The invention of the light bulb was a cumulative effort involving multiple inventors over many decades, rather than the work of a single individual.

• Early Contributions: In 1802, Humphry Davy created the first electric light by connecting wires to a battery and a piece of carbon, producing an electric arc lamp, though it was too bright and short-lived for practical use. Other early inventors such as Warren de la Rue (1840) and James Bowman Lindsay also developed early incandescent lamps

• Joseph Swan: An English chemist, Joseph Swan began developing a practical incandescent light bulb in the 1850s. By 1878, he had patented a bulb using carbonized paper filaments and demonstrated a working lamp in 1879. His bulbs used a vacuum tube to extend filament life but had limitations due to inefficient vacuum technology at the time. Swan later improved his designs with cellulose filaments and founded an electrical lighting company in the UK

• Thomas Edison: Edison is often credited with inventing the light bulb because he created the first commercially practical incandescent lamp. Starting serious research in 1878, Edison improved upon previous designs by developing a high-resistance thin carbon filament and achieving a better vacuum inside the bulb. He received a U.S. patent for his electric lamp in 1880, which made electric lighting reliable, safe, and practical for widespread use. Edison also established an industrial research lab and worked with a team to refine the invention

• Patent Disputes and Collaboration: Edison and Swan had overlapping patents and legal disputes, but eventually joined forces to form the Edison & Swan United Electric Light Company, combining their technologies and becoming major producers of electric light bulbs

In summary, while Thomas Edison is most famously associated with the invention of the light bulb due to his successful commercialization and improvements, Joseph Swan and several other inventors like Humphry Davy, Warren de la Rue, and James Bowman Lindsay made significant earlier contributions. The light bulb as we know it today is the result of these cumulative efforts