HISTORICAL FACTS
THERMOMETERS
Galileo discovered the principles of the thermometer in 1592. The Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand II, is given credit for perfecting it in 1610. Athanasius Kircher is given credit for the discovery of the mercurial thermometer. This was about 1641. Ferdinand the II, in 1650 or thereabouts, filled a glass tube with colored alcohol and hermetically sealed it after graduating the tube. Fahrenheit is given credit for the discovery that water freezes always at the same temperature. With these facts he devised a scale for thermometers in 1714.
THERMOMETER RECORDS
A temperature of 111° below zero has been recorded at an altitude of 48,700 feet in the United States.
The highest record in the United States Weather Bureau was taken in Death Valley, Cal., on June 30, July 1 and 2, 1891, when the thermometer reached 122° F. Death Valley is also given credit for the highest known monthly temperature, which was 102° F. in the month of July. Arctic expeditions have records of 73° and 66° below zero. This is the greatest natural cold recorded. The average temperature in the United States is 52.4°; the average temperature in England is 50°.
In the interior of Australia a record has been taken of a drop of 60° to 70° in a few hours; whereas the most rapid change recorded in the United States was 60° F. in twenty-four hours. This record has been made twice, in 1880 and again in 1890.
The lowest temperature recorded in the United States Weather Bureau was at Poplar River, Mont., January, 1885, when the thermometer registered 63° below zero.
The estimated heat of the sun is 10,000°; the highest artificial heat obtained is 7,000°. Regarding the heat of the sun, no definite conclusions have been arrived at, so the above temperature is only approximate.