Georges Claude Invented Neon Lights (1902)
In 1898, Neon (NE), was first successfully separated from the atmosphere as a singular gas. While chemists were celebrating a new element, and French chemist and inventor was neon when under a high voltage of electricity glows, he wanted the try to contain the gas in glass tubes connected to electricity to use the neon as a light source. In 1902, Claude had successfully developed the first neon lamp. He was also the first to apply an electrical discharge to a sealed tube. After his first success he went on to develop more ambitious products. It was until eight years later that Claude presented neon tubed lighting at the Paris Motor Show (in 1910), reaching the length of 12-30 meters! The red light embellished and illuminated the building which amazed the crowd of Parisians at the show. Claude developing further into his invention started to play with the idea of bending the glass tubing into lettering. By 1912, Claude had made the first neon sign and sold it to “Jaques Fonseque”, a barber shop in Paris.
Before Claude’s success in France, neon was found to be very rare especially since it had only been discovered four years before his first neon lamp. It was the same year of his invention (1902) that he was founder to a company, “Air Liquide”, which is a gas producer and even to this day is a leading international company. With this exceptional resource, Claude was able to take off with his experimentations with noble gasses such as helium, argon, neon and a few more.
In 1922, the first neon sign was transported from Paris to Los Angeles for advertising purposes. The use of neon signage soon became a huge trend in advertising in America as well as the other large cities around the world. To just name a two for example, New York and London were rapidly changing to the trends.
Like all things of course, by the year 1950, neon light’s use declined in the western hemisphere. Florescent tubes stared to over to the interiors of people’s homes and offices leaving neon in the dust. Even with the large decline, unlike the West, Eastern countries like Japan and Iran were continuing to spread the trends throughout their metropolitan areas. Now with growing health hazards and it’s in accessibility, neon has become very rare to still be seen today in lighting. It s nothing like it used to be, especially with it’s cheaper and more efficient competitor, LED lights that are now commonly used as all sources of light fixtures.
Citation
https://www.invent.org/inductees/georges-claude
https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/science/leading-figures/georges-claude-and-neon-lights/