PatentBrief

Inventor

Gerald L Pearson

Patents indexed

1

Year range

1957

Associated with

Years active

1957

Total patents

1

Most recent

1957

Frequent collaborator

Daryl M Chapin

Domains

solar-energysemiconductorsclean-energyspace-technologyphotovoltaics

Activity by decade

1950s
1

Patents

1

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.