Vast power of the sun is tapped by battery using sand ingredient

        April 26, 1954 New York Times | United States | renewables: solar

A 6%-efficient "solar energy battery" (solar cell) was demonstrated at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey. Developed by physicist G.L. Pearson, chemist C.S. Fuller, and electrical engineer D.M. Chapin, a solar cell functions via a "p-n" (positive-negative) junction with impurities introduced at the silicon surface in a similar process to transistor fabrication.