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700 BCE
Start of Solar Energy
Man started making fire with the sun's rays. -
212 BCE
"First" Solar Panel
A Greek inventor destroyed a ship with the sun's rays using mirrors -
Solar Powered Oven
Horace de Saussure invented the first solar powered oven. -
The Discovery of the Photovoltaic Effect
Edmund Becquerel Learned that materials make a creation of voltage when exposed to sunlight -
Discovery of Photoconductivity in Solid Selenium
Willoughby Smith discovered photoconductivity in solid selenium -
Electricity from Light
William Grylls Adams and his student, Richard Evans Day, were the first to observe an electrical they put 2 electrodes onto a plate of selenium and observed a tiny amount of electricity when the plate was exposed to light. -
The First Design of a Photovoltaic Cell
An American inventor named Charles Fritts, was the first to come up with plans for how to make solar cells. His designs in the late 19th century were based on selenium wafers -
Albert Einstein and the Photoelectric Effect
Albert Einstein formulated the photon theory of light, which describes how light can “liberate” electrons on a metal surface. -
Single-Crystal Silicon
A Polish scientist named Jan Czochralski discovered a method to grow single-crystal silicon. His discoveries laid the foundation for solar cells based on silicon. -
New Solar Cell
In the 70’s oil was starting to cost to much money because the price was doubled so scientist at Bell University tried to improve the solar cell. -
The Birth of Photovoltaics
Three scientist from Bell Labs are credited with the world’s first photovoltaic solar cell. These are the men that made the first device that converted sunlight into electrical power.
