---
title: "Which came first, the Eiffel Tower or the lightbulb?"
description: "the Eiffel Tower vs the lightbulb: the lightbulb came first, by 10 years — 1879 against 1889. What happened in each case."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/eiffel-tower-vs-lightbulb/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, the Eiffel Tower or the lightbulb?

**Which came first, the Eiffel Tower or the lightbulb?: the lightbulb**

1879 — 10 years before the Eiffel Tower

the lightbulb came first, by 10 years. Edison's carbon filament lamp burned for over 13 hours.

## Side by side

|  | the Eiffel Tower | the lightbulb |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1889 | 1879 |
| Date | 1889-03-31 | 1879-10-22 |
| Category | landmark | invention |
| What happened | The tower opened for the Paris Exposition Universelle. | Edison's carbon filament lamp burned for over 13 hours. |

## the Eiffel Tower

Built for the 1889 World's Fair and intended to be dismantled after twenty years, the Eiffel Tower survived because it turned out to be useful as a radio antenna. It was the tallest structure in the world until the Chrysler Building in 1930. It opened in the same year Nintendo was founded, and two and a half years after the Statue of Liberty it is often assumed to predate.

## the lightbulb

Edison did not invent the electric light. Humphry Davy demonstrated an arc lamp in 1802, and at least twenty inventors produced incandescent bulbs before him; Joseph Swan demonstrated one in Newcastle in 1878 and was granted a British patent, which is why Edison eventually had to merge with him as Ediswan. What Edison produced in October 1879 was a bulb that lasted long enough and cost little enough to sell, together with the generating and wiring system to make it useful.

## Common questions

### Which came first, the Eiffel Tower or the lightbulb?

the lightbulb, by 10 years — 1879 against 1889.

### When did the Eiffel Tower start?

1889. The tower opened for the Paris Exposition Universelle.

### When did the lightbulb start?

1879. Edison's carbon filament lamp burned for over 13 hours.

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## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]
- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place (/about/)