Downtown in Sacramento in Sacramento County, California — The American West (Pacific Coastal)

Bell Solar Battery

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, February 9, 2025

1. Bell Solar Battery Marker

Inscription. A cable repairman adjusts the Bell Solar Battery, a device used to pick up prevailing light, which was being used in experiments to develop more and better rural telephone service. The solar battery is an invention of Bell Labs. 1955

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Communications • Science & Medicine. A significant historical year for this entry is 1955.

Location. 38° 34.721′ N, 121° 29.213′ W. Marker is in Sacramento, California, in Sacramento County. It is in Downtown. It is on J Street west of 15th Street, on the left when traveling east. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Sacramento CA 95814, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Sacramento Valley

and specifically in the Central Valley.

It is also on the American Pacific Coast.

Globally, it is in North America,

on the Ring of Fire,

in the Pacific Rim,

in the Western Hemisphere,

in the Western World,

and in the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain

and also Mexico’s Alta California.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: First Commercial Modem (here, next to this marker); Telstar I Satellite (a few steps from this marker); 1958 Directory Operators (a few steps from this marker); Bell Labs Sea Plow (a few steps from this marker); The Invention of the Transistor (a few steps from this marker); Sacramento Memorial Auditorium (a few steps from this marker); 1936 Telephone Operators (a few steps from this marker); The Messiah, 1928 (a few steps from this marker). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Sacramento.

More about this marker. The marker and

Paid Advertisement

Click or scan to see
this page online

photo is one of a set of 29 found around two A&T-owned buildings along 14th, J and 15th Streets.

Also see . . . The Solar Battery (Photovoltaics).

Excerpt: "In the early 1950s R.S. Ohl discovered that sunlight striking a wafer of silicon would produce unexpectedly large numbers of free electrons. In 1954, G.L. Pearson, C.S. Fuller, and D.M. Chapin created an array of several strips of silicon (each about the size of a razor blade), placed them in sunlight, captured the free electrons and turned them into electrical current. This was the first solar battery. It could convert only six percent of the sunlight into useful energy."

(Submitted on February 13, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

Bell Solar Battery photo and marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, February 9, 2025

2. Bell Solar Battery photo and marker

AT&T Building markers along J Street image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, February 7, 2025

3. AT&T Building markers along J Street

This Bell Solar Battery photo is just off camera, at the base of the second building on the far right of the photo.

Credits. This page was last revised on March 15, 2026. It was originally submitted on February 13, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 131 times since then and 12 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on February 13, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. 3. submitted on February 12, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.