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40th IEEE PHOTOVOLTAIC SPECIALISTS CONFERENCE
RECOGNITION OF DR. MORTON B. PRINCE
RECOGNITION OF DR. MORTON B.
PRINCE
(Bell Labs Pioneer and PV Leader)
The confluence of the 40th
IEEE PVSC and the 60th
Anniversary of the Bell
Telephone
Laboratories
discovery of the modern
solar cell provides us with
a unique opportunity to
recognize one of our most
distinguished members of
the world PV community. As
a MIT graduate student, Dr.
Morton Prince was recruited
by William Shockley to
join Bell Labs and their
development of the relatively
new “transistor”. While
Mort was involved with the investigation of minority-carrier
properties in these devices, he was approached by fellow
group member, Gerald Pearson, about some incredible
progress he was leading with this other new Bell device
opportunity — the solar cell. In the late fall of 1953, Mort
joined Pearson with responsibilities for characterization
and device applications — and a seminal publication about
the performance potential of the Si solar cell. History and
Mort’s contributions to photovoltaics thereafter speak for
themselves! He left Bell Labs in 1956 to become Director
of R&D at Hoffman Electronics (Semiconductor Division),
leading the efforts to establish PV as the “power of choice”
for space applications with the first solar power satellite,
Vanguard, in 1958. Mort Prince has had an incredible career
in semiconductor electronics — and led the growth of PV as
the ERDA and DOE manager for this technology from 1975
to 1993. In 1994, he was recognized with the European
Becquerel Prize for Outstanding Merits in Photovoltaics. The
world PV community owes a lot to Mort. This year, the IEEE
PVSC is especially proud to have this special recognition of
Dr. Morton B. Prince for his leadership and his pioneering and
outstanding contributions to our PV technology.
