Celsius, Anders

sel'se-us, Anders (1701-1744), a Swedish mathematician. He was a graduate of Upsala. He became a professor of astronomy in that institution in 1730. Later he traveled and studied at Nuremberg and Paris. Celsius was interested in lineal measures. He traveled to Lapland to get the measure of a degree of latitude. He was the first to propose a division of the difference of the temperature between the freezing and boiling points of water into 100 parts. Hence the Centigrade thermometer is sometimes said to be constructed on the Celsius scale. Although Anders was the most celebrated member, it is worthy of notice that four generations of the Celsius family were famous as scholars, professors, and churchmen. See Thermometer