Beautiful genius: Hertha Ayrton and the electric arc

Hertha Ayrton's work on the electric arc lamp began at a point where arc lighting had become commonplace and the early problems of regulating the carbons in the lamps had largely been solved. Attention could therefore be focused on the arc itself and toward achieving ideal conditions for producing the brightest, the most efficient, the most stable arc. The author looks briefly at Hertha's improvements to the arc lamp and related work she undertook in this field. Hertha Ayrton worked on arc lamps for several years, and her book "The Electric Arc," published in 1902, became the standard work on the subject.