If you like this story, I recommend reading How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World. Its a quick read and very interesting. And, yes, "cold" is one of the six.
This reminded me of the book "How We Got To Now" by Steven Johnson. Really interesting book on how development in certain fields enabled other innovations ("adjacent possible"). Really well written and super interesting book! Also, bonus points for the last chapter on Ada Lovelace, and what a visionary she was in terms of what a computer could do.
https://www.amazon.com/How-We-Got-Now-Innovations/dp/1594633...
https://www.amazon.com/How-We-Got-Now-Innovations/dp/1594633...