Highlights
U NTIL he advent of nuclear fission a few decades ago, all the energy sources that the human race made use of could ultimately be traced back to the sun. Coal, oil, gas, wood-the things we burn--are things that once grew or still grow, and the fuel of growth is sunlight. Today, we make a small amount of our electricity by directly converting the radiant energy of the sun, and in the next century a sizable fraction of it may be made that way. Most of the rest of our electricity production can be traced back indirectly to the effects of solar energy. In view of this fact, it is remarkable that few of us know what solar energy is and how it is produced. The lack of specific knowledge about this and all sorts of other matters is part- and a very important part-of what vexes our present col- lective thinking about energy. What makes the sun shine?
Bethe continued, The reason I did not have school in the morning was that there was a scarcity of coal, and the scarcity of coal was due, in turn, to the occupation of the frsthand ulaion of St entermg d his mem- Ruhr district by the French in retaliation for nonpay- ment of war reparations by the Germans. The Ruhr was the main source of coal, so there was a shortage all over eft him. As Germany at that time. Schools consolidated. Our school experiencs In the yeas was combined with another school, whose students had their instruction in the morning, while we had ours in the afternoon. I witnessed the complete breakdown of the monetary system and the partial breakdown of coal sup- plies and food supplies which went with it. The whole period from the end of the war, in 1918, until the begin- ning of 1924 was a time of tremendous insecurity--inse- curity in the industrial base of Germany and in the supply of goods. I am afraid that unless we solve our energy prob- lems something similar may happen here and elsewhere in the future."