In 1724, Gabriel Fahrenheit invented the first mercury thermometer, the modern thermometer. For fixed points on his temperature scale, Fahrenheit took the temperature of a mixture of ice water and salt as the low point and the human body temperature as the high point. The space between he divided into 96 degrees. He later adjusted the scale slightly so as not to have fractions for the freezing and boiling points of water.
The Celsius scale, invented by Swedish Astronomer Anders Celsius (1701-1744), 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 measures. The Celsius temperature scale is also referred to as the "centigrade" scale. Centigrade means "consisting of or divided into 100 degrees".
