Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit

Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit

Gabriel was born in Danzig on May 14, 1686. After the unfortunate death of both his parents on the same day in 1701, he became an apprentice to a shopkeeper in Amsterdam. After his apprenticeship he studied physics and became a glassblower and instrument maker. He died on September 16, 1736.

Fahrenheit was a Dutch instrument maker, who made a temperature scale named after him. Also he constructed the first mercury thermometer in 1714. His first interests in thermometers began from a meeting in 1708 with Ole Romer, who had devised several temperature scales. Fahrenheit experimented with a modified form of one of these before he finally produced his own scale. This scale had two fixed points representing the temperatures of melting ice, 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and of the health human body, 96 degrees Fahrenheit. According to the scale, water boiled at 212 degrees Fahrenheit, but this temperature became the upper fixed point on the scale after Fahrenheit's death. Around 1713, Fahrenheit began using mercury in place of the alcohol in thermometer tubes. One other invention of his was the meteorological hygrometer.

Fahrenheit developed precise thermometers. The coldest temperature attainable under laboratory conditions at that time, using a mixture of water, salt and ice, was defined by him as 0 degrees Fahrenheit. From 1718 onwards, he gave lectures as a Chemistry teacher in Amsterdam, and became a member of the royal society in 1724.

The Fahrenheit scale was most commonly used for climatic, industrial and medical purpose in most English-speaking countries until the 1960's. In the late 1960's and 1970's the Celsius scale became more commonly used as part of introducing the metric system to people.

Fahrenheit supporters say its previous popularity was due to Fahrenheit's user-friendliness. The unit of measure being only 5/9 the size of Celsius degree, permits more precise quantitative data without resorting to fractional degrees. Also, the environments in most inhabited places their air temperatures tend not to go far off the scale between 0 degrees Fahrenheit and 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The Fahrenheit scale can be split into 10 degree bands to describe different temperatures. The bands would be as followed: 0 degrees freezing, 10s deep frost, 20s mild frost, 30s very cold, 40s cold, 50s cool, 60s tepid, 70s warm,