On October 28, 1994 Calvin Souther Fuller passed away at his home in Vero Beach, Florida.  He was 92. 

Born on May 25th, 1902, Fuller's legacy includes 33 patents, including how to purify silicon.  Some have called his inventions a pivotal step in the founding of semiconductors, the evolution of the personal computer and the development solar cell.   In his 1994 New York Times obituary, AT&T spokesman Robert Ford said Fuller's invention of the silicon solar cell...

"...helped make the space program practical, because space vehicles could get power from readily available sunlight."

Born in Chicago, Fuller attended the University of Chicago he received a B.S. and a Ph.D.in physical chemistry.  He joined Bell Labs (then called Bell Telephone) in 1930, where his work included research in organic insulating materials and investigations of the molecular nature of polymers.

Working with Bell Telephone scientists Daryl Chapin and Gerald Pearson, Fuller diffused boron into silicon to capture the sun's power.  The invention of the 'solar battery' resulted in a 600% improvement in previous technologies to harnessing solar power and convert it into electricity.  The inventors used several small strips of silicon to capture sunlight and render it into free electrons.

Here is a story told by Calvin S. Fuller's oldest son Robert W. Fuller as part of the speech preparation for Calvin S. Fuller's May 2008 induction to the National Inventor's Hall of Fame:

"In 1954, I was home from vacation from college to visit my parents. That night my father, Calvin Souther Fuller, came home with something that looked like a quarter with wires sticking out of it. This was a device that connected to a small electric windmill that stood on the table. He shined a bright flashlight on the quarter-like object, which was actually silicon solar cell, and the blades of the windmill started turning. It was so exciting to see the flashlight power the tiny windmill. While this device looked like a quarter to anyone else, it was actually the world’s first silicon solar battery - a device that later become known as the silicon solar cell."

The solar cell was given a public demonstration at Murray Hill in 1954. The first public service trial of the Bell Solar Battery began with a telephone carrier system in 1955 in Americus, Georgia. By 1958, the US Department of Defense wanted solar cells to power vehicles and satellites in space. The first time the cells were put on board an operational space vehicle, and used, was in 1962, on AT&T's Telstar communications satellite.

To follow DailyCleanTech updates on social media, please visit the Technica Communications Famous Days In Technology page

On August 22, 1834 America astronomer Samuel Pierpont Langley is born in Boston Massachusetts (d. February 27, 1906).  His invention of the bolometer helped him measure infrared radiation, which helped Svante Arrhenius make the first calculations on the greenhouse effect.

Langley’s interest in astronomy began early in his youth with a small telescope owned by his father. By age 20 he and his brother were building their own.  As a young adult he taught at Harvard College Observatory the United States Naval Academy, until 1867, when he moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to direct the new Allegheny Observatory and serve as professor of astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh. 

In Pittsburgh he researched the Sun and the effect of its solar radiation on the Earth’s atmosphere.  To conduct his research, Langley invented the bolometer to measure infrared radiation, versions of his original design are still used today.

The bolometer is a radiant-heat detector that is sensitive to differences in temperature of one hundred-thousandth of a degree Celsius (0.00001 C) . Composed of two thin strips of metal, a Wheatstone bridge, a battery, and a galvanometer (an electrical current measuring device), this instrument enabled him to study solar irradiance (light rays from the sun) far into its infrared region and to measure the intensity of solar radiation at various wavelengths.  Langley’s measurement of interference of the infrared radiation by carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere was used by Svante Arrhenius in 1896 to make the first calculation of how climate would change from a future doubling of carbon dioxide levels.

In 1886, Langley received the Henry Draper Medal from the National Academy of Sciences for his contributions to solar physics. His publication in 1890 of infrared observations at the Allegheny Observatory in Pittsburgh together with Frank Washington Very was used by Svante Arrhenius to make the first calculations on the greenhouse effect.

By 1887, Langley became Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Secretary of the Institution, where he would serve until his death in 1906, from paralytic stroke.  Pall beareres at Langley’s funeral included the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court Melville Fuller and Vice President Charles W Fairbanks.

Follow DailyCleanTech here on EcoTuesday or on FaceBook and Twitter ( @DailyCleanTech ).