The History of Solar Power - the Greatest Natural Gift

Have you ever heard about the history of solar power before? Recently, lots of people are starting to shift to solar power to gain lots of its benefits. However, few of them have basic understanding on the history of solar power.

Nowadays, solar power is being used in many development countries as a source of power. Though, the history of solar power goes back to thousands of years ago. In prehistoric Egypt, ‘passive’ use of solar power was made by special kinds of architectural methods. Their homes were constructed such that solar heat was saved during the day and released at night time for retaining the interior of the house warm. Furthermore, they also used sun heating throughout mummification for drying purposes.

Solar Power in the Greek and Roman Times

The history of solar power uncovers that ancient Greek and Roman civilizations were common with the use of solar energy for dissimilar aims. Principally, solar heat was used for heating buildings by means of particular architecture. Renowned Greek philosopher Socrates had noted that houses facing the south let more heat to retain the inside warm in winter.

Romans started the use of mica or glass to cover the building openings facing the south. This allowed the place to keep more warmth during winter. Mica windows were made in Rome for holding solar heat around 100 AD.

Solar Power in the 19th Century

In the later half of the 18th century, the history of solar power entered its path of modern advance. It is started when Horace de Saussure, a Swiss scientist invented the first-ever solar collector. Then in 1839, a French scientist Edmond Becquerei conducted an observation to the effect of photoelectric.

Auguste Mouchout in 1861 invented the world’s first steam engine generated by solar energy. Nevertheless, the cost of its manufacture failed the interest of any potential manufacturers. Then in 1891 came the world’s first profitable solar water-heater from Clarence Kemp. In the history of solar power, Clarence Kemp is regarded as the father of American solar energy.

Solar Power in the 20th Century

There is no major breakthrough came in the history of solar power technology in the first half of the 20th century. William Bailley in 1908 made solar collector with copper lids. Einstein won the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his research on photoelectric effect. The first silicon solar cell that could generate a measurable amount of electricity was invented in 1953 by scientists from the Bell Laboratories.

In the 1950s and 60s, these kinds of solar cells were regularly improved. When the international oil prices rose rapidly in 1970s, a serious study was conducted in creating affordable solar panels.

In the solar technology, the history of solar power recorded an amazing progress. German and Japanese scientist in the 1990s made enormous developments in the efficiency of solar panels. Strong effort for the invention of more efficient and cost-effective solar panels continues to this day. For more information, please check out links on this Solar Energy Secret site.