Read online Chilled : How Refrigeration Changed the World and Might Do So Again TXT, FB2, PDF
9781472911445 English 147291144X '... a chill-cabinet of curiosities: hot stuff, and deeply cool ...' Heat and fire have been at humanity's command for at least 100,000 years, but we've been in control of the cold for barely one hundred. Why it took so long is quite a story. Figuring out the cold would involve some gnomes, a fake perpetual motion machine and a fresh chicken bought in a blizzard.Where did it get us in the end? First there's the obvious - understanding cold has allowed us to rewrite the rules of food. However, there is much more to it than that. Space rockets, skyscrapers, medical scanners and even party balloons could not exist without the refrigerator. And today, refrigeration is still at the cutting edge as we seek to turn the science fiction of teleportation, immortality and conscious computers into scientific fact.In Chilled , Tom Jackson delivers the cold hard facts on refrigeration and our battle to keep things cool over the centuries, from the ice houses of ancient Persia to the present day, where a seemingly mundane whirring white box in the kitchen represents one of the genuine wonders of the modern age., Heat and fire have been at humanity's command for at least 100,000 years, but we've been in control of the cold for barely one hundred. Why it took so long is quite a story. Figuring out the cold would involve some gnomes, a fake perpetual motion machine and a fresh chicken bought in a blizzard. Where did it get us in the end? First there's the obvious - understanding cold has allowed us to rewrite the rules of food. However, there is much more to it than that. Space rockets, skyscrapers, medical scanners and even party balloons could not exist without the refrigerator. And today, refrigeration is still at the cutting edge as we seek to turn the science fiction of teleportation, immortality and conscious computers into scientific fact. In Chilled, Tom Jackson delivers the cold hard facts on refrigeration and our battle to keep things cool over the centuries, from the ice houses of ancient Persia to the present day, where a seemingly mundane whirring white box in the kitchen represents one of the genuine wonders of the modern age. Book jacket., The refrigerator may seem mundane nowadays, but it is one of the wonders of twentieth-century science--lifesaver, food preserver, social liberator. Part historical narrative, part scientific decoder, CHILLED recounts early efforts to harness the cold at the ice pits of Persia and ice harvests on the Regents Canal. As people learned more about what cold actually was, scientists invented machines for producing it on demand. The discovery of refrigeration and its applications features a cast of characters that includes the Ice King of Boston, Galileo, Francis Bacon, an expert on gnomes, a magician who chilled a cathedral, a Renaissance duke addicted to iced eggnog, and a Bavarian nobleman from New England. Refrigeration technology has been crucial in some of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the last one hundred years, from the discovery of superconductors to the search for the Higgs boson. And the fridge will still be pulling the strings behind the scenes as teleporters and intelligent-computer brains turn our science-fiction vision of the future into fact., The refrigerator. This white box that sits in the kitchen may seem mundane nowadays, but it is one of the wonders of 20th century science - life-saver, food-preserver and social liberator, while the science of refrigeration is crucial, not just in transporting food around the globe but in a host of branches on the scientific tree. Refrigerators, refrigeration and its discovery and applications provides the remarkable and eye-opening backdrop to Chilled , the story of how science managed to rewrite the rules of food, and how the technology whirring behind every refrigerator is at play, unseen, in a surprisingly broad sweep of modern life.Part historical narrative, part scientific mystery-lifter, Chilled looks at the ice-pits of Persia (Iranians still call their fridge the 'ice-pit'), reports on a tug of war between 16 horses and the atmosphere, bears witness to ice harvests on the Regents Canal, and shows how bleeding sailors demonstrated to ship's doctors that heat is indestructible, featuring a cast of characters such as the Ice King of Boston, Galileo, Francis Bacon, and the ostracised son of a notorious 18th-century French traitor. As people learned more about what cold actually was, scientists invented machines for making it, with these first used in earnest to chill Australian lager. The principles behind those white boxes in the kitchen remain the same today, but refrigeration is not all about food - for example, a refrigerator is needed to make soap, penicillin or orange squash; without it, IVF would be impossible.Refrigeration technology has also been crucial in some of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the last 100 years, from the discovery of superconductors to the search for the Higgs boson. And the fridge will still be pulling the strings behind the scenes as teleporters and intelligent computer brains turn our science-fiction vision of the future into fact.
9781472911445 English 147291144X '... a chill-cabinet of curiosities: hot stuff, and deeply cool ...' Heat and fire have been at humanity's command for at least 100,000 years, but we've been in control of the cold for barely one hundred. Why it took so long is quite a story. Figuring out the cold would involve some gnomes, a fake perpetual motion machine and a fresh chicken bought in a blizzard.Where did it get us in the end? First there's the obvious - understanding cold has allowed us to rewrite the rules of food. However, there is much more to it than that. Space rockets, skyscrapers, medical scanners and even party balloons could not exist without the refrigerator. And today, refrigeration is still at the cutting edge as we seek to turn the science fiction of teleportation, immortality and conscious computers into scientific fact.In Chilled , Tom Jackson delivers the cold hard facts on refrigeration and our battle to keep things cool over the centuries, from the ice houses of ancient Persia to the present day, where a seemingly mundane whirring white box in the kitchen represents one of the genuine wonders of the modern age., Heat and fire have been at humanity's command for at least 100,000 years, but we've been in control of the cold for barely one hundred. Why it took so long is quite a story. Figuring out the cold would involve some gnomes, a fake perpetual motion machine and a fresh chicken bought in a blizzard. Where did it get us in the end? First there's the obvious - understanding cold has allowed us to rewrite the rules of food. However, there is much more to it than that. Space rockets, skyscrapers, medical scanners and even party balloons could not exist without the refrigerator. And today, refrigeration is still at the cutting edge as we seek to turn the science fiction of teleportation, immortality and conscious computers into scientific fact. In Chilled, Tom Jackson delivers the cold hard facts on refrigeration and our battle to keep things cool over the centuries, from the ice houses of ancient Persia to the present day, where a seemingly mundane whirring white box in the kitchen represents one of the genuine wonders of the modern age. Book jacket., The refrigerator may seem mundane nowadays, but it is one of the wonders of twentieth-century science--lifesaver, food preserver, social liberator. Part historical narrative, part scientific decoder, CHILLED recounts early efforts to harness the cold at the ice pits of Persia and ice harvests on the Regents Canal. As people learned more about what cold actually was, scientists invented machines for producing it on demand. The discovery of refrigeration and its applications features a cast of characters that includes the Ice King of Boston, Galileo, Francis Bacon, an expert on gnomes, a magician who chilled a cathedral, a Renaissance duke addicted to iced eggnog, and a Bavarian nobleman from New England. Refrigeration technology has been crucial in some of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the last one hundred years, from the discovery of superconductors to the search for the Higgs boson. And the fridge will still be pulling the strings behind the scenes as teleporters and intelligent-computer brains turn our science-fiction vision of the future into fact., The refrigerator. This white box that sits in the kitchen may seem mundane nowadays, but it is one of the wonders of 20th century science - life-saver, food-preserver and social liberator, while the science of refrigeration is crucial, not just in transporting food around the globe but in a host of branches on the scientific tree. Refrigerators, refrigeration and its discovery and applications provides the remarkable and eye-opening backdrop to Chilled , the story of how science managed to rewrite the rules of food, and how the technology whirring behind every refrigerator is at play, unseen, in a surprisingly broad sweep of modern life.Part historical narrative, part scientific mystery-lifter, Chilled looks at the ice-pits of Persia (Iranians still call their fridge the 'ice-pit'), reports on a tug of war between 16 horses and the atmosphere, bears witness to ice harvests on the Regents Canal, and shows how bleeding sailors demonstrated to ship's doctors that heat is indestructible, featuring a cast of characters such as the Ice King of Boston, Galileo, Francis Bacon, and the ostracised son of a notorious 18th-century French traitor. As people learned more about what cold actually was, scientists invented machines for making it, with these first used in earnest to chill Australian lager. The principles behind those white boxes in the kitchen remain the same today, but refrigeration is not all about food - for example, a refrigerator is needed to make soap, penicillin or orange squash; without it, IVF would be impossible.Refrigeration technology has also been crucial in some of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the last 100 years, from the discovery of superconductors to the search for the Higgs boson. And the fridge will still be pulling the strings behind the scenes as teleporters and intelligent computer brains turn our science-fiction vision of the future into fact.