Inventor

Daryl M Chapin

Patents indexed

Year range

1957

Associated with

Bell Telephone Laboratories Inc

Years active

1957

Total patents

Most recent

1957

Frequent collaborator

Calvin S Fuller

Domains

solar-energysemiconductorsclean-energyspace-technologyphotovoltaics

Activity by decade

1950s

Patents

US 2780765·1957·Bell Telephone Laboratories Inc

The First Solar Cell That Could Actually Power Something

Gerald Pearson, Daryl Chapin, and Calvin Fuller's 1957 silicon solar cell at Bell Labs was the first photovoltaic device efficient enough to power real devices — the invention that launched solar energy.