History of Fahrenheit and Celsius

Why do we have two competing temperature scales? The story goes back to the 18th century, when Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit created his scale based on the freezing point of salt water, while Anders Celsius later introduced a scale anchored on the freezing and boiling points of pure water. Today, most of the world uses Celsius, while the United States (and a few others) remain Fahrenheit holdouts.

We thought this fascinating history deserved its own deck. With Fyremind’s new Fahrenheit to Celsius Conversion deck, you’ll practice the math tricks to easily swap between the two systems — no calculator required. To help you learn, we’ve also pulled together videos that explain the background of these temperature scales and why they still coexist.