Though an ordinary light-bulb doesn’t last a lot more than few months, it’s astounding that the Centennial Light-Bulb has been illuminating local fire stations in Livermore, California consistently ever since 1901.
This light bulb has been glowing, with just a couple of momentary interruptions, for 115 years. You can see it glow in real time. (CLICK HERE FOR LIVE CAM OF BULB / WOW)
Declared the oldest known working lightbulb by Guinness Book of World Records. Ripley’s Believe-It-or-Not in 1972 researched it and declared it the oldest. Charles Kurault of the TV program “On the Road with Charles Kurault” visited the bulb in the 1970s and included it in his book as well. Declarations from the President of the U.S., Congress, Senate, State Senate and Assembly, and Shelby, Ohio. In 2007, and 2012, it was again recognized in Guinness and Ripley’s books, and online 2014.
The bulb is a genuine heirloom from the dawn of electric illumination, built by one of its pioneers: Adolphe Chaillet.
Thomas Edison stands out as the first inventor to come to mind when thinking of illumination, but he wasn’t the only one. There were millions of tinkerers making an attempt to come up with much better designs, making an attempt to iterate and innovate bulbs that might burn longer and brighter at a cheaper cost.
All over America, figurative light bulbs were going off over people’s heads, and some of those became actual light bulbs.
Proof of Longevity: From local newspaper records; also GE engineers researched it. Was donated to the Fire Department in 1901 by Dennis Bernal who owned the Livermore Power and Light Co.
