<P> In addressing the question of who invented the incandescent lamp , historians Robert Friedel and Paul Israel list 22 inventors of incandescent lamps prior to Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison . They conclude that Edison 's version was able to outstrip the others because of a combination of three factors : an effective incandescent material , a higher vacuum than others were able to achieve ( by use of the Sprengel pump ) and a high resistance that made power distribution from a centralized source economically viable . </P>
who invented the first efficient incandescent light bulb that was later used in projectors
Thomas Edison