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On March 27, 1855, Canadian geologist and physician Abraham Gesner received a U.S. patent for kerosene, a refined petroleum product that would eventually transform the way millions of people light up their homes, businesses, and streets. Gener's patent is one of the most significant in industrial history, especially given the context in which it was introduced. Before kerosene, major industrialists were looking for a cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable alternative to the oils and animal fats that had been used to illuminate the world.
The problem with light before kerosene
For most of human history, artificial light came from burning animal fat, beeswax, or whale oil.
These fuels worked, but these methods had huge drawbacks. For one, animal fat produced a dim, smoky, unpleasant flame. Secondly, beeswax, another alternative, was expensive and largely used by the wealthy. Another, whale oil, was brighter and cleaner-burning, but the whaling industry required to produce it was incredibly unsustainable and posed a large humanitarian issue as whale populations rapidly declined under relentless hunting.
The demand for something better was enormous. As urbanization increased, literacy expanded to more populations, and people needed light to navigate the night, the stage for a new fuel was set.
Gesner's discovery
Abraham Gesner was a Nova Scotian physician who also had a deep interest in geology and the natural resources of eastern Canada. In the 1840s, he first began experimenting with distilling a liquid fuel from coal and later from natural asphalt deposits found in New Brunswick. The result was a clear, relatively clean-burning liquid he initially called "keroselain,” the Greek word for wax oil. This, as you might assume, was eventually simplified to kerosene.
Gesner gave public demonstrations of his new fuel as early as 1846. These demonstrations often involved lighting lamps before audiences to show its brightness and its relative lack of smoke and odor compared to alternatives. Later, he moved to New York, where he formally patented his refining process and helped establish the North American Gas Light Company to manufacture and distribute kerosene at scale.
Why kerosene matters
Kerosene lamps produced a steadier, brighter, and cleaner light than virtually anything previously available to ordinary households. Importantly, they were affordable enough for working-class families, allowing people to continue domestic life later into the evening. Believe it or not, activities like reading in the evening weren’t possible prior to kerosene because alternatives were expensive or not feasible. Thankfully, with the invention of kerosene, the whaling industry rapidly declined, as whale oil was no longer the preferred illuminating fuel.
More broadly, Gesner's work also greatly contributed to the petroleum refining industry. The techniques he developed for distilling a useful product from raw hydrocarbon material directly informed the processes that would emerge when Edwin Drake struck oil in Pennsylvania in 1859, which launched the modern oil age. Kerosene from petroleum quickly supplanted kerosene from coal, becoming the dominant illuminating fuel until Thomas Edison's electric light began displacing it toward the end of the 19th century.
In many ways other than just lamps, Gesner’s invention is still with us.
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