Maria Telkes is a Hungarian-born scientist and inventor who
was known as the "Sun Queen" because of her work with solar energy. Telkes was
born and educated in Budapest,
Hungary, where she
earned a B.A. in 1920 and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1924. She later
immigrated to the United
States and became an American citizen.
Although Maria Telkes is remembered mainly for her research
regarding solar energy, she first worked as a professor in Budapest
and then as a biophysicist at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio. While at the
Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Telkes examined how energy is produced by living
organisms. She also studied energy in the transformation of healthy cells to
cancer cells, and researched what happens to cells when they die. In addition, Maria
Telkes worked with Clinic co-founder George Crile to develop a photoelectric
mechanism that recorded brain waves.
After leaving the Cleveland Clinic in 1937, Maria Telkes
became a U.S.
citizen and joined Westinghouse Electric, where she worked as a research
engineer and developed thermoelectric devices. In 1939, Dr. Telkes shifted her
research to the Solar Energy Conversion Project at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT). While at M.I.T., she worked on similar devices, but ones that
used heat from the sun. Later, the U.S. government took note of her expertise
and asked Telkes to design a solar still which converted salt water to drinking
water for life rafts at sea.
Maria Telkes' research into water purification systems was
only the start of her work with solar energy. By 1948, Telkes had researched
and designed a solar heating system for a house in Dover, Massachusetts
designed by Eleanor Raymond, a noted architect. Unlike previous systems which stored
thermal energy in water or rocks, this system converted solar heat into
chemical energy through the crystallization of a solution of sodium sulfate. In
this solar home, the walls were actually the heating elements.
Maria Telkes solar-energy research included solar heating
systems, solar ovens, solar thermoelectric generators, and solar stills. She
also developed new materials for the protection of temperature-sensitive
instruments. Later, Dr. Telkes' research with materials was put to use in the
Apollo and Polaris projects. She has been honored by the National Academy of
Science Building Research Advisory Board for her contributions to solar building
technology, and was also awarded the
Charles Greeley Abbot Award by the International Solar Energy Society.
Resources:
http://www.answers.com/topic/m-ria-telkes
http://www.bookrags.com/biography/maria-telkes-woc/
http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/telkes.html
http://www.ee.vt.edu/~museum/women/maria/a_maria.html
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Re: Maria Telkes (December 12, 1900 - December 2, 1995)