# Lightbulb as a symbol of an idea

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightbulb-as-a-symbol-of-an-idea/174243>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 10, 2003, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightbulb-as-a-symbol-of-an-idea/174243 "2003-05-10T01:00:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sdweat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@sdweat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sdweat)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightbulb-as-a-symbol-of-an-idea/174243/1 "2003-05-10T01:00:42Z")

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Where does the symbol of a lightbulb showing over someone’s head when they have an idea come about? Who, what or where was this first shown? Was it a cartoon?

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightbulb-as-a-symbol-of-an-idea/174243/2 "2003-05-10T01:11:03Z")

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Why are you asking this [again?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=182519)

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**Author:** ![sdweat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@sdweat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sdweat)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightbulb-as-a-symbol-of-an-idea/174243/3 "2003-05-10T01:19:46Z")

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If you are wondering why I am asking this, well, I am looking this up for a professor. Does this answer your question.

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightbulb-as-a-symbol-of-an-idea/174243/4 "2003-05-10T01:27:11Z")

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No, you already asked this iodentical question a few days ago. I was wondering why you asked it again, rather than reading the original thread. If you couldn’t find it, I linked to it above.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightbulb-as-a-symbol-of-an-idea/174243/5 "2003-05-10T02:19:35Z")

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Since you asked the question in another thread, I’ll close this one and direct further comment to the other, linked to above. For future reference, if you can’t find a thread you have started, you can use the search function by clicking on the [search](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/search.php) button at the upper right corner of the screen.

bibliophage  
moderator GQ