Mankind has been using the solar energy since very ancient times. The ancient Greeks, the Chinese, and the ancient Romans used the concentrated sun ray to light torches for religious purposes.
This EBook contains more than 100 dates and milestones in solar heating and sunlight collection.
Here are some sample dates:
1767 - Swiss scientist Horace de Saussure was credited with building the world’s first solar collector, later used by Sir John Herschel to cook food during his South Africa expedition in the 1830's.
1876 - William Grylls Adams and Richard Evans Day discover that selenium produces electricity when exposed to light. Although selenium solar cells failed to convert enough sunlight to power electrical equipment, they proved that a solid material could change light into electricity without heat or moving parts.
1954 - Photovoltaic technology is born in the United States when Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller, and Gerald Pearson develop the silicon photovoltaic (PV) cell at Bell Labs—the first solar cell capable of converting enough of the sun’s energy into power to run everyday electrical equipment. Bell Telephone Laboratories produced a silicon solar cell with 4% efficiency and later achieved 11% efficiency.
This is a great document for school homework and a motivational tools for kids and youngsters.
Download History of Solar Energy [12 p .5 MB] here.