foundation for modern air conditioners

Focusing on reducing humidity is actually how we got air conditioning
in the first place. In 1902, an engineer named Willis Carrier
installed an "apparatus for treating air" at a printing company in
Brooklyn that was having problems with magazine pages wrinkling in the
summer heat. The machine sent air through coils filled with cold
water, which removed humidity from the air and cooled the room. It
wasn't until 1922 that the Carrier Air Conditioning Company of America
introduced the first practical centrifugal refrigeration compressor
that would become the foundation for modern air conditioners.

https://www.vox.com/climate/358898/best-thermostat-setting-save-energy-money-ac