de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception
Invention: The top of one of Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit's thermometers that has been in a private collection for 40 years
One of the original thermometers made by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit has sold for more than £67,000.
The 300-year-old brass instrument is one of three known examples of Fahrenheit’s work in existence today.
It was thought lost to history until it emerged for sale at Christies in London having been in private ownership for more than 40 years.
The 4.5ins tall item went to an anonymous telephone buyer who paid £67,250 for it.
Fahrenheit invented the mercury thermometer in 1714, it is unknown exactly how many he made.
It divided the freezing and boiling points of water into 180 degrees.
32°F was the freezing point of water and 212°F was the boiling point of water, set by Fahrenheit himself.
0°F was based on the temperature of an equal mixture of water, ice, and salt. Fahrenheit based his scale on the temperature of the human body.
The Fahrenheit scale was the first widely used temperature scale.
His other great invention was the Fahrenheit scale that is still used today, and which the thermometer is annotated with.
Fahrenheit was born in Danzig, in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, into a German Hanse merchant family.
His parents died from mushroom poisoning when he was just 15, and he later moved to the Dutch Republic where he spent the rest of his life.
He began training as a chemist, and his personal interest in natural science led to his studies and experimentation in the field.
They culminated in his inventing the alcohol thermometer, for which he mastered glass blowing, and then the mercury version.
The scale on the newly-discovered thermometer is marked from '0' to '132' degrees F and it is so small that the numbers had to be written on both sides of the mercury tube.
The device is signed 'Fahrenheit Amst', from the time the inventor worked in Amsterdam, where he made it.
Signed by the inventor: He has marked the thermometer with 'Amst', short for Amsterdam, where he made it
Great inventor: Fahrenheit had a strong interest in natural science and was fascinated by new inventions
James Hyslop, from auctioneers Christie’s, said in August when the auction was announced: 'Until now, only two originals were thought to exist.
'And these are both in the Boerhaave Museum in the Netherlands. 'So to have this one emerge is very exciting. 'It is impossible to pinpoint exactly when it was made, but one in the museum is dated 1718, and this was probably made between 1715 and 1730. 'He made barometers with thermometers on the side, but this was one was a special scientific thermometer. 'It is only 4.5 inches long and is made of brass and has the Fahrenheit scale down the sides. 'The mercury tube is not the original and has been replaced, but it was clearly designed so the tubes could be taken out.
'It was a thermometer for scientific purposes perhaps for measuring the temperature of liquids. 'Originally it was probably owned by a great scientist of the day.'
LIFE AND TIMES OF DANIEL GABRIEL FAHRENHEIT
Roemer (pictured) whom Fahrenheit visited in 1708 and then improved on his scale, the result being the Fahrenheit temperature scale
Fahrenheit was born in Danzig, in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, into a German merchant family in 1686.
He began training as a merchant in Amsterdam after his parents died on August 14, 1701, when he was just 15, from eating poisonous mushrooms.
He later moved to the Dutch Republic where he spent the rest of his life and married Concordia Schumann, daughter of a well-known business family.
However, Fahrenheit had a strong interest in natural science and was fascinated by new inventions such as the thermometer.
He began training as a chemist, and his personal interest in natural science led to his studies and experimentation in the field.
In 1717, Fahrenheit became a glassblower, making barometers, altimeters, and thermometers.
From 1718 onwards, he was a lecturer in chemistry.
He visited England in 1724 and was the same year elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
His interests culminated in him inventing the alcohol thermometer, for which he mastered glass blowing, and then the mercury version.
The mercury thermometer, with a standardised Fahrenheit scale, was invented in 1714. The Fahrenheit scale was the first widely used temperature scale.
It divided the freezing and boiling points of water into 180 degrees. 32°F was the freezing point of water and 212°F was the boiling point of water, set by Daniel himself.
0°F was based on the temperature of an equal mixture of water, ice, and salt. Daniel Fahrenheit based his scale on the temperature of the human body.
Originally, the human body temperature was 100° F on the Fahrenheit scale, but it has since been adjusted to 98.6°F.
The thermometer was inspired by Olaus Roemer, a Danish astronomer, in Copenhagen. Roemer had invented a wine thermometer.
Roemer's thermometer had two points, 60 degrees as the temperature of boiling water and 7.5 degrees as the temperature of melting ice.
At that time, temperature scales were not standardised and everybody made up their own scale.
Fahrenheit modified Roemer's design and scale, and invented the new mercury thermometer with a Fahrenheit scale.
Fahrenheit died in The Hague in 1736 and was buried there at the Cloister Church. After his death, in 1742, the Celsius scale was invented by Swedish Astronomer Anders Celsius.
Also known as the 'centigrade' scale, centigrade means 'consisting of or divided into 100 degrees.'
The Celsius scale has 100 degrees between the freezing point (0°C) and boiling point (100°C) of pure water at sea level air pressure.
The term 'Celsius' was adopted in 1948 by an international conference on weights and measurements.
The simplicity of the Celsius scale led to it superseding the Fahrenheit as the universal temperature scale.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2215558/Thermometer-300-years-ago-Mr-Fahrenheit-sells-whopping-67-000-auction.html#ixzz28uPHcRvg
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