John GorrieDied 16 Jun 1855 at age 51 (born 3 Oct 1803). American physician who pioneered the artificial manufacture of ice, refrigeration, and air conditioning. While he was a Naval officer stationed at Apalachicola,Florida, when he needed ice to treat malaria patients with fever, for, he reasoned, people living in cold climates never got malaria. He built a small steam engine to drive a piston in a cylinder immersed in brine. The piston first compressed the air, and then on the second stroke, when the air expanded, it drew heat from the brine. The chilled brine was used to cool air or make ice. He was granted the first U.S. Patent for mechanical refrigeration on May 1851 (No. 8080). Dr. Gorrie was posthumously honored by Florida, when his statue was placed in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol.[The date of death of 16 Jun is as given in the Dictionary of American Biography. However, an obituary notice in the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal (1855-1856) gives 29 Jun 1855.] |
