Hurricane Lantern / An exhibit

In 1780, Francois-Pierre Aime Argand, the son of a Swiss watchmaker, was struck with a bright new idea. He invented an oil lamp with a glass chimney and a control nob. Aime Argand was a scientist with a particular interest in Chemistry, and he realized that a cylindrical wick which allowed air to flow both through and around itself would produce a brighter light. The glass lamp chimney protected the flame from gusts and the control nob enabled the lamp user to adjust the height of the wick, offering further control over the strength of light produced. Whale oil or olive oil was typically used as the fuel for the new lamp. Aime Argand was a man of his times – a scholar of the period we call The Enlightenment – in which science was being explored for the benefit of mankind and in inventing the prototype Hurricane Lamp, Aime Argand would illuminate the world for centuries to come.