Who was “AKHENATEN”
Who was “AKHENATEN” and if he was Right,
Right about what!!
Some of you will know the answer to this , and if you don’t, it’s a story well worth investigating
in depth, Put simply “AKHENATEN” was
Pharaoh of Egypt from around 1320BC
For the first 4 years of his reign he was known as Amenhotep IV, but then everything changed! “AKHENATEN” abandoned the many traditional Egyptian Gods in favour of “One God” The sun disc “ The ATON” or “The ATEN”
He reasoned “What good are the other Gods if the sun disc “The ATON” stopped shining!
What do “You” think?
SOLAR HISTORY TIMELINE
Capture of the sun energy is nothing new. Our forefathers knew very well the potential power the sun had to offer, As early as the 7th Century BC “ MAGNIFYING GLASSES” are being used to light Fires, Many Greek and Roman religious ceremonies “Required” the torches to be used in these gatherings to be lit in this way.
Around 212 BC in SYRACUSE the Greek scientist “ARCHIMEDES” harnessed the power of the sun to fend off the Romans. Using polished bronze shields he had the Greeks focus the sun’s rays on the Roman ships intending to set fire to their wooden hulls .
There is no evidence this worked but the Greek Navy had a go in 1974 and managed to set fire to wooden boat at a distance of 50 metres!!
The Romans were well aware of the sun’s power, their building’s designed with large, south facing windows to take full advantage of the sun’s rays.
Later in the Empire the importance of the sun’s power was recognised within the “JUSTINIAN CODE” “SUN RIGHTS” were initiated to protect individual access to the sun.
History goes quiet for a time until in 1767 a Swiss scientist
“HORACE DE SAUSSURE” invented the “HOT BOX” a Solar collector used to cook food
There is some evidence however the Chinese and Indian cultures were doing this much earlier
1816 Scotsman “ROBERT STIRLING” applied for a patent on a heat engine using the sun’s thermal energy, He called the engine “THE ECONOMISER”
1839 a nineteen year old French scientist
“ALEXANDRE EDMOND BECQUEREL” discovered the “Photovoltaic Effect” the process that converts sunlight to electricity.
1860 French mathematician “AUGUST MOUCHET” constructs the first solar powered engines, along with his assistant “ABEL PIFRE” the Industrial Revolution overlooked this important addition probably because of the abundance of cheap coal to power the Steam Engine
1876 The Granddaddy to the modern Solar Cell was given to us by “WILLIAM GRYLLS ADAMS” and “RICHARD DAY EVANS” with the “SELENIUM” cell.
The Photoconductivity of Selenium was discovered by “WILLOUGHBY SMITH” in 1873
The SELENIUM Cell proved it was possible to convert Sunlight into Electricity without Heat or any Moving Parts.
1883 American “CHARLES FRITZ” created what has become recognised as the worlds First Solar Cell, made with GOLD and SELENIUM Wafers, These were used in Cameras as Light Sensors up until the 1960’s .
1891 The First Commercially Available “Solar Water Heater” is patented by Baltimore Inventor “CLARENCE KEMP”.
1905 “ALBERT EINSTEIN” Publishes a Paper on the “Photoelectric Effect” along with a Paper on “Theory of Relativity”.
This gives the “Nod” to the Scientific Community on the Potential of Solar Energy Production.
1921 “ALBERT EINSTEIN” wins “Nobel Peace Prize” for his Paper on the “Photoelectric Effect” .
1946 “RUSSELL SHOEMAKER OHL” Patents what is considered the First Modern Solar
Cell. He also discovered the P-
1954 “DARLY CHAPLIN, CALVIN FULLER, and GERALD PEARSON” Work together to Create the “SILICON” PV (Photovoltaic) Cell at “BELL LABS” U.S.A. This was the First Solar Cell to be Efficient Enough for Practical Power Generation.
The “COLD WAR” was Hotting Up and the Race was On to Produce New Power Sources for Various Devices, In Particularly “Satellites”.
The US Government Poured bucket loads of Money into Developing the PV Cell and things Moved On Rapidly.
For the rest of this “Timeline” we will Concentrate on the “Big Steps” in Solar History rather than the “Many” (though no less important) “Smaller Ones”
1955 The Worlds First Solar Heated Commercial Office Building is Designed by Architect “FRANK BRIDGERS”.
1958 Space Satellites “VANGUARD 1, VANGUARD 11, EXPLORER 111, and the Russian SPUTNIK 3” were Launched All with Silicon Solar Cell’s Powering some of their Circuits 1959 More Satellites Launched, “EXPLORER V1, EXPLORER V11”
The “EXPLORER V 11 Boasted a Solar Array of 9600 (1cmx2cm) Cell’s
1963 JAPAN Builds the Worlds Largest Photovoltaic Array (242 watts) to Power a Lighthouse on the island of Ogami. The System is Still in Operation Today.
1969 a 8-
1901 Nikola Tesla described the Photoelectric Effect. On November 5, 1901, he received the patent that describes radiation charging and discharging conductors (e.g., a metal plate or piece of mica) by "radiant energy". Tesla used this effect to charge a Capacitor with Energy by means of a Conductive plate, which was a Solar Cell precursor
TO BE CONTINUED
PLEASE COME BACK SOON
Advances in Solar Generation continued apace threw out the 1970's and the 1980's mainly driven by the “Russians” and the “Americans” engaged in the “Space Race “
1981 The worlds first Solar powered aircraft crosses the Channel.
“The Solar Challenger” flew from France to England using 3000 Watts of power produced from over 1600 Solar Cells in cooperated in its wings.
1982 The worlds first Solar powered Car travels from Sydney to Perth (Australia) a distance of over 2700 miles, Australian “Hans Tholstrup” made the trip in the car called “The Quiet Achiever” in just 20 days.
1998 A unmanned, Solar Aircraft named “Pathfinder” claims the altitude Record for a propeller driven aircraft
Over 80,000 feet !
2001 NASA’s Solar powered aircraft “Helios” goes even higher, 96,863 feet, over 18 miles high