Wikipedia:POTD column/March 16, 2006

Plasma lamps (also called plasma globes, plasma balls, plasma domes, plasma spheres, or plasma orbs) are novelty items which were most popular in the 1980s. The technology used in the plasma sphere, high frequency currents in an evacuated glass tube, was invented by the artist Bill Parker, while an undergraduate student at MIT. Later he developed it into the now ubiquitous product while he was an Artist in Residence at the Exploratorium science museum.

Photo credit: Luc Viatour
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