it was invented in 1804 by eight humphrey dacey who became the first person to run the electric current through why you're coming heeding the fire out to the point where began to glow in produced way. he's better known as a chemist and the guy who discovered the elements of potassium and sodium, but also the guy who invented the incandescent light and between humphrey davis and thomas edison and you've got 80 years of different inventors tanking around a technology that is never quite ready for prime time. even by the time hj rogers came along in 1882, electricity still wasn't a sure thing. i think it's important to know because we're in the middle of this energy crises. we have climate change bearing down on us or limited amounts amounts of fossil fuels and infrastructure that hasn't been at it in 30 years and all of those things will require technology to solve our problems. at the same time we like to tell ourselves stories about technology that don't match up with reality. we like to talk about times where one guy had one idea and a completely change the world and that's really not