In 1733, Celsius published a collection of aurora borealis observations that were made by himself and others. In 1742, he proposed his Celsius Temperature Scale to the Swedish Academy of Sciences. Originally, it had the boiling point of water at 0 degrees and the freezing point at 100 degrees.
In 1745, the Celsius scale was reversed by Carolus Linnaeus. Despite this, however, the scale retains Celsius’ name. He performed many careful and specific experiments with temperature, and was looking to create scientific grounds for a temperature scale on an international level. In order to advocate for this, he showed that the freezing point of water remained the same regardless of atmospheric pressure and latitude.
The other concern that individuals had about his temperature scale was the boiling point of water. It was believed that this would change based on latitude and the pressure in the atmosphere. Because of this, the hypothesis was that an international scale for temperature would not work. Even though it is true that adjustments would have to be made, Celsius found a way to adjust for this so that the scale would always remain valid.
Celsius was sick in the later part of his life. His death in 1744 came from tuberculosis. It is able to be treated much more effectively now, but in Celsius’ time there were no quality treatments for the disease. He was buried in the Old Uppsala Church, and has the Celsius crater on the Moon named for him.
