Georges Claude

Chemist and physicist, born in Paris, France. He is noted for his work on gases, and is credited with the invention of neon lighting for signs (1910). He supported the Vichy government in World War 2, and was imprisoned as a collaborator (1945–9).

The French engineer, chemist, and inventor Georges Claude (September 24, 1870 – May 23, 1960), was the first to apply an electrical discharge to a sealed tube of neon gas (circa 1902) to create a lamp. Inspired in part by Daniel McFarlan Moore's invention, Moore’s Lamp, Paris-born Claude invented the neon lamp by passing an electric current through inert gases, making them glow very brightly.

In 1923, Georges Claude and his French company Claude Neon, introduced neon gas signs to the United States, by selling two to a Packard car dealership in Los Angeles.

Being a student of Jacques-Arsène d'Arsonval, the inventor of the OTEC concept, Claude was also the first person to build prototype plants of that technology.

In 1935, Claude constructed another plant, this time aboard a 10,000-ton cargo vessel moored off the coast of Brazil.