[Rarebooks] fs: 'Father Himalaya', the father of Solar Energy in Portugal...

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, ABAA]

  A Copy Owned by 'Father Himalaya',
  the father of Solar Energy in Portugal-

Charleton, Arthur G. TIN: DESCRIBING THE CHIEF METHODS OF MINING, DRESSING
& SMELTING IT ABROAD. With Notes upon Arsenic, Bismuth and Wolfram.

London; E. & F.N. Spon: 1884.

A scholarly study of European methods of mining, dressing and smelting
tin, chiefly in Bohemia and Saxony. Charleton was a member of the American
Institute of Mining Engineers.

This copy bears the ownership signature of Manuel Antonio Gomes 'Himalaya'
[1868-1933(?)]. "Father Himalaya" is considered to be the father of solar
energy in Portugal, and a visionary pioneer in the field of renewable
energy. After taking Holy Orders in the Society of Jesus he studied
natural sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics and astronomy, and
traveled to France where he studied with the noted chemist Marcelin
Berthelot.

In 1899 he was granted a patent by the French government for a device to
produce heat by focusing the sun's rays; in 1900 he constructed a test
device in the Pyrenees and attained a temperature of 1100 degrees
centigrade. In 1902 an experiment in Lisbon attained 2000 degrees, and he
made a final, startling demonstration of the power of such a device at the
St. Louis Exposition in Missouri 1904.  There he constructed his
"Pireliofero", a 3-story high parabolic mirror mounted on a monstrous iron
framework which focused sunlight on an oven mounted at the top of the
structure. The oven reached a temperature of 3500 degrees, melting a test
chunk of basalt, and Father Himalaya won a Grand Prize for his efforts.

He promoted other forms of renewable energy as well, including tidal
energy and hydroelectric power, wind power, and geothermal power. Alas,
there was plenty of cheap coal and oil available, and his work was
generally ignored and forgotten.

Father Himalaya retired to become chaplain at Viana Castle, a charity
home, where he died at the age of 65. His work has excited interest in
Europe in recent years, and his ideas have only lately attained a measure
of the respect which eluded them in his lifetime. Hardcover. 6"x9", 83
pages with 2 b/w plates and several text illustrations, plus 17 folding
plates of plans and elevations. Light wear, a little rubbing to the tips,
etc., text a bit browned, endpaper slightly spotted, but a very nice copy;
ownership inscription "Rev. M.A.G. Himalaya, Braga, Portugal, 1907" on the
title page. [05444] $200.00

Illustration of the book-
<http://www.joslinhall.com/images03/th-05444.jpg>


"Father Himalaya" and his "Pireliofero"
at the St. Louis Exposition
(pictures not taken from this book).
<http://www.joslinhall.com/images03/th-05444a.jpg>


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