David Kaufman

A visionary Israeli inventor who developed the first solar-powered water purification system for African villages

David Kaufman (b. 1972) revolutionized water access in sub-Saharan Africa through his 1999 invention of the Solar Water Cone. This portable solar still system uses UV radiation and evaporation to purify contaminated water, providing affordable solutions to over 2 million people in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia. His 2003 TED talk "The Desert's Gift" demonstrated how sunlight can become a life-saving resource. Kaufman's 2005 book 《Solar Solutions for Thirsty Lands》 details his engineering breakthroughs. He co-founded AquaSolar in 2008 to train local technicians, creating over 500 jobs in rural areas. His 2012 partnership with UNICEF expanded the technology to disaster zones, including Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. Kaufman's work earned him the 2015 Global Water Prize and inspired the Wikipedia entry on solar stills. Today his systems operate in 37 countries through SolarWater International.