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The Galileo Thermometer Was Not Invented By Galileo
New submitter GregLaden writes "The object known as the Galileo Thermometer is a vertical glass tube filled with a liquid in which are suspended a number of weighted glass balls. As the temperature of the liquid changes, so does the density. Since each glass ball is set to float at equilibrium in a sightly different density of the liquid, as the temperature increases, each glass ball sinks to the bottom. It turns out that this thermometer was actually invented by a team of instrument inventors that formed a scientific society who had the impressive motto 'Probando e Reprobando,' which in English means 'testing and retesting.' The Accademia del Cimento operated under the leadership of the Grand Duke Ferdinand II from 1657-1667 in Florence, Italy. According to Peter Loyson, who has written a corrective article for the Journal of Chemical Education, Galileo did invent a temperature measuring device called a thermoscope."
My understanding was that Torricelli who was a pupil of Galileo actually built the "Galileo Thermometer". It would seem to be appropriately named as even today when a grad student makes a discovery or somebody dreams up some patentable something, the credit usually goes to the professor or company the person is working under.
Or maybe I'm wrong.
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
Don't these scientists understand that there's no way we can remember all of these historical inventors? If we can just say the majority of things in the world were invented by Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Benjamin Franklin, and Nikola Tesla it would make all our lives so much easier. k thx bye
One less reason to sing that "Ayyy-oh, Galileo" song.
As with a great many things, you can find prior art in ancient Greece:
http://www.eoht.info/page/Thermometer
I couldn't have told who invented the Galileo Thermometer, but I could have told you it wasn't Galileo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stigler's_law_of_eponymy
I know this sounds calloused, but people will read this article and think to themselves, "Neato." They will then proceed to continue to call it the Galileo Thermometer.
It did not explain how the device came to be known as a Galileo Thermometer.
Proverbs 21:19
Galileo also didn't invent the telescope and he wasn't beat on by The Man(tm) for his heliocentric belief either.
Oh, and Einstein was a world class plagiarist.
If that doesn't dispel the global warming myth, nothing will!
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
The people who would go on to become Americans invented the thermometer in the late 1500's and the technology was sent back to old europe where galileo stole the idea and took credit for it.
Other "corrective articles" by Peter Loyson include:
"You didn't write that!" - Who really writes the State of the Union?
Abe Lincoln Didn't Win the Civil War, a Bunch of Soldiers Did
Did You Know That Comedians Actually Use Scripts?
Everything is better with chainsaws.
Ancient Greeks invented thermometers
So? The Chinese invented gunpowder, too, but both facts are completely irrelevant to this article.
Nobody claimed Galileo invented the thermometer. He was incorrectly credited for the invention of the Galileo Thermometer.
The patent on this item, "Galileo Thermometer, " is in fact owned by me on patent 2354.1245.567. All references to the device, as well as drawings, schematics, or other illustrations are done in violation of my patent, as well as the DMCA.
But, as we all know, Edison and his employees did not invent anything – they stole everything from Tesla – which has already been mentioned. For proof see:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/ea08/?srp=1
And don’t forget the ancient Egyptians & Chinese. Sure, they got most of the tech from Atlantis, but still.
Judging from the filthy stinking Europeans I know, this is quite plausible.
At the Corning corporate campus they have a gift shop that sells these. When last I was there they had a dozen of them on the same shelf all reading different temperatures over a range of 10 degrees.
And next you're going to tell me that Kepler didn't invent the space telescope.
They can take my LifeAlert pendant when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.
Doing it right:
Subject: Binternet Rands sues God Almighty!!
Binternet Rands sues God Almighty for copyright, design-patent, and trademark infringement. Rumored to be acting on behalf of a mysterious organization called Accademia del Cimento, Binternet Rands is suing God Almighty for infringing on the "distinctive design" of the device commonly known as the "Galilean Thermometer."
Through its attorney, Binternet Rands claims that the external reproductive organ of the human male is not looks very similar in shape to the "Galilean Thermometer" but both devices are commonly used to measure temperatures.
Legal experts widely dismiss the copyright and design patent claims on a number of fronts, not the least of which is that it is widely assumed that male anatomy was invented first. Asked for comment, Binternet Rands's attorney mumbled something that sounded like "pics or it didn't happen." In addition, any copyrights or patents issued during that time period are almost certainly expired.
The trademark claim cannot be so easily dismissed.
Noted philosopher and writer H. Benderson notes that while the "Galilean Thermometer" is commonly used to measure air temperatures and the male reproductive organ is commonly used to measure the temperatures of other things, notably parts of the female anatomy and the temperature of showers. As such, Binternet Rands's claims that confusion is very likely cannot be dismissed out of hand. In addition, the "Galilean Thermometer" is sometimes used in a manner similar to the male reproductive organ as a means of providing erotic pleasure, despite wide-spread recommendations not to use breakable glass for such purposes.
There, that's doing it right.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Don't you mean Merton's law of, oh wait, nevermind.
He did invent the Galileo satellite navigation system though right? It was supposed to be launched in 1613, but there were delays.
I suppose next you are going to tell us that Edison never invented the light bulb and Franklin never discovered electricity.
These eponymous connections almost never pan out.
Doctor Joseph-Ignace Guillotin was not beheaded with one of his own devices.
Dr. Richard J. Gatling was not shot by his own invention, nor was John Garand or John T. Thompson.
In fact if it wasn't for Mr Blunt Object the whole idea never would have got started in the first place.
> who had the impressive motto 'Probando e Reprobando,' which in English means 'testing and retesting.'
Absoultely not...the motto of Accademia del Cimento was 'provando e riprovando', and it is a quote from Dante's Divine Comedy. You can find it at the beginning of the third Canto of the Paradiso:
Quel sol che pria d'amor mi scaldò 'l petto,
di bella verità m'avea scoverto,
provando e riprovando, il dolce aspetto;
Whoever is familiar with ancient italian will correctly translate it as 'testing and rejecting', and not as 'testing and retesting'.
This verse became the motto of Accademia del Cimento for an obvious reason: a scientist makes an experiment, and after the result he rejects all theories who are in conflict with the experimental result. For sure he will not go on repeating indefinitely the experiment...
The motto can be found nowadays as a motto in the arms of the Italian Society of Physics