Temperature's Risin'
The inventor of the mercury thermometer and the temperature scale, Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit was born on this day in 1686 in Gdansk, Poland.Fahrenheit was a physicist who eventually became an inventor and maker of scientific instruments. He invented the mercury thermometer in 1714 and the temperature scale that bears his name in 1724.
Family Doctor by Grant Wood shows Fahrenheit's invention in the hands of a family physician from the days when they still made house calls. Wood was a leading exponent of American Scene painting, depicting views of the Midwest, particularly his native Iowa, that conveyed a reverence for the rural community.
His most famous work, American Gothic (1930), is an American icon. The artist died in Iowa City in 1942.
Source: National Museum of American Art (CD-ROM) (New York and Washington D.C.: MacMillan Digital in cooperation with the National Museum of American Art, 1996). and http://www.comptons.com/encyclopedia/
Pictured: Grant Wood, 1891–1942, Family Doctor, 1940, lithograph on paper, sheet: 11 1/2 x 16 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Park and Phyllis Rinard in honor of Nan Wood Graham.