Séance Sunday: Humphry Davy

Séance Sunday, my newest series, is where I pick a dead somebody and thank them for their contribution to the world. For the inaugural post, I’m going to thank English scientist Humphry Davy for inventing the first light bulb way back in 1800.

We sometimes don’t think about how different the world would be without such things. The light bulb has a huge impact in our everyday lives. Here are some of the less-important reasons that I’d like to thank Humphry Davy for:

1. Without his invention, we’d never see a light bulb over someone’s head when a great idea occurred to them. How boring would that be?

2. There’d be nothing to shut off before we had sex. “Blow out the candle” doesn’t have nearly the impact that “Turn out the lights” does. Insert slap-bass line here.

3. Tweakers wouldn’t have that particular cheap and easy avenue to smoke their crank out of. Light bulbs make a great glass pipe in a pinch. The tweakers of the world thank you, Humphry Davy.

4. Kids who break into abandoned houses would have nothing to throw at the walls that will explode. C’mon, don’t make that face; you know you’ve done it.

5. Stupid men wouldn’t get to burn their fingers by being too impatient to wait a minute before unscrewing the bulb after it burns out. My hero.

6. Nobody would be able to drive at night. How sucky would that action be? Worse yet, even if we did drive at night, we couldn’t see the radio to change the station when commercials came on. The horror!

So, as you can see, the light bulb is a huge part of modern society, and not just for the obvious reasons. The next time you turn off a lamp, think about the importance of what you are doing. And, maybe throw a few props to Humphry Davy.