The long Swedish coastline, with its extensive archipelagos, was a dark and treacherous place in the late 19th century. Gas-powered lighthouses and buoys provided dim illumination and required regular maintenance in inaccessible places. Acetylene offered a potential solution as it produced a strong white light, but it was highly explosive under pressure1'2. It was Gustaf Dalen, chief engineer and workshop manager at Aktiebolagel Gasaccumulator (AGA), who produced AGA compound, a porous substance that allowed acetylene to be dissolved in acetone and remain stable, despite movement and temperature fluctuations. He then devised a flashing apparatus, or pulsating valve, that allowed each litre of gas to be divided up into 10,000 small flashes of light at precise intervals. These inventions won him a Nobel Prize for Physics, provided light signals for lighthouses, light buoys and railway stations - and the mechanism to control the first anaesthetic ventilator.
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