A lantern appeared. The first electric lantern: Russia knows what leadership in innovation means

How did the first lanterns appear?:

The first lighting devices appeared many millennia ago. When the sun went down and darkness set in, man remained defenseless from predators hiding in the dusk. Having tamed the fire, the primitive man began to use it in the dark. Fire gave light, warmth, protected from wild animals. The need for safe movement at night led to the appearance of torches, which became a kind of portable source of light.

Discoveries in the field of electricity led to the possibility of using it to create electrical lighting fixtures. Attempts to use electricity for lighting were as early as the first half of the nineteenth century. So, in 1838, the Belgian scientist Jobar created a lighting device with a carbon filament, and two years later an incandescent lamp with a platinum filament was designed.

The discovery of the phenomenon of electroluminescence of semiconductors in the twentieth century led to the creation of light-emitting diodes - semiconductor crystals that emit light under the action of a voltage applied to them. The advent of LEDs has revolutionized the lighting industry, and has led to the creation of lighting fixtures with high brightness and low energy consumption.

Different types of flashlights - advantages and disadvantages:

Currently, the following types of lanterns are most common:

  • - halogen lights;
  • - led lights;
  • - xenon lamps (gas-discharge).

Halogen lamps (lanterns) have a low cost, which refers to the undoubted advantages. Unfortunately, their shortcomings cover the low price.

These include:

  • short service life;
  • low efficiency (a lot of energy is spent on radiated heat);
  • instability to vibration loads;
  • difficult to focus the light.

In 1417, the mayor of London, Henry Barton, ordered that lanterns be hung out on winter evenings to dispel the impenetrable darkness in the British capital. After some time, the French took up his initiative. At the beginning of the 16th century, the inhabitants of Paris were obliged to keep lamps near the windows that face the street. Under Louis XIV, the French capital was filled with the lights of numerous lanterns. The "Sun King" issued a special decree on street lighting in 1667. According to legend, it was thanks to this decree that the reign of Louis was called brilliant.

The first street lamps gave relatively little light, since they used ordinary candles and oil. The use of kerosene made it possible to significantly increase the brightness of lighting, but the real revolution of street light happened only at the beginning of the 19th century, when gas lamps appeared. Their inventor - the Englishman William Murdoch - was initially ridiculed. Walter Scott wrote to one of his friends that some madman was proposing to light London with smoke. Despite such remarks, Murdoch successfully demonstrated the benefits of gas lighting. In 1807, lanterns of a new design were installed on Pall Mall and soon conquered all European capitals.

Petersburg became the first city in Russia where street lamps appeared. On December 4, 1706, on the day of the celebration of the victory over the Swedes, at the direction of Peter I, street lamps were hung on the facades of the streets facing the Peter and Paul Fortress. The tsar and the townspeople liked the innovation, the lanterns began to be lit for all the big holidays, and thus the beginning of street lighting in St. Petersburg was laid. In 1718, Tsar Peter I issued a decree on “lighting the streets of the city of St. Petersburg” (the decree on lighting the capital city was signed by Empress Anna Ioannovna only in 1730). The design of the first outdoor oil lantern was designed by Jean Baptiste Leblon, an architect and "a skillful technician of many different arts, of great importance in France." In the autumn of 1720, 4 striped beauties made at the Yamburg glass factory were exhibited on the Neva embankment near the Petrovsky Winter Palace. Glazed lamps were attached to metal rods on wooden poles with white and blue stripes. Hemp oil burned in them. So we got regular street lighting.

In 1723, thanks to the efforts of Chief of Police Anton Divier, 595 lanterns were lit on the most eminent streets of the city. This light economy was served by 64 lamplighters. The approach to business was scientific. Lanterns were lit from August to April, focusing on the "tables of dark hours" that were sent from the Academy.

The historian of St. Petersburg I.G.Georgi describes this street lighting as follows: “For this, there are wooden poles painted with blue and white paint along the streets, each of which supports a spherical lantern on an iron rod, lowered on a block for cleaning and pouring oil ...”

Petersburg was the first city in Russia and one of the few in Europe where regular street lighting appeared just twenty years after its foundation. Oil lanterns proved to be tenacious - they burned in the city every day for 130 years. Frankly speaking, there was little light from them. In addition, they strove to splash passers-by with hot drops of oil. "Further, for God's sake, further from the lantern!" - we read in Gogol's story Nevsky Prospekt, - “and as soon as possible, pass by as soon as possible. It’s still happiness if you get off with the fact that he will flood your smart frock coat with smelly oil.

Illumination of the northern capital was a profitable business, and the merchants were willing to do it. They received a bonus for each burning lantern and therefore the number of lanterns in the city began to increase. So, by 1794, there were already 3,400 lanterns in the city, much more than in any European capital. Moreover, the lanterns in St. Petersburg (in the design of which such famous architects as Rastrelli, Felten, Montferrand took part) were considered the most beautiful in the world.

The lighting was not perfect. At all times there have been complaints about the quality of street lighting. The lanterns shine dimly, sometimes they do not burn at all, they are extinguished ahead of time. There was even an opinion that lamplighters save themselves oil for porridge.

For decades, oil has been burned in lanterns. Entrepreneurs understood the profitability of lighting and began to look for new ways to generate income. From Ser. 18th century Kerosene was used in lanterns. In 1770, the first lantern team of 100 people was created. (recruits), in 1808 she was assigned to the police. In 1819 on the Aptekarsky island. gas lamps appeared, and in 1835 the St. Petersburg Society for Gas Lighting was established. Alcohol lamps appeared in 1849. The city was divided among various companies. Of course, it would be reasonable, for example, to replace kerosene lighting everywhere with gas. But this was not profitable for oil companies, and the outskirts of the city continued to be illuminated with kerosene, since it was not profitable for the authorities to spend big money on gas. But for a long time in the evenings, lamplighters with ladders over their shoulders loomed on the city streets, hurriedly running from lantern to lantern.

A textbook on arithmetic survived more than one edition, where the task was given: “A lamplighter lights lanterns on a city street, running from one panel to another. The length of the street is a verst three hundred fathoms, the width is twenty fathoms, the distance between adjacent lamps is forty fathoms, the speed of the lamplighter is twenty fathoms per minute. The question is, how long will it take him to complete his work? (Answer: 64 lanterns located on this street, the lamplighter will light in 88 minutes.)

But then came the summer of 1873. An emergency announcement was made in a number of metropolitan newspapers that "On July 11, along Odessa Street, on Peski, experiments with electric street lighting will be shown to the public."

Recalling this event, one of his eyewitnesses wrote: “... I don’t remember from what sources, probably from newspapers, I learned that on such and such a day, at such and such an hour, somewhere in the Sands, will be shown to the public experiments on electric lighting with Lodygin lamps. I passionately desired to see this new electric light... Many people went with us for the same purpose. Soon we came out of the darkness into some street with bright lighting. In two street lamps, kerosene lamps were replaced by incandescent lamps, which poured out a bright white light.

A crowd had gathered on the quiet and unattractive Odessa Street. Some of the visitors took newspapers with them. At first, these people approached a kerosene lamp, and then an electric one, and compared the distance at which one could read.

In memory of this event, a memorial plaque was installed on the house number 60 on Suvorovsky Prospekt.

In 1874, the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences awarded A.N. Lodygin the Lomonosov Prize for the invention of the carbon incandescent lamp. However, without receiving support from either the government or the city authorities, Lodygin was unable to establish mass production and widely use them for street lighting.

In 1879, 12 electric lamps were lit on the new Liteiny Bridge. “Candles” by P.N. Yablochkov were installed on lamps made according to the project of the architect Ts.A. "Russian light", so dubbed electric lights, made a splash in Europe. Later, these lanterns, which became legendary, were transferred to the current Ostrovsky Square. In 1880 the first electric lamps shone in Moscow. So, with the help of arc lamps in 1883, on the day of the Sacred Coronation of Alexander III, the area around the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was illuminated.

In the same year, a power plant began operating on the river. Moika at the Police Bridge (Siemens and Halske), and on December 30, 32 electric lamps illuminated Nevsky Prospekt from Bolshaya Morskaya Street to Fontanka. A year later, electric lighting appeared in neighboring streets. In 1886-99, 4 power stations were already operating for lighting needs (the Helios Society, the plant of the Belgian Society, etc.) and 213 such lamps were burning. By the beginning of the twentieth century. Petersburg had about 200 power plants. In the 1910s light bulbs with a metal filament appeared (since 1909 - tungsten lamps). On the eve of World War I, there were 13,950 street lamps in St. Petersburg (3,020 electric, 2,505 kerosene, 8,425 gas). By 1918, only electric lights lit the streets. And in 1920, even these few went out.

The streets of Petrograd were plunged into darkness for two whole years, and their lighting was restored only in 1922. Since the beginning of the 90s of the last century, much attention has been paid to artistic lighting of buildings and structures in the city. Traditionally, masterpieces of architectural art, museums, monuments, and administrative buildings are decorated in this way all over the world. Petersburg is no exception. The Hermitage, the Arch of the General Staff building, the building of the Twelve Colleges, the largest St. Petersburg bridges - the Palace, Liteiny, Birzhevoy, Blagoveshchensky (former Lieutenant Schmidt, and even earlier Nikolaevsky), Alexander Nevsky ... The list goes on. Created at a high artistic and technical level, the lighting design of historical monuments gives them a special sound.

Walking along the embankments at night is an unforgettable sight! The soft light and noble design of lamps can be appreciated by citizens and guests of the city on the streets and embankments of the evening and night of St. Petersburg. And the virtuoso lighting of the bridges will emphasize their lightness and severity and create a sense of the integrity of this amazing city, located on the islands and dotted with rivers and canals.

Powerful illumination of megacities, street lighting of small settlements have made the life of modern people active, regardless of the time of day. At the same time, no one thinks about the question - who invented electric street lighting , and how the lanterns were made.

The first street lamps and their creators

Artificial street lighting has been in use since the 15th century. The very first lantern gave a small area of ​​illumination, as it used paraffin candles or hemp oil. Thanks to kerosene, the level of brightness on the streets was increased. But a revolutionary breakthrough occurred when the first electric lamp was invented, in the construction of which carbon filaments were used first, and then tungsten and molybdenum filaments.

Jan van der Heyden

In the 17th century, the Dutch artist and inventor Hayden proposed placing oil lanterns along the streets of Amsterdam. Thanks to the system invented by Hayden, in 1668 the number of people falling into canals that were not fenced was reduced, the number of crimes on the streets decreased, and the work of firefighters was facilitated when extinguishing fires.

William Murdoch

In the 19th century, William Murdoch put forward an interesting idea about a way to light the streets with gas, but they laughed at him. Contrary to ridicule, Murdoch clearly proved that this is possible. So in the streets of London in 1807 the first gas lighting devices caught fire. A little later, the design of the inventor spread to other capitals of Europe.

Pavel Yablochkov

In 1876, Russian engineer Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov invented an electric candle and installed it in a glass sphere. The design was simple but effective. A carbon thread passed over the candles. When in contact with current, the thread burned out, and an arc ignited between the candles. This phenomenon, called arc electricity, marked the beginning of the first electrical appliances. Russian "candles", as they were called, were installed on Liteiny Bridge in 1879. Also, 12 Yablochkov lamps were lit on the drawbridge across the Neva. The invention of electric street lighting marked the beginning of a new era in the use of electric current.

An interesting fact: in 1883, during the coronation of Emperor Alexander III, thanks to incandescent lamps, a circular zone near the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the Kremlin was illuminated.

The fruits of the invention were used in European capitals.
Parisian and Berlin streets, shops, coastal areas - everything was illuminated by street lamps created using this Yablochkov technology. Residents named street illumination symbolically: "Russian light", and Pavel Yablochkov, a Russian engineer who invented electric street lighting, became known at that time in all enlightened circles of Europe.

However, after many world capitals were illuminated by the bright but short-lived light of the arc electricity of Yablochkov's "candles", these devices lasted only a few years. They were replaced by more advanced incandescent lamps. The invention of the Russian engineer was practically forgotten, and Pavel Nikolayevich himself died in poverty in the provincial Saratov.

A new stage in the development of street lighting

A significant contribution to the development of electric street lighting was made by the Russian scientist Alexander Nikolaevich Lodygin and the American Thomas Alva Edison.

Lodygin created the design of a light bulb, the basis of which he took molybdenum and tungsten filaments twisted in a spiral. It was a breakthrough in the field of electrical discoveries. One of the most important criteria for a lighting device is the duration of operation. It was Lodygin who raised the resource of his lamps from 30 minutes to several hundred hours of operation. He was the first to use lamps with a vacuum, pumping air out of them. This made it possible to greatly extend the life of the lighting device.

For the first time, Lodygin's incandescent lamps appeared in the street lighting of Odessa Street in St. Petersburg in 1873.

Having received a patent and a prize for his invention, Alexander Nikolayevich could not distribute it to the masses. The talented engineer did not have entrepreneurial acumen and could not bring production to the required scale.

Another engineer, the American Thomas Edison, was distinguished by perseverance in achieving his goal. It was he who, taking Lodygin's invention as a basis, improved its design and was able to introduce it into widespread production. This is not to say that Edison received his fame undeservedly. After all, he stubbornly carried out thousands of experiments and developed a very important stage in electric lighting - from a current source to a consumer, which made it possible to launch electric lighting on a scale of entire cities.

So, thanks to the knowledge of the Russian engineer Lodygin and the agility of the American scientist Edison, electric street lighting replaced gas lamps.

What did the first lights look like? video

Introduction.

We have all had to use flashlights on several occasions. They are necessary at night (this year, many felt this when they went to work or to classes in the morning), when working in an unlit room. Now on store shelves you can still find electric lights with incandescent lamps and a wide variety of flashlights with LEDs.

The purpose of this work: to compare the luminous efficiency of incandescent lamps and LEDs. To study the variety of electric lamps and their efficiency.

Tasks: compare the luminous efficiency of LEDs and incandescent lamps by measuring the photocurrent.

Construct a graph of the discharge current of galvanic cells during the operation of incandescent lamps and LEDs, compare the radiation of light sources from a battery discharge.

Determine the advantages and disadvantages of each type of light source


  1. From the history of the creation of an electric flashlight.
In those distant times, when there was already a fire, a person was looking for ways to create a portable (portable) light source. At first it was a tree branch set on fire in a fire, then torches, candles and kerosene lamps appeared, which are still with us today. These portable light sources had problems - safety, impracticality, emission of harmful substances. All these factors in the future influenced the appearance of the world's first electric lantern.

1896- the first electric lamp. The body of this lantern was made of wood. The lantern had a carrying handle, a switch for turning it on and off, this role was played by a metal plate, which, when turned, closed the electrical

1899- the first hand-held electric lamp of a cylindrical shape,

Nowadays, these are completely different electric square battery lanterns made according to advanced technologies, using modern materials, current sources and lighting sources.

Over the past hundred years, the shape of the lanterns has not changed much. The shape can be divided into two main groups: cylindrical and square.

According to the light source, flashlights are divided into classes: on incandescent lamps and LEDs.


  1. Incandescent lamp device.
incandescent lamp- an electric light source, the luminous body of which is the so-called filament body (a filament, a conductor heated by the flow of electric current to a high temperature.) The designs of incandescent lamps are very diverse and depend on the purpose of a particular type of lamp. However, the following elements are common to all incandescent lamps: filament, bulb, current leads. Depending on the characteristics of a particular type of lamp, filament holders of various designs can be used; lamps can be made without a base or with bases of various types, have an additional outer bulb and other additional structural elements.

very low efficiency for incandescent lamps, they consume electricity for light only 5% of power, 95% for heat. Incandescent lamps use more electricity to heat the filament than to light it.


LED device.

Light-emitting diode or light emittingdiode (SD, LED, LED English Light emitting diode) - P semiconductor device with an electron-hole junction or metal-semiconductor contact, which creates visible radiation when an electric current is passed through it. The emitted light lies in a narrow range of the spectrum, its spectral characteristics depend, among other things, on the chemical composition of the semiconductors used in it. days. The device of LEDs of various types is simplified in Figure 1. The light emitted by a semiconductor crystal enters a miniature optical system formed by a spherical reflector and the transparent housing of the diode itself, which has the shape of a lens.

Unlike incandescent lamps, LEDs emit light in a relatively narrow band of the spectrum, the width of which is 20-50 nm.

LEDs are built in anywhere, in many spheres of human activity and not only, these new light sources have not bypassed lanterns.

But are they as effective as they seem?


  1. Conducting an experiment.
In my work, I decided to compare the light output of a miniature incandescent lamp from a flashlight (voltage 3.5 V, current 0.15 A) and 5 LEDs (U=3V, I=0.02A) connected in parallel (total current 0 ,1A). it is known from the reference book that the brightness of such a lamp is 1 candela.

To measure the current and voltage, I used a digital multimeter, a voltmeter and a milliammeter.

One of the characteristics of light sources that allows you to compare their efficiency is the coefficient of light output. It is determined by the ratio of the total luminous flux Ф sent by the lamp (in lumens) to the power P consumed to power the lamp (in watts):


Obviously, the more economical the source, the higher its coefficient of light output.

The selenium photocell was illuminated with an incandescent lamp from a flashlight and LEDs from different distances so that they created the same illumination E of the photocell. The illumination of the photocell was determined from the readings of a microammeter connected to its terminals. When the photocell was illuminated with an incandescent lamp from a distance of 20 cm, the photocurrent was 18 μA. To obtain such a photocurrent (i.e., the same illumination), the LEDs had to be removed at a distance of 51 cm.

then, in order to find the ratio of the light output coefficients, it is enough to measure the illumination of the photocell using a microammeter and the distance R with a ruler. I measured the power consumption P with an ammeter (A) and a voltmeter (B).

The luminous efficiency coefficient for the LED turned out to be 12.3 times greater than for the incandescent lamp.

Experience 2. The dependence of battery discharge on the operating time of the lighting device.

I assembled an installation of two galvanic batteries, a light bulb, a voltmeter, an ammeter and connecting wires in one circuit, and a second circuit consisting of a photocell and a microammeter. I turned on the lamp and began to take readings of the instruments after 20 minutes. The data was recorded in a table. It can be seen from the table and graph that when the incandescent lamp is operating, the discharge of the elements is much faster than when the LEDs are operating, and the photocell illumination also drops, and the illumination of the photocell from the LEDs remains practically unchanged, because. When running, LEDs draw less current than when they start up.


  1. Further improvement of electric lights
In many ways, the operation of an electric flashlight depends on the current source. Batteries used with it are divided into the following groups:

a) by size (tab. 3)

b) by chemical composition

Most electric lights fall into two main categories:


  1. Flashlights that are very bright, powerful halogen lamps, and it is better to choose super-bright LED flashlights. They are popular with the police, the military and the Ministry of Emergencies, various security agencies and housing facilities. Such very powerful electric lights are much more expensive.

  2. This group also includes tactical flashlights. On sale you can see laser cartridges for cold shooting.
2. Most people want a simpler electric flashlight that is inexpensive. The range of such inexpensive lamps is very large and can satisfy any buyer. These light sources can be divided into the following subgroups:

1.Battery-powered electric flashlights are made using advanced technologies, using modern materials, current sources and lighting sources.

2. There are lanterns without batteries and accumulators at all, such electric lanterns use induction energy or solar energy, and these are dynamo lanterns. Their work is based on the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction.

3. Today, you will not surprise anyone with an electric flashlight that can be repeatedly recharged, where there are no batteries inside, there are reliable, repeatedly recharged batteries - these are rechargeable flashlights.

4. With the appearance in the production of miniature current sources - batteries and very reliable light sources - LEDs, it became possible to produce miniature lanterns - keychain lanterns.


incandescent lamp

Light-emitting diode

LED lantern






























Appendix.




  1. Miniature incandescent lamps.



  1. Conducting an experiment

Battery discharge from incandescent lamps and LEDs

a) from an incandescent lamp



voltage, V

current strength. BUT

time, min

Power, W

3,5

0,16

0

0,56

3,2

0,15

20

0,48

2,8

0,13

40

0,36

2,6

0,12

60

0,31

2,3

0,11

80

0,25

2,2

0,1

100

0,22

Battery power drop

b) from LEDs



voltage, V

current strength. BUT

time, min

Power, W

3,5

0,1

0

0,35

3,4

0,1

20

0,34

3,35

0,1

40

0,34

3,33

0,098

60

0,33

3,2

0,096

80

0,31

3
,15


0,093

100

0,29

Types of galvanic cells

Size in mm

Name

Standard

IEC (alkaline/
saline)


ANSI*

JIS*
(alkaline/
saline)


diameter 14.5
height 50.5


Mignon
(Finger)


LR6/R6

AA

AM3/UM3N

diameter 10.5
height 44.5


Micro

LR03/R03

AAA

AM4/UM4N

diameter 26.2
height 50


Baby

LR14/R14

C

AM2/UM2N

diameter 34.2
height 61.5


Mono

LR20/R20

D

AM1/UM1N

26x22x67

9V block

6LR61/6F22

1604D

6AM6/006PN
Table3

  1. Think for yourself, decide for yourself…..
Which is better: incandescent lamp and LED?

incandescent lamp

Light-emitting diode

LED lantern

high power consumption of an incandescent lamp

minimum power consumption by LED, low operating voltage

Low voltage supply of flashlights from 1.5 V with minimal power consumption. Batteries or accumulators are now enough not for hours, but for a day.

flickering and flashes of the light flux with changes in the supply voltage of the incandescent lamp, and when the voltage drops, the light dims

regardless of the voltage drop, the LED lighting is constant, for this, the pulsed power supply mode of the LEDs is used

Constant brightness of the luminous flux of the LED lamp, regardless of the voltage drop of the current source.

the incandescent lamp is afraid of shock and mechanical loads, vibration, shaking

the LED is resistant to vibrations and shock loads, mechanically strong and exceptionally reliable

High reliability of the light source to shock and mechanical loads.

bulbs of incandescent lamps get very hot, very high operating temperature

LED - this is the minimum heating, only 20% of electricity is spent on heat

Minimum heating of the reflector of the lantern.

the incandescent lamp is afraid of frequent switching on and off, the main reason is sudden voltage drops

Frequent switching on and off does not affect the life of the LED in any way.

The LED is a reliable light source for a flashlight.

There are several LEDs in a good flashlight, even if one of the LEDs suddenly burns out, you will not be left without light!

A non-circular, but still anniversary date in the history of Russian science and technology fell on September 11th. On this day 140 years ago in St. Petersburg on Odessa Street, the world's first electric lamps were lit, replacing the old kerosene lamps. As one of the eyewitnesses wrote: “Suddenly, out of the darkness, we got into a street with bright lighting. In two lanterns, kerosene lamps were replaced by incandescent lamps that poured bright white light. Those who gathered admired this light without fire with delight and surprise.”

New lanterns were created by the inventor Alexander Lodygin in full accordance with what we call innovations today. Lodygin invented, Lodygin produced, Lodygin implemented, Lodygin earned. The introduction of electric lighting in the city began, in fact, from the street where the inventor's workshop was located.

Curiously, that was the norm back then. No, the combination of a scientist, inventor and businessman in one person was also not an ordinary phenomenon. But still, the very level of science was such that it still made it possible to combine a researcher, a technologist and a market tycoon in one human brain. The norm was different - that, in general, the creator of the device himself punched it into life. There were practically no state programs for this, no one built technoparks and innovation centers. Invented? Create a demonstration sample, prove its benefits to a strict departmental commission - then ask for money from the budget for further production. Or sell the invention to the treasury.

And it worked! In Russia, many revolutionary developments were created with the mark "for the first time in the world." "A lot" - in this case it means hundreds. Of which the world's first lathe, single-span arched bridge, electric arc, crawler, open-hearth technology (thirty years earlier than the Marten brothers), incandescent lamp, submarine with electric motor, airplane, electric welding, steam locomotive, hydrofoil, radio receiver, water turbine, mortar, gasoline engine. And so on and so forth.

What about inventions, so to speak, of a consumer profile? Please: the world's first movie camera - two years before the Lumiere brothers, an automatic telephone exchange, a two-wheeled bicycle, a camera (and color photographs), synthetic detergent, a TV. And the list goes on too.

A lot of things with the tag "for the first time in the world" also refer to Soviet times - when the model of supporting inventions became the exact opposite: the state gave money, it also took the fruits of intellectual property. And the question arises: what do we have with this today? Today, when billions of budget and corporate dollars are invested in innovation, in Skolkovo, Rosnano, in university technology parks and venture funds?

As they say on the Internet, "google and you will find." What does the search engine give us for the past year? Here are the headlines.

"Russia is the first in the world to clone a mammoth." In fact, it does not clone, but only gathers. And while in words. In fact, the first person to directly approach the experiment was the Korean scientist Hwang Woo Suk. Fortunately, the Korean Themis got in his way, and sentenced him to two years in prison for embezzlement. Whether ours will be able to take advantage of the time lag thus provided is unknown.

"In Russia, for the first time in the world, a system has been implemented that allows aircraft to fly safely." This is really a great thing, reducing the risk of a mid-air collision by orders of magnitude. The system, unpretentiously called ADS-B, turned out to be a breakthrough: if simply, it is built on the generation of an aircraft's own radio signal, which is received by another device, after which the computer system itself moves the objects apart. Without the involvement of a complex and expensive ground-based radar system, the most important thing is achieved: situational awareness of pilots and ground personnel. The question is, where will this system be fully implemented for the first time in the world? We have set the timeframe for 2015-2020. But at the same time, Europe, the USA and Australia are planning to do the same. Who will win?

"For the first time in the world, Russia has developed a super-powerful gas turbine locomotive running on liquefied gas." This is such a hefty locomotive, which, during tests, dragged the train into 171 wagons with coal. At the same time, a special turbine created for it can reduce fuel consumption by 39 percent compared to existing ones. And here - a good thing, but not without its "but". But the length of such a train will be under 5 km, and the railway infrastructure is designed for about 1.5 km. That is, you can’t get up properly at the stations, or, more importantly, you can’t go through turns at speed without harm to the railroad track. How to be - a question.

"For the first time in the world in Russia, they designed, tested and put into production a passive radar system called Avtobaza-M."

An excellent development that allows, in the so-called passive location mode - that is, without the use of powerful radar systems that a potential air enemy sees and can quickly destroy, - to determine the exact coordinates of a flying target, identify it and give parameters for aiming air defense systems at it. "Very cheap and very angry ..." - the author of the message accompanied his description not without wit. But still, this is again not an innovation center. These are the military. This is their system, so to speak, of identifying and encouraging inventions.

Finally, "for the first time in the world, an oblique icebreaker will be built in Russia." Also an ingenious model, in which the left side of the ship is significantly larger than the right, which is why the ship is able to cut a channel 50 meters wide, which exceeds the width of the hull by 2.5 times. True, this does not work in severe ice, but for the waters of the Gulf of Finland, which freezes in winter, it is just right. But this is not a technopark either. This is again a department - this time the United Shipbuilding Corporation.

Actually, not so little - for a year! But it only turns out that these useful innovations are created and implemented by departments - railway workers, military, shipbuilders, aviation workers. The exit from our home-grown "silicon valleys" is somehow still little noticeable. Not to consider them the interface recently announced by Skolkovo for terminals at airports, which allows you to register an air ticket from any of them!

No, the question is not to start looking into the efficiency of innovation centers and technology parks. The question is different. Since a system, so to speak, "Edisonian", with an inventor, an implementer and a seller, is already impossible, and we have also gone far from the state one, why not think about encouraging innovations where they today receive the postscript "For the first time in the world "? Where large funds are concentrated, where there is a single customer, where is he - a strict acceptor of work?

In other words, why not revive applied science? On a new base - technoparks and innovation centers at major government departments?