Page 34 - ISES SWC50

Hoyt C Hottel (1903-1998)

Country: United States
Year Started Research: 1939
Title of Research: Solar 1, world’s first solar house
University: MIT
Still Active in Research: No

Hoyt Clarke Hottel was a professor in the department of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT). He was an expert on energy, radiant heat transfer, fire, fuels and combustion. In 1984, he
wrote the often quoted words “A case can be made for fire being, next to the life processes, the most complex of
phenomena to understand”. Hottel was in charge of solar energy research program at MIT from the late 1930s to
the mid-1960s. This involved research on non-biological uses of solar energy by humanity. The work led to develop
the first accurate analytical models for solar heat collectors. The modelling and testing work led to what is currently
known as the Hottel-Whillier model of the flat plate collector. Hottel co-authored three books, contributed sections
to 15 others and wrote more than 150 technical papers while acquiring eight patents. The Hoyt Clarke Hottel Award
is made each year by the American Solar Energy Society Awards Committee. The primary requirement is that the
recipient has made a significant contribution to the technology in any area of the energy field. Further information
on Hoyt C. Hottel’s life and achievements can be found on the website https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoyt_C._Hottel

Harry Zvi Tabor ISES President 1981-1983
(1917 – 2015)

Country: Israel
Year joined industry/research: 1949
Company/ Institute first worked for: National Physical Laboratory of
Israel

Harry was born in London, UK in 1917. He received a BSc in Applied Physics from the University of London in
1939. In 1949, David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, invited Harry to move to Israel to create the National
Physical Laboratory (NPLI). While there he invented the ‘selective solar surface’ and was the ‘father’ of the solar
collector industry in Israel.In 1961, together Lucien Yehuda Bronicki, he developed the low-temperature Organic
Rankine Cycle turbine (the Ormat turbine). This could operate efficiently at the temperature achievable with a
flat-plate solar collector, and turn a generator for electricity or a water pump. In 1966 a demonstration unit was set
up in Mali, but there was no infrastructure for its maintenance. Harry also did a lot of research on solar ponds. He
asserted that the Dead Sea would be an ideal ‘solar collector’. Harry was one of the founders of ISES. He was a long
serving member of the Board and was President of the Society from 1981-83. In 1981 UK-ISES hosted the ISES
World Solar Forum in Brighton. This was the occasion when Harry was awarded the Farrington Daniels Award. On
Harry’s 80th birthday, ISES published a selection of his scientific papers, edited by Mort Prince. This was never done
before nor has been since. In 2014 Harry, aged 96, received the President’s Prize for Life Accomplishment, one of
Israel’s most prestigious awards, from President Shimon Peres. Eulogising Harry, Peres wrote that Harry was “a
symbol of Israeli innovation – a man who, with the invention of the solar water heater, has had an impact on the lives
of millions of people over many generations, and inspiring scientists and entrepreneurs in the area of solar energy
and in scientific research in general.”

16 | ISES SWC50 - The Century of Solar-Stories and Visions