Today in Technology History
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June 3
Canning, a simple idea that permanently transformed the way we store food, was invented by a man who died in poverty 162 years ago.
We certainly don't think of canned food as a military technology today, but that's certainly how it got its start. As France's troops invaded neighboring countries in the late eighteenth century, it became evident that a truly ambitious conquest of Europe would require food that could be carried over long distances for a long time without spoiling. The French government offered a prize of 12,000 francs to the first person who could devise an affordable technique for preserving food.
The winner of the prize, after more than a decade of work on the problem, was Nicolas-François Appert. Born around 1749, Appert (pronounced ah-PAIR) was the uneducated son of an innkeeper. He had some talent in the kitchen and became an apprentice chef, and later, after moving to Paris, he made desserts and candies for a living. When he heard of the prize for preserving food, he began years of trial-and-error experimentation.
Appert treated his food with hours of steam in a contraption he designed, and then placed the food in glass bottles which were sealed with corks and wax. Today we know that his technique worked because the steam sterilized the food, but Appert had no theory to guide him -- he toiled without the benefit of modern bacteriology, which hadn't been developed yet.
In 1810, Appert published the details of his invention and he was awarded the prize, which he invested in the canning factory he had founded (the world's first). Still, despite his success, and his later inventions (which included the bouillon cube), Appert ran out of money and died penniless on June 3, 1841.
Related links:
Click here to learn about canning, freezing, and other food preservation techniques.
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