Mercury-in-glass thermometer ushered in a new era of accuracy and precision in thermometry, and is still to this day regarded as one of the most accurate thermometers available. The thermometer was used by the originators of the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales. Anders Celsius, a Swedish scientist, devised the Celsius scale, which was described in his publication "The origin of the Celsius temperature scale" in 1742. Celsius used two fixed points in his scale: the temperature of melting ice and the temperature of boiling water. This wasn't a new idea, since Isaac Newton was already working on something similar. The distinction of Celsius
Mercury-in-glass thermometer period of time, typically 24 hours. The original design contains mercury, but solely as a way to indicate the position of a column of alcohol whose expansion indicates the temperature; it is not a thermometer operated by the expansion of mercury; mercury-free versions are available. Mercury thermometers cover a wide temperature range from ; the instrument's upper temperature range may be extended though the introduction of an inert gas such as nitrogen. This introduction of an inert gas increases the pressure on the liquid mercury and therefore its boiling point is increased, this in combination with replacing the Pyrex glass