Who invented the furnace and when and how was it invented?

Answer 1

There may be two interpretations of the term "furnace" as it is used here (and maybe more). There is the industrial furnace used to smelt ore and process and refine metals, and there is the furnace that is used to heat structures. Here's the problem. People have been figuring out how to heat the spaces where they hang out since a stone age person lit a fire in a cave. Bottom line is that we can't pinpoint an individual at a specific time with a specific plan. Use the link provided to the Wikipedia article on the furnace. The two drawings you'll see there at the beginning of the article date way, way back, and that's a clue to how long we've been working on solving the problem of heating our buildings. Read down through the posted material and you'll appreciate how difficult it is to attribute the invention of the furnace to a single individual. Or maybe you'll appreciate why it probably isn't as easy as that and only "steps" in the development of this appliance can be noted.