Mercury-in-glass thermometer Mercury-in-glass thermometer The mercury-in-glass or mercury thermometer was invented by physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit in Amsterdam (1714). It consists of a bulb containing mercury attached to a glass tube of narrow diameter; the volume of mercury in the tube is much less than the volume in the bulb. The volume of mercury changes slightly with temperature; the small change in volume drives the narrow mercury column a relatively long way up the tube. The space above the mercury may be filled with nitrogen gas or it may be at less than atmospheric pressure, a partial vacuum. In order to calibrate
Gabriel Daniel Gabriel Daniel Gabriel Daniel (8 February 1649 – 23 June 1728) was a French Jesuit historian. Born in Rouen, he was educated by the Jesuits, entered the order at the age of eighteen, and became superior at Paris. He is best known by his "Histoire de France depuis l'établissement de la monarchie française" (first complete edition, 1713), which was republished in 1720, 1721, 1725, 1742, and (the last edition, with notes by Henri Griffet) 1755–1760. Daniel published an abridgment in 1724 (English trans., 1726), and another abridgment was published by Dorival in 1751. Though full of prejudices which affect his