Peter Cooper Hewitt (May 5, 1861 – August 25, 1921) was an American electrical engineer and inventor, who invented the first mercury-vapor lamp in 1901.[1] Hewitt was issued U.S. patent 682,692 on September 17, 1901.[2] In 1903, Hewitt created an improved version that possessed higher color qualities which eventually found widespread industrial use.[1]
Cooper Hewitt's mercury vapor lamp, the forerunner of the fluorescent lamp
In 1901, Hewitt invented and patented a mercury-vapor lamp that was the forerunner of the fluorescent lamp. A gas-discharge lamp, Hewitt's invention used mercury vapor produced by passing current through liquid mercury. His first lamps had to be started by tilting the tube to make contact between the two electrodes and the liquid mercury; later he developed the inductive electrical ballast to start the tube. The efficiency was much higher than that of incandescent lamps, but the emitted light was of a bluish-green unpleasant color, which limited its practical use to specific professional areas, like photography, where the color was not an issue at a time where films were black and white. For space lighting use, the lamp was frequently augmented by a standard incandescent lamp.[5] The two together provided a more acceptable color while retaining some efficiency advantages.
While married to Work, Hewitt had an extramarital relationship with Marion (aka Maryon) Jeanne Andrews[12] that resulted in the birth of Ann Cooper Hewitt (July 28, 1914-1956). Hewitt later married Andrews in 1918, right after his divorce to Work, and formally adopted Ann.
Prior to Hewitt, Andrews was married in 1902 to Dr. Peder Sather Bruguiere (brother of American photographer Francis Bruguière, brother-in-law of heiress Margaret Post Van Alen and grandson of banker Peder Sather)[13] and in 1907 to wealthy New York broker Alexander Turner Stewart Denning.[14][15]
After Hewitt, Andrews married in 1922 to Baron Robert Frederic Emile Regis D'Erlanger[16] and in 1926 to George William Childs McCarter[17] (grandson of American author Hannah Mary Bouvier Peterson, great-grandson of Judge John Bouvier and nephew-in-law of American publisher George William Childs).
Cooper Hewitt lights used in film production (1916).[18]
Peter Cooper Hewitt died in 1921. His will left two-thirds of his estate to Ann and one-third to her mother Marion; but Ann's portion would revert to her mother if Ann (Gay Bradstreet)[14] died childless.[19]
In 1935, just before Ann's 21st birthday when she would have attained legal majority, she was hospitalized for appendicitis. Ann's mother told the surgeons that Ann was "feebleminded" and paid them to sterilize her while performing her appendectomy.[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] Ann retaliated by suing her mother in San Francisco court and telling the press about Maryon's gambling and alcohol addictions. The mother-daughter dispute riveted the public; and the unconventional use of sterilization (it occurred in private practice, not a public asylum) forced a public debate of eugenics.[34]
^Farley, Audrey Clare (July 8, 2019) [First published 2019]. "The Curious Case of the Socialite Who Sterilized Her Daughter". Pocket, from Narratively. Archived from the original on April 10, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2020. It was January of 1936, and heiress Ann Cooper Hewitt was suing her mother in a San Francisco court for $500,000 (equivalent to about $11,000,000 in 2023). The plaintiff claimed that her mother paid doctors to "unsex" her during an appendectomy in order to deprive her of an inheritance from her millionaire father's estate. The defendant argued that she was merely protecting her daughter — and society — from the consequences of Ann becoming pregnant.
Sciences, National Institute of Social (October 1916). "The Awarding Of Medals: Presentation Medals". Journal of the National Institute of Social Sciences. II: 40–43. Retrieved August 7, 2009. References Cooper Hewitt's work with hydrofoils.
Andre Mohammed (2002). "Peter Cooper Hewitt". The Forges and Manor of Ringwood. Archived from the original on October 22, 2003. This essay was written by a student at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and represents the only research done on this major inventor. The majority of the primary sources were found at the Cooper Archives in the Cooper Union Institute in Manhattan
