The First Themometer
Learn about the first thermometer
How the first thermometer was made
Thermometers measure temperature, by using materials that change in some way when they are heated or cooled. In a mercury or alcohol thermometer the liquid expands as it is heated and contracts when it is cooled, so the length of the liquid column is longer or shorter depending on the temperature. Modern thermometers are calibrated in standard temperature units such as Fahrenheit (used in the United States) or Celsius (used in Canada)
The person that made the first thermometer
The first recorded thermometer was produced by the Italian, Santorio Santorio (1561-1636) who was one of a group of Venetian scientists working at the end of the Sixteenth Century. As with many inventions the thermometer came about through the work of many scientists and was improved upon by many others.1596Galileo Galilei and the first thermoscopeGalileo Galilei is often claimed to be the inventor of the thermometer. However the instrument he invented could not strictly be called a thermometer: to be a thermometer an instrument must measure temperature differences; Galileo's instrument did not do this, but merely indicated temperature differences. His instrument should rightly be called a thermoscope