Willis Haviland Carrier (November 26, 1876 – October 7, 1950) was an American engineer, best known for inventing modern air conditioning.

In 1915, he founded Carrier Corporation, a company specializing in the manufacture and distribution of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

[1] In Buffalo, New York, on July 17, 1902, in response to an air quality problem experienced at the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing & Publishing Company of Brooklyn, New York,[6] Willis Carrier submitted drawings for what became recognized as the world's first modern air conditioning system.

[8] On December 3, 1911, Carrier presented what is perhaps the most significant document ever prepared on air conditioning – Rational Psychrometric Formulae – at the annual meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

With the onset of World War I in late 1914, the Buffalo Forge Company, where Carrier had been employed for 12 years, decided to confine its activities entirely to manufacturing.

During the post-war economic boom of the 1950s, air conditioning began its tremendous growth in popularity.

[citation needed] South Korea is now the largest producer for air conditioning in the world.

The Carrier Corporation pioneered the design and manufacture of refrigeration machines to cool large spaces.

By increasing industrial production in the summer months, air conditioning revolutionized American life.

[1] For his contributions to science and industry, Willis Carrier was awarded an engineering degree by Lehigh University in 1935[18] and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by Alfred University in 1942; Carrier was awarded the Frank P. Brown Medal in 1942; and was inducted posthumously in the National Inventors Hall of Fame (1985) and the Buffalo Science Museum Hall of Fame (2008).