1951
Alexander Nikolayevich Lodygin on 1951 Soviet postal stamp
Lodygin's lamps
Alexander Nikolayevich Lodygin was born in Stenshino village, Tambov Governorate (now Petrovsky District, Tambov oblast), Russian Federation. His parents were of a very old and noble family (descendants of Andrei Kobyla like Romanovs), but of very moderate means.
Alexander Lodygin studied at the Tambov Cadet School (1859-1865). Then he served in the 71st Belev regiment, and in 1866-1868 studied at the Moscow Infantry School. Soon after graduation from his military school he retired from the military and worked as a worker at the Tula weapons factory.
In 1875-1878 Alexander Nikolayevich participated in the populist movement. During his staying abroad he received several patents on incandescent bulbs. He was engaged in the development of aeronautics and other inventions. 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). He died in Brooklyn in New York.
Alexander Nikolayevich Lodygin 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. 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.
Alexander Nikolayevich Lodygin married the German reporter Alma Schmidt, the daughter of an electrical engineer.
