Mária Telkes (1900-1995) was known as the “Sun Queen” because she dedicated her career to harnessing the power of the sun through technology, proving over and over again how humans can use it for energy.
Mária Telkes (1900-1995) was known as the “Sun Queen” because she dedicated her career to harnessing the power of the sun through technology, proving over and over again how humans can use it for energy.
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History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, and Ale Tejeda. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.
Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.
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Hi, from Wonder Media Network I’m Shira Atkins, proud to be standing in for my co-founder Jenny Kaplan today.
This month, we’re talking about Innovators. These are women–from inventors to big thinkers–whose decisions to explore new paths led us to where we are today.
Today we’re talking about a woman who would become known as the “Sun Queen”. She dedicated her career to harnessing the power of the sun through technology, proving over and over again how humans can use it for energy.
Please welcome Mária Telkes.
Mária was born in Budapest, Hungary, on December 12, 1900. Her parents were Aladár and Mária Telkes. Maria developed an interest in science early on. She studied physical chemistry at the University of Budapest, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1920 and a doctorate in 1924. She began her career as an instructor at the University but within a year left home to visit a relative in Ohio.
While in the United States, Mária was offered a job as a biophysicist at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. They wanted her to investigate the energy produced by living organisms. She worked there until 1937, the same year she became a U.S. citizen. For the following two years she researched patents on new devices that could convert heat energy into electrical energy.
All of Mária’s work led to the opportunity to study something she’d been curious about since high school: solar energy. In 1939, she joined MIT’s Solar Energy Conversion Project.
But World War II was already on the horizon.The United States government recruited Mária as a civilian advisor to the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD).
She was tasked with inventing a portable method of converting salt water into clean drinking water. Previously, salt water had to be heated until it turned to steam. The salt was left behind and the steam condensed back into pure water.
Mária designed a device which used the heat of the sun to vaporize the salt water. This small device could be used on life rafts to provide drinking water to people waiting for rescue at sea. Mária’s device saved the lives of many torpedoed sailors and drowned airmen during World War II. For this work, she received the OSRD Certificate of Merit in 1945.
In the late 40s, it wasn’t yet clear that oil would come to dominate the environment and the economy. With anxiety about where to find the energy for economic growth, various architects, designers, and engineers focused on how solar energy could fill this need.
The architect Eleanor Raymond and Mária Telkes embarked on the Dover Sun House, a project funded by the philanthropist and sculptor Amelia Peabody. Mária designed a unique chemical system for the house – it was meant to absorb and store daytime solar radiation for nighttime heating.
Previously, heating systems stored solar energy in the form of hot water or heated rocks. But Mária’s system converted the solar heat into chemical energy. Mária’s system successfully kept the oddly-shaped house warm through the winter.
After that, Maria dedicated the rest of her career to solar energy, designing solar ovens, dryers, and air-conditioning systems.
The National Academy of Science Building Research Advisory Board honored her pioneering contributions to solar-heat technology in 1977. This award recognized Mária’s innovations, putting her on a playing field with the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright and Buckminster Fuller, who had also received the award.
Mária died on December 2, 1995, on her first visit to her hometown of Budapest in 70 years. She was 94 years old.
All month we’re highlighting Innovators.
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Thanks for allowing me to step in as guest host of Womanica, and congratulations to Liz Kaplan who is getting married this weekend!
Talk to you tomorrow!