Recently, in the chandelier of one of the institutions of Bucharest, Edison's bulb was found miraculously discovered. To the surprise of those present, when it was turned on, it caught fire, but not instantly, as we used to, but flared up to a full glow for more than a minute. But this was not a defect of the bulb, although its service life was about 80 years ...

The path to creating a modern incandescent lamp, which seems elementary in design, was not very simple. To increase the light output, its thread had to be heated to very high temperatures, but then it, even isolated from the air, quickly evaporated, and the light bulb “burned out”.

Inventors were looking for material that could withstand high temperatures. Metals were proposed: osmium, tantalum and tungsten, as well as carbon ...

This story begins with a topic very far from electricity, which confirms the fact that in science there are no secondary or unpromising for study. In 1644 Italian physicist E. Toricelli invented the barometer. The device was a glass tube about a meter long with a sealed end. The other end was dipped in a cup of mercury. In the tube, the mercury did not sink completely, but the so-called “Toricellian emptiness” formed, the volume of which changed due to weather conditions.

In February 1645 Cardinal Giovanni de Medici ordered that several such pipes be installed in Rome and kept under surveillance. This is surprising for two reasons. Toricelli was a student of G. Galileo, who in recent years has been disgraced for atheism. Secondly, a valuable idea followed from the Catholic hierarch and since then barometric observations began ...