The pioneering work of W. v. Bolton has given us the knowledge that the transition metals vanadium, niobium, and especially tantalum are excellent malleable materials. v. Bolton's research led to the creation of the tantalum metal filament lamp at Siemens & Halske AG in Berlin shortly after the turn of the century, which followed the osmium lamp by Auer von Welsbach and was later replaced by the tungsten lamp. However, tantalum and niobium maintained their place in the electrical industry, in lamp and tube construction, as well as in vacuum technology as construction and especially getter materials, while later tantalum found widespread use in the chemical industry due to its excellent corrosion properties. C. W. Balke played a similar role in the USA as W. v. Bolton did in Germany, and the rise of the American tantalum and niobium industry is closely associated with him.