Imagine what it would be like to never see the sun.
In the Norwegian town of Rjukan, that’s exactly what life is like six months out of the year. Located in a valley, because of the high mountains that surround the town, from September to March there is no sunlight. But this year, that will change.
At the end of October, the town will install three giant sun mirrors, in order to reflect sun into the town square, bringing sunlight in the middle of the winter for the first time to the town’s 3,000 inhabitants.The idea for a sun mirror was born a century ago when local businessman Sam Eyde had the idea to give access to the sun to his workers. While the sun mirror didn’t get constructed, a gondola was built to take Rjukan’s up to the top of the mountains where they could get some sunlight during the winter.
But now thanks to technology, Eyde’s original idea will become a reality, and the the sun mirrors will be launched on October 31, the exact day 100 years ago that the idea was presented in the local newspaper.