Sir Joseph Swan, the Literary & Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne 

The RSC commemorated Joseph Swan's first public demonstration of the incandescent lamp at a Chemical Landmark ceremony held at the magnificent library of the Literary & Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne on Tuesday, 3 February 2009. The original demonstration by Swan took place in front of an audience of 700 people at the same location in 1879, 130 years to the day. 

Sir Joseph Wilson Swan FRS was a pharmacist, chemist, physicist and inventor and President of the Literary & Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1911 - 1914.  His work spanned many fields including photography (he developed a dry photographic process), electrolytic deposition of carbon for which he was honoured by the Royal Society, extruded cellulose thread and the incandescent light bulb which he is probably most famous for.

In 1879, Joseph Swan began installing light bulbs in homes and landmarks across England and in 1880, he gave the world's first large-scale public exhibition of electric lamps in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.  In1881 he had started his own company, The Swan Electric Light Company, and started commercial production. Later, Swan teamed up with American Thomas Edison for the commercial exploitation of the light bulb, using the trademark EdiSwan.

Thomas Edison is often the one credited with inventing the light bulb, but Swan and Edison both made similar advances at about the same time, though to begin with they were completely independent of each other. The company that Swan and Edison created was to spawn many offshoots including the giant industrial concern GE (General Electric Company).

Joseph Swan was knighted in 1904 and was awarded the Freedom of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1914 but sadly he died a few months later. 

As part of the chemical landmark celebrations, Dr Ian Edwards of Newcastle University and the Newcastle upon Tyne & NE Coast Local Section  and Dr Eimer Tuite of Newcastle University gave an illuminating demonstration with of how Swan developed his light bulb to an audience of 50 guests.  Also present were the Right Worshipful, the Lord and Lady Mayoress of Newcastle upon Tyne and the Deputy Mayor and Mayoress of Gateshead.

Professor Jim Feast, immediate RSC Past-President presented the chemical landmark plaque to the President of the Literary & Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne, Mr Bill Bower. 

Prof Feast said:  "Swan and Edison independently followed similar routes to the first carbon filament lights. They divided the market and had one joint enterprise and the business was good for a relatively short period until the technology was superseded by tungsten filaments which were tougher and brighter and are now under attack as high energy consumers.

"Swan made his filaments by carbonizing cellulose and so did Edison. Swan used cotton as the starting polymer and Edison fibrillated bamboo. One could argue that Swan found the first application of conducting organic polymers and I did argue so when lecturing on the subject of conducting polymers. In Durham we had invented a precursor route to polyacetylene which was the paradigm for the area." 

Prof Feast added:  "The first houses and streets to be lit by electric light were in Gateshead and Mosley Street, Newcastle in the North-East and perhaps the most famous of these houses was Cragside, which was Lord Armstrong's country residence in the foothills of the Cheviots." 
The citation on the plaque reads: 

Sir Joseph Wilson Swan FRS
(1828 - 1914)
Chemist, physicist and inventor of the
incandescent light bulb which he
first demonstrated at a public lecture here
on 3 February 1879.
Nearby Mosley Street was the first
street in the world to be lit by
such electric bulbs.
3 February 2009