Stahlke Adoption

Linn

Anders Celsius (1701-1774) of Uppsala, Sweden invented the temperature scale which took his name. He originally designated the boiling point as 0 degrees and the freezing point as 100.

Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) of Smaland in southern Sweden (and educated in Uppsala) wanted to make Celsius' temperature scale more useful for botany. He reversed the designations for freezing and boiling to 0 and 100 degrees, respectively. That way positive numbers sustain plant life and negative numbers indicate death by freezing.

My own father is also a scientist. His middle name is Linne, and my parents feminized it for me: Mary Linn Benson Stahlke. My ancestors came from southern Sweden.

posted by Stahlkes @ 5:56 PM