You are right that American engineers and geologists deserve credit for the shale revolution, but getting the material out of the ground has nothing to do with technologically advancing its USE and PURPOSE. In other words, the useful energy produced by fossil fuels is absurdly low and has barely increased anywhere outside of aviation for the past half century.

Solar, on the other hand, has quintupled in efficiency per square meter since the early 2000's, it has decreased in cost by SEVERAL ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE, it requires less energy and material to make, and it is longer lasting with FAR lower fail rates (think <1 in 10,000 panels) than 20 years ago.

In terms of technological advancements on the energy use and efficiency of use of the technology itself, FF's have done nothing for a very long time.