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Let the sun shine in...all day long

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


Like many Americans, I have recently been diagnosed with a vitamin D deficiency. In addition to drinking milk, eating dark leafy greens, and taking 2000 IU’s of D a day, I’ve also been trying to get as much sunlight as possible. When I came across this article in the November 7, 1903 Scientific American, I realized that a possible reason for my deficiency is my home’s inability to rotate.

rotating house


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Pictured here is a home that turns with the sun, which was on display at the Exposition de l'Habitation in Paris in 1903. The idea behind the revolving home, created by Dr. Pellegrin and Parisian architect M. Pettit, was that if home could rotate with the sun, it would be provided with the sunlight needed to create a more healthful and sanitary home. The design of the home was meant to fulfill requirements of heliotherapy based on work by Dr. Nils Finsen, the 1903 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine.

rotating house

The house was built upon a turntable flush to the ground. The basement (which was built free from the home and did not rotate) served to house the machinery used to turn a vertical shaft that rotated the house. “The ball bearings, on which the turntable rests, have a receiver of considerable diameter, and arranged on a suitable metallic crown supported by a massive annular masonry wall within which a staircase is built, fixed to the turning structure and carrying roller at its lower end which rest on the floor of the basement and enable the staircase to move with the house…The rotation is obtained by means of a pinion which is geared to a circular set of teeth fixed on the platform.”

rotating house design
rotating house design

The house could be turned by hand which required a lever to be moved once an hour, or by motor which necessitated the house to make a full revolution in 24 hours.

Over the years, we have continued to follow the sun in order to reap its energy. Today, scientists and engineers are using mechanized solar trackers to harvest the sun's heat to make electricity. Mirrors and lenses move with the sun and are then used to concentrate sunshine onto a receiver. However, I would avoid using concentrated solar thermal power to help treat a vitamin D deficiency, as it creates temperatures that can go above 600 degrees Celsius.

In 1845 Scientific American magazine made its debut on newsstands and has continued to be published ever since. Now, Nature Publishing Group and Scientific American are working to digitize all past issues of the magazine. Mary Karmelek is in charge of checking over each issue, and in the process she uncovers fascinating, captivating and humorous material buried in the yellowed pages of our past. In this blog she shares the highlights of her discoveries. Additional archival material appears every month in our 50, 100 and 150 Years Ago column.

More by Mary Karmelek