When a current is sent through a metal wire, the wire glows. Around 1805 Humphry Davy used this invention to develop the first electric light. A disadvantage of this phenomenon is that, at a high temperature, the metal will oxidise fast because of the oxygen in the air. To prevent this, the wire was stretched in a tube that was sucked vacuum as best one could. When a current was sent through the wire, the wire started to glow, but it did not burn because of the lower amount of oxygen. This tube may be from the time of the first director of Teylers Museum, Martinus van Marum. He studied combustion processes, including the oxidation of various metals under influence of electricity.
