Which came first? · Counterintuitive
Which came first: the lighter or the birth of Thomas Edison?
The lighter came first, in 1823 (first one made). The birth of Thomas Edison followed 24 years later, in 1847.
- First1823
The lighter
invention · first one madeDöbereiner's lamp lit a jet of hydrogen on a platinum sponge in 1823; it stayed in production until about 1880.
- Second1847
The birth of Thomas Edison
person · bornThomas Edison was born in 1847 and ended up with more than 1,000 US patents.
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All which-came-first pairs · About Older Than You Think · Quiz games
Years from Wikidata, each checked against the item’s English Wikipedia article on 2026-10-18. A year stands for what its label says: a founding, a first patent, a premiere.