Why Google honors’ her today

 Maria Telkes: Why Google honors’ her today:

Telkes was a pioneering scientist recognized for his contributions to solar energy technology.

Hungarian-American scientist Maria Telkes is known for her contributions to solar energy technology.

Telkes, who died in 1995, invented solar water distillers and the first solar heating system designed for residential buildings.

On Monday, Google changed the logos of 12 countries to graffiti or illustrations in her honor.

This is her story:

Telkes was born on December 12, 1990, in Budapest, Hungary. She was the daughter of Aladar and Maria Laban de Telques.

Harvesting her solar energy was an idea that had interested scientists since her childhood.

Telkes wrote in 1964, "When I was only 11 years old, a simple school experiment in dissolving sulfur sparked a strong curiosity about chemistry." “Even after the big but harmless explosion, my parents were fun and tolerant. I eagerly read science books and experimented.

As a freshman at Budapest University in Hungary, she once said that reading Kornel Zelovich's book Energy Sources of the Future was a defining moment in her life.

“The book explains that while existing energy sources are geographically limited, especially in the less developed tropics, the sun in the tropics is right overhead, so there is no need to explore,” she said.

The book explained how the US was experimenting with solar energy, and she knew this was the place to go after completing her degree.

Telkes later studied at Eötvös Lorand University in Hungary, specializing in physical chemistry and receiving her doctorate in 1924.

Journey to the US

The following year, Telkes moved to the United States and joined the Cleveland Clinic Foundation as a biophysicist. While there, she worked on a technology that would allow scientists to record brain waves.

She became a US citizen in 1937. During World War II, she served as a member of the Solar Energy Committee at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

“Dr. Godfrey Lowell Cabot was the first to recognize the importance of the systematic conversion of solar energy,” Telkes wrote. “He has raised funds for this purpose at MIT. I joined this group over the next 13 years as one of the relatively few female employees at MIT."

During the war, Telkes developed a solar desalination machine and completed a prototype in 1942. Her inventions helped American soldiers deployed along the seas get clean water.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology also commissioned Telkes and her colleagues to create residential buildings with solar heating. However, her proposed design failed and she was removed from the committee.

"I am interested in the impossible"

Despite the setback, Telkes' work continued. In 1948, at the age of 48, she collaborated with architect Eleanor Raymond to design the world's first modern solar-heated home.

“I am interested in things that are considered impossible,” she says. I like to say it's impossible.” said Telkes in her 1942 interview.

At 53, she won a $45,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to build a versatile solar oven.

‘The Sun Queen’

In 1972, Telkes also helped build the first house to generate heat and electricity from the sun. Nine years later, she helped the US government develop the first all-solar home.

In 1952, she received the Women's Engineers Association Distinguished Service Award. She retired at age 77 and received her Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Sciences Building Research Advisory Board.

Telkes also holds over 20 patents. Her contributions to the field of solar energy earned her the nickname "Queen of the Sun".

After spending several decades in the United States, Telkes returned to Hungary in 1995, where she died ten days shy of her 95th birthday.