refrigeration technology isn't limited to the household fridge; it also encompasses air conditioning (which lee kuan yew thinks was the single most important technology enabling singapore to go from being one of the world's poorest countries to one of the richest within living memory, calling it 'the greatest invention of the 20th century': https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/09/asia/air-conditioning-sin...) and cryocoolers, which are necessary for all practical superconductors so far (including nmr medical imaging machines and the josephson junctions used to define the volt) and for all ultra-high vacuum applications, including the euv lithography used for current chips (a dependency which goes both ways, since high-performance cryostats demand ultra-high vacuum)
the entire fresh food supply chain, including military logistics, is structured around refrigeration, and human diets have changed dramatically as a result. before refrigeration, if you wanted to eat pumpkin in the spring or peas in the fall, your options were canned pumpkin or pickled pumpkin. when refrigerated shipping became available (about 60 years before asimov's story, not 7), within about fifteen years, argentina went from being a poor rural country fighting off raids, and shipping small amounts of unpalatable salt beef overseas, to being one of the world's richest countries from selling fresh beef; nowadays, of course, it's unthinkable to ship meat from the slaughterhouse to the butcher shop without refrigeration
refrigeration is also fundamental to the current medical system; many vaccines won't keep without refrigeration, and of course tissue samples and organ transplants rely heavily on refrigeration to preserve them
the entire technological and scientific world is built on precise metrology, and aside from the josephson junctions i mentioned before, air conditioning is important to precise metrology; virtually every phenomenon used to maintain a metrological standard over time varies with temperature, so metrological labs are invariably maintained at a precisely controlled temperature, usually to within half a degree and sometimes to within a hundredth of a degree. moreover, that temperature is usually 20°, because for historical reasons that's the temperature most of those standards are designed for; but you can't maintain a 20° temperature year-round without air conditioning in most of the human-inhabited world
refrigeration technology in the form of air conditioning consumes a quite significant share of human world marketed energy consumption, so improvements in its efficiency are economically very important and currently avidly pursued by many avenues. and, as the cnn article above mentions, refrigerant leaks from vapor-compression refrigerative air conditioners are a significant contributor to global warming, though far from the majority
there are numerous sbir grants available in the usa for improvements in various kinds of refrigeration technology, including things like cryostats and dilution coolers
so every facet of your life is profoundly shaped by refrigeration technology, even if you aren't aware of it
The Einstein refrigerator was a relatively more modern approach that had been more recently invented, and was quite a bit different than the established mechanical refrigeration.
Even today these type are not as widely deployed as they could be, and I would expect Asimov was quite aware of their existence and unmet potential (that still lingers).
As a futurist and believer in continuous improvement, you wouldn't want progress in any unperfected technology to ever stop.
How else was science fiction going to become reality eventually in the future?
moving-parts-free ammonia-absorption refrigerators (though not of the einstein-szilard type) are in wide use in industry and in motor homes, but subsequent improvements in the vapor-compression type made ammonia absorption less attractive for the most conspicuous applications, such as indoor home fridges (though i did encounter one unexpectedly in a hotel room in argentina last year)
i am not entirely clear on the advantages of the einstein-szilard design over the earlier munters–von platen design, which as i understand it is the one commonly used today, and would be grateful for an explanation
the entire fresh food supply chain, including military logistics, is structured around refrigeration, and human diets have changed dramatically as a result. before refrigeration, if you wanted to eat pumpkin in the spring or peas in the fall, your options were canned pumpkin or pickled pumpkin. when refrigerated shipping became available (about 60 years before asimov's story, not 7), within about fifteen years, argentina went from being a poor rural country fighting off raids, and shipping small amounts of unpalatable salt beef overseas, to being one of the world's richest countries from selling fresh beef; nowadays, of course, it's unthinkable to ship meat from the slaughterhouse to the butcher shop without refrigeration
refrigeration is also fundamental to the current medical system; many vaccines won't keep without refrigeration, and of course tissue samples and organ transplants rely heavily on refrigeration to preserve them
the entire technological and scientific world is built on precise metrology, and aside from the josephson junctions i mentioned before, air conditioning is important to precise metrology; virtually every phenomenon used to maintain a metrological standard over time varies with temperature, so metrological labs are invariably maintained at a precisely controlled temperature, usually to within half a degree and sometimes to within a hundredth of a degree. moreover, that temperature is usually 20°, because for historical reasons that's the temperature most of those standards are designed for; but you can't maintain a 20° temperature year-round without air conditioning in most of the human-inhabited world
refrigeration technology in the form of air conditioning consumes a quite significant share of human world marketed energy consumption, so improvements in its efficiency are economically very important and currently avidly pursued by many avenues. and, as the cnn article above mentions, refrigerant leaks from vapor-compression refrigerative air conditioners are a significant contributor to global warming, though far from the majority
there are numerous sbir grants available in the usa for improvements in various kinds of refrigeration technology, including things like cryostats and dilution coolers
so every facet of your life is profoundly shaped by refrigeration technology, even if you aren't aware of it