Giauque‐ Kelvin Proposal

MAY 01, 1954

F. G. Brickwedde

IN 1939 Professor W. F. Giauque, of the University of California, proposed that we change the manner of defining the number scale of the absolute, thermodynamic (Kelvin) scale of temperatures by assigning a number to a single reproducible thermal state (e.g., triple point of $H_{2} O$ ). At present the number scale is defined by assigning a number (100) to the interval between two fixed points (“ice” and normal boiling points of $H_{2} O$ ). J. P. Joule and Lord Kelvin made the same proposal one hundred years ago but it was forgotten until it was made anew by Giauque. Joule and Thomson in 1854 said the proposed change in definition “must be adopted ultimately” because the definition based on a single fixed point is “preferable”.

More about the Authors

F. G. Brickwedde. Chairman, National Research Council Ad Hoc Committee on the Temperature Scale.