It was jointly invented in 1926 by Albert Einstein and his former student Leó Szilárd, who patented it in the U.S. on November 11, 1930 (U.S. Patent 1,781,541). This is an alternative design from the original invention of 1922 by the Swedish inventors Baltzar von Platen and Carl Munters.
William Cullen at the University of Glasgow demonstrated the first artificial refrigeration system in the year 1748. However, he never used his discovery for practical purposes. In the year 1805, US inventor Oliver Evans, designed the first refrigeration machine that didn't use liquid and instead used vapor to cool.