Swan, Sir Joseph Wilson (1828-1914), was an English chemist, electrical engineer, and inventor. In the late 1870’s, he invented a light bulb with a cotton-based carbon filament. In 1883, he patented lamps using improved filaments made of cellulose. Swan’s experiments on the effect of heat in increasing the light sensitivity of silver bromide helped produce one of the first “dry” photographic plates. Swan also invented a carbon printing process and, in 1879, patented a type of photographic paper coated with bromide emulsion. His many other projects included the invention of artificial silk. Swan was born in Sunderland on Oct. 31, 1828, and was apprenticed to a pharmaceutical firm. He was knighted in 1904 and died on May 27, 1914.
