Discovery of the photovoltaic effect
Descubrimiento del efecto fotovoltaico
- Date
- 1839 · confidence high
- Place
- Paris, France
- Credited to
- Edmond Becquerel
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
At just 19, Edmond Becquerel observed, in his father's laboratory, that platinum electrodes immersed in a solution generated an electric current when exposed to light: the first observation of the photovoltaic effect.
The Wikidata candidate credits Antoine César Becquerel, but it was actually his son Edmond Becquerel, then 19, who made the discovery in his father's laboratory; corrected here following Wikipedia.
What it led to
- First selenium solar cell (Charles Fritts, 1884)
- Silicon photovoltaic solar cell (Bell Labs, 1954)
- Photovoltaic energy as a renewable electricity source