The First Neon Lights

The first neon lamp was presented by Frenchman Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show in 1910. Within fifteen years, this "liquid fire" covered cities—and alarmed as much as it fascinated.

Claude perfected lighting by discharge tube filled with neon, which emits an intense orange-red. Around 1912 appeared the first neon signs in Paris; in 1923, a Packard dealer installed panels in Los Angeles that stunned passersby, soon nicknamed "liquid fire." The first neon lamp was presented by Frenchman Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show in 1910.

The colored, vibrant, and permanent light had no natural equivalent. Many judged it aggressive, artificial, almost unhealthy. Neon became the symbol of a flashy modernity, associated with night, advertising, and entertainment districts. Within fifteen years, this "liquid fire" covered cities—and alarmed as much as it fascinated.

Yet its physics is simple: a rarefied gas, excited by high voltage, releases photons of a color specific to each gas—red for neon, other hues for argon or mercury. The sign imposes an unprecedented aesthetic, where the city is written in lines of incandescent gas.