A History of the Thermometer and Its Uses in Meteorology

This history of the thermometer includes controversy about its invention, the story of different scales, Fahrenheit and centigrade, and the history of the gradual scientific then popular understanding of the concept of temperature. Not until 1800 did people interested in thermometers begin to see clearly what they were measuring, and the impetus for improving thermometry came largely from study of the weather–the liquid-in-glass thermometer became the meteorologist’s instrument before that of the chemist or physicist. This excellent introductory study follows the development of indicating and recording thermometers until recent times, emphasizing meteorological applications.