Today in Technology History
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November 27
Three centuries ago, a man was born whose name you will recognize -- but whose story you may not know.
Anders Celsius was born on November 27, 1701 in Uppsala, Sweden. His family included famous mathematicians, astronomers and botanists.
It's therefore not surprising that Celsius made several important scientific contributions: he joined an expedition to determine the shape of the Earth, and he was the first scientist to notice the magnetic nature of the aurora borealis. But in addition to his scientific work, he also made two major contributions to technology.
First, Celsius invented the first tool for measuring the brightness of starlight. In 1740 he became director of a new astronomical observatory. He owned instruments for measuring the position and motion of astronomical objects, but the only way to measure the brightness of stars was to estimate with the naked eye. His innovation was elegant in its simplicity: he measured the magnitude of stars by putting identical glass plates in front of his eyes until the glass completely blocked the starlight. The brighter the star, the more plates required.
Second, of course, Celsius invented the centigrade scale for measuring temperature. The way he originally described it, 0° was the boiling point for water and 100° was the freezing point. That was eventually reversed, and in the twentieth century the centigrade scale was renamed in his honor. Today, the Celsius scale is the standard for everyday use in much of the world.
Celsius died at the age of 42, in 1744.
Related links:
Click here to read more about Celsius.
Click here to read about the origin of the Celsius temperature scale.
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