Saussure's solar hot box
Caja caliente solar de Saussure
- Date
- 1767 · confidence high
- Place
- Geneva, Switzerland
- Credited to
- Horace-Bénédict de Saussure
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
Saussure built nested, insulated glass boxes that, in sunlight, reached more than 87 °C. It was the first demonstration of the hot-box solar collector effect.
John Herschel repeated the technique in South Africa around 1830 to cook food.
What it led to
- box solar cookers (Herschel in the 19th century)
- solar water heaters
- experimental understanding of the greenhouse effect