Medical thermometer (1836–1925) designed a medical thermometer that was much more portable, measuring only six inches long and taking only five minutes to record a patient's temperature. In 1868, German physician, pioneer psychiatrist, and medical professor Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich published his studies that consisted of over one million readings from twenty-five thousand patients' temperatures, taken in the underarm. With his findings, he was able to conclude a healthy human's temperature fell within the range of 36.3 to 37.5 °C (97.34 to 99.5 °F). Dr. Theodor H. Benzinger (13 April 1905 - 26 Oct 1999) invented the ear thermometer in 1964. Born
Thermometer instruments can give readings to one thousandth of a degree. However, this precision does not mean the reading is true or accurate, it only means that very small changes can be observed. A thermometer calibrated to a known fixed point is accurate (i.e. gives a true reading) at that point. Most thermometers are originally calibrated to a constant-volume gas thermometer. In between fixed calibration points, interpolation is used, usually linear. This may give significant differences between different types of thermometer at points far away from the fixed points. For example, the expansion of mercury in a glass thermometer is slightly