Mária Telkes
American physicist
Died when: 94 years 355 days (1139 months)Star Sign: Sagittarius
Mária Telkes (December 12, 1900 – December 2, 1995) was a highly respected Hungarian-American biophysicist, scientist and inventor who worked on solar energy technologies.
Prior to her time in the United States, Maria Telkes studied physical chemistry at the University of Budapest in 1920 and received her Ph.D. in 1924.
She came to the United States in 1925 and eventually arrived to Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she focused on the practical uses of solar energy.
While at MIT, Telkes created a method that used sodium sulphates to store energy from the sun.The first time she ventured into the world of solar energy research was in 1939.
During World War 2 she had created a distillation device for the sun used in the military's emergency medical lives.This saved the lives of downed airmen and torpedoed sailors.
Not only that, but Telkes created an invention that was a solar distiller that vaporized seawater, recondensing it into water that was drinkable for others.
Her goal and priority was to create an innovation at a low cost for villagers in poor and arid regions.
Telkes is considered one of the founders of solar thermal storage systems, earning her the nickname The Sun Queen.Finally, post the war, Maria Telkes became an associate research professor at MIT.
Built in 1948, the Dover House was in need of distributed air.In the 1940s she and her partner Eleanor Raymond, an architect, teamed up to create the first solar-heated house.
They did this by using a chemical that crystalized and held the heat to then radiate it, keeping a constant temperature inside.
They were highly successful in this as they kept a house in Massachusetts very warm throughout the brutal winter.She even received a $45,000 grant from the Ford Foundation in 1953 to create a universal solar oven that could be adapted for people residing at all various latitudes and locations.
This oven was used by individuals to help prepare several types of cuisines yet was safe enough to be used by young children.
Being who she was, she also built on this idea to develop a quicker way for farmers to dry off their crops.
This later advanced to develop materials that were durable enough for temperatures in space.In 1952, Telkes became the first recipient of the Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award and 1977 she was awarded a lifetime achievement award from the National Academy of Sciences Building Research Advisory Board.
This was for the solar-heated building technology she dedicated her time to.Overall, Telkes was a prolific inventor of practical thermal devices, including a miniature desalination unit (solar still) for use on lifeboats, which used solar power and condensation to collect potable water.
The still saved the lives of airmen and sailors who would have been without water when abandoned at sea.Over the course of her career, Telkes earned more than 20 patents, including one for a functional solar oven, and continued to develop these solar-energy based applications.
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