The Names Behind the Units of Measure

Gabriella Pedro
Mr. Gray
May 21, 2017

        The Names Behind the Units of Measure  

Have you ever wondered how things we use everyday are named? We all know the unit measures, but do you recognize the scientists responsible for them?

One of the greatest honors a scientist can receive is to become the namesake of a unit of measurement. This is a fitting reward for any scientist that has discovered something in need of a measurement. This seems obvious but sometimes we recognize the label but not the scientist behind the unit. Let's revisit the people behind the unites. 

Anders Celsius  (1701-1744)

Anders Celsius was a Swedish astronomer and professor at Uppsala University, well known for inventing the Celsius temperature scale. This system is now used worldwide in the metric system, in the system water freezes at 0 degrees and boils at 100. Celsius also built the Uppsala Astronomical Observatory in 1740, the oldest astronomical observatory in Sweden.

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit  (1686-1736)
 Daniel was a Dutch-German-Polish physicist, inventor, and scientific instrument maker. He invented alcohol and mercury thermometers, as well as the temperature scale named after him (Fahrenheit). This system works with 0 degrees marking the temperature of a 1-1 mix of ice and salt.

William Thomson, Lord Kelvin (1824-1907)

William is a Scots-irish mathematical physicist and engineer. He helped establish thermodynamics and invented our third temperature scale; 0 is equivalent to absolute zero the theoretical coldest temperature possible. It is not measured by degrees, but individual kelvins.



James Prescott Joule (1818-1889)

James was an English physicist who studied the nature of heat and established it relationship to mechanical work. He laid down the foundation for the theory of conservation of energy, which later influenced the First Law of Thermodynamics. The unites of measure named after him is work or energy (a force acting over distance). This unit of measure is now in the International System of Units (SI); it is equal to the work done by a force of one newton acting through one meter. It is equal to 10^7 ergs or 0.7277 foot-pounds.




Alessandro Volta   (1745–1827)

Alessandro was an Italian physicist, chemist and a pioneer of electrical science.  He is mostly common known for his invention of the electric battery. He used his tongue to detect electricity and invented the first electric battery, called the "voltaic pile." 

André-Marie Ampère  (1775–1836)

Andre is a French physicist who was one of the main founders of the science of electromagnetism, which he christened “electrodynamics.” He created another major electrical unit, the current-measuring ampere.







Max Planck   (1858–1947)

The German theoretical physicist invented quantum theory, he Planck length (1.616 x 10-35 meters), a tiny fraction of a proton’s diameter, is theoretically the smallest possible measurable length. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.

Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922)

The Scottish-born scientist, engineer, inventor of the telephone and teacher of the deaf. The unit named for him hides behind a fractional prefix: the decibel. Fittingly, it quantifies the relative intensity, or loudness, of sounds.

Charles F. Richter  (1900–1985)

In 1935, the American seismologist and physicist came up with the earthquake magnitude-measuring scale (though today’s scientists have replaced it with other, more precise systems). Originally interested in astronomy and chemistry, Richter got into seismology simply because that’s where a job opened up.

Tetsuya “Ted” Fujita  (1920–1998)

The Japanese-born storm researcher Fujita. His research at the University of Chicago on sever thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes an typhoons revolutionized the knowledge of each storm. Scientists have since refined it into the Enhanced Fujita scale.