Her birth name was Mária Terézia Zsófia Telkes.
Maria Telkes, an advocate of putting the sun's energy to use and one of the first researchers to do so in an experimental residence, died last Dec. 2 in Budapest on her first visit to her native Hungary in 70 years. She was 95 and lived in North Miami, Fla.
News of her death was relayed by members of the Hungarian community in this country last week.
Dr. Telkes also developed a solar salt-water still for the Navy in World War II, which saved the lives of torpedoed sailors and downed airmen. She spent many years experimenting with stoves that used solar energy for their heat and were simple and cheap enough for use by villagers in poor, arid regions.
She also worked on an air-conditioning system in the 1970's that stored ''coolness'' at night for use the next day. The idea was to reduce power demand during hot spells and lower the risk of electrical ''brownouts'' and blackouts.
Born in Budapest, Dr. Telkes received a doctorate in physical chemistry at the University of Budapest, where she started her career as an instructor. She came to the United States in 1925 to visit a cousin, who was then the Hungarian consul in Cleveland, and stayed when the Cleveland Clinic Foundation hired her as a biophysicist.
She worked there for 12 years under Dr. George Crile. In a series of experiments they invented a photoelectric mechanism capable of recording brain waves.
Later, she carried out research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University and the University of Pennsylvania, among others. She retired in 1977 as a senior scientist at the University of Delaware but remained active as a consultant until about three years ago.
In the 1940's she teamed up with an architect, Eleanor Raymond, to build the first solar-heated house, using a chemical that crystalized and retained the heat and then radiated it back to keep a constant temperature. The plant used no auxiliary power source but still kept the five-room house in Dover, Mass., cozy through the winter.
Maria Telkes, an advocate of putting the sun's energy to use and one of the first researchers to do so in an experimental residence, died last Dec. 2 in Budapest on her first visit to her native Hungary in 70 years. She was 95 and lived in North Miami, Fla.
News of her death was relayed by members of the Hungarian community in this country last week.
Dr. Telkes also developed a solar salt-water still for the Navy in World War II, which saved the lives of torpedoed sailors and downed airmen. She spent many years experimenting with stoves that used solar energy for their heat and were simple and cheap enough for use by villagers in poor, arid regions.
She also worked on an air-conditioning system in the 1970's that stored ''coolness'' at night for use the next day. The idea was to reduce power demand during hot spells and lower the risk of electrical ''brownouts'' and blackouts.
Born in Budapest, Dr. Telkes received a doctorate in physical chemistry at the University of Budapest, where she started her career as an instructor. She came to the United States in 1925 to visit a cousin, who was then the Hungarian consul in Cleveland, and stayed when the Cleveland Clinic Foundation hired her as a biophysicist.
She worked there for 12 years under Dr. George Crile. In a series of experiments they invented a photoelectric mechanism capable of recording brain waves.
Later, she carried out research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University and the University of Pennsylvania, among others. She retired in 1977 as a senior scientist at the University of Delaware but remained active as a consultant until about three years ago.
In the 1940's she teamed up with an architect, Eleanor Raymond, to build the first solar-heated house, using a chemical that crystalized and retained the heat and then radiated it back to keep a constant temperature. The plant used no auxiliary power source but still kept the five-room house in Dover, Mass., cozy through the winter.
Her birth name was Mária Terézia Zsófia Telkes.
Maria Telkes, an advocate of putting the sun's energy to use and one of the first researchers to do so in an experimental residence, died last Dec. 2 in Budapest on her first visit to her native Hungary in 70 years. She was 95 and lived in North Miami, Fla.
News of her death was relayed by members of the Hungarian community in this country last week.
Dr. Telkes also developed a solar salt-water still for the Navy in World War II, which saved the lives of torpedoed sailors and downed airmen. She spent many years experimenting with stoves that used solar energy for their heat and were simple and cheap enough for use by villagers in poor, arid regions.
She also worked on an air-conditioning system in the 1970's that stored ''coolness'' at night for use the next day. The idea was to reduce power demand during hot spells and lower the risk of electrical ''brownouts'' and blackouts.
Born in Budapest, Dr. Telkes received a doctorate in physical chemistry at the University of Budapest, where she started her career as an instructor. She came to the United States in 1925 to visit a cousin, who was then the Hungarian consul in Cleveland, and stayed when the Cleveland Clinic Foundation hired her as a biophysicist.
She worked there for 12 years under Dr. George Crile. In a series of experiments they invented a photoelectric mechanism capable of recording brain waves.
Later, she carried out research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University and the University of Pennsylvania, among others. She retired in 1977 as a senior scientist at the University of Delaware but remained active as a consultant until about three years ago.
In the 1940's she teamed up with an architect, Eleanor Raymond, to build the first solar-heated house, using a chemical that crystalized and retained the heat and then radiated it back to keep a constant temperature. The plant used no auxiliary power source but still kept the five-room house in Dover, Mass., cozy through the winter.
Maria Telkes, an advocate of putting the sun's energy to use and one of the first researchers to do so in an experimental residence, died last Dec. 2 in Budapest on her first visit to her native Hungary in 70 years. She was 95 and lived in North Miami, Fla.
News of her death was relayed by members of the Hungarian community in this country last week.
Dr. Telkes also developed a solar salt-water still for the Navy in World War II, which saved the lives of torpedoed sailors and downed airmen. She spent many years experimenting with stoves that used solar energy for their heat and were simple and cheap enough for use by villagers in poor, arid regions.
She also worked on an air-conditioning system in the 1970's that stored ''coolness'' at night for use the next day. The idea was to reduce power demand during hot spells and lower the risk of electrical ''brownouts'' and blackouts.
Born in Budapest, Dr. Telkes received a doctorate in physical chemistry at the University of Budapest, where she started her career as an instructor. She came to the United States in 1925 to visit a cousin, who was then the Hungarian consul in Cleveland, and stayed when the Cleveland Clinic Foundation hired her as a biophysicist.
She worked there for 12 years under Dr. George Crile. In a series of experiments they invented a photoelectric mechanism capable of recording brain waves.
Later, she carried out research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University and the University of Pennsylvania, among others. She retired in 1977 as a senior scientist at the University of Delaware but remained active as a consultant until about three years ago.
In the 1940's she teamed up with an architect, Eleanor Raymond, to build the first solar-heated house, using a chemical that crystalized and retained the heat and then radiated it back to keep a constant temperature. The plant used no auxiliary power source but still kept the five-room house in Dover, Mass., cozy through the winter.
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