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Member Number: 4334
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 °F Fahrenheit scale of temperature is named after him.
Fahrenheit was born in Danzig in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on 24 May 1686. The Fahrenheit family were merchants that 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 (Königsberg) 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 Russia. 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 barometer, altimeter and thermometer. 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.
Mercury Thermometers
Fahrenheit developed precise thermometers. He filled his first thermometers with alcohol before using mercury, the latter giving better results.
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 96°.
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.
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Daniel Fahrenheit News and Information
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Professor's passion for ice worms sizzles Cherry Hill Courier Post, NJ - From out of his office mini-refrigerator, set at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, the Rutgers-Camden graduate biology professor on Thursday hoisted a container filled ... |
Launching another child still causes pain in the heart Edmond Sun, OK - We hear they can buy vegetables and fruit in markets, but with the average annual temperature in Ulaanbaatar being 29 degrees Fahrenheit, I imagine that ... |
Up to Union Fair with the family VillageSoup Belfast, USA - The French — I mean Freedom fries were fresh from the fry-O-lator and they were about 8000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is wicked refreshing when it's 90 ... |
COLUMN: "On Display" The Ann Arbor News - MLive.com, MI - 20: Daniel J. Martinez: "Freedom is the Crime Which Contains All Crimes." A professor of theory, practice and mediation of contemporary art at the ... |
 Cnet Asia | Letting iPhone apps run my life for a day Cnet Asia, CA - While he was looking for an application to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, Terdiman discovered an AOL Instant Messenger app that let him send instant ... |
On Human Sacrifice and Political Correctness Brussels Journal, Belgium - The temperature scales we use today, whether Celsius, Fahrenheit or Kelvin, were all developed by Europeans. If Mr. Diamond wants to be consistent, ... |
Heated seats may be frying your sperm New Scientist (subscription), UK - Daniel Levitin argues that there are only six types of music. Explore his ideas, and read our review of his book HEATED car seats may keep your bottom nice ... |
US eight reaches final but needs an extra race Buffalo News, United States - By Jerry Sullivan -- News Sports Columnist Canisius High School graduate Steve Coppola, center, and US teammates Jose Inman, left, and Daniel Walsh compete ... |
 Bay Area Indymedia | Canadian 9/11 Truth Radio Show w Michael Pengue, Ken Fernandez ... Bay Area Indymedia, CA - From 2003 he read books and articles by Michael Ruppert, David Griffin, Daniel Hopsicker, Sander Hicks, Michel Chossudovsky and watched countless ... |
Cities Ranked by Dirty Restaurants WebMD - Perishable foods should be cooled to 41 degrees Fahrenheit. And bacteria multiply in warming pans if the temperature is not high enough and if foods are ... |
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