The Galileo Thermometer – Beautiful Science

Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher who had  a major role in the scientific revolution of the sixteenth century.  He was the first to discover that the density of liquid changes as a result of increasing or decreasing temperatures.

Image Credit Flickr User Tadek

Image Credit Flickr User Giant Gingko

The thermometer named after him is made up of a sealed glass cylinder.  Inside there is a clear liquid and a series of bulbs.  Each bulb has a weight attached to it.  As the temperature changes, they rise and fall depending of a number of mathematical principles.  Yet the Galileo Thermometers has an aesthetic that goes beyond its function – it is a beautiful object in its own right.