Inventor of the Air Conditioner

I have always viewed with a certain pride those behind innovations, particularly electricity, yet I cannot help but seek out the inventor of the air conditioner, the engineer Willis Haviland Carrier, who in 1902 installed the first air conditioning system, paving the way for the development of a massive, multi-scale, and multi-purpose air conditioning industry.

Despite some primitive attempts to achieve basic cooling, Carrier succeeded in achieving a qualitative leap in this field, even though the early days were not encouraging in terms of consumption. It was not used to serve the general public until 1940, when its operation was adopted in places frequented by people, such as cinemas and large department stores.

Fortunately, the creator and inventor of air conditioning lived to witness the impact of his wonderful invention ten years before his death. He was born in the United States in 1876 and died in 1950.

Perhaps some countries with cold climates do not experience very hot summers, as is the case in some states in the northern United States. However, the southern states, as well as the rest of the world, were in dire need of importing this scientific innovation, which continues to facilitate people’s lives. I do not know whether Carrier amassed a fortune from this invention.

Due to global warming, Western countries have increasingly turned to air conditioning, despite their relatively short summers. We have witnessed the rush of people in France to purchase air conditioning units, as rising temperatures have become a cause of death for many people in Europe.

In countries that experience hot weather for most of the year, notably Kuwait, which stands undisputed as the hottest country in the summer, and which I doubt anyone rivals in this regard, these nations—numerous in Asia and Africa—have begun importing air conditioning units as they do food supplies.

I often reflect on the blessings we enjoy. Having been born in a home without air conditioning and later moving to a modern house equipped with electricity and cooling, I belong to a somewhat fortunate generation. Indeed, I consider myself lucky to have worked in places where cooling was available thanks to this remarkable innovation. At that time, we should remember our fathers, who worked in diving, long-distance travel, and various manual labor professions without air conditioning.

We must imagine what repeats itself in our daily lives: when we return from work exhausted and have lunch during this very hot summer—such as machboos (meat or chicken rice) or mutabbaq zubaidi—followed by some dates and a large glass of milk, we feel drowsy. The availability of air conditioning enhances the pleasure of sleep, making it peaceful. Let us then consider together the role played by Carrier’s invention.

The primitive air conditioning invention has been developed to reach various sizes and shapes, making homes, commercial complexes, universities, workplaces, mosques, and airplanes more comfortable due to the availability of air conditioning, which has become an essential part of our daily lives. It is found in homes, cars, workplaces, majlis (gathering spaces), markets, mosques, and other places.

The question is: Do we feel any gratitude toward the inventor of air conditioning when you drive your car at 2:00 PM after finishing work, with temperatures reaching 50 degrees Celsius or more, only to find your car’s air conditioning broken, leading to anger, frustration, and irritability? The situation becomes even worse if this occurs in a car driven by a woman who has just left her workplace!

I often wished that the Ministry of Electricity and Water, in collaboration with the Ministry of Information, would produce a documentary on the history of electricity’s invention by Thomas Edison and air conditioning’s invention by Willis Carrier, outlining the historical timeline and their eventual arrival in Kuwait, thereby creating an important reference for current and future generations.