On November 27, 1701, Anders Celsius was born in Sweden. In the future, this boy was destined to become a great scientist. He made far from one discovery.
Anders Celsius: biography
Anders' father, Niels Celsius, and his two grandfathers were professors. Many other relatives of the future scientist also lived in science. So, his father’s uncle, Olof Celsius, was a famous botanist, orientalist, geologist and historian. It is not surprising that the boy not only inherited the gift, but also followed in the footsteps of his ancestors.
In 1730, Anders Celsius became a professor of astronomy and mathematics at Uppsala University. His student was Johan Vallerius himself, a professor of medicine, a naturalist, a chemist, from whose pen more than one scientific work came out. Celsius worked at the university for 14 years. And in April 1744 he died from tuberculosis. It happened in his hometown.
It was this man who created the famous scale for measuring temperature. A few years later she received his name. In addition, an asteroid was named in honor of the scientist. And Christer Fuglesang (Swedish astronaut) took part in a special Celsius Mission. Today in Sweden there are several streets that bear the name of a scientist. They are located in cities such as:
- Malma
- Gothenburg.
- Stockholm.
- Uppsala.
Temperature scale
Thanks to the temperature measurement system created by Celsius, he forever immortalized his name. For over 300 years, mankind has been using its discovery. Today, degrees Celsius is part of the International System of Units.
As far back as the middle of the 17th century, Dutch and English physicists proposed using boiling water and melting ice as the starting points for measuring temperature. However, this idea did not take root. And only in 1742, Anders Celsius decided to finalize it and developed his own temperature scale. True, it was originally like this:
- 0 degrees is the boiling water;
- -100 degrees - freezing water.
And only after the death of the scientist the scale was turned upside down. As a result, 0 degrees turned into the freezing temperature of water, and 100 degrees into its boiling point. A few years later, a chemist in his scientific treatise called this scale “Celsius”. Since then, she received such a name.
Earth shape
The idea of ​​knowing the exact dimensions of the entire globe in the 18th century was a fix idea. For this, scientists needed to know exactly what the length of one degree of the meridian at the pole and at the equator is equal to. To get at least to some pole, at that time good equipment was required. Such technologies did not exist yet. Therefore, Celsius, preoccupied with this issue, decided to conduct his calculations and research in Lapland. It was the northernmost part of Sweden.
Anders Celsius made all measurements together with P.L. Moreau de Maupertuis. A similar expedition was arranged in Ecuador, on the equator. After the research, the scientist compared the testimony. It turned out that Newton was absolutely right in his assumptions. Earth is an ellipsoid that is slightly flattened directly in the vicinity of the poles.
Exploring the Northern Lights
All his life, Anders Celsius was interested in a unique natural phenomenon - the northern lights. He was always struck by his power, beauty, scale. He described about 300 observations of this phenomenon. Among them were not only his ideas about what he saw, but also strangers.
It was Celsius who first thought about the nature of this unusual phenomenon. He drew attention to the fact that the intensity of the northern lights largely depends on the deviations of the compass needle. So, this is somehow connected with the magnetism of the Earth. He was right. Only his theory was confirmed by his descendants.
Uppsala Observatory
In 1741, the scientist founded the Uppsala Observatory. Today it is the oldest such institution in all of Sweden. It was headed by Anders Celsius himself. Interesting facts in science were discovered within the walls of this astronomical observatory. Celsius himself measured the brightness of various stars, A. Y. Angstrom conducted his optical and physical experiments here, and K. Angstrom studied solar radiation.
Anders Celsius is a brilliant scientist who has done a lot for the world of science. Today, all of humanity enjoys his discoveries. And each of us hears his name daily.