Mária Telkes, known as the Sun Queen for her life’s research into harnessing the sun’s energy for the benefit of humanity, received the first Society of Women Engineers Award, now known as the SWE Achievement Award. Born in Hungary, moving to the US after completing a PhD in physical chemistry and becoming a citizen in 1937, her lifelong work focused on using solar energy. Known for several solar-powered houses, a low-cost solar oven designed for rural areas and developing countries, and a portable solar-powered water still for use on emergency rafts, she contributed to the solar energy field well into her 80 s. Assertive and inventive with 27 US patents, Telkes was recognized with several other awards, notably: Lifetime Achievement Award, National Academy of Sciences Building Research Advisory Board; Charles Greeley Abbot Award, American Section of the International Solar Energy Society; and National Inventors Hall of Fame.