Water cooling... My uncle use to work for NASA at the Redstone Arseinal back in the '60s and did support for other large labs up until the '80s. They (NASA) used water cooling on a limited basis on machines that wouldn't run in airconditioned rooms. On that note, phase change, TEC, and CO2 have been in use for quite a good while also. I remember in about '92 when the Pentium's came out, it was huge news back then they even ahd to HAVE a heatsink. You could buy OEM heatsink's back them with a FAN! and a TEC in the bottom of them.
All I have in relation to the story with my uncle is my word, as he's been dead. On another note, I rmember him talking about it(and stuff like that) when I was around 10 when he came to live with us for awhile. (so we're talking about the summer of '90)
So my point is that the idea isn't all new. You're also highly unlikely to ever find the person that did it originally for the "small scale" use that we use it in today either.
-Toysrme
