Charles Tellier

Charles Tellier was a French engineer and inventor, born June 29, 1828 in Amiens and died October 19, 1913 in Paris, remembered as a founding figure of the mechanical refrigeration industry. Beginning experiments in refrigeration in 1868, he developed a compression refrigeration system using dimethyl ether as the working fluid, and in 1876 fitted it aboard the cargo ship Eboe, renamed Le Frigorifique, to carry refrigerated meat from South America to France, among the first transoceanic shipments of refrigerated meat and a demonstration that made large-scale international meat trade practical. He continued refining refrigeration technology for decades afterward, publishing a history of his own invention in 1910, and was awarded the French Institute's Joest Prize in 1911 and made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1912, though he died impoverished the following year despite the industry his work had helped create.