THE BOOK OF LIGHT · EVIDENCE
Lighting image sequence sources
Open a record to inspect its details and follow its source links.
- images
Oil: Roman terracotta lamp
- file
- roman-oil-lamp.jpg
- label
- Oil: Roman terracotta lamp
- alt
- Unlit shallow Roman terracotta oil lamp with a handle and wick nozzle
- caption
- Roman terracotta oil lamp, 1st century CE. Museum photograph of an unlit surviving object.
- source url
- https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/246270
- image url
- https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/gr/web-large/DP109367.jpg
- credit
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, 1896, 96.9.226
- rights
- Public domain; Met Open Access
- rights url
- https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/policies-and-documents/open-access
- era
- 1st century CE
- caveat
- This is an unlit museum object, not a photograph of ancient lighting in use.
- verified on
- 2026-10-04
- sha256
- 382edc33bfff2587a29430fc67944a3025d60b9833c5c74848bbd4fd2ac750e2
- byte count
- 46278
- visually inspected
- True
Fat: experimental stone lamp
- file
- fat-lamp-experiment.png
- label
- Fat: experimental stone lamp
- alt
- Composite photograph of a stone fat lamp before ignition, burning, and illuminating an experimental cave setting
- caption
- Animal-fat stone lamp in a modern experimental archaeology study, before ignition and after 1 and 43 minutes. This 2021 reconstruction tests prehistoric lighting rather than documenting an ancient scene.
- source url
- https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0250497
- image url
- https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figure/image?size=large&id=10.1371/journal.pone.0250497.g007
- credit
- Medina-Alcaide et al. (2021), PLOS ONE 16(6): e0250497, Figure 7
- rights
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; credit original authors and publication
- rights url
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- era
- 2021 experimental reconstruction of Paleolithic lighting
- caveat
- Modern reconstruction; the illuminated human is a modern experimenter, not a prehistoric person.
- verified on
- 2026-10-04
- sha256
- a9f8c0b89734579bfb5ebd6d3f1f88df12b6979f11e8f4397673e11b7a3a0bb6
- byte count
- 3862138
- visually inspected
- True
Candle: a flame shaped by gravity
- file
- candle-flames-nasa.gif
- label
- Candle: a flame shaped by gravity
- alt
- Side-by-side burning candle flames: yellow teardrop at normal gravity and a blue rounded flame in microgravity
- caption
- NASA comparison of a candle flame in normal gravity (left) and microgravity (right). Buoyant convection helps shape the familiar terrestrial flame.
- source url
- https://science.nasa.gov/image-detail/candle-flames-3/
- image url
- https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/candle-flames.gif
- credit
- NASA
- rights
- NASA media guidelines permit factual educational and informational website use with acknowledgment; no endorsement implied
- rights url
- https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/
- era
- Modern combustion research; image page updated 2024
- caveat
- Modern scientific photography, not a historical candle artifact. The flame on the right is microgravity behavior.
- verified on
- 2026-10-04
- sha256
- b143eecdf5e301e43b1e4f95d576bc4454f18e2dc80c83e21149e036afff9836
- byte count
- 794115
- visually inspected
- True
Incandescent: the standard lamp
- file
- incandescent-nist.jpg
- label
- Incandescent: the standard lamp
- alt
- Unlit gas-filled incandescent standard lamp showing its filament inside a tall clear glass envelope
- caption
- A 500-watt gas-filled incandescent lamp used as a luminous-intensity standard in the 1970s. Photograph of an unlit metrology artifact.
- source url
- https://www.nist.gov/image/1948candelastandardlampjpg
- image url
- https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/images/2019/05/16/1948_candela_standard_lamp.jpg
- credit
- NIST
- rights
- NIST public information may be copied and distributed except material marked copyrighted; image credits requested
- rights url
- https://www.nist.gov/copyrights-disclaimers
- era
- Standard lamp used in the 1970s; NIST image uploaded 2019
- caveat
- Unlit specialized standard lamp; not a household bulb or an Edison-original artifact.
- verified on
- 2026-10-04
- sha256
- 137e2a852ae6c2d15e1d11c84870fa16ed66d7faa6ac53bccab185c24c9548e2
- byte count
- 86193
- visually inspected
- True
LED: the semiconductor source
- file
- led-nist.jpg
- label
- LED: the semiconductor source
- alt
- Five unlit early LED replacement lamps with heat sinks and exposed LED emitter boards
- caption
- Early LED replacement lamps photographed by NIST in 2008, including visible emitter boards and heat sinks. Their construction makes the transition to solid-state sources tangible.
- source url
- https://www.nist.gov/image/ledlightingjpg
- image url
- https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/images/2017/02/01/led_lighting.jpg
- credit
- NIST; reference 08PHY014
- rights
- NIST public information may be copied and distributed except material marked copyrighted; image credits requested
- rights url
- https://www.nist.gov/copyrights-disclaimers
- era
- 2008
- caveat
- Unlit early LED lamps; not representative of every contemporary product and not an endorsement.
- verified on
- 2026-10-04
- sha256
- c561f01108763cd6cd3122cf076a5a22e8e6a946de6715ef21c39ab35efdd322
- byte count
- 2411728
- visually inspected
- True
