History is Full of Stubborn Misconceptions, But So is Mythbusting

History is Full of Stubborn Misconceptions, But So is Mythbusting

I was surprised to see that lighters weren't invented until 1823, so I looked it up. Döbereiner indeed invented the first lighter of its kind, but there were other lighters before that. Matches are actually ancient, but the "first successful friction match" was indeed developed in 1826 by John Walker. The factoid above is clever, yet it also requires context. It's from a list of things from history that "everyone gets wrong," but keep in mind th…