Thomas Drummond

…calcium oxide light invented by Thomas Drummond in 1816. Drummond’s light, which consisted of a block of calcium oxide heated to incandescence in jets of burning oxygen and hydrogen, provided a soft, very brilliant light that could be directed and focused. It was first employed in a theatre in 1837…

Although Thomas Drummond, a British engineer, invented the limelight in 1816, it did not come into general use until some 30 years later. A limelight produces light by directing a sharp point of oxyhydrogen flame against a cylindrical block of lime. The tiny area of lime…