Childhood and Teen Years (Telkes)


Maria Telkes was born on December 12, 1900 in Budapest, Hungary to Aladar and Maria Laban de Telkes. Foreshadowing her career as a scientist, she built her own little chemistry lab at age ten. Ever since she loved science. She grew up in Budapest and stayed there until she completed her high school and college education. She was always fascinated with the sun. She started reading more about the sun in high school. She read everything possible about the sun and when she was done reading them in Hungarian, she read what was written in English, German, and French.