Re: Who invented the lightbulb that we use today? Edison or Tesla.

	The light bulb that we use today was developed by Thomas Edison - this
does not mean that he necessarily invented it though!  Depending on where you 
look, there are several people who are claimed to have invented it: Thomas 
A. Edison (U.S.A.), Sir Joseph W. Swan (Britain), and A. N. Lodygin (Russia).  
The way I understand it, both Edison and Swan were working on the light bulb 
around the same time and it was Swan who was first to patent the light bulb.  
About 10 months after Swan's patent, Edison read about Swan's invention in 
Scientific American.  Edison had been working on his own light bulb at the 
time, and used Swan's idea of a carbon filament in his light bulb.  Edison 
then greatly improved the design of the light bulb and became quite famous 
in North America for his "invention" - making a lot of money at the same time.  
So, Edison's light bulb came to be with some help from Swan.

	I have found no references to Nikola Tesla having anything to do with 
the the invention of the light bulb.  He did however invent many, many things 
to which he has received little to no credit for and did work with Thomas Edison 
for a while.  Instead of me rewriting all of the information I have found on 
Tesla, why don't you just read it for yourself.  Check out the following links 
I have listed......I also put one there for Thomas Edison.

	I hope my answer has helped you to understand the origin of the light 
bulb a little better.  If you have any further questions, please feel free to 
email me.


	Kurt Frost
	kfrost@sympatico.ca


WEBSITES:

	Light Bulbs

	Nikola Tesla

	Tesla Biography


REFERENCES:

Basalla, George.  The Evolution of Technology.  New York: Cambridge University Press,
	1993.

Benson, Harris.  University Physics.  Toronto: John Wiley & Sons, 1991.