Our series examining an Image of the Week from the photographic files, by Kevin Warstadt, Digital Program Specialist.

Dartmouth’s solar car ca. 1989

This image of the week comes from a folder titled “Solar Car.” Dartmouth’s solar powered car raced in the The American Tour de Sol, based on the Swiss race of the same name, in 1989. Also represented in the race were MIT, the New Hampshire Technical Institute, and two independent teams. The race ran from Montpelier to Cambridge.

The history of solar power goes back further than one would expect. In 1839 Edmond Becquerel created the first photovoltaic cell, which operated on the same basic principles as the modern solar cell. In the late nineteenth century, Aleksandr Stoletov is credited with inventing the first solar cell. Bell Labs began producing solar cells for use in space travel in the 1950s, and invented the first practical silicon solar cell later that decade.

See more images of the solar car in the Dartmouth photographic files.

Sources

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/05/25/Solar-car-race-a-journey-into-future/7697612072000/
http://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/05/29/Checkered-flag-for-solar-car-race/7599612417600/