A Hungarian born American scientist, Mária Telkes (1900-1995), was called "The Sun Queen" and among other honors, was postmousthly inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. She lived to 95 and for most of her life developed solar power in a variety of forms.
Trained as a biophysicist, she worked for Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company in Pittsburgh, PA, where she developed metal alloys for thermocouples to convert heat into electricity from 1937 to 1939. That changed her career. In 1939 whe joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) investigating solar conversion.
In 1948 she and architect Eleanor Raymond created one of the first solar-heated house, called the Dover Sun House, and exhibited at MIT in 1950 It had 18 glass panels on the roof to convert sunlight into heat, which then was transfer to 21 tons of sodium sulfate. As the salt turned to liquid, it stored the heat seven times more effective than water. Then, as the eutectic salt released heat, it re-crystalized. Very efficient which somehow has been lost in our electronic age.
Earlier effort she developed a simple, inflatable globe that could turn salty seawater into fresh, drinkable water. This invention was a simple evaporator and was included in military emergency kits. At WWII's, she received a Certificate of Merit in 1945 from the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD).
In 1953 she created a solar oven for people, that even children, could use. It concentrated sunlight to bake small amounts of food. (Anyone remember their Girl Scout days making a solar oven? You can thank Mária Telkes!) Her work laid the foundation for many of today’s solar technologies, from residential heating systems to large-scale power generation. Over her career of more that 50 years, she received more than seven patents.
Read and watch:
https://www.invent.org/blog/inventors/maria-telkes-the-sun-queen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A1ria_Telkes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVUCvR4QJSs
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/sun-queen/