What did Maria Telkes study?

Mária Telkes was a Hungarian-American biophysicist, scientist, and inventor who specialized in solar energy.

Maria Telkes studied physical chemistry at the University of Budapest from 1920 to 1924 before moving to the United States.

When Mária Telkes arrived in the United States, she was hired to work at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation to investigate the energy produced by living organisms.

Telkes then went on to work as a biophysicist at Westinghouse. She created metal alloys for thermocouples, which use heat to generate electricity.

Maria Telkes inquired about working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) new solar energy program. She was hired in 1939 and worked there until 1953.

Maria Telkes designed a solar heating system for the Dover Sun House, the world’s first livable building heated entirely by the sun, while at MIT. Maria Telkes became an associate research professor at MIT in 1945.

Maria Telkes was the first woman to receive the Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award in 1952. She was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2012.