Who invented the freezer?

One thing that becomes clearer and clearer the more I investigate how certain inventions came in being, is that all modern day wonders cannot be attributed to any one man. Without the tireless work of those before them to bring science up to the standard that they had the opportunity to live through, there would have been no basis on which they could envision their dream, and then follow through. This is even moreso the case when looking at the invention of the freezer. 

Many individuals contributed to the famous cooling solution now located in almost every home in the developed world, and the study of the fridge begins in the middle of the 18^th Century. In 1748 William Cullen from the University of Glasgow invented an artificial method of cooling on a small scale; however there was very little mainstream interest in his discovery, and certainly no thought of the benefits this could provide to the household.

In the scientific community however, this was seen as a major breakthrough. Further work was carried on Cullen’s foundation, but it took nearly 100 years until a fridge design was first constructed.

John Gorrie is considered to be the father of modern refrigeration, and in 1845 he gave up his medical practice in order to pursue his interests in refrigeration. Gorrie was granted a patent for an ice making machine, however this was never made due to his partner dying along the way. This financially ruined Gorrie and he died 10 years later.

Carl von Linden found an effective was of liquefying gases in 1876, and refrigeration on a household level became feasible for the first time.

Its difficult to pin the invention of the fridge onto any one man, but the breakthroughs of a number of scientists all played a big part. Without their efforts we would lack the technology to cool food as effectively as we do today. It will be interesting to see how this will be built on further in the future.