He was born on 31 October 1828 to Isabella Cameron and John Swan. Thomas Edison did not invent the lightbulb ... Joseph Swan: The Other Inventor. Much later, in 1860, the English physicist Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828-1914) was determined to devise a practical, long-lasting electric light. Joseph Swan in his laboratory. The inventors of the lightbulb are credited to Thomas Edison, Joseph Swan, and Hiram Maxim.

Swan used a … He found that a carbon paper filament worked well, but burned up quickly. The English chemist Joseph Swan was never as famous as Thomas Edison—but when it came to inventing the lightbulb, he was equally important. Society Who Invented the Lightbulb? Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (31 October 1828–27 May 1914) was an English physicist and chemist who was well known because he created the incandescent light bulb, about a year before Thomas Edison.His house was the first in the world to be lit by electric light bulbs. One big reason is that we were running out of whales to gives sperm oil. In 1904, Swan was knighted, awarded the Royal Society's Hughes Medal, and was made an honorary member of the Pharmaceutical Society. It is perfectly possible to obtain a patent for an improved method or an improved device like a light bulb. -- Joseph Swan in a letter to Thomas Edison, 24 September 1880. Much later, in 1860, the English physicist Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828-1914) was determined to devise a practical, long-lasting electric light. Not many people realize this, but the 'light' in light bulb refers to the weight of said bulb. One of his major competitors was England's Joseph W. Swan. Sir Joseph Wilson Swan was a British scientist of the 19th and early 20th centuries, who is famous for inventing the incandescent light bulb. The inventors of the lightbulb are credited to Thomas Edison, Joseph Swan, and Hiram Maxim. The incandescent bulb had a revolutionary impact on modern society. Candles were reasonable but expensive & do not last long. In 1878, he demonstrated his new electric lamps in Newcastle, England.

Sir Joseph Swan made lots of progress, but Thomas Edison was the first person to get a US patent for a long lasting light bulb using a carbon filament. A chemist, Swan experimented in the 1850s and 60s with carbon filaments. A Brief History of the Light Bulb. Prior to Swan's invention, 'illumination bulbs' as they were then known, weighed up to 20 pounds each and were in fact so heavy, that a special iron bracket had to be used when mounting them to ceilings of the day. He found that a carbon paper filament worked well, but burned up quickly. English chemist Joseph Swan then began experimenting with burners of various materials, but none of them really worked for any length of time. What Edison did was improve on the existing idea.