Thermometer 1665 Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695) suggested using the melting and boiling points of water as standards, and in 1694 Carlo Renaldini (1615–1698) proposed using them as fixed points on a universal scale. In 1701, Isaac Newton (1642–1726/27) proposed a scale of 12 degrees between the melting point of ice and body temperature. In 1714 Dutch scientist and inventor Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit invented the first reliable thermometer, using mercury instead of alcohol and water mixtures. In 1724 he proposed a temperature scale which now (slightly adjusted) bears his name. He could do this because he manufactured thermometers, using mercury (which has a
Beckmann thermometer Beckmann thermometer A Beckmann thermometer is a device used to measure small differences of temperature, but not absolute temperature values. It was invented by Ernst Otto Beckmann (1853 – 1923), a German chemist, for his measurements of colligative properties in 1905. Today its use has largely been superseded by electronic thermometers. A Beckmann thermometer's length is usually 40 – 50 cm. The temperature scale typically covers about 5 °C and it is divided into hundredths of a degree. With a magnifier it is possible to estimate temperature changes to 0.001 °C. The peculiarity of Beckmann's thermometer design is a reservoir