1 Charles Steinmetz Sparks the Electrical Industry A brilliant engineer was almost turned away at Ellis Island Immigration officers tried to reject him because he was disabled They did not believe he could be a genius electrical engineering He was active in socialist politics The government of Poland did not trust socialists In 1889 Steinmetz emigrated to escape arrest for his activism Charles Steinmetz was born in 1865 in Poland In school Steinmetz studied math chemistry and Due to his disability Steinmetz stood just four feet tall He had a hump on his back and trouble walking Immigration officers judged him by his looks Steinmetz had to convince them that he was intelligent Finally he was allowed to enter the United States In New York City Steinmetz worked as an electrical engineer He developed a math equation that changed his industry Engineers designing electrical systems had trouble with magnetism Magnetism was part of electrical systems But it caused some loss of power Steinmetz’s math equation helped engineers figure out how much 4
Steinmetz in his laboratory with Thomas Edison in 1931 power was lost It helped them reduce the amount of power lost Steinmetz’s math equation made long-distance power lines possible He also invented many devices His work helped the electrical industry grow The US power grid was built with his ideas THE MARK OF A GENIUS Steinmetz was once asked to fix a machine at a Ford factory For two days he listened to the machine He did math in a notebook Then he marked an X on the side of the machine He told the Ford engineers to open the machine at that spot and replace the part inside It worked Steinmetz charged Ford 10,000 1 for making the mark and 9,999 for knowing where to make it 200 Number of US patents held by Charles Steinmetz Steinmetz emigrated from Poland to escape political punishment He was an electrical engineer who invented many devices He developed a math equation that changed electrical engineering 5
2 Mária Telkes Captures the Sun’s Energy Telkes became interested in solar power She decided to study physical chemistry She learned to use physics to solve chemical problems In 1924 Telkes earned her graduate degree The next year she immigrated to the United States While visiting a cousin in Cleveland Telkes was offered a job She decided to stay in the United States She became a researcher Later she worked for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT Telkes studied solar energy She invented many solar-powered devices In 1948 Telkes designed the first house heated entirely by solar energy She developed an efficient heating system It worked by storing heat in a type of salt The salt absorbed the sun’s heat On cold days bins of salt between the walls kept the house warm Telkes solved a big problem She figured out how to store solar energy She was known as the Sun Queen Mária Telkes was a physicist and an innovator She changed how people use solar power Telkes was born in 1900 Her family lived in a big city in Hungary In high school 6
10 Number of cloudy days in a row that Mária Telkes’s solar house could remain heated Telkes emigrated from Hungary in 1925 for a job She was a physicist who studied solar energy She invented the first solar-powered heating system SAVING LIVES WITH SOLAR During World War II the US Navy asked for Telkes’s help They needed a portable device to turn salt water into fresh water Telkes developed a solar-powered system The device made ocean water safe to drink It became part of emergency medical kits Telkes’s invention saved sailors lives Telkes’s solar home design was featured in Popular Science in 1949 Telkes continued to invent solar technology Her work became the foundation of the solar industry In 2012 she was added to the National Inventors Hall of Fame 7
