Brilliant, literally. For those of us who lived in houses designed to capture the sun's rays even without the extra solar capabilities, the benefits were clear and it is great to see that a scientist, visionary, took this idea and ran with it. Thank you, PBS.
In the late 1970's I remember reading about Maria Telkes' work in a pioneering Solar Energy book "Direct Use of the Sun's Energy" by Farrington Daniels. The author cites Ms. Telkes' work and outstanding contributions to the field no less than 9 times on multiple pages. Wonderful that she is at last receiving the recognition from the general public she earned decades ago. Mr. Daniels book is highly recommended. To me it was a goto bible in solar energy research, well written and researched by an important early solar energy advocate and practitioner.
As a realtor specializing in solar, and the value at the point of sale, this is hard to watch. It's a wonderful story, don't get me wrong, but the naysayer part is tragic. Because she was a woman, she was not accepted by everyone and the idea of a solar neighborhood wasn't researched further. Of course there were issues and it cost too much at the time, but the attitude that one scientist would doubt her, well it's sad. I live in a solar home, but first reduced the energy bill by 71% with other measures (spray foam insulation, duct sealing, new HVAC, sun screens, LED's and Energy Star appliances,) then sized the system to power the remainder of the electric bill and my EV. I'm indebted to her and her unwavering support of what we now get to use, enjoy and reap the rewards!
I love American Experience but found this episode quite shallow and perhaps intentionally deceptive. The narrative that she was a great trailblazer who was only suppressed because of her gender and a superior who was too much of a perfectionist is completely upended at the end when we find out her projects were failures. She was clearly wrong to push the technology before it was fully developed, and it is incredibly fortunate the planned model town wasn't built with her involvement. It seems clear she was more crackpot than scientist. -- It is also dishonest and deceptive to make a connection between the solar THERMAL technologies she was pushing, and the PHOTOVOLTAIC technologies which have proven practical and are being deployed on millions of homes across the country today... the two are entirely different and there is no through-line from what she was doing and what is working in practice today.
So she was wrong for not coming straight out the gate with a perfect plan??? You're assuming she wouldn't have learned from it, and altered her approach, and you don't know. I do know that it's a ridiculous assertion to claim that it's IRRESPONSIBLE and WRONG to have an experiment that doesn't work perfectly. Honestly, your need to disavow the extreme misogyny of the past tells me exactly what you are.
@@NinjaGrrrl7734 What was particularly irresponsible was her aggressive push to move forward with building a whole "planned model town" with the technology that did not work properly. But what you call her "experiment" was irresponsible as well. The serious issues that would inevitably occur with salts were well known and predictable, she must have known and chosen to ignore them, perhaps expecting the next project to come along before the hype died down and the fundamental flaws in her design were made obvious. I also don't appreciate your baseless accusation that I'm a misogynist just because I don't blindly deify a failed inventor just because she's the correct sex.
Watching this, at first you feel a knee-jerk reaction of disapproval to think of the male scientist who kept dealing Telkes' work short shrift. You might even be tempted, like me, to be disgusted by his male ego making him attacking a brilliant female scientist out of what seemed to be jealousy. But considering the novel system's rapid failure was not because of a faulty concept, but by the lack of suitable materials and engineering. Maybe he was right. Maybe it wasn't his ego but an intelligent analysis of the drawbacks of the materials available at the time. I don't know how to judge that. I do know as a chemist that Glauber's Salt IS VERY CORROSIVE and the metal pipes and control technology of the day would have rotted like an unprotected ship in the sea. When you look at the devastating blow this failure of technology, not of the science, in what might well have been a premature demonstration may have actually resulted in setting solar energy research decades behind. Maybe if she had waited, or hadn't made such a massive and public spectacle of what should have been a research project, the technology would ave caught up with her ideas and progress, while at first delayed, might have eventually accelerated. What do YOU think?
Brilliant, literally. For those of us who lived in houses designed to capture the sun's rays even without the extra solar capabilities, the benefits were clear and it is great to see that a scientist, visionary, took this idea and ran with it. Thank you, PBS.
I am so looking forward to this episode. American Experience, my favorite show, always covers interesting history! ❤️🇺🇸
In the late 1970's I remember reading about Maria Telkes' work in a pioneering Solar Energy book "Direct Use of the Sun's Energy" by Farrington Daniels. The author cites Ms. Telkes' work and outstanding contributions to the field no less than 9 times on multiple pages. Wonderful that she is at last receiving the recognition from the general public she earned decades ago.
Mr. Daniels book is highly recommended. To me it was a goto bible in solar energy research, well written and researched by an important early solar energy advocate and practitioner.
As a realtor specializing in solar, and the value at the point of sale, this is hard to watch. It's a wonderful story, don't get me wrong, but the naysayer part is tragic. Because she was a woman, she was not accepted by everyone and the idea of a solar neighborhood wasn't researched further. Of course there were issues and it cost too much at the time, but the attitude that one scientist would doubt her, well it's sad. I live in a solar home, but first reduced the energy bill by 71% with other measures (spray foam insulation, duct sealing, new HVAC, sun screens, LED's and Energy Star appliances,) then sized the system to power the remainder of the electric bill and my EV. I'm indebted to her and her unwavering support of what we now get to use, enjoy and reap the rewards!
Do you want it?
Was it because the idea was so controversial & difficult to apply or was it because she was a woman?
I love American Experience but found this episode quite shallow and perhaps intentionally deceptive. The narrative that she was a great trailblazer who was only suppressed because of her gender and a superior who was too much of a perfectionist is completely upended at the end when we find out her projects were failures. She was clearly wrong to push the technology before it was fully developed, and it is incredibly fortunate the planned model town wasn't built with her involvement. It seems clear she was more crackpot than scientist. -- It is also dishonest and deceptive to make a connection between the solar THERMAL technologies she was pushing, and the PHOTOVOLTAIC technologies which have proven practical and are being deployed on millions of homes across the country today... the two are entirely different and there is no through-line from what she was doing and what is working in practice today.
So she was wrong for not coming straight out the gate with a perfect plan??? You're assuming she wouldn't have learned from it, and altered her approach, and you don't know. I do know that it's a ridiculous assertion to claim that it's IRRESPONSIBLE and WRONG to have an experiment that doesn't work perfectly. Honestly, your need to disavow the extreme misogyny of the past tells me exactly what you are.
@@NinjaGrrrl7734 What was particularly irresponsible was her aggressive push to move forward with building a whole "planned model town" with the technology that did not work properly. But what you call her "experiment" was irresponsible as well. The serious issues that would inevitably occur with salts were well known and predictable, she must have known and chosen to ignore them, perhaps expecting the next project to come along before the hype died down and the fundamental flaws in her design were made obvious. I also don't appreciate your baseless accusation that I'm a misogynist just because I don't blindly deify a failed inventor just because she's the correct sex.
Watching this, at first you feel a knee-jerk reaction of disapproval to think of the male scientist who kept dealing Telkes' work short shrift. You might even be tempted, like me, to be disgusted by his male ego making him attacking a brilliant female scientist out of what seemed to be jealousy. But considering the novel system's rapid failure was not because of a faulty concept, but by the lack of suitable materials and engineering. Maybe he was right. Maybe it wasn't his ego but an intelligent analysis of the drawbacks of the materials available at the time. I don't know how to judge that. I do know as a chemist that Glauber's Salt IS VERY CORROSIVE and the metal pipes and control technology of the day would have rotted like an unprotected ship in the sea. When you look at the devastating blow this failure of technology, not of the science, in what might well have been a premature demonstration may have actually resulted in setting solar energy research decades behind. Maybe if she had waited, or hadn't made such a massive and public spectacle of what should have been a research project, the technology would ave caught up with her ideas and progress, while at first delayed, might have eventually accelerated.
What do YOU think?