Neon signs

Colourful tubes of magic that were embraced wholeheartedly by the advertising industry

-  Delwyn Mallett

NOTHING ON DISPLAY inside the 1910 Salon de l'Automobile in Paris would fundamentally alter either the look or technology of the automobile. Outside the Grand Palais, however, inventor and entrepreneur Georges Claude was showing off his latest gizmo. Stretching for 35 metres across the façade of the Palaisour were 'fiery red' glass tubes that he hoped might revolutionise the world of lighting. Although his invention didn't replace the incandescent lightbulb, it did spawn its own industry, becoming a promotional tool that spread across the world's urban landscapes from Times Square to Tokyo and arguably became the foremost vernacular art of the 20th Century.

Neon, an inert gas, along with Krypton and Xenon, was first isolated from the air that we breathe by the eminent Victorian chemists Sir William Ramsey and Morris Travers in a busy six weeks of activity in 1898, four years after Ramsey and Lord Rayleigh had isolated Argon. All gained a Nobel Prize for their efforts. It was immediately noted that, when subjected to an electric current, neon glowed red. However, it wasn't until Claude - often called the 'Edison of France' - started harvesting neon on an industrial scale as a by-product of his recently formed Liquid Air company that the possibility of using it as a light source became a practical proposition.