Strike Safely: The Match That Changed Fire Forever

Fire has been essential to human survival for millennia, but before the invention of safety matches, igniting a flame was a risky business. Early matches were unstable, dangerous, and often toxic. That all changed in the 19th century when Swedish chemist Gustaf Erik Pasch and industrialist Johan Edvard Lundström introduced a groundbreaking innovation—the safety match. This invention revolutionized fire-starting, making it safer, more reliable, and widely accessible.