The Galileo Thermoscope In 1603 there was an invention that changed how our society works. Thermometers gave us a sophisticated understanding of heat. Thermometers are used almost everywhere, doctors use them, people in the weather industry use them, it is so efficient it is even used by your parents to immediately check if you have a fever. They are more efficient and reliable than measuring temperature with a hand or using your feelings to tell the weather. But how did this amazing invention come to be? In 1603 the renowned scientist Galileo Galilei invented a thermoscope. The thermoscope he invented worked on the principles of buoyancy and gravity. The Galileo thermoscope had water with hand blown glass bulbs, filled with a coloured liquid for …show more content…
The thermoscope did not have a scale at all. Under the hand blown bulbs there were metal tags attached, with each of the metal tags somewhat differing in weight. As the temperature increased the water’s temperature increased too causing the bulbs close to the original temperature to rise to the top and the bulb with the exact temperature to sink down slightly below the bulbs which are close to the surrounding temperature. Although the thermoscope was partly credited to have been being created by Galileo the original inventor was Santorio Santorio. Santorio was a close friend of Galileo who had received the blueprints from Galileo himself. In order to make Galileo’s thermoscope into a thermometer Santorio added a scale so that the precise temperature would be indicated by the bulb slightly below the bulbs on top. In conclusion, I believe that the first thermometer has impacted society by helping it become more efficient and useful also the Galileo thermometer would make a whole new world for new