Google Doodle today celebrates Dr Maria Telkes, the first woman who believes the power of the sun could change lives of the humans. Google through its Doodle is celebrating the day when she was awarded The Society of Woman Engineers Achievement Award in 1952 on this day. She was the first person to receive the award. Remembering the “Sun Queen” the animated doodle features her best-known inventions including a water purifier, a Solar-heated home and a solar-powered oven.
Image Source: Times of India
Everything About The “SunQueen” Dr Maria Telkes
The Hungarian scientist was born in December 1900 in Budapest and studied physical chemistry at Eotvos Lorand University. In 1924 she received her PhD and the same year acquired a position as a biophysicist at Cleveland Clinic Foundation. She then moved to the US and became a US citizen in 1937. Dr Telkes then became a member of the Solar Energy Committee at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and after world war, II became an associate research professor in metallurgy in 1945 at MIT.
Dr Marie in World War II helped the US government by inventing a solar distiller that changed ocean water into fresh water. The invention has saved the lives of various soldiers stationed in the Pacific theatre. She then was tasked to create habitable solar-heated homes but unfortunately, her design failed and she was removed from the committee. But the lady did not accept the failure and in 1948 with the help of private funding, she created the Dover Sun House with architect Eleanor Raymond which was a huge success.
After the success of the solar-heated home, she created a solar oven which was commissioned by the Ford Foundation. Dr Telkes in her career helped various prestigious institutions including NYU, Princeton University and the University of Delaware and earned more than 20 patents. She in her career span worked for multiple energy companies as a consultant.
Dr Telkes for her contribution to solar-heated building technology was awarded a lifetime achievement award from the National Academy of Sciences Building Research Advisory Board. She was also awarded with the Charles Greeley Abbot Award from the American Solar Energy Society.
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