — a heated ceramic rod instead of carbon. Briefly competed with Edison. Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1920.
Discharge15 lm/W
Peter Cooper-Hewitt
Mercury-vapor lamp.
In 1901 developed the mercury-vapor lamp — the first practical discharge lamp. Emitted bluish light, used in industry and photo studios.
Incandescent8 lm/W
William Coolidge
Tungsten filament.
At GE developed ductile tungsten filament. Tungsten melts at 3422 °C — the highest of all metals. Tripled the efficiency of incandescent bulbs.
Discharge50 lm/W
Georges Claude
Neon icon.
In 1910 introduced the neon tube at the Paris Motor Show. Reddish light, bendable glass — neon signs became an icon of the 20th century.
Incandescent12 lm/W
Irving Langmuir
Gas in the bulb.
At GE invented the gas-filled bulb — argon and nitrogen suppress tungsten evaporation. Also introduced the coiled filament. Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1932.
LED
Oleg Losev
LED foreseen.
Discovered electroluminescence in SiC crystals — first description of LED 35 years before Holonyak. Died of starvation during the siege of Leningrad. His manuscripts were lost.
Discharge200 lm/W
Low-pressure sodium (Philips)
Yellow streets.
Monochromatic yellow light (589 nm). The most efficacious light source ever — up to ~200 lm/W. Ideal for street lighting, but virtually no colour rendering, so colours cannot be told apart under it.
Discharge60 lm/W
George Inman (GE)
Fluorescent for masses.
In 1938 GE released the commercial fluorescent lamp — mercury discharge with phosphor converting UV to visible light. Revolutionized office and industrial lighting.
Incandescent20 lm/W
Fridrich & Wiley (GE)
Halogen cycle.
At GE patented the tungsten-halogen lamp. The halogen cycle redeposits evaporated tungsten back onto the filament — higher temperature, better efficiency, longer life.
Discharge100 lm/W
Robert Reiling (GE)
Stadium sun.
Invented the metal halide lamp — mercury discharge with metal halide additives. Very good color rendering, high efficiency. Stadiums, industry.
LED0.1 lm/W
Nick Holonyak Jr.
First visible LED.
On October 9, 1962 at GE demonstrated the first visible LED — red, from GaAsP. In 1963 predicted that LED would one day replace the incandescent bulb. It came true exactly.
Discharge150 lm/W
High-pressure sodium (GE Lucalox)
Amber boulevards.
Golden-amber light and ~100–150 lm/W efficacy. A translucent polycrystalline alumina (PCA) tube withstands the high sodium-vapour pressure; better colour rendering than the low-pressure version. It dominated urban street lighting for decades.
LED0.01 lm/W
Jacques Pankove
First GaN LED.
At RCA developed the first GaN LED — precursor of the blue LED. Unfortunately very inefficient; blue LEDs had to be perfected by the Japanese 20 years later.
LED1 lm/W
M. George Craford
Yellow and orange LEDs.
Developed the first yellow LED and improved red and orange ones. Father of modern high-brightness LEDs at Hewlett-Packard and Lumileds. A long career in the service of light.
OLED60 lm/W
OLED (Tang & Van Slyke)
Light from plastic.
Ching Wan Tang and Steven Van Slyke developed the first working OLED. Area light source from organic materials — today displays, flexible panels, illuminated surfaces.
LED20 lm/W
Isamu Akasaki
GaN crystallization.
With Hiroshi Amano at Nagoya University solved GaN crystallization — breakthrough toward the blue LED. Nobel Prize in Physics 2014.
LED20 lm/W
Hiroshi Amano
GaN doping.
As Akasaki's student solved p-type doping of GaN — key step to a working blue LED. Youngest of the trio. Nobel Prize 2014.
LED50 lm/W
Shuji Nakamura
Bright blue LED.
At small company Nichia independently developed the bright blue LED — the breakthrough that enabled white LED lighting. Nobel Prize 2014. Sued Nichia over compensation.
LED80 lm/W
White LED (Nichia)
White from blue.
Combination of blue LED with yellow phosphor (YAG:Ce) produced white light. Opened the path to LED lighting in homes, offices, and streets.
LED150 lm/W
LED revolution
End of incandescent.
LED prices fell below incandescent, efficiency exceeded 100 lm/W. Gradual ban on classic incandescent bulbs in the EU (2009–2012). LED became the dominant world light source.
Concept
Human Centric Lighting
Light for humans.
Lighting respecting circadian rhythms — color temperature changes throughout the day, supporting health and performance. No longer just lumens, but the quality of light.
LED200 lm/W
micro-LED & laser displays
Pixels as LEDs.
Microscopic LED diodes for displays with extreme contrast and brightness. Laser projectors in cars. The frontier of optoelectronics shifts toward individual atoms.
No milestone matches this filter combination.