During the seventeenth century in England, outside temperatures reached so low during the winter that it is actually considered to be a “mini ice age” by scientists today. During this time, people were still somewhat fatalistic and believed that cold was an act of god, and that people should just leave it alone. That was until an alchemist named Cornelius Drebbel came along. Drebbel bet the King he could turn summer into winter by chilling the air in the Great Hall of Westminster. Drebbel did so by using ordinary table salt, which will lower the temperature at which ice melts, to keep a freezing mixture as cold as possible while he ran warm air over it. Because of his elaborate design, Drebbel’s invention worked and he invented the first “air conditioning unit” of his time. However, Drebbel’s invention was never documented and he was never given credit.
The infamous question, “what is cold?” is a question that would haunt scientist Robert Boyle for years.......
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