For the ones who know, the history of the solar power system has been a fascinating one. There are a lot of experiments, efforts and time involved in the making of solar panels for homes that you see today. The noticeable changes came throughout the years via the hands of various physicians and engineers.
Generally, people consider solar panels as something very new. But actually, it’s not like that. The solar panel system history dates back to the 7th century. The history denotes that the earliest uses of sunrays or the generation of solar power comprise a magnifying glass, which was then used to start the fire for cooking.
For solar history, there is one legend about how scientist Archimedes set fire to besieged wooden ships from the Roman empire. He reflected the sun’s light off of the bronze shields which concentrated the rays towards the enemy and prevented the attack. One same experiment of the ancient solar beam was tested by the Greek government back in 1970. They did set fire to a wooden ship that was 50 meters away from them. And this happened using nothing, just the legendary bronze shield and the divine sunlight.
The evolution of the modern forms of the solar power system credits French physicist Edmond Becquerel. While experimenting, he discovered the photovoltaic effect of a metal electrode cell in the conducting solution. In the experiment, he came to know that the cell produced more electricity when it was exposed to the sunlight. After following a series of experiments by different scientists, in 1905 Albert Einstein published a paper (report) on the photoelectric effect and its process of carrying energy. He also won the prestigious Nobel prize for the theories he explained on the photovoltaic effect.
Because of Einstein’s article, there arose more acceptance and attention for the use of solar energy. Again, by the time 1954, three scientists namely, Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller, and Gerald Pearson created the silicon solar cell. Silicon elements (metals) have better efficiency and also pose a wide availability as a natural resource.
By the time of 1960 as the space age evolved, the solar panels started to get used in various parts of the spacecraft. Vanguard I satellite in 1958, followed by Vanguard II, Explorer III & Sputnik-3 were the initial space satellites to carry solar panels. Nimbus, one other satellite was launched by NASA in 1964. This ran entirely on a 470-watt photovoltaic solar panel array.
Slowly with progress, solar energy panels became a more viable option for people to rely on. The recent years have seen more efforts to make solar panels more efficient, affordable and effective for a common household purpose. Even after the so-long history of solar panels, the faster change had come in the last decades only. The cost of solar panels dropped almost to 10% per year due to the newest alternatives.
In today’s times, solar panels are the leading source of energy for the household. Its a prominent source of providing clean, low-cost electricity. With their capacity to continuously generate sunlight based electricity, panels are popular for both personal and professional electricity generation purposes.
