![An illustration of two women in scientific clothing flying out of a mailbox with the words "From Our Inbox" above](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/9791EFFC-19BE-4E04-B91F0750E232E160_source.jpg?w=450)
This Biophysicist 'Sun Queen' Harnessed Solar Power
Hungarian-American biophysicist and inventorMária Telkes illuminated the field of solar energy. She invented a solar oven, a solar desalination kit and, in the late 1940s, designed one of the first solar-heated houses