Shawn G. Chittle
@ShawnChittle • 6,609 subscribers
Senior Director at the Executive Office of The President @whitehouse Views mine. Non-partisan civil servant. Previously at @nasa
Videos
Air conditioning has been part of American culture for nearly 200 years. Dr. John Gorrie, a medical doctor, invented air conditioning in 1837 in Florida. He sealed up a room and piped in hot air over ice buckets cooling the room down. He wanted to keep patients cool and comfortable as they suffered from malaria. They thought the air caused it, hence the Italian for bad air = "mala aria." Gorrie then patented a machine in 1845 that could bring air conditioning to any room, anywhere. It had a side effect: it also made ice. Here's a 5 min documentary on how Gorrie invented it, why, narrated and written by the great British historian James Burke from his TV show Connections — the greatest TV show ever made in my opinion.
Shawn G. Chittle1,221,970 views • 1 month ago
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