A Brief History of Artificial Light

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, chemists Robert Bunsen and Henry Roscoe and showed that burning magnesium produces artificial light that’s similar to daylight. A man named Edward Sonstadt then brought the technology into the world of photography, and thus the idea for the photographic flash was born.

The Atlantic made this 2-minute video that provides “A Visual History of Light.” It steps through many of the most important artificial light sources that humans have used, starting from harnessing wood fires and to recent breakthroughs in harnessing hydrogen fusion.

(via The Atlantic via Shutterbug)