THE SUN QUEEN | Chapter 1 | AMERICAN EXPERIENCE | PBS

Spanning a career of nearly half a century, the brilliant chemical engineer and inventor Mária Telkes dedicated her exceptional mind to the exploitation of solar energy, which notably included her pioneering work on developing the first solar-heated home of the modern era. Despite facing undermining and opposition from her male supervisor and peers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she showed remarkable resilience and determination in pursuing her groundbreaking projects. The person in the image appears poised and contemplative, with an upward gaze that could suggest reflection or forward-thinking. Adorned in a fur coat indicative of the fashion from a past era, she stands before an architectural backdrop that hints at a setting possibly related to her academic or professional endeavors.

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