Question

Tell something about the forgotten Joseph Swan.

Answer in 200+ words.

Answer 1

Sir Joseph Swan  (31 October 1828 – 27 May 1914) was a British physicist and chemist. He is known as the early developer of Incandescent light bulb and responsible for supplying electric lights in world's first homes and buildings to be lit with light bulb. In 1904 he was knighted by King Edward VII , was awarded with royal Hughes medal and was made honorary member of the pharmaceutical society .

Swan was the maternal grandfather of Christopher Morcom, Alan Turing's close friend and first love during their studies at Sherborne boarding school.Joseph Wilson Swan was born in 1828 at Pallion Hall in Pallion in the Parish of bishopwearmouth, Sunderland, County Durham. His parents were John Swan and Isabella Cameron. He was said to have had an enquiring mind even as a child. He augmented his education with a fascination of his surroundings, the industry of the area and reading. He attended lectures at the Sunderland Atheneum.In 1850 Swan began working on a light bulb using carbonized paper filaments in an evacuated glass bulb. By 1860 he was able to demonstrate a working device, and obtained a British patent covering a partial vacuum, carbon filament incandescent lamp. However, the lack of a good vacuum and an adequate electric source resulted in an inefficient light bulb with a short lifetime.In 1875 Swan returned to consider the problem of the light bulb with the aid of a better vacuum and a carbonized thread as a filament. The most significant feature of Swan's improved lamp was that there was little residual Oxygen in the vacuum tube to ignite the filament, thus allowing the filament to glow almost white-hot without catching fire. However, his filament had low resistance, thus needing heavy copper wires to supply it.Swan first publicly demonstrated his incandescent carbon lamp at a lecture for the Newcastle upon Tyne Chemical Society on 18 December 1878. However, after burning with a bright light for some minutes in his laboratory, the lamp broke down due to excessive current. On 17 January 1879 this lecture was successfully repeated with the lamp shown in actual operation; Swan had solved the problem of incandescent electric lighting by means of a vacuum lamp. On 3 February 1879 he publicly demonstrated a working lamp to an audience of over seven hundred people in the lecture theatre of the Literary and Philosophical society Newcastle upon Tyne , Sir William Armstrongpresiding. Swan turned his attention to producing a better carbon filament and the means of attaching its ends. He devised a method of treating cotton to produce "parchmentised thread" and obtained British Patent 4933 on 27 November 1880. From that time he began installing light bulbs in homes and landmarks in England.
The Savoy, a state-of-the-art theatre in the City of Westminster, London, was the first public building in the world lit entirely by electricity. Swan supplied about 1,200 incandescent lamps, powered by an 88.3 kW (120hp)generator on open land near the theatre.The builder of the Savoy, Richard D Oyly, explained why he had introduced Swan's electric light: "The greatest drawbacks to the enjoyment of the theatrical performances are, undoubtedly, the foul air and heat which pervade all theatres. As everyone knows, each gas-burner consumes as much oxygen as many people, and causes great heat beside. The incandescent lamps consume no oxygen, and cause no perceptible heat." The first generator proved too small to power the whole building, and though the entire front-of-house was electrically lit, the stage was lit by gas until 28 December 1881. At that performance, Carte stepped onstage and broke a glowing lightbulb before the audience to demonstrate the safety of Swan's new technology. On 29 December 1881, The Times described the electric lighting as superior, visually, to gaslight.

The first private residence, other than the inventor's, lit by the new incandescent lamp was that of his friend, Sir William Armstrongat Cragside, near Rothbury, Northumberland. Swan personally supervised the installation there in December 1880. Swan had formed 'The Swan Electric Light Company Ltd' with a factory at Benwell, Newcastle, and had established the first commercial manufacture of incandescent lightbulbs by the beginning of 1881.
In 1864, Swan patented the transfer process for making Carbon prints, a permanent photographic process. By adding the transfer step, Swan was able to easily make photographs with a full tonal range.

In 1894 Swan was elected a Fellow of Royal Society and in September 1901 he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctors​ of Science (D.Sc.) from the University of Durham. In 1904 he was knighted, awarded the Royal Society's Hughes Medals​, and made an honorary member of the Pharmaceutical Society. Swan died in 1914 at Warlingham in Surrey.

In 1945 the London Power Company commemorated Swan by naming a new 1,554 GRT coastal colliers​ SS Sir Joseph Swan.

Answer 2

Sir.Joseph Wilson Swan was a physicist,and chemist.he was born on October 31st,1828,in Sunderland.he is known as a independent developer of light bulb.he also developed electric lights.in 1904 swan was knighted by king Edward V11 awarded the Royal society's Hughes medal , and was made an honorary member of the pharmaceutical society. He had received the highest decoration in France, the Legion d' honneur , when he visited an international exhibition in Paris in 1881.