1,2,3… soleil !

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Did you know that the sun can be used to produce elec­tri­city? It’s thanks to solar panels that sunlight is trans­formed into energy, which we use, for example, in our homes. Today, it is the cheapest source of elec­tri­city produc­tion! However, these panels have a partic­u­lar appear­ance: blue or black reflect­ive plates, all identical, stuck together like large insects. Many people do not find them very attract­ive and feel they domin­ate the land­scape. If we want to install more, we need to think about their shape and place­ment. Indeed, it is not only an inter­est­ing tech­no­logy to help limit global warm­ing, but also an element that becomes part of our land­scape. Design­ing these aspects is part of the work of design­er­s—the people who create the objects or systems we use.

More than a hundred years ago, at the end of the 19^th century, sanat­ori­ums began to be built in Switzer­land. This funny name refers to build­ings, often in the moun­tains, where people with respir­at­ory illnesses, such as tuber­cu­losis, could rest. Leysin is one of the most popu­lar places. Patients benefited from the pure moun­tain air and also from the sun. The sun was also thought to help with heal­ing and to strengthen the immune system (resist­ance to illnesses). South-facing terraces were specific­ally designed in these build­ings so that people could be exposed to the sun. This prac­tice is called “helio­ther­apy, ” a combin­a­tion of the word helios, the Greek god of the sun, and “ther­apy.” It was not a holi­day—pa­tients had to follow a precise sched­ule of sun expos­ure and a strict diet.

When you think of the sun, you often think of holi­days at the sea. That’s true today, but it hasn’t always been that way. Paid days off have only exis­ted in Switzer­land for about a hundred years. Since then, people have been able to go on vaca­tion more easily. The beach has become a place to relax and spend hours in the sun, which is often not possible in every­day life. Tanning then became fash­ion­able, which was not neces­sar­ily the case before. Some people even star­ted prac­ti­cing natur­ism and sunbathed completely nude!

Going to the beach can be the best time of the year. Holi­days and the sun are also used to sell all sorts of things: swim­suits, sunscreens, shim­mer­ing oils with monoï…

The sun is so import­ant for living beings that it has been present for a very long time in reli­gion, stor­ies, tales, and paint­ings. In ancient Egypt, for example, it was the god Ra who traveled across the sky during the day in a solar boat. Many kings or emper­ors asso­ci­ated their image with this symbol to rein­force their power: they would be like the sun, without which their people could not live. The King of France, Louis XIV, was thus nick­named the Sun King.

Do you know any books, films, or comics in which the sun plays an import­ant role? There are many, such as the comic The Temple of the Sun from the adven­tures of Tintin.

This article was writ­ten in collab­or­a­tion with Carré Pointu, the little seri­ously funny news­pa­per.