Gas-discharge lamp they create light from electricity considerably more efficiently than incandescent light bulbs. The father of the low-pressure gas discharge tube was German glassblower Heinrich Geissler, who beginning in 1857 constructed colorful artistic cold cathode tubes with different gases in them which glowed with many different colors, called Geissler tubes. It was found that inert gases like the noble gases neon, argon, krypton or xenon, as well as carbon dioxide worked well in tubes. This technology was commercialized by French engineer Georges Claude in 1910 and became neon lighting, used in neon signs. The introduction of the metal vapor lamp, including
Incandescent light bulb 1914, 88.5 million lamps were used, (only 15% with carbon filaments), and by 1945, annual sales of lamps were 795 million (more than 5 lamps per person per year). Of the power consumed by typical incandescent light bulbs, 95% or more is converted into heat rather than visible light. Other electrical light sources are more effective. Luminous "efficacy" of a light source may be defined in two ways. The radiant luminous efficacy (LER) is the ratio of the visible light flux emitted (the "luminous flux") to the total power radiated over all wavelengths. The source luminous efficacy (LES) is the