The Power of light : the epic story of one man's quest to harness the sun

An original investigation into the social and technological history of solar power From the days of Archimedes and Leonardo, the earliest efforts to harness the power of the sun have become the stuff of legend. But it was not until the industrial revolution, with its great demands for fuel, that inventors --like Prometheus carrying fire from Mt. Olympus--began to build machines capable of channeling the sun's rays into usable energy. In The Power of Light, solar energy expert Frank Kryza recounts the dramatic saga of solar invention, from its optimistic dawning in the mid-19th century to its impending triumph today. With a fervent passion for his subject, the author introduces solar pioneers such as Auguste Mouchot, whose solar-powered steam engine amazed Napoleon III, and Frank Shuman, whose solar pumping station, in 1911, became the largest and most cost-effective machine prior to the space age. While presenting a thorough and original investigation into this little-known chapter of science history, The Power of Light offers a sober meditation on the revolutionary impact technology often has on society. "Not until the industrial revolution, with its insatiable demand for fuel, that modern inventors - like Prometheus carrying fire from Mt. Olympus - began to build machines capable of channeling the sun's rays into usable energy." "The Power of Light is a dramatic narrative of those Prometheans and their furious technological quest to create the ultimate "Sun Machine." Told with a fervent passion, and without chastising or proselytizing, the story opens during the last gasps of the industrial revolution. With its grimy cities, its black and billowing smokestacks, it was a time for the realization of previously unimaginable projects, a time that gave birth to a cornucopia of new inventions and visionary dreamers - some bound for immortality, and others whose genius would be forever shrouded in obscurity." "In this original investigation into a little-known chapter of the history of science, we follow the story of Frank Shuman, a Brooklyn-born, self-educated inventor who dreamed up a 1000-horse-power solar-powered behemoth to pump the Nile River onto parched Egyptian cotton fields - a dream that would be deferred, overshadowed by the hand of fate and the bugle-call of world war. Along Shuman's path, we meet the luminaries of solar invention - Augustin Mouchot, William Adams, Aubrey Eneas, and a host of others - all the while tracing the incredible saga of solar power from its roots in ancient history to its optimistic dawning in the industrial age to its impending triumph today."--Jacket This work recounts the saga of solar invention, from its optimistic dawning in the mid-19th century to its impending triumph of the 21st century. It introduces solar pioneers such as Auguste Mouchot, whose solar-powered steam engine amazed Napoleon III, and Frank Shuman.