With Chicago’s heat index reaching anywhere from 98 to 103, I really want to stick my head in a bucket of ice, move into a walk-in cooler and drink lots of cold lemonade. While doing this, I’ll try to take time out of my comatose-like state to thank the man considered the father of refrigeration and air conditioning. His name was Dr. John Gorrie and he’s got his own museum. In Apalachicola, Florida, the Gorrie Ice Museum exhibits a mock-up display showing the scientific principles behind Gorrie’s 1850s ice machine (it is a replica…the real one’s in the Smithsonian), which was used to produce cold air for the inmates of a local TB sanitarium.
Gorie, a son of Scottish immigrants, reminds of the great number of inventions that come from Scotland. And we’re not talking about a couple of dinky useless patents; the Scots made some important shit. Things like the pedal bicycle, steam engine, telephone, television, radar, fingerprinting, body scanner, beta-blockers and my favorite…the decimal point. And there’s even more.
