An historical look at the gas industry in Britain, from pioneers through privatization
1/16/2001
Remember "the Bunsen burner" from high school chemistry? If so, you know more about the history of the gas industry than you may have thought. While gas was used as a source for lighting in the early nineteenth century, it otherwise had limited industrial and commercial purposes. But Bunsen's invention of the aerated burner in 1855 was a major development in the use of gas for other purposes, such as cooking and heating. That's one of the tidbits you'll learn from History of the Gas Industry on the Web site of the U.K.-based BG Group's National Gas Archive. The site presents a simple, nicely organized time line of the industry within Britain, focusing largely on British Gas, but also touching on relevant technological and political events. It is well illustrated with images from the Archives. (A note on navigation: use the small forward and back icons to move from one section of the history to another; the more prominent navigation links at left take you out of the history and into the broader BG Web site.)