Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ellie Violet Bramley, The Guardian, Friday 24 October 2014
Although electric streetlights first began appearing in European capitals in the mid-1800s ...
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Though the author's point is that street lighting is a relatively recent
phenomena in the history of civilization, she is not quite correct in
stating it began appearing in the mid 1800's.
In fact, the first electric street lighting in Europe did not appear
until the
late 1800s. Specifically, in Paris and London in 1878.
It wasn't until 1895 that the Niagara Falls Power Company began
generating and distributing alternating current.
The first town in Australia to be fitted with electric street lighting was
Tamworth, NSW in 1888.
There was a neat little short article in the Jul 2015 edition of the Institute
of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Spectrum Magazine entitled
"The Miraculous 1880s".
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Vaclav Smil, IEEE Spectrum
According to the worshippers of the e-world, the late 20th century brought us an unprecedented number of profound inventions. But that is a categorical misunderstanding, as most recent advances have been variations on the microprocessor theme and on the parsing of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Perhaps the most inventive time was the 1880s. Have any two sets of primary inventions and epochal discoveries shaped the modern world more than electricity and internal combustion engines?
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As Smit highlights, the 1880's were a golden age of high technology, including -
1882 :
* Thomas Edison's first central electricity station London
* The electric iron
* Hydroelectric power
1883 :
* Cash register
* Coin vending machine
1884:
* Steam turbine
1885:
* Four-stroke internal-combustion engine
* First multistorey steel-skeleton skyscraper
* Safety bicycle introduced
1886:
* Coca-Cola
1888:
* First practical electric street railway
* Ballpoint pen
1889:
* Revolving door introduced
* First electric elevator
That article here -
http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/h...raculous-1880s
The nightly Hong Kong "Symphony of Light" laser light show, the world's
largest permanent light and sound show, is actually an Australian export.
It was designed and developed by a small company at Dural in Sydney.
In turn, much of the coal that powers the Hong Kong power stations
originated from the Hunter Valley just north of Sydney.
The lights from the open cut mining operations at night have become more
and more visible over the years from where we like to observe in the
lower Hunter.