PHAlam moba? Agapito Flores invented the fluorescent lamp
It is hard to believe that something is just an urban legend especially if you learned about it in school. However, it is time to straighten the facts: Agapito Flores did not invent the fluorescent lamp! The real credit goes to French physicist Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel, who made notable contributions to the study of luminescence.
Where did we get the idea that Agapito Flores invented the fluorescent lamp and how did this tall tale end up in Pinoy science and history books? Believe it or not, one of the reasons might be because “Flores” sounds like “fluorescent.” Yvette Tan, author of “Waking the Dead and Other Horror Stories,” added that the urban legend might have started during the Martial Law era, a time when people had limited access to sources of information.
Unfortunately, the urban legend lives on because it is still available in a number of school books. “I think nasa textbooks pa rin siya ngayon,” said Tan. “We don’t change our textbooks very much.”
It is hard to believe that something is just an urban legend especially if you learned about it in school. However, it is time to straighten the facts: Agapito Flores did not invent the fluorescent lamp! The real credit goes to French physicist Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel, who made notable contributions to the study of luminescence.
Where did we get the idea that Agapito Flores invented the fluorescent lamp and how did this tall tale end up in Pinoy science and history books? Believe it or not, one of the reasons might be because “Flores” sounds like “fluorescent.” Yvette Tan, author of “Waking the Dead and Other Horror Stories,” added that the urban legend might have started during the Martial Law era, a time when people had limited access to sources of information.
Unfortunately, the urban legend lives on because it is still available in a number of school books. “I think nasa textbooks pa rin siya ngayon,” said Tan. “We don’t change our textbooks very much.”
