• 1872: He decided to go to
Saint Petersburg to attend lectures at
Saint Petersburg Institute of Technology and to start working on an
electrical helicopter (
electrolyot). The electrical helicopter would need some sort of artificial lighting that would have to be electrical. He decided to start his helicopter work by developing a source of electrical light for it. • 1872: He applied for a Russian
patent for his
filament lamp. He also patented this invention in Austria,
Britain, France, and Belgium. For a filament, Lodygin used a very thin
carbon rod, placed under a bell-glass. • August 1873: He demonstrated prototypes of his electric filament lamp in the physics lecture hall of the
Saint Petersburg Institute of Technology. • 1873–1874: He conducted experiments with electric lighting on ships, city streets, etc. • 11 July 1874: He was granted the Russian
patent, as patent number 1619. • In 1874, the Petersburg Academy of Sciences awarded him with a
Lomonosov Prize for his invention of the
filament lamp. That same year, Lodygin established the Electric Lighting Company, A.N. Lodygin and Co. • 1875: From here on he was very interested in the
socialist ideas of the
Narodniks. • 1880s: After
Narodniks killed Emperor
Alexander II of Russia, there were repressions against their organization. • 1884: As a result, he had to emigrate from Russia to France and United States. • 1895: He married the
German reporter Alma Schmidt, the daughter of an electrical engineer. • 1890s: He invented a few types of filament lamps with metallic filaments; some say he was the first scientist to use a
tungsten filament. He got a patent for lamps with tungsten filaments (US Patent No. 575,002
Illuminant for Incandescent Lamps, Application on 4 January 1893) and sold it to
General Electric (1906), who began the first industrial production of such lamps. • 1899:
Petersburg Institute of Electrical Engineering awarded Lodygin with the
honorary title of
electrical engineer. • 1907: Lodygin returned to Russia. He continued work on a series of his inventions, including a new type of electrical motor, electrical
welding, tungsten alloys, electrical
ovens and
smelting furnaces. He taught at Petersburg Institute of Electrical Engineering and worked for the Petersburg railroad. • 1914: He was sent by the Ministry of Agriculture to develop plans for electrification of
Olonets and
Novgorod governorates. • After the
February Revolution Lodygin emigrated to United States. Because of health problems he declined a
Soviet offer to work for their
State Plan for Electrification of Russia (1918). • 1923: He died in
Brooklyn in New York. He invented an
incandescent light bulb before
Thomas Edison, but it was not commercially profitable. The lamp with a tungsten filament is indeed the only design used now, but in 1906 they were too expensive. Several Lodygin's ideas were implemented much later, even after his death. In 1871 Lodygin proposed an autonomous
diving apparatus that consisted of a steel mask,
natural rubber costume,
accumulator battery and a special apparatus for
electrolysis of water. The diver was supposed to breathe the
oxygen-
hydrogen mix obtained by electrolysis of water. The invented diving apparatus was very similar to modern
scuba equipment His ideas for an electrical helicopter were used many years later by
Igor Sikorsky. ==References==