The story
By analogy with windmill and water mill.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Today it means: An airtight glass bulb containing a partial vacuum and a set of vanes, mounted on a spindle, which rotate when exposed to light, providing a quantitative measurement of electromagnetic radiation intensity. Full definition →
By analogy with windmill and water mill.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.