The Fahrenheit scale was created by the German scientist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit in 1724. By 1742, a Swedish astronomer named Anders Celsius proposed an easier temperature measurement system based on multiples of ten. Today, the Celsius scale is widely accepted in most countries around the world.
If the temperature this afternoon is 21 degrees, most people would think it is a beautiful, warm, and pleasant day. However, on the American scale, 21 degrees signifies an extremely cold winter day.
This is because most countries around the world use the Celsius temperature scale (°C)—part of the metric system; where the freezing and boiling points of water are defined as 0 degrees and 100 degrees, respectively. However, in the United States and some other territories such as the Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Belize, and Palau, the prevalent temperature scale used is the Fahrenheit scale (°F). In this measurement system, water freezes at 32 degrees and boils at 212 degrees. Thus, 21 degrees Celsius is equivalent to 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Americans dislike the metric system.
The long-standing existence of the Fahrenheit scale is one of the perplexing characteristics of Americans, much like how Americans refer to soccer as “soccer” instead of “football” as in other English-speaking countries. So why does the U.S. use a different temperature scale? And why hasn’t America adjusted to align with the rest of the world? It seems that the most reasonable explanation for this is stubborn conservatism. Americans generally do not favor the metric system. A 2015 poll showed that only 21% of the public supported switching to metric units, while 64% opposed it.
Things might make more sense if Fahrenheit had become outdated and Celsius was a newly emerging measure, but in reality, the two scales were created only two decades apart. Fahrenheit is named after the German scientist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, who, in the early 1700s, designed the alcohol and mercury thermometer—highly accurate and consistent devices. At the same location and time, two thermometers would yield the same temperature reading. Author Henry Carrington Bolton explained in his 1900 book “The Evolution of the Thermometer from 1592 to 1743” that “It was his exceptional mechanical skill in working with glass that enabled Fahrenheit to complete this design.”
The Creation of the Fahrenheit Scale
When Fahrenheit began, his main concern was to standardize temperature readings at any given time, rather than comparing temperatures of different entities or at different times of the day. However, when he presented his temperature measurement system to the Royal Society of London in 1724, he realized the need for a standard temperature scale.
“Essentially, the Fahrenheit scale was originally created with 0 as the freezing point of a mixture of ice and saltwater, and most importantly, normal body temperature (around 96°F) established a scale where each measurement is divisible by 2,” explained Don Hillger, a meteorologist at Colorado State University’s Cooperative Institute, and also the president of the US Metric Association—a non-profit organization advocating for the metric system. “This led to the freezing point being 32°F. The boiling point of water was then set at 212. The distance between these two temperature points is, again, a multiple of 2.”
About the Celsius Scale
This system seemed to be quite favored by the former British Empire; although in Britain, Fahrenheit was used as the standard temperature scale first, the U.S., then a British colony, also used this measurement system.
In 1742, a Swedish astronomer named Anders Celsius invented a simpler temperature measurement system based on multiples of ten, where the distance between the freezing and boiling points at sea level is 100 degrees. (According to ThoughtCo.com, Celsius initially set the freezing point at 100 and the boiling point at 0, but eventually, people reversed these.)
It wasn’t until 1961 that the UK Met Office switched to Celsius.
The 100-degree interval makes the Celsius scale naturally align with the metric system. It was officially adopted and developed by the French in the late 1700s. However, English-speaking countries continued to prefer earlier units of measurement like pounds, inches, and Fahrenheit. It wasn’t until 1961 that the UK Met Office officially accepted the Celsius scale for temperature descriptions in weather forecasts, to synchronize measurement units with other European countries. Most countries quickly adjusted—except for one notable exception, the U.S., where the National Weather Service (NWS) still publishes temperature data according to the Fahrenheit standard—despite the fact that its staff had long since switched to Celsius.
“The NWS provides the public with reports using Fahrenheit, but most of their operations, such as forecasting models, use Celsius,” Hillger stated. “For most automated weather observations, temperatures are also recorded in Celsius. If the temperature reporting units were switched, it could eliminate the additional Fahrenheit conversion when publishing to the public. However, even if the NWS recognizes the appropriateness of Celsius, television weather programs cater to an audience that rarely uses Celsius, except for residents in some border areas near Canada and Mexico.”
Jay Hendricks, who heads the Thermodynamic Metrology Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), pointed out that the Fahrenheit scale does have certain advantages: “It has a broader range for measuring typical environmental temperatures. This means it can help us perceive temperature differences more clearly, for example, comparing 70°F and 71°F is more detailed than comparing 21°C and 22°C. Since humans can distinguish as little as 1°F, this scale provides a more accurate feel for human experience.”
However, the advantages of the Fahrenheit scale diminish when using decimal representation in Celsius. “For instance, the equivalent of 70 and 71 degrees Fahrenheit converts to 21.1 and 21.7 degrees Celsius,” Hendricks added.
Interesting Side Note
According to the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Anders Celsius, the creator of the Celsius scale, was also the first to discover the relationship between the aurora borealis (or northern lights) and fluctuations in Earth’s magnetic field in 1733.
