Maria Telkes

ABOUT MARIA TELKES

Notable for her work in the field of solar energy, this prominent scientist invented the thermoelectric generator; the debut solar heat system; and the thermoelectricity-operated refrigerator. She was often referred to by colleagues as The Sun Queen.

After completing her doctorate in physical chemistry in her native Hungary, she relocated to the United States and conducted research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

She was the 1952 recipient of the Society of Women Engineers Award and the 1977 winner of the American Solar Energy Society's Charles Greeley Abbot Award. In 2012, she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

A native of Hungary, she settled in Boston, Massachusetts, during her early adulthood years and later lived and worked in Texas.

She and Farrington Daniels were both pioneers in the field of solar energy.