Did Leonardo da vinci invent solar power?

Answer 1

When we speak of solar "power" today, we are usually referring to making electricity from sunlight using photovoltaic cells. This would have been totally unknown in Leonardo's time.

However, he did use solar energy to heat things, usually with "burning mirrors"-- that is, hyperbolic round mirrors that concentrate the sun's light into a heat source. This would sort-of look like the satellite dishes for TV service, only made of brightly-polished bronze or silver, rather than the back-silvered glass of the mirror in your bathroom. These can concentrate light at a specific focal distance (if well-made), effectively as a lens for burning!

Shaped mirrors can use focused reflection, rather than the refraction of a glass lens, but their making must likewise be very precise. Leo wrote about optics and burning mirrors, their mathematical calculation, and their manufacture-- and he designed a machine to grind the surfaces for large burning mirrors. Unfortunately, the way it is drawn in the notebooks of his that we have today, it could not have worked--- so, it was probably redesigned as it was being constructed--- IF it was ever constructed at all.

Even known geniuses can have a bad day-- or a poorly-thought-out idea!

Answer 2

Yes he did