The guy who invented neon lighting opposed his own country during World War II What if Steve Jobs were French, born 80 years earlier, and was at the height of his success during the early 20th century? Jobs may have turned out a lot like Georges Claude, whose early work liquefying air at an industrial level eventually helped to turn Times Square into the world's brightest place. See, Claude had a problem—the process he used to liquefy air left him with a lot of extra byproduct in the form of neon. With a little help from prior efforts to convert gases into light sources, Claude had soon invented the usage of thin containers filled with heated neon gas to create bright lights. At first, much of this lighting was a bright orange-red. With the addition of other chemicals like mercury or argon, his company could create other kinds of colors. By adding coloring to the glass, they created even more colors. The effect of this lighting was stunning—and it made advertising at night possible. And by discovering a key electrode, Claude made the process cheap. Best part? As Claude had a patent on this process in the U.S., he was in a role to control its early growth. Claude had other impressive successes—including the invention of a machine that could turn ocean water into electricity—but it's neon lighting that may have been his biggest success story. His biggest failure, however, had to do with his politics. Supporting the guys who took over France See, Georges Claude liked his leadership like he liked his gases: noble. This sounds like an unlikely point of view to carry in the present day, but Claude, as a supporter of the right-wing political group Action Française, backed the return to monarchy-style leadership in France. He leveraged his skills with neon in politics. The book Flickering Light: A History of Neon highlights an attempt by Claude to use his technology to drum up support for a fight against the rise of "professional politicians," in favor of technocrats. During one campaign speech, he used neon and a few lighting tricks to make a bunch of cornflowers appear black, then shift the colors back. (Owning an unlimited supply of neon is a pretty good way to become a solid public speaker.) He lost the election, but his political views followed this path, and fortunately for him, monarchy-style rule was coming to France—kinda. In the 1930s and 1940s, he became a strong supporter of Nazi Germany's occupation of the country, often traveling at great personal expense to encourage the public to support the leadership—only ratcheting things up when the Nazis took over. We all know what happened next: Germany fell, and world leaders were quick to punish those who supported Naziism. Claude was on that list, and he suffered a harsh punishment—in 1945, at the age of 74, he received a life sentence for his propaganda work. Eventually though, his value as a capital-I Important scientist led to his release in 1950. He died a decade later at age 89, his role in changing the brightness level of our world largely forgotten.