Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit, who invented the mercury thermometer, was born on this date in 1686. First Fahrenheit filled his thermometers with alcohol; later he determined that mercury gave better results. In 1724, Fahrenheit was elected to the Royal Society. In the fahrenheit temperature scale, the freezing point of water is 32 degrees and the boiling point is 212 degrees. The kindling point of paper is 451 degrees, inspiring Ray Bradbury to title his book about a society in which books deemed heretical were burned, Fahrenheit 451. 

"Cold! If the thermometer had been an inch longer we'd have frozen to death." – Mark Twain