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5.5 Research Pioneers 1950-1959


                                      Erich Farber (1921-1917)


                                      Country: USA
                                      Year Started Research: 1950’s
                                      Title of Research: Experimental research on practical applications
                                                           of solar energy
                                      University: University of Wisconsin/University of Florida
                                      Still Active in Research: No


            Erich Farber was one of the early pioneers working on solar energy since 1950. He one of the attendees of the first
            meeting of solar energy scientists and engineers in Phoenix, Arizona in 1954. Around that time, he moved from the
            University of Wisconsin to the University of Florida and set up the Solar Energy and Energy Conversion Laboratory,
            which became a well known solar energy research center. His work focused on experimental research on practical
            applications of solar energy. He developed working prototypes of applications and displayed them in the solar
            energy lab spread over 23 acres of land, which became known as the “Solar Energy Park”. The exhibits at the
            solar energy park included solar water heaters, solar cookers, solar desalination stills, solar refrigeration systems,
            a solar furnace, a solar steam engine, a number of Stirling Engines and an electric car. Around 1980, Erich Farber
            started an educational program called, “Training in Alternative Energy Technologies (TAET)” funded by the US
            Agency for International Development (USAID). TAET program educated and trained thousands of scientists and
            engineers from many countries in the applications of solar energy technologies. Most of those scientists went back
            to their home countries and started very successful renewable energy research and development programs in their
            countries. Among his research and developments, various types of Stirling Engines and Nano-Scale Antennas for
            solar power conversion stand out. Both of these developments still hold the potential to become successful in the
            future. Erich Farber also developed an energy self-sufficient Solar House in the solar energy park for demonstration
            and for his graduate students to live. The American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME) declared the Solar
            Energy Park and the Solar House as a National Historical Landmark in 1997. Erich Farber was born in Austria in
            1921 and migrated to USA before WW II to escape Hitler. He passed away in 2017.




                                      John Page (Deceased)


                                      Country: United Kingdom
                                      Year Started Research: 1955
                                      Title of Research: Solar radiation and climate data
                                      University: University of Sheffield
                                      Still Active in Research: No


            John Page’s career was devoted to developing climate knowledge bridges, believing these bridges had to span between
            the basic work of meteorological observers and applied work of designers located in global design offices. John, who
            became Emeritus Professor of Building Science at the University of Sheffield, attended the 1955 International Symposium
            on Applied Solar Energy in Phoenix, organised by ISES fore-runner, the Association for Applied Solar Energy; John became
            their first UK member. July 1973 - UNESCO hosted the ‘Sun in the service of Mankind’. Forty Brits attended, including
            John and Dr. Mary Archer; the idea grew of forming a UK section of ISES, and was launched 24th January 1974 with John
            was first Chairman. John received the ISES Farrington Daniels Award at the Kobe Congress in 1989 and was active within
            UK-ISES until his death in 2019. John prioritised providing scientific advice to UN Agencies such UNEP, UNCHSS, WHO,
            UNESCO and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). In 1974, John (member of WMO Building Climatology
            Group) was in Geneva. He believed that WMO needed to give climate aspects of solar energy applications more attention,
            but the Secretary General was too busy. In true John style he was invited to lunch the next day with the S.G. John continued
            his passion for solar radiation data, co-authoring with countless top international researchers. In January 2000, the first
            volume of the new web-based atlas, European Solar Radiation Atlas (ESRA), Fundamentals and Maps, was published,
            followed by vol. 2 Database and Exploitation software. In John’s words; ‘I never envisioned when I saw Sputnik 1 satellite
            circulating the world one starry night in October 1957 that so much radiation information would be beamed down to us
            from the sky above using instruments of ever-increasing complexity. Our climatic task is to help deliver human progress.’


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