#039

James Harrison

April 17 marks the annual celebration of James Harrison Day. In honour of the Australian pioneer of refrigeration, AIRAH encourages worldwide recognition of the many people and organisations working in HVAC&R.  
​
Although the presence of refrigeration technology is everywhere today, few know of Harrison’s accomplishments – or even his name.

​A figurehead for AIRAH (our national office is the James Harrison Centre and we bestow the James Harrison Medal in recognition of the highest levels of individual achievement), we encourage all members and the public to join us in celebrating his important scientific and societal contributions.  

---

The following excerpt, detailing Harrison’s life, was originally published in the AIRAH Journal, July 1997: 

Printer, editor and publisher … it is likely that James Harrison would have made an ideal candidate for many of the positions with the AIRAH Journal of today. However, it is due to this man’s efforts with refrigeration technology that today’s industry is of the magnitude it is. 

Harrison was truly a remarkable inventor who saw the potential in Australia and migrated in 1837. He settled in Geelong, Victoria, in 1840 and concentrated on inventing mechanical refrigeration. 

These were busy times for a man who began and ran his own newspaper while discovering refrigeration technology. However, it was not until the 1850s that Harrison was noted for creating machinery which could chill at an effective level, through the evaporation of ether. 

By 1856, he returned to London to take out patents and commence construction of machinery. Within five years, units from Europe to Peru, and Argentina to Australia bore his name. 

By 1861, Harrison was declared financially insolvent back in Australia. His efforts to improve refrigeration technology pushed him into constant financial hardship and the only way he could keep alive his dream of designing machinery for preserving meat was by continuing to jockey between the world of journalism and inventing. 

In 1873 he exhibited this technology but his test of shipping meat stock to London failed and was enough to ruin his career. He remained in London for nearly 20 years, moving back to Geelong in 1892. He died [the following year], aged 77. 
​
It is widely known that the man who invented refrigeration went for all his life unrewarded, although his achievements have been ranked alongside the invention of the steam engine. 

Read The Book

SEE MORE

James Harrison Day

Explore airah's 100 faces