In 1955 in Lebanon, “one-third of a worker's salary [was] spent for fuel . . . while from eight to nine months a year the sun shines all day,” said Tarcici. A professor, designer, and United Nations delegate, Tarcici dedicated his life to solar energy and has numerous patents for solar-cooker designs under his name. This solar cooker collapses into a portable box that also serves as its spine.
Gallery label from Energy, 2019
This solar cooker, which collapses completely into the portable box that also serves as its spine, was designed by professor and United Nations delegate Adnan Tarcici. Tarcici dedicated himself to solar energy: "One-third of a worker's salary," he said in Lebanon in 1955, "is spent for fuel . . . while from eight to nine months a year the sun shines all day." Beginning in the 1950s, he achieved numerous patents for different solar cooker designs. Various attempts to harness the sun's power for cooking had been made in the late nineteenth century, and in 1955 the Association for Applied Solar Energy (later the International Solar Energy Society) was formed. In 1956 a New York Times article featured Tarcici, who was pictured cooking hot dogs with one of his own devices.
Gallery label from Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen, September 15, 2010–March 14, 2011.
