Who Invented The Barometer — And How Do Barometers Work?
The barometer is a 17th-century invention. Evangelista Torricelli invented the mercury barometer around 1644. The mercury in the barometer rises in a long, vacuumed glass tube. The mercury typically hovers between 28 and 30 inches high in the tube, with variations in the height of the mercury based on the air pressure. About 200 years later, in 1843, Lucien Vidie modified on Torricelli’s barometer by inventing a barometer that does not need mercury. Instead, the aneroid barometer that Vidie made uses changes in the size of a metal cell made of beryllium copper or phosphor bronze to indicate barometric pressure. Aneroid barometers are the kind we typically use today; they are safer (no mercury) and less expensive. You commonly see aneroid barometers hanging on walls. You probably have seen an aneroid barometer hanging in a restaurant with nautical or marine theming. Aneroid barometers are also found in some homes.
