
Marvin Pipkin, inventor of the frosted light bulb - everbody
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Pipkin
======
axaxs
> Not being aware his assignment was a type of joke, he went about the task as
> if it was something that could be done and had been done before.

I've read stories similar to this before, iirc assignments given as homework.
Is there a name for this method, or comprehensive list of examples?

~~~
_hardwaregeek
You're probably thinking of George Dantzig:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Dantzig](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Dantzig)

It's not unbelievable that this happens. Ramanujan presumably solved some
important problems without knowing their context in contemporary mathematics:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan)

------
teslabox
I was not previously aware of the origin of the ubiquitous frosted light bulb.
Thanks.

> The public felt that the glare from clear transparent incandescent lamps
> gave off a harshness that was unwanted by most people. Another side effect
> was that they made it hard to see objects in immediate vicinity of the lamp.
> They desired a lamp that had a softer light with no glare.

The first half of the 20th century was spent figuring out how to use
artificial lights safely and effectively. In the last decade we've forgotten
almost everything our predecessors figured out.

For example, my father had some great hanging lights over his kitchen stove.
These provided just enough light to get around the kitchen - if you wanted
more light, you could turn on the other lights.

His wife redecorated and replaced the red-colored globes with clear globes.
Now there is no diffusion effect, and visitors without baseball hats get the
'ice picks to the eyes' ("glare") effect from direct exposure to the
filaments.

They also installed terrible 3000K LED bulbs in their new fixtures. I switched
them out for proper incandescents, so I don't get headaches when I visit. The
only LED bulbs I find to be acceptable are some of the 2700K bulbs. If the
3000k bulbs are shielded by a lamp shade they're tolerable, but still slightly
too blue.

Old street lights were fine. LED streetlights put out more more lumens per
watt, but the quality is terrible. My brother's neighborhood has been LED-
ified, and now has a terrible night experience. My city has mostly orange low
pressure sodium [LPS] [0] lights still, but the state highway department is
gradually switching out their LPS lights for "fake white" LEDs.

Flagstaff has Lowell Observatory (astronomers). They have wonderful night
lighting. A few business flaunt Flagstaff's dark sky ordinances with non-
shielded floodlights, but most of the city lights and businesses' lights are a
pleasant orange (or yellow), and only over-stimulate my eyes when I look
directly at them.

The "lighting resource center" has information about good lighting practices:
[https://www.lrc.rpi.edu/](https://www.lrc.rpi.edu/)

[0] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium-vapor_lamp#Low-
pressure...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium-vapor_lamp#Low-
pressure_sodium)

~~~
el_benhameen
I think some people must be more sensitive than others to the color
temperature of light, myself included. My parents (who are otherwise wonderful
people) use the 3500-4000K fluorescents in their living room instead of the
much more warm and pleasant table lamps. When I walk my dog at night, I often
see the blue-green glow of what must be 5000K bulbs coming from many of my
neighbors houses. And my office mis-ordered bulbs for their track lights and
ended up with a random mix of 3000K and 5000K bulbs; I seriously considered
finding a new job until I was able to convince them to change the bulbs, but
nobody else really seemed to mind.

By the way, Philips makes a line of dimmable LED bulbs that are 2700K at full
brightness but go down to 2200K as they dim. Installing those in my dining
room fixture was a revelatory experience.

~~~
wwweston
Some people may be more sensitive than others, but there's a reason why
computer glasses filter out blue light, and it's not simply personal.

Had a similar experience to yours with an office, except the blinding 5000k
hangers also bothered a lot of other people, to the point where normally many
of them were unscrewed/turned off... _except_ when we had clients we were
trying to land coming to the office. Then management decided that we needed to
have them all burning full brightness in order to make a good impression for
key visiting clients.

Lighting sensitivities are yet another thing that are easy to personalize for
in sane office plans, but can be a big drain in an open floor.

~~~
lostlogin
I assume many have bought a light bulb that emits white light when they want a
warm light. Everyone look like a zombie, it’s truely awful. Who wants those
bulbs and why?

~~~
Tade0
My SO uses 5000K lights for drawing, otherwise the colors are off in sunlight
and in photos.

I also prefer outdoor lighting to be on the hotter side - low temperature
lights to me look too much like sodium lamps.

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doitLP
>This idea of having a second treatment to smooth out the fine-grained texture
to dimples came about by an accident.

From penicillin to vulcanized rubber to frosted glass. The crucial moment for
so many inventions and discoveries was accident. But I remind myself that in
nearly all cases a dedicated professional working diligently, iteratively for
long periods of time is the perfect person to a) notice the accident in the
first place and b) realize it’s significance and put it to use.

~~~
adrianmonk
And c) overwork themselves even to get tired and have accidents.

~~~
adrianmonk
Well, I ruined my own joke by typing "even" instead of "enough". And I didn't
even invent anything in the process of having this accident.

------
benj111
"One day, while he was pouring the weaker solution into a bulb, the phone
rang. In the process of answering the phone, he accidentally tipped the bulb
over before it had enough time to finish cleaning out the previous etching.
When he returned to his work, he accidentally knocked the glass bulb off the
workbench and onto the floor. To his surprise it did not shatter, as etched
bulbs normally did, but bounced a few times and then rolled under the
workbench"

I'm always intrigued by the cognitive dissonance in rewarding inventors for
doing difficult things, then lauding them for accidentally stumbling upon
something.

Yes I get that you make your own luck etc. But luck doesn't seem to be
accounted for in our present IP system.

~~~
namanyayg
Seems like you've higher chances on stumbling on something accidentally useful
when you're trying to do difficult things rather than when not

~~~
benj111
Well yes, that's what I was talking about with making your own luck.

My point was that any discussion of IP revolves around work put in, and skill
demonstrated. But a lot of the folklore is based on chance discovery.

