It may be that filament-based bulbs are on their way out, what with CFLs and LED bulbs taking over, but there’s still a lot to appreciate about the classic tungsten bulb. Apart from how reliable it’s been for the last century, this type of bulb is kind of an engineering win in how the tungsten filament is made.
As always, Bill Hammack’s videos are succinct, interesting, and well-made. Take three minutes out of your day to learn something new.
The technique described in the video was discovered in the early 1900s by William Coolidge, and as Hammack says, seems to have been partially science, partially intuition, and partially black magic. You can read his paper here.