Many people contributed to the invention and development of the refrigerator. Here's a timeline of key figures and milestones:

• 1748: William Cullen, a Scottish professor, demonstrated artificial refrigeration at the University of Glasgow

. He discovered that the rapid evaporation of a liquid into gas produced a cooling effect, though he didn't apply the method for practical use

• 1805: Oliver Evans, an American inventor, designed the first refrigeration machine that used vapor instead of liquid, but it never went past the design stage

• 1834: Jacob Perkins, an American inventor, created the first vapor compression system for refrigerators

• 1859: Ferdinand Carré, a French engineer, developed a refrigeration system using a mixture of ammonia and water

• 1876: Carl von Linde, a German professor, patented a method of liquefying gases used in artificial refrigeration

. His work allowed for gases like ammonia, sulfur dioxide, and methyl chloride to be used as refrigerants

• 1899: Albert T. Marshall, an American inventor, patented the first mechanical refrigerator

• 1913: Fred W. Wolf, an American inventor, invented the first home electric refrigerator. It featured a refrigeration unit on top of an icebox

• 1918: The Kelvinator company introduced the first refrigerator with any type of automatic control

. Mass production of home refrigerators with a self-contained compressor began thanks to William C. Durant

• 1927: The "Monitor-Top" refrigerator, made by General Electric, was the first refrigerator to see widespread use