06.29.2005 13:57
Thank you, John Gorrie
The past week or so here in Raleigh, it's been
around 90 degrees Fahrenheit
(there's a nice Polish name), so air conditioners are getting
workouts. John
Gorrie thought the Florida summer heat and miasma from rotting
vegetation caused yellow fever and malaria. Though quinine was
effective against malaria, there was nothing available to cure or
vaccinate against yellow fever.
Gorrie's Fridge, a page at the University of Florida by physics professor Gary G. Ihas, has a brief history of pre-commercial and commercial refrigeration and air conditioning.
There's an article about Boston's Frederick Tudor and his successful scheme to transport ice on ships to the tropics, as far as Calcutta, at Cool Customer, Frederic Tudor and the Frozen-Water Trade. Just as Poland Spring today markets its water as distinctively pure, so in the 19th century 'the clean rivers of Maine provided much of the East coast ice' using that marketing technique when medical officials questioned the safety of using ice from increasingly polluted lakes and rivers. Eventually, electricity and electric refrigerators replaced the iceman and the icebox.
Gorrie died in June, 1855, 150 years ago. The Wikipedia says June 29, Today in Science says June 16th. He invented the first mechanical refrigeration system, the development of which is number 10 in the National Academy of Engineering's Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century.
Statue of John Gorrie in National Statuary Hall Collection
Gorrie's Fridge, a page at the University of Florida by physics professor Gary G. Ihas, has a brief history of pre-commercial and commercial refrigeration and air conditioning.
There's an article about Boston's Frederick Tudor and his successful scheme to transport ice on ships to the tropics, as far as Calcutta, at Cool Customer, Frederic Tudor and the Frozen-Water Trade. Just as Poland Spring today markets its water as distinctively pure, so in the 19th century 'the clean rivers of Maine provided much of the East coast ice' using that marketing technique when medical officials questioned the safety of using ice from increasingly polluted lakes and rivers. Eventually, electricity and electric refrigerators replaced the iceman and the icebox.