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| |caption = Gabriel Fahrenheit | |caption = Gabriel Fahrenheit | ||
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| '''Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit''' (] ] – ] ]) was a ] ] and ] who worked most of his life in the ]. The ] ('''°F''') scale of ] is named after him. | '''Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit''' (] ] – ] ]) was a ] ] and ] who worked most of his life in the ]. The ] ('''°F''') scale of ] is named after him. | ||
| == Biography == | == Biography == | ||
| Fahrenheit was born in |
Fahrenheit was born in ], in the city of Danzig (]) <!-- "In biographies of clearly German persons, the name should be used in the form Danzig (Gdańsk) and later Danzig exclusively". Do not adding anything else! --> on ] ]<ref>The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories 1991 page 166 ''Fahrenheit Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit was born in 1686 in Gdansk, Poland''</ref><ref>Science of Earth Systems 266 | ||
| Stephen D. Butz - 2002 ''Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit was born in Poland in 1686''</ref><ref>The Engines of Our Ingenuity: An Engineer Looks at Technology and Culture page 161 | |||
| autor John H. Lienhard - 2003 ''Fahrenheit was born in the Polish city of Gdansk in 1686''</ref>. The Fahrenheits were a merchant family who had moved from one ] city to the other. Fahrenheit's great-grandfather had lived in ], although research suggests that the Fahrenheit family originated in ].<ref>Horst Kant, ''G.D. Fahrenheit / R.-A.F. de Réaumur / A. Celsius'', 1984.</ref> Daniel's grandfather ''Reinhold Fahrenheit vom Kneiphof'' moved from ] (in ] (Królewiec)) to Danzig and settled there as a merchant in 1650. Father Daniel Fahrenheit married Concordia (widowed name, ]), daughter of the well-known Danzig business family of Schumann. Daniel Gabriel was the eldest of the five Fahrenheit children who survived childhood (two sons, three daughters). | |||
| Upon the accidental early death of his parents, by consumption of poisonous mushrooms |
Upon the accidental early death of his parents, by consumption of poisonous mushrooms, Gabriel had to take up business training as a merchant in ]. However, his interest in natural sciences caused him to take up studies and experimentation in that field, and after travelling around, he settled 1717 in ] with the trade of ], making ]s, ]s, and ]s. From 1718 onwards, he gave lectures in ] in Amsterdam, and became a member of the ] in 1724. Fahrenheit died in The Hague. | ||
| == Fahrenheit scale == | == Fahrenheit scale == | ||
Revision as of 12:59, 20 May 2008
| Gabriel Fahrenheit | |
|---|---|
| Born | 24 May 1686 Poland, Gdańsk (Danzig) |
| Died | 16 September 1736 |
| Nationality | German |
| Citizenship | Polish |
| Known for | Fahrenheit |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | physics |
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (24 May 1686 – 16 September 1736) was a German physicist and engineer who worked most of his life in the Dutch Republic. The Fahrenheit (°F) scale of temperature is named after him.
Biography
Fahrenheit was born in Poland, in the city of Danzig (Gdańsk) on 24 May 1686. The Fahrenheits were a merchant family who had moved from one Hanseatic League city to the other. Fahrenheit's great-grandfather had lived in Rostock, although research suggests that the Fahrenheit family originated in Hildesheim. Daniel's grandfather Reinhold Fahrenheit vom Kneiphof moved from Kneiphof (in Königsberg (Królewiec)) to Danzig and settled there as a merchant in 1650. Father Daniel Fahrenheit married Concordia (widowed name, Runge), daughter of the well-known Danzig business family of Schumann. Daniel Gabriel was the eldest of the five Fahrenheit children who survived childhood (two sons, three daughters).
Upon the accidental early death of his parents, by consumption of poisonous mushrooms, Gabriel had to take up business training as a merchant in Amsterdam. However, his interest in natural sciences caused him to take up studies and experimentation in that field, and after travelling around, he settled 1717 in The Hague with the trade of glassblowing, making barometers, altimeters, and thermometers. From 1718 onwards, he gave lectures in chemistry in Amsterdam, and became a member of the Royal Society in 1724. Fahrenheit died in The Hague.
Fahrenheit scale
Fahrenheit needed to associate a scale with his thermometers in order to use them to record temperature. His initial work with a temperature scale was based on three benchmarks. His low temperature mark was the coldest temperature attainable under laboratory conditions at that time: a mixture of water, ice, and ammonium chloride. Fahrenheit defined that as 0 °F (approx. -17.8 °C). Next was the freezing point of water, which he set at 32 °F. Finally, he defined the human body temperature as 98.6 °F.
Later, with the aid of a mercury thermometer that could measure higher temperatures, Fahrenheit adjusted his scale so the high end was the boiling point of water, which he put at 212 °F. With the adjustment, normal human body temperature moved to the now familiar 98 °F. Fahrenheit's final temperature scale has 180 degrees between the freezing and boiling points of water.
The Fahrenheit scale was widely used in Europe until the switch to the degree Celsius scale. It is still used for everyday temperature measurements by the general population in the United States and less so in the UK.
References
- The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories 1991 page 166 Fahrenheit Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit was born in 1686 in Gdansk, Poland
- Science of Earth Systems 266 Stephen D. Butz - 2002 Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit was born in Poland in 1686
- The Engines of Our Ingenuity: An Engineer Looks at Technology and Culture page 161 autor John H. Lienhard - 2003 Fahrenheit was born in the Polish city of Gdansk in 1686
- Horst Kant, G.D. Fahrenheit / R.-A.F. de Réaumur / A. Celsius, 1984.
- Fred Senese: Why isn't 0 °F the lowest possible temperature for a salt/ice/water mixture?, 2005
- John H. Lienhard
- Sorokina, T S (1986), "Creators of medical thermometry (on the 300th anniversary of the birth of Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit--24 May 1686 and on the 350th anniversary of the death of Santorio Santorio--22 February 1636)", Klinicheskaia meditsina, vol. 64, no. 10 (published 1986 Oct), pp. 147–51, PMID:3543477
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|year=and|publication-date=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - Kops, J (1976), "Who was G.D. Fahrenheit?", Zdravotnická pracovnice, vol. 26, no. 2 (published 1976 Feb), pp. 118–9, PMID:775856
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|year=and|publication-date=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - Klemm, Friedrich (1959), "Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 4, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 746–747
- Lommel (1877), "Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 6, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, p. 535