Steven Davis asked in USMA 18451:
>I would be interested to know if anyone knows why Centigrade was replaced
>by Celsius!!
>
>I always remember weather forecasts giving the dual temperatures of
>Centigrade and Fahrenheit!!
>
>Over the last ten years or so, though, it seems to have disappeared off
>the face of the Earth!!
>
>Does anyone out there know why??
There are 100 grads or gons in a right angle. The Comit� International des
Poids et Mesures resolved in 1948: 'From three names ("degree centigrade",
"centesimal degree", "degree Celsius") propsed to denote the degree of
temperature, the CIPM has chosen "degree Celsius"'.
This name was also adopted by the 9th CGPM.
In 1741 Anders Celsius, professor of astronomy at the University of Upsala,
made a thermometer that divided the temperature range from the boiling
point to the freezing point into 100 degrees. The boiling point was 0� and
the freezing point was 100�. The first thermometer with the freezing point
at 0� and the boiling point at 100� was made by Jean-Pierre Christin of
Lyon in 1743.
I met the term "grad Celsius" in Germany in 1935.
Joseph B.Reid
17 Glebe Road West
Toronto M5P 1C8 TEL. 416-486-6071
