Question: What Houston-born engineer pioneered the commercialization of solar thermal energy in the United States?
Answer: Leonard “Lynn” Northrup Jr. Born in 1918, he attended high school in Dallas and earned degrees from SMU, the University of Denver, and Harvard Business School. After serving in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, he became a supplier and installer of air conditioning units, building one of the nation’s first single-family homes with central air in Dallas.
In the 1970s, he developed a solar collector using a special lens that concentrated sunlight more than similar products on the market. The technology was featured on the cover of Popular Science Magazine, and Northrup’s company soon became the foremost distributor of solar thermal energy systems. He merged with ARCO Solar, which was eventually acquired by BP Solar, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of photovoltaic cells before it discontinued operations in 2011.
