World's Oldest Light Bulb

It may not glow brightly, but it sure glows consistently for 110 years.

Oldest Light bulb

A light bulb hanging in the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department has been burning steadily for exactly 110 years, according the Centennial Bulb website. Since the "Centennial Bulb" was first turned on, the stock market crashed and was reborn, the nuclear age began, two World Wars were fought, cars and planes were developed … and through it all the bulb kept burning.

How exactly it stays lit remains something of a mystery, Lynn Owens, who is in charge of the light bulb centennial committee, told Time magazine.

"Nobody knows how it's possible. It's a 60-watt bulb and it's only turned on for about four watts, but nobody knows why it keeps burning ... We've had scientists from all over the country look at this light bulb," Owens said.

On June 18, the bulb celebrates its 110th year of illumination - a fact documented extensively by  Guinness World Records. But even beyond its staggering powers of endurance, it's hardly an ordinary bulb.

In a 2010 interview with the Daily Mail, bulb protector Steve Bunn ascribed the light's success to good old fashioned engineering.

"They certainly don't make them like this anymore, it's a real sign of how some things were better made in the past," he said.


According to Guinness book of world records, the "centennial Light" has been active since 1901.

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