Zayed Mohamed Ali

Egyptian inventor who revolutionized solar energy in the developing world

Zayed Mohamed Ali (1908-1972) was an Egyptian engineer whose solar innovations brought electricity to rural communities long before the grid reached them. Working in the 1930s with rudimentary materials, he developed the Sunflower Solar Collector, a parabolic mirror system that generated 150W of power - enough to pump water and power basic appliances. His Portable Solar Units were deployed across Upper Egypt, transforming 200 villages into self-sustaining communities.

Ali's 1948 <《Harnessing the Nile's Sun》 manual became a blueprint for decentralized energy systems. His collaboration with UNICEF in the 1950s created the first solar-powered vaccination refrigerators, saving thousands of lives in remote areas. Despite being overlooked by Western scientists, his work predated modern photovoltaic research by decades. The Zayed Solar Institute in Luxor still operates his original prototypes, now preserved as UNESCO heritage artifacts.

His most controversial project was the Desert Grid initiative (1965), an interconnected solar network across the Sahara that provided emergency power during the 1967 war. Though dismantled later, its principles influenced NASA's Apollo mission solar panels. Ali's original blueprints are displayed at the British Museum's renewable energy exhibit. His legacy persists through the Zayed Solar Prize, awarded annually to African innovators.