Short answers, pulled from the story.
Warren de la Rue invented the first platinum coil light bulb in 1840. His design used a platinum filament enclosed in a vacuum tube that glowed with brilliance but was prohibitively expensive for commercial use.
Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison competed to develop functional incandescent lamps during the late 1870s. Their rivalry led to a merger that formed the Edison and Swan Electric Light Company, which sold lamps combining the best of both designs.
William D. Coolidge applied for a patent for the tungsten filament in 1912. This innovation solved the problem of filament evaporation and allowed bulbs to operate at higher temperatures while producing brighter light.
Georges Claude introduced the first neon light in 1910. He lit the peristyle of the Grand Palais in Paris with neon tubes, creating a spectacle that demonstrated the potential of gas-discharge lighting.
Arthur Compton reported successful experiments with fluorescent lighting at General Electric in 1934. A team led by George E. Inman subsequently built a prototype fluorescent lamp at General Electric's Nela Park engineering laboratory in Ohio.
Shuji Nakamura of Nichia Corporation demonstrated the first high-brightness blue LED in 1994. This breakthrough led to the development of the first white LED and revolutionized the lighting industry by the start of the 21st century.