Who was Mária Telkes?

In 1939, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) hired Mária Telkes, a Hungarian immigrant and one of very few women in engineering at the time, to join its nascent Solar Energy Conversion Project. Telkes strongly believed in the potential of solar energy to substitute fossil fuels, and devoted her career to developing groundbreaking solar inventions, which granted her the title of “Sun Queen.” Over the course of her career, she developed innovative processes for capturing and deploying solar energy, including one of the first successful solar ovens, solar heating systems, and a solar water distillation system for making seawater potable. Together with American architect Eleanor Raymond, she designed and built the world’s first modern house heated with solar energy in 1948. This wedge-shaped house collected sun-warmed air to heat 21 tons of sodium sulfate decahydrate (Glauber salts) which stored heat at a constant temperature due to solid/liquid phase changes. Although it only functioned for 2 years, this system continues to inspire energy conscious architects today.

Telkes aims to facilitate the energy transition by fostering a community of sorts that was inspired by Mária Telkes’ scientific innovation and environmental concern.

Telkes is run by a group of energy professionals who realized that land is often the limiting factor when it comes to power projects, and seek to apply technology to solve this problem. We were inspired by the story of Mária Telkes (1900-1995), although she was not involved in this project.