Amid this artistic groundswell, Georges Claude premiered his neon lights at the Paris Motor Show in December 1910, captivating visitors with 40-foot-tall tubes affixed to the building’s exterior.

Neon is the melding of art and science: a noble gas trapped in a tube that’s been electrified and molded into fanciful shapes—even a Felix the Cat who wants tosell you a Chevy. It was a ...

Times Square was neon's first great glittering showcase. Our Bill Geist surveyed the scene back in 1992 with the Square's burned-out light bulb spotter Marty Katz: "As you can see, there's quite a ...