What is the Centigrade Temperature Scale?
The centigrade temperature scale, more properly known as the Celsius temperature scale, is a scale for measuring temperatures which is based on the behavior of water at normal pressure. This scale is widely used in much of the world to express temperatures, with a few holdout nations using the Fahrenheit temperature scale. The Celsius scale is also used as the benchmark for the Kelvin scale, which is used in the scientific community. On the Celsius scale, the freezing point of water is set at 0 degrees, and the boiling point of water is 100 degrees. The scale is named for Anders Celsius, a Swedish man who developed one of the earliest versions of this scale. Somewhat confusingly, early versions of the centigrade temperature scale were reversed, with water freezing at 100 degrees and boiling at 0 degrees. Linnaeus is widely credited with being the first to use 0 as the freezing point. The scale was widely referred to as the centigrade temperature scale until 1948, when it was changed to
