Before the invention of the light bulb, trying to illuminate the world after the sun went down was a messy and hazardous task. While Thomas Edison is often credited with the invention of the light bulb, this famous American inventor wasn’t the only one who contributed to the development of this revolutionary technology. Let’s take a closer look at how the light bulb came to be.

The story of the light bulb began long before Edison patented his first commercially successful bulb in 1879. In 1800, and Italian inventor by the name of Alessandro Volta developed the first practical method of generating electricity, known as the voltaic pile. Created from alternating discs of zinc and copper (interspersed with layers of cardboards that were soaked in salt water), these unique elements conducted electricity when a copper wire was connected at either end. This was actually known as the predecessor of the modern battery, and Volta’s glowing copper wire was considered to be one of the earliest manifestations of incandescent lighting.

It wasn’t until 1850 that an English chemist by the name of Joseph Swan developed a light bulb that used carbonized paper filaments in place of other models that were made of platinum. Swan received a patent in the United Kingdom in 1978, and that February he demonstrated a working lamp. Edison realized that the problem with Swan’s design was the filament, and he discovered that a thin filament with a high electrical resistance would make a lamp more practical, as it would require a small amount of current to make it glow.

Once Edison revealed this discovery, Swan incorporated these improvements into his light bulbs and founded an electrical lighting company in England. Edison quickly sued for patent infringement, but since Swan’s patent was a strong claim, the two inventors eventually joined forces to form Edison-Swan United. The two inventors went on to become one of the world’s largest manufacturers of light bulbs, according to the Museum of Unnatural Mystery.