Solar panel history: from Becquerel's discovery (1839) to Bell Labs (1954)

The first commercial solar panel sold in 1956 at $286/W (today's equivalent: $3000/W). Today it's $0.30/W. The biggest price drop of any technology in history. Here's how it started.

1839: Edmond Becquerel discovers the effect

At 19, in his father Antoine's lab in Paris, Edmond notices that two platinum electrodes in electrolyte generate current when exposed to light. Publishes it as the 'photovoltaic effect'. Nobody pays attention for 70 years.

1883: Charles Fritts builds the first cell

American inventor. Coats selenium with very thin gold. Efficiency: 1%. Builds a module on a New York rooftop. Not commercial, but proves the principle.

1905: Einstein and the photoelectric effect

Einstein mathematically explains why light ejects electrons from metal. For this he gets the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics (not for relativity). Without this theory, nobody could have optimized photovoltaic cells.

April 1954: Bell Labs changes everything

Three scientists (Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller, Gerald Pearson) at Bell Labs build the first doped-silicon cell. Efficiency: 6%. NY Times front page: 'Vast Power of the Sun Is Tapped'. Cost per watt: $286.

1958: first solar satellite

US-launched Vanguard 1 carries six 1 W solar cells. They run 6 years (vs 6 days for chemical battery). Definitive demonstration: the only viable space electricity.

1973: oil crisis awakens interest

Arab oil embargo. Crude price quadruples. USA and Europe launch solar R&D programs. Commercial efficiency rises from 8% (1970) to 12% (1980). Cost drops from $100/W to $20/W.

1990s onward: Chinese explosion

China sees the sector as strategic. In 2002 produces 1% globally. In 2024: 80%. Cost drops from $5/W (1995) to $0.30/W (2024). No solar revolution without China.

Compare with 50-year efficiency evolution.