Google Doodle honours Maria Telkes aka 'The Sun Queen'; Know all about her

The Google Doodle honours Maria Telkes, a Hungarian-American scientist who helped to pioneer the study of solar energy. In her lifetime, she created a number of solar energy gadgets and received 20 patents, which is a significant accomplishment.

She was born in Budapest on December 12th, 1900. In 1920, she began studying physical chemistry, and in 1924, she received her Ph.D. In 1925, she immigrated to the country and began working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her main area of research was the application of solar energy.

She created a technique to use sodium sulphates at MIT to store solar energy. In 1939, she made the transition to the study of solar energy.

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She also contributed to American war efforts by coming up with a number of answers to issues that allied soldiers were having. Using the power of the sun, she created a system that could distil water, saving the lives of numerous soldiers. Additionally, she invented a machine that could evaporate seawater and then condense it to produce drinking water. She helped pioneer solar thermal storage technologies, earning the moniker "The Sun Queen." She started teaching at MIT after the war.

She is also credited with inventing the first solar-heated house in the world. For this invention, she had teamed up with her partner Eleanor Raymond, an architect by profession.

She was awarded a $45,000 grant from the Ford Foundation for this. She invented a solar cooker in 1953. She also created a tiny solar still for desalination that may be used in lifeboats. She became a US citizen in 1937. She died in 1995. 

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• Google Doodle
• MIT
• Maria Telkes
• solar energy
• Ford Foundation