Background
Werner von Bolton was born in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Werner von Bolton was born in Tbilisi, Georgia.
He devised a technique for producing filaments for incandescent light bulb made out of tantalum in 1902. He went on to study Chemistry at the Technische Hochschule Berlin and in Leipzig. Post-Graduation, von Bolton worked at the company Siemens & Halske in Berlin.
In 1902 von Bolton detected the benefits of using Tantalum as a material in the production of filaments.
Tantalum allowed for a greater luminosity with lower energy consumption when compared with previous alternatives such as coal. In 1905, Siemens & Halske awarded von Bolton the position of director of the first central laboratory of the company, later the Physics and Chemistry laboratory.
After 1910, the bulbs with a tantalum filament were replaced by those with a tungsten filament. Von Bolton died in Berlin on 28 October, 1912.
He is honoured with the Boltonstraße, a street named after him in Siemensstadt, an area of Berlin"s Spandau district.