单选题
Fahrenheit and Celsius
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit and Anders Celsius both began work on their respective temperature scales in the 18
th
century.
A Dutch instrument maker, Fahrenheit (1688—1736) built on the work of Danish astronomer Ole Romer, who spent considerable time making meteorological observations and experimenting with thermometers. During the late 1600s and early 1700s, Isaac Newton led the fields in experimenting with thermometry. According to Newton, 12 degrees should separate the temperature of a water, ice, and salt solution from the temperature of the human body. Fahrenheit believed that the thermometer he invented in 1714 had eight times the accuracy of Newton"s thermometer, and therefore 96 degrees should separate these benchmarks (eight times Newton"s range). Using this new scale, a combination of water, ice and salt solution stayed at 0°, and body temperature registered as 96°. With these marks intact, a combination of water and ice (the freezing point)equated 32°. Scientists later found that water boiled at 212° according to the Fahrenheit scale. After more accurate testing 95.6° became the corrected body temperature that we know today.
Celsius (1701—1744), a Swedish astronomer, developed the centigrade scale a bit later in 1742. He assigned 100° to the freezing point and 0° to the boiling point. This scale appeared in Sweden and France, but with the numbers reversed. The Celsius system received broad recognition for his work in 1948 when his name became the official title of this temperature scale.
Opinion is still divided as to why one scale found favour in some parts of the world while the other was widely accepted elsewhere. Daniel Kelves, a historian, offers this theory: "Part of the reason, "he says, "is that the Fahrenheit system was developed first, and by a Dutchman; Holland and England enjoyed friendly relations at the time. The system later travelled to the American colonies. After the invention of the Celsius system, the French under Napoleon were at loggerheads with England, probably enforcing the division as well, "he says.
To convert degrees Fahrenheit to degrees Celsius, subtract 32, then multiply the result by five-ninths. To convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit, multiply by nine-fifths, then add 32.