GORRIE, JOHN

born Oct. 3, 1803, Charleston, S.C., U.S. died June 16, 1855, Apalachicola, Fla. American physician who discovered the cold-air process of refrigeration as the result of experiments to lower the temperature of fever patients by cooling hospital rooms. In 1842 Gorrie designed and built an air-cooling apparatus for treating yellow-fever patients. His basic principle-that of compressing a gas, cooling it by sending it through radiating coils, and then expanding it to lower the temperature further-is the one most often used in refrigerators today. Giving up medical practice to engage in time-consuming experimentation with ice making, he was granted the first U.S. patent for mechanical refrigeration in 1851. He did not profit from his invention. A long tour of Southern cities in an effort to secure financial support for a factory to manufacture his inventions proved fruitless, and he returned to Apalachicola.