Chapin was born in
Ellensburg,
Washington on 21 July 1906, although he spent his childhood in
Salem, Oregon. There, he obtained his bachelor's degree from
Willamette University and later on received his master's from the
University of Washington. Before joining
AT&T in 1930, he lectured physics at
Oregon State College for a year. Prior to working on solar cells, he worked on magnetic materials. While working on power sources for remote telephone systems in humid areas such as the tropics, where
dry cell batteries are unreliable, he investigated solar power as an energy source after considering alternatives like
thermoelectric generators and small
steam engines. Initially he investigated
selenium, getting efficiencies which were too low with a yield of about 4.9 watts per square meter. At the same time, Pearson and Fuller were working on altering
semiconductor properties through introduction of impurities. They created a
p–n junction by dipping a
gallium-doped
silicon piece in
lithium at around 500 °C before exposing it to sunlight, hence discovering its ability to generate
photocurrents. Pearson informed Chapin of this discovery, prompting him to switch materials and after a year the functional solar cell was demonstrated on 25 April 1954. The solar cells delivered a power of about 60 watts per square meter, for an efficiency of 6 percent, and was patented as a "solar energy converting apparatus". The initial discovery attracted major media attention, with the
New York Times reporting the discovery on its first page as one which "may mark the beginning of a new era, leading eventually to the realization of one of mankind’s most cherished dreams–the harnessing of the almost limitless energy of the sun for the uses of civilization". It initially failed to gain major commercialization due to its still-prohibitive costs and found only niche use in small electronic devices such as the
transistor radio. However,
the Pentagon found use of the technology for their satellites and in 1958 launched the
Vanguard 1, the first solar-powered satellite. For the discovery, Chapin was awarded an honorary doctorate by his alma mater, Willamette, and the
John Scott Medal from
Philadelphia, both in 1956. By 1959, he had simplified the solar cell's experiment to the point where it was performed by high school students across the
United States. In order to bring down the cost, he experimented with
polycrystalline silicon but was unable to reproduce the efficiencies of the single crystals. He died in his home in
Naples, Florida on 19 January 1995, at age 88. After his death, he was inducted into the
National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2008 alongside his two co-workers. ==References==