ABSTRACT
Hanging 15 feet above the fire trucks in Station #6 on East Avenue in Livermore, California is a simple light bulb. It was turned on in the summer of 1901 and has provided light for firefighters ever since (https://www.centennialbulb.org). Some ascribe its longevity to a carefully controlled power supply and the fact that it has almost never been turned off. It seems unlikely that these are the only reasons why it appears in the Guinness Book of World Records (Glenday, 2007) as “The Centennial Light.” It also seems possible that the company that made this bulb appreciated that they were engaged in a relatively new but important endeavor and over-engineered their product.
