Support NeoGAF

[ChennehCis]

Hey everyone, a random question:

I've been trying to find the inventor of chemical glowsticks/lightsticks but unbelievably, I can't find a good conclusive source.

I googled.

I asked Jeeves.

I wikipedia-ed.

I yahooed.

All with no success. The best I could do was:

http://merlin.alfred.edu/muller/FormerPhysWorld/PhysWorld01/Mar14/GlowSticks.html

Introduction

Glow sticks have been around for 25 years. They were invented by the United States military and Van Zandt and Richard Taylor independently around the same time, however Van Zandt and Taylor are the ones who got the patent for it in 1976.

Pretty vague and from a plain edu site. Can it be trusted? Who knows.

Help GAF!

 

[lovelyarsenic]

'Did you know?

Glowsticks were originally invented and developed over 30 years ago. They were too expensive to sell to the public and were only available to government insitutions for safety applications.'

'They were invented in California for military purposes but quickly became a hit on the novelty scene.'

wow, i've been searching all afternoon and i haven't had any luck either, the closest i came to was the inventor of neon light...

 

[BugCatcher]

The history of Cyalume (the compound used in lighsticks)

This was printed in Chemical & Engineering News, so I am inclined to believe this source.

 

[WedgeX]

Found the patent for the original glow stick...it's listed as a "chemical light device."

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4064428.html