A brief history of UV light and its importance

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By Mohammed Mujtaba khan Last updated Feb 16, 2021

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Our generation believes everything is invented recently. Firstly, whenever they see something new and technologically advanced. Of course, our curious little heads make us research everything before forming a conclusion. It is how we see UV lights today. Therefore, We might think of them as a recent invention. In actuality, its roots back to 100 years. This invention has undergone many developmental phases and is now present in various forms.

History of Uv Light Service

Everything started when bacteria were placed under direct sunlight, and the rays killed them. It was a British physiologist Arthur Downes who discovered it. Later on, approximately 25 years later, one German Ophthalmologist, Ernst Hertel, concluded that UV-C kills microorganisms more effectively than the other UV variants after many experiments and developments.

Nearly at the same time, professor Niel Finsen earned his Nobel prize for treating a skin disease with concentrated light. Consequently, scientists worldwide performed experiments to form an exceptional conclusion.

Practical implication

Many scientists worked on UV light’s primary application, specifically under head disinfection in the 1930s and late ’40s. Furthermore, William F. discovered viruses could be transmitted from person to person. He concluded, viruses and bacterial diseases can be airborne. He had done several experiments to completed that UV-C lamps could kill microbes. In Philadelphia day school, he installed lights to monitor the spread of measles and other related infections. It turned out that the school with UV lamps had a minimal spread rate in comparison to schools without UV lamps.

In 1936, experiments took place on an upper level. UV light is used in operating rooms to inspect the spread of infection. And this was the beginning of experiments.  UV lamps were installed everywhere and in every building that could spread the virus. Scientists did it for at least a few decades to stop the spread of active microorganisms.

Medical progress

over the years, everything evolved. Development and progression created faith in commoners. People started to restore their belief that this works. Furthermore, medical progress was at its heights. People started to trust drugs and antibiotics for deadly diseases.

Earlier, some viruses evolved with resistance to drugs and UV light.  In the 1950s, it became difficult for the technology people to recreate well’s discovery into something smarter to prevent the virus from spreading. To restore faith, people at that time had to struggle a lot to prove that UV-C light could kill any microbe that comes in its way. Be it measles, E-coli or tuberculosis.