Recognition at last for Tom Bacon, the scientist you’ve never heard of who helped put men on the moon
Cambridge home of the engineer who developed fuel system used on Apollo 11 is to receive a blue plaque
It has been nearly 70 years since Francis Thomas Bacon developed a source of clean green energy that would help power the first moon landing and change the course of history.
Yet, few are aware of the Essex-born, Cambridge-based engineer whose invention of the first working hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell helped send Apollo 11 to the moon. His pioneering work is still a source of inspiration for scientists working on renewable energy solutions today.
Now, the charity Cambridge Past, Present & Future is seeking to shine a light on Bacon’s remarkable achievements by honouring him with a blue plaque at his former home in Little Shelford, Cambridgeshire.
Bacon’s fuel cells – nicknamed “Bacon Cells” by Nasa in his honour – provided secondary power for the Apollo missions, producing electricity for the communications, air conditioning and lights, as well as water for the astronauts.
“Normally, in the course of time, a battery runs down and you’ve got to recharge it,” Bacon told BBC Radio 4, shortly before the moon landings in 1969. “Now, [with] this device, as long as you go on feeding hydrogen and oxygen into it, and you remove the water formed, it will go on generating power indefinitely – and the astronauts drink the water.”
he efficiency and high energy density of the fuel cells played such an integral role in the success of the Apollo missions that President Richard Nixon told Bacon: “Without you, Tom, we wouldn’t have gotten to the moon.”
Sam Stranks, professor of energy materials and optoelectronics at Cambridge University, said: “He was a pioneer. Fuel cell technology was extremely important to the space programme, because as long as you can continuously supply the gases, you can keep producing electricity.” This is vital in a remote location like outer space. “Obviously, there’s no easy means to get electricity there.”
Bacon’s legacy is still inspiring scientists working on new technologies for solar power, hydrogen generation and battery storage today, Stranks said, and fuel cells remain “very relevant” as a potential way of providing green electricity and emergency power, particularly in remote places. They could also power the electric engines of long-haul trucks and ships in the future, avoiding the need for impossibly large and heavy rechargeable batteries and fulfilling a dream Bacon shared in his BBC radio interview. “I always hoped it would be used for driving vehicles about,” he said, before predicting: “In a modified form, it is going to come.”
Stranks said: “I see him very much as a visionary and an unsung hero. The fuel cell is a sustainable power solution that foreshadows today’s clean energy efforts and was decades ahead of its time.”
Article