Thermometer invention

Eirst practical mercury thermometer invented by German physicist Daniel Gabriel Eahrenheit, who also devises the Eahrenheit scale. 

In the late fifteenth century AD mercury was successfully used as a treatment for syphilis. In the late sixteenth century the development of the Patio process for the recovery of silver by amalgamation (see Silverand silveralloys) greatiy increased the consumption of mercury. Usage of mercury increased in 1643 when Torricelli invented the barometer, and again in 1720 when Fahrenheit invented the mercury thermometer. Other scientific and medical appHcations foUowed. Industrial usage after 1900, particularly in electrical appHcations, expanded rapidly, offsetting the sharp decline in its use in amalgamation. 

The invention of the thermometer is generally credited to Galileo. His instrument, built near the end of the sixteenth century, relied on the expansion of air with an increase of heat. Traditional liquid-in-glass thermometers were devised in the 1630s and are standard equipment today in research settings, medical practice, and meteorological measurement. 

D r. Rutherford served as professor of botany at the University of Edinburgh from 1786 to 1819, and was thus contemporary with Joseph Black, Charles Hope, and John Robison. He invented an ingenious maximum and minimum thermometer which is described in many modem textbooks of physics. The tragic circumstances surrounding his sudden death were described by Sir Walter in numerous letters to members of his family. 

The Pyrometer,—When the temperature is very high," such as that at which the more infusible metals malt, or of a reverberatory or wind furnace, the common thermometer is unavailable, and other instruments for estimating the heat have been invented, which aie called pyro-... 

The scale was invented by a German physicist G. D. Fahrenheit f 1686-1736). who introduced the use of mercury instead of alcohol in thermometers. 

Celsius, Anders(l701-1744). Swedish astronomer, known for invention of "centigrade thermometer, also known as "Celsius thermometer Ref EncyclBritannica 5(1952), 101... 

It is believed that Galileo invented the liquid-in-glass thermometer around 1592. Thomas Seebeck discovered the principle behind the TC—the existence of the thermoelectric current—in 1821. The same year Sir Humphry Davy noted the temperature dependence of metals, but C. H. Meyers did not build the RTD until 1932. Today, some 20 different types of temperature sensors are available, and Table 3.160 lists the temperature ranges and accuracies of a number of them. 

Gabriel Fahrenheit invents an alcohol thermometer (mercury thermometer developed in 1714)... 

Prior to the advent of sophisticated mechanical and electrical instrumentation, the observation of thermal phenomena was restricted to systems which were amenable to detection by the human senses. Such observations included investigations of boiling or melting processes, sublimation, fractional crystallization, color changes and the occurrence of odors. With the invention of the thermometer, the first quantitative experiment was made possible. Development of thermometry led to "thermal analysis by recording the temperature of a test material as a function of time. Further developments led to calorimetry — the science of measuring quantities of heat. 

Reaumur, Rene-Antoine Ferchault de (1683-1757) French Philosopher, naturalist Rene-Antoine Reaumur was born in La Rochelle, France, in 1683. After studying mathematics in Bourges, he moved to Paris in 1703 at age 20 under the care of a relative. Like most scientists of the time, he made contributions in a number of areas, including meteorology. His work in mathematics allowed him entrance to the Academy of Sciences in 1708. Two years later, he was put in charge of compiling a description of the industrial and natural resources in France, and as a result developed a broad-based view of the sciences. It also inspired him into the annals of weather and climate with the invention of a thermometer and temperature scale. 

In the sixteenth century, there was a revival of interest in the mechanical devices of the Greeks. Although it is not known with certainty who at that time first conceived the idea of measuring temperature or degrees of hotness, Galileo Galilei is usually credited with the invention of the first thermometer. His writings contain only one reference to the instrument, which he likely did not consider of any importance. His friends and students, however, fortunately recorded a description of the instrument that he invented shortly after 1592. 

The word thermometer appears to have been first used by Father Leurechon, a French Jesuit, in his work entitled Rdcrdation Mathematique , dated 1624. The credit of inventing thermometers with a liquid indicator (actually spirits of wine) hermetically sealed in a glass tube is usually given to Ferdinand 11 about 1650 he was Grand Duke of Tuscany, a liberal patron of science and founder of the Accademia del Cimento at Florence. Prior to these, air thermoscopes or baro-thermoscopes had been used for comparing relative... 

Eventually, we annotate that the experimental technique of ebullioscopy was greatly improved by the invention of the Beckmann thermometer [23],... 

He, together with Prince Leopold of Medici, created the Academia del Cimento and in 1667, the academy published five treatises the first instrument was that invented by Fredinand, consisting of a long necked-tube on top of a spherical bulb with 50 increments. The second instrument was similar to the first but with 100 increments. The third instrument was much larger and had 200 hundred increments. These instruments are commonly referred to as Horentine thermometers. 

Among the first commercial thermometers were those manufactured by Fahrenheit with mercury. The advantages of mercury over most other fluids include its very low vapor pressure, excellent temperature range—from —38 °C to 650 °C—and short response time. Short response time is a convenient, if not important, factor with respect to medical applications. Although Sanctorius thermoscope was used for medical purposes up until 1866, clinical thermometers were 300 mm long and took 20 min to record a patient s temperature. In 1866, Albutt invented a thermometer half that length that required only 5 min (Adler, 1974). 

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