Technology & innovation

Peter von Rittinger

Peter von Rittinger of Austria invents the world’s first functional heat pump

A heat pump is a device that uses electricity to transfer heat from a colder place to a warmer place. Air-source heat pumps are now among are most effective climate solutions. In 1856, Rittinger recognized the principle of the heat pump while conducting experiments on the use of water vapor’s latent heat for the evaporation of salt brine. As a result, the heat pump was used to dry salt in salt marshes in Austria.

Samuel Morse invents Morse code

In an emergency, Morse code can be sent by improvised methods that can be easily “keyed” on and off, making it one of the simplest and most versatile methods of telecommunication.

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