Joseph Wilson Swan, an English physicist and chemist, is noted for his development of the light bulb. Swan received a British patent for his device in 1878, about a year before Edison. The most significant feature of Swan's lamp was that there was little residual oxygen in the vacuum tube to ignite the filament, thus the filament was able to glow almost white-hot without catching fire. He eventually teamed up with Edison for the commercial development of electricity and the light bulb, using the trademark "Edi-Swan.” Swan also made notable contributions to the field of photography included bromide paper, the paper commonly used in modern photographic prints, and the carbon process for printing.

Sources

• Cleveland, Cutler (Lead Author); Peter Saundry (Topic Editor). 2007. "Swan, Joseph Wilson." In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth December 31, 2006; Last revised January 31, 2007; Retrieved August 3, 2009]. <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Swan,_Joseph_Wilson>