Perhaps each of us at least once faced the need to replace a burned out light bulb. And although today there are many modifications of them, including those that last longer, they still have to be changed sooner or later. But the fire department employees of a small American town do not have such a problem, because their light has been on for more than a hundred years.
The story began in 1901 in Livermore, California, when a local electrician supplied electricity to the fire department by hanging an incandescent lamp, also known as the Edison lamp, from the ceiling. And what is most striking is that since it was turned on, it has not gone out. An unremarkable light bulb "survived" two world wars, space flight, invention of the Internet and much more. Time passed, and its light continued to illuminate the fire department.
Of course, it is impossible to exclude the case when the unit lost electricity, but physically no one has ever turned off the light bulb. In addition, the switch is equal in age to the lamp itself, and then they were located in the holder, that is, under the ceiling.
For a long time, few people knew about the “eternal light bulb” phenomenon, except, perhaps, the firefighters of the city of Livermore and its inhabitants. And only in 1972, after a visit to the fire department, a local journalist made a note about the long-lived lamp, after which they began to show great interest in it. Experts from the Guinness Book of Records even came to the unit, who confirmed that the age of the light bulb, like the building in which it is located, exceeds a century.
The history of the light bulb that does not go out continues to hold its popularity today. Moreover, now its light can be monitored from anywhere in the world in real time. In 2010, the bulb acquired its own website, where you can see only one piece of news - that it continues to burn. As proof, a webcam was installed in the fire department, which helps to make sure that the light bulb continues to give light even after 118 years.
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