Fahrenheit vs. Celsius: Two Ways to Measure the Same Thing

April 29, 2023 Alex

At first glance, this world map is a simple narrative: Celsius has won the world, and Fahrenheit is only found in a handful of countries. But there’s a more profound story behind these numbers in terms of history, science, and human society. Let’s trace the history, advantages, and physicality of both systems—and find out why the world loved one over the other.

Who Uses Fahrenheit?

Fahrenheit is still officially used in:

United States
Bahamas
Cayman Islands
Liberia
Palau
Federated States of Micronesia
Marshall Islands
U.S. territories like Guam and Puerto Rico

These are mostly countries with historic or political ties to the United States. Most other nations have switched to Celsius.

Why Has the U.S. Not Switched to Celsius?

It’s not science—it’s culture.

Cultural momentum: Americans grow up on Fahrenheit. Weather forecasts, ovens, A/C units—everything is Fahrenheit-based.
Cost of change: Replacing infrastructure, signs, education, and appliances would be expensive and disruptive.
Lack of urgency: There’s no pressing need to align since the U.S. has a huge internal market and its own standards.

That said, Celsius is still used in U.S. science, medicine, and military settings.

A Brief History of Fahrenheit

Fahrenheit was invented at the beginning of the 18th century by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, a Polish-German physicist, engineer, and instrument maker. He introduced it in 1724, and it was among the first commonly used temperature scales in Europe.

Why did he invent the scale?

The Physical Meaning of Fahrenheit:

0°F was the low, stable temperature of a solution of water, ice, and ammonium chloride.
32°F was the melting point of pure water.
96°F (originally) was about human body temperature (subsequently standardized as 98.6°F).

It was established to avoid unwanted negative numbers in everyday use and to be useful with mercury thermometers, which Fahrenheit had perfected. It met early acceptance in England and England’s colonies, like the United States.

Fahrenheit Disadvantages:

It’s non-metric, thus incompatible with modern systems used in science and international trade.
Reference points (brine mixture, arbitrary numbers) are not universal or intuitive.
Temperature intervals are not as elegant for scientific work or computation.

The Rise of Celsius: A Metric Revolution

Celsius, or centigrade, was proposed in 1742 by Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius.

But here’s an interesting fact: Celsius’s original scale was headed in the opposite direction—he had 0° represent boiling and 100° represent freezing! The scale was later reversed after his death to the form we use today.

The Physical Meaning of Celsius:

0°C = freezing point of water
100°C = boiling point of water

(at normal atmospheric pressure)

Advantages of Celsius:

Based on everyday physical phenomena (freezing/melting of water)
Metric-based, thus it suits well with grams, meters, and liters
More convenient for scientific calculations and conversions
Utilized globally as part of the drive for metrication during the 19th and 20th centuries

Fahrenheit vs. Celsius: Which Is More Accurate?

Technically, accuracy is a property of the instrument, not the scale. But Fahrenheit degrees are smaller, and more nuanced expression of temperature in daily life is thus possible. For example:

The difference between 70°F and 71°F feels more nuanced than 21°C and 22°C.
For everyday comfort, Fahrenheit gives more “steps” in the range that people typically experience.

However, for scientific, global, and engineering use, Celsius (and Kelvin) is the clear winner.