Hansel

On July 17 1902, a 25-year-old engineer from Buffalo, New York developed the first modern air conditioner. Willis Carrier wasn’t trying to find a way to make people more comfortable during the hot summer months. Humidity in the air was causing an application problem for the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Company in Brooklyn. Willis was simply trying to find a way to make the air a little drier so sheets of paper wouldn’t swell or stick to one another. Most Americans today can’t imagine a world without air conditioning, unless they’ve experienced Europe during the summer. The prevailing attitude there is if you use A/C, you’ll get used to it. If you’re used to it, you’ll expect and even need it. As we visited patisseries filled with melting chocolates and stuffy, hot movie theaters, we could only scratch our heads in wonder.