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Anders Celsius

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Anders Celsius was a famous scientist from Sweden.

Headshot of Anders Celsius
Headshot of Anders Celsius

He studied many things like math, physics, and the stars. His family was full of scientists too. His father, Nils Celsius, was a professor of astronomy. His uncle was a botanist named Olof Celsius. Even his grandfather and another uncle were into science. Because of this, Anders chose to study science at Uppsala University.

AndersCelsiusyoung
AndersCelsiusyoung

He became a professor of astronomy there in 1730.

Celsius did many different kinds of science work. He wanted to know how far the Sun was from Earth. He also studied the beautiful lights in the sky called the aurora borealis.

Crab Nebula
Crab Nebula

He noticed something very interesting about these lights. He saw that they changed how a compass needle moves. He thought the lights were linked to the Earth's magnetic field. This was a very important idea for science. He even wrote down hundreds of observations about these lights.

In the 1730s, Celsius traveled a lot to learn more. He visited big observatories in Germany, Italy, and France.

Solar system
Solar system

One big trip was to Lapland in 1736. He went with a group led by Pierre Louis Maupertuis. They wanted to measure the shape of the Earth. They measured a line near the North Pole. They compared it to measurements taken near the equator in Peru. This helped prove the Earth is an ellipsoid. This means the Earth is a bit flat at the poles.

Celsius helped build a special place to look at the sky. In 1741, he founded the Uppsala Astronomical Observatory.

UppsalaCelsiusObservatory Busser
UppsalaCelsiusObservatory Busser

He used new tools he bought during his travels. He also looked at stars and eclipses. He even made a list of the brightness of 300 stars. In 1742, he shared a new way to measure heat. He used 0 for boiling water and 100 for freezing water.

Later, Carl Linnaeus flipped the numbers to make them easier to use. Today, we call this the Celsius scale.

Celsius's work helps us understand our world today. He noticed that parts of Scandinavia are slowly rising. He saw this happening because ice from the last ice age melted. He also helped start the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

He even suggested the name for that academy. He spent his life looking at the big world and the tiny details. He died in 1744 from tuberculosis. His many discoveries still help scientists study the Earth and space.

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🖼️ Images & Media (11)
File:Anders Celsius Signature.svg
Anders Celsius Signature.svg
File:RocketSunIcon.svg
RocketSunIcon.svg
File:Solar system.jpg
Solar system.jpg
File:Crab Nebula.jpg
Crab Nebula.jpg
File:Earth-moon.jpg
Earth-moon.jpg
File:Headshot of Anders Celsius.jpg
Headshot of Anders Celsius.jpg
File:Celsius, Anders – De novo in fluviis norlandiarum piscandi modo, 1738 – BEIC 8529648.jpg
Celsius, Anders – De novo in fluviis...
File:Gamla uppsala kyrka.jpg
Gamla uppsala kyrka.jpg
File:UppsalaCelsiusObservatory Busser.jpg
UppsalaCelsiusObservatory Busser.jpg
File:AndersCelsiusyoung.jpg
AndersCelsiusyoung.jpg
File:He1523a.jpg
He1523a.jpg
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