Abstract
“What a nice pavilion” wrote a columnist in summer 1896. “There are refrigerated wells for visitors interested in experiencing the sensation of −60 °C, or in studying of its therapeutic effects” (Yung E, Journal de Genève 11 July, 1896). Though such descriptions could have best applied to a circus attraction, they were meant for a building at the Swiss National Exposition (SNE) held that year in Geneva. Four decades later, the Paris Universal Exposition of 1937 would feature a “… novel attraction” in the form of a snow tower announcing the achievements of artificial cold. These exhibits book end the presence of artificial cold as an end in itself at the international exhibits that marked Europe’s celebrations of science and technology. Other shows featured exhibits pertaining to artificial cold, but none besides the two mentioned acknowledged the visual element of scientific discovery to such an extent. This article offers to consider the manifestations of artificial cold’s appearance in public exhibits and how, though an important feature of the new developments in applied science, it did not show up front-and-center the way electricity did. By considering an overlooked aspect of expositions in the early twentieth century, I borrow from the notion of science as spectacle and its intersection with visual culture (Morus, Isis 97(1):101–110, 2006) to clarify how artificial cold was “sold” in a way that enthused the general public.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsBibliography
Ackerman, M. 2002. Cool comfort. America’s romance with air conditioning. Washington, DC: Smithsonian.
Aluminium. 1937. L’Aluminum français 91(May):703–707.
Bertuca, D., D. Hartman, and S.N. Meumeister. 1996. The world’s Columbian exposition: A centennial bibliographic guide. Norwich: Greenwood.
Blake, W.P. (ed.). 1870. Reports of the United States Commissioners to the Paris Universal Exposition, vol. III, 361–402. Washington, DC: GPO.
Büchler, H. 1970. Drei Schweizerische Landesausstellungen Zürich 1883 Genf 1896 Bern 1914. Juris Druck, Zurich.
Cooper, G. 2002. Air-conditioning America: Engineers and the controlled environment, 1900–1960, 110–139. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Dienel, H.L. 2004. Die Linde AG. Geschichte eine technologikonzerns, 1979–2004. Munich: CH Beck.
Exposition. 1896. L’exposition nationale suisse Genève 1896. Geneva: Pfeffer.
Exposition. 1896 II. Exposition nationale suisse Genève 1896. Notice explicative sur le Pavillon Raoul Pictet. Geneva: Kündig.
FAFP (Fondation des archives de la famille Pictet, Geneva) AEP 2.19.2.5. Undated report submitted to the shareholders of the Pavillon Pictet after the closure of the 1896 SNE.
FAFP (Fondation des archives de la famille Pictet, Geneva) APS 1.1.1.4. Egyptian correspondence of Raoul Pictet 1869–1875.
FAFP (Fondation des archives de la famille Pictet, Geneva) APS 1.5.1.22/3. Extrait des souvenirs de Raoul Pictet. undated typed notice. pp. 3–4
Figaro. 1937. Le Figaro, 30 June, advertising.
Francis, D.R. 1913. The universal exposition of 1904. St Louis: Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company.
Ganz, C.R. 2008. The 1933 Chicago world’s fair. A century of progress. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Geppert, A.C.T. 2010. Fleeting cities: Imperial expositions in Fin-de-Siècle Europe. New York: Palgrave.
Hernant papers Institut français d’architecture, André Hernant papers (1908–1978) 060Ifa, HERAN E-36-2 “Exposition internationale de Paris 1937, stand de la république argentine au Palais du froid.”
Herrmann, P. 2000. Raoul Pictet, homme du froid à l’exposition natinale de 1896. In Genève 1896. Regards sur une exposition nationale, ed. Leïla el-Wakil and P. Vaisse, 80–91. Geneva: Georg.
Hilaire-Pérez, L. 2012. Les expositions universelles en France au XIXeme siècle. Lignes de tension et lignes d’horizon dans le champs technologique à l’ère de l’indutrialisation. In Les expositions universelles en France au XIXe siècle, ed. A.-L. Carré, M.-S. Corcy, C. Demeulenaere-Douyère, and L. Hilaire-Pérez, 13–34. Paris: Presses du CNRS.
JdG. 1885, 1890. Journal de Genève. 18 June 1885; 6 August 1890; 27 August 1890.
La Science et la vie 236 (February 1937): 141–146.
Labbé, E. 1935. Conférence sur l’exposition internationale de Paris 1937. Arts et techniques dans la vie moderne. N.p., Paris.
Morus. 2006. Seeing and believing science. Isis 97(1): 101–110.
Müller, C. 2008. Images of Switzerland at the world fairs – Ephemeral architecture as a symbol for national identity? In Architecture and identity, ed. P. Herrle and E. Wegerhoff, 113–122. Berlin: Lit Verlag.
Nature. 1937. La Nature 3000 (May 1):410.
Pauchard, P. 1991. Les Suisses dans le miroir. Lausanne: Payot.
Pictet, R. 1878. Mémoire sur la liquéfaction de l’oxygène, la liquéfaction et la solidification de l’hydrogène; et sur les théories des changements des corps. Geneva: Sandoz.
Pictet, R. 1896. Au pavillon Pictet. Journal officiel de l’exposition nationale suisse, 15.
Pictet, R. 1898. La frigothérapie: ses origines, son but, les résultats déja obtenus. Paris: Hugonis.
Raichvarg, D., and J. Jacques. 1991. Savants et Ignorants. Une histoire de la vulgarisation des sciences. Paris: Seuil.
Report. 1901. Report of the General Commissioner for the United States to the International Universal Exposition in Paris, 1900. Washington, DC: GPO.
Reports. 1870. Reports of the United States Commissioners to the Paris Universal Exposition, vol. IV, 649–658. Washington, DC: GPO.
Reports. 1880. Reports of the United States Commissioners to the Paris Universal Exposition, 1878, vol. IV, 25. Washington, DC: GPO.
Reports. 1891. Reports of the United States Commissioners to the Universal Exposition of 1889, vol. II, 631–632. Washington, DC: GPO.
Schwarz, H. (ed.). 1991. Unter Null. Kunsteis, Kälte, Kultur, 8. Munich: Beck.
Segal, H.P. 1987. The technological utopians. In Imagining tomorrow: History, technology and the American future, ed. J.J. Corn. Cambridge, MA: MIT.
Yung, E. 1896. L’exposition nationale suisse. Journal de Genève, 11 July.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
de Syon, G. (2014). Meeting Artificial Cold: Expositions and Refrigeration, 1896–1937. In: Gavroglu, K. (eds) History of Artificial Cold, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Issues. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol 299. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7199-4_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7199-4_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-7198-7
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-7199-4
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawHistory (R0)