Abstract
THE scientific world has recently paid tribute to the bicentenary of the death of the renowned German instrument maker, Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit1, who was born in Danzig in 1686 and died at The Hague on September 16,1736. Ever since the general acceptance of his thermo-metric scale, there has been much discussion as to why Fahrenheit chose such an apparently inconvenient numerical relationship as 32° and 212° for the freezing and boiling points of water respectively. Published opinions have differed widely. Martine, a contemporary of Fahrenheit, believed that, having once fixed his zero, Fahrenheit chose his scale in a purely haphazard manner, as explained later on. On the other hand, an entirely different view is put forward in Chambers' “Encyclopaedia”2, where we read:
Article PDF
References
See Cohen, E., and Cohen-De Meester, W. A. T., Kon. Akad. Wet. Verhand. (Eerste Sectie), 16, No. 2, pp. 1–37. Amsterdam, 1936. See NATURE, 138, 428 (1936).
New Edition, by Patrick and Geddie, 10 (1927), under ” Thermometer”. A similar view is put forward by Higgins, J. Roy. Soc. Arts, 74, 946 (1926).
Halley, Phil. Trans., Lowthorp's Abridged Edn., 2, 33.
Halley, loc. cit., 2, 34.
Newton, Phil. Trans., 824 (1701). The paper, which is anonymous, is entitled ” Scala graduum Caloris”, and appears in Latin. See also Brewster, ” Life of Sir Isaac Newton”, 2, 362–8 (1855).
Martine, ” Essays on the Construction and Graduation of Thermometers”. (New edition, Edinburgh, 1792.) The first essay, from which these and succeeding quotations are taken, is dated 1738.
Sagredo . See ” The Times Century Dictionary” under ” Thermometer”.
Martine, loc. cit., p. 30.
Two volumes, dated 1732. See 1, 174, also 162–165.
Boyle, ” An Experimental History of Cold”, 39 (1665).
Phil. Trans., Lowthorp's Abridged Edn., 2, 36.
Boyle, loc. cit., 156.
Martine, loc. cit., p. 15.
See Kirstine Meyer, NATURE, 82, 296 (1910); also ” Adversaria” by Thyraand K. Meyer (Köbenhavn, 1910), reviewed NATURE, 86, 4(1911).
Fahrenheit, Phil. Trans., 33, 78 (1724). Printed in Latin. This quotation is from Phil. Trans., Hutton's Abridged Edn., 7, 22–24.
Martine, loc. cit.
Phil. Trans., Lowthorp's Abridged Edn., 2, 35.
Réaumur, Mem. Acad. Roy., 452 (1730).
Martine, loc. cit., 10.
Fahrenheit, Phil. Trans., 33, 78 (1724).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Friend, J. The Origin of Fahrenheit's Thermometric Scale. Nature 139, 395–398 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139395a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139395a0
This article is cited by
-
Ole Rømer's and Fahrenheit's Thermometers
Nature (1937)