People

Ignacy Lukasiewicz (Hovhannes Ghukasyan), the inventor of kerosene lamp

Image by polishhistory.pl

Ignacy Lukasiewicz or Hovhannes Ghukasyan is known as the inventor of a kerosene lamp. From his childhood, Lukasiewicz was deeply interested in chemistry and medicine.

He started working as a pharmacist’s assistant at the age of 16 while also attending Armenian community meetings and carrying out an active political life. Lukasiewicz started working at a pharmacy in Lviv, Ukraine.

With the sponsorship of the pharmacy’s manager, Lukasiewicz entered Jagiellonian University in Krakow, and then got a master’s degree at the University of Vienna. Upon graduation, he returned to Lviv to continue working at the same pharmacy and started oil distillation experiments.

In 1853 as a result of fractional distillation, Lukasiewicz got kerosene, which unfortunately was not usable in pharmaceutics.

During his experiments, Lukasiewicz noticed that kerosene was emitting more light and less harmful substances than oil. He designed a model of a lamp working with kerosene, which he patented in 1854 in Germany.

The kerosene lamp invented by Lukasiewiez illuminated all of Europe and America until the beginning of electric power.

After a while, Lukasiewicz created the world’s first oil well on the example of a coal mine. Soon after, he built a huge manufacturing of kerosene. In 1877, the first-ever World oil congress took place in Lviv with the sponsorship of Lukasiewicz. He is known in history as the “oil genius”.

Mano Chil

Vigen Avetisyan

Recent Posts

Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia

Regarding the Remarks of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group at the Permanent Council…

2 months ago

The Armenian Genetic Code: An 8,000-Year Unbroken Journey

While empires rose and fell and borders shifted across millennia, one remarkable constant has endured:…

2 months ago

Idea of a Deferred Referendum on the Status of Nagorno-Karabakh

Former Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group and Representative of the President of Russia, Ambassador…

2 months ago

Clarifications by Former Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group

Clarifications by Former Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group and Representative of the President of…

2 months ago

Meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council

Sofia, 6–7 December 2004 Statement of the Ministerial Council on the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict We welcome…

2 months ago

From the Statement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Vartan Oskanian

at the International Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance Durban, August 31…

3 months ago