Ehrenreich Heads Solar Energy Study

The feasibility of using solar cells to convert the sun's rays to electricity will be the subject of a meeting of an American Physical Society study group headed by a Harvard professor in Boston later this month.

The society study on "Solar Photovoltic Energy Conversion," headed by Henry Ehrenreich, McKay Professor of Applied Physics, will hold its first meeting on January 28, John H. Martin, executive assistant to Ehrenreich for the study, said yesterday.

Martin, a student at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and head teaching fellow in Ehrenreich's course, Natural Sciences 2, "Foundations of Modern Physical Science," said the purpose of the January meeting is to hear testimony from experts in the field of solar cells.

Martin said the group will send the results of the study, which is still in the formative stages, to a society review committee which will subsequently forward the results to the federal Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Frank Press, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, requested that the American Physical Society undertake the study, and also asked that the society make Ehrenreich chairman of the group, Martin said.