The modern solar cell celebrated its 60th birthday this year.
In honor of this landmark ‘Diamond Jubilee,’ for the rest of the year, each month in our e-news we will recap some of the highlights of solar cell history.
April 25, 1954: Bell Laboratories introduced the modern solar cell, made of silicon. Bell’s “researchers astonished reporters by hooking up a hand-size silicon panel to a toy Ferris wheel, aiming a light at the contraption and making the wheel turn.”
At the time, the cost of making electricity with this solar cell was estimated at $286 per watt. Today’s cost: less than $1 per watt. (Source; April 25, 2014, SFGate.com).
photo: circa 2007, MSS employee Laura Figoski installs rooftop solar panel
