Willis Carrier

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Willis Carrier

American inventor

Also known as: Willis Haviland Carrier

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Oct 3, 2024 • Article History

Quick Facts

In full:: Willis Haviland Carrier

Born:: November 26, 1876, Angola, New York, U.S.

Died:: October 7, 1950, New York City

Also Known As:: Willis Haviland Carrier

Inventions:: air-conditioning

Willis Carrier (born November 26, 1876, Angola, New York, U.S.—died October 7, 1950, New York City) was an American inventor and industrialist who formulated the basic theories of air conditioning. In 1902, while an engineer with the Buffalo Forge Company, Carrier designed the first system to control temperature and humidity. His “Rational Psychrometric Formulae,” introduced in a 1911 engineering paper, initiated scientific air-conditioning design. He was a founder (1915) of the Carrier Corporation, a manufacturer of air-conditioning equipment.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.