Mária Telkes Used Solar Energy To Heat Houses
Mária Telkes was a biophysicist and an inventor. She is considered one of the founders of solar thermal storage systems and was even nicknamed “the Sun Queen.” During World War II she developed a solar-powered water desalination machine which helped soldiers in difficult situations or for sailors if they were stranded without potable water at sea. After that, she continued working on solar energy technologies and in 1948 teamed up with architect Eleanor Raymond to design and build a house in Dover, Massachusetts that would only use solar energy as its source of heat. The heating technology in this house was unique because instead of using water as the storage device, Glauber salts were used.