What is the history of solar power?

Answer 1

• In 1876 a scientist, William G Adams, discovered that selenium, exposed to sunlight, produced electricity. This was the discovery that electricity could be produced without any moving parts.
  
• In 1953 Calvin Fuller, Gerald Pearson, and Daryl Chapin made a silicon solar cell.
• In 1956 small solar cells began appearing on radios and calculators.
• In the late 1950s and early 1960s satellites began using solar cells for power.
• In the early 1970s Exxon discovered how to make solar cells more cheaply and they were used to power the warning lights at the top of oil rigs (ironic!).
• From then to the 1990s solar panels began to be used at railroad crossings, microwave towers and on remote properties for power.
• Solar panels are becoming cheaper every year and many houses around the world have solar panels. Experimental cars run on solar panels. There are solar powered aircraft. New forms of solar panels now include fabric and film.