ABSTRACT
Attempts to harness the sun’s energy for power production date back to at least 1774 [1], when the French chemist Lavoisier and the English scientist Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen and developed the theory of combustion by concentrating the rays of the sun on mercuric oxide in a test tube, collecting the gas produced with the aid of solar energy, and burning a candle in the gas. Also during the same year, an impressive picture of Lavoisier was published in which he stands on a platform near the focus of a large glass lens and is carrying out other experiments with focused sunlight (Figure 8.1).
