Of the bacterial isolates found in the Arctic that are able to degrade PCBs, none used compounds such as 2-chlorobiphenyl, 3-chlorobiphenyl, camphor, citronellol, cymene, dehydroabietic acid, limonene, methanol, n-hexadecane, pentachlorophenol, phenol, or pinene as primary growth substrates (Master and Mohn 1998).
In the 20th century, demand for electricity led to the consideration of geothermal power as a generating source. Prince Piero Ginori Conti tested the first geothermal power generator on 4 July 1904, at the same Larderello dry steam field where geothermal acid extraction began. It successfully lit four light bulbs. Later, in 1911, the world's first commercial geothermal power plant was built there.
Credit for the creation of the lava lamp is given to English engineer Craven Walker who, in the late 1940s, saw a prototype of the lamp in a pub in Hampshire, England. This early version, according to the Walker legend, was made of a cocktail shaker, old tins and things..