Mária Telkes was a Hungarian-born American physical chemist and biophysicist best known for developing the solar distiller and the first residential solar-powered heating system.
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Telkes is regarded as one of the pioneers of solar thermal storage systems, earning her the moniker “Sun Queen.”
Maria Telkes collaborated with architect Eleanor Raymond in the 1940s to create the first solar-heated home, the Dover Sun House.
The project’s success was widely recognized, and the term “solar energy” became popular. Maria Telkes known was commissioned by the Ford Foundation to design a solar oven, which is still in use today.
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Credit: https://alltogether.swe.org
She has also assisted in the research of solar energy at prestigious institutions such as New York University, Princeton University, and the University of Delaware.
Dr. Telkes has over 20 patents and has worked as a consultant for numerous energy companies. She also created other devices that could store energy captured from sunlight.
During WWII, she invented a solar distillation device, which was included in military emergency medical kits and saved the lives of downed airmen and torpedoed sailors.
Her goal and priority was to develop a low-cost innovation for villagers in poor and arid areas.
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