Museo Galileo
italiano
previous
Virtual Museum
Phial thermometer
    • Setting:
      Room VIII
    • Inventor:
      Ferdinand II de' Medici [attr.]
    • Maker:
      unknown
    • Place:
      Florence
    • Date:
      mid-17th cent.
    • Materials:
      glass
    • Dimensions:
      length 65 mm
    • Inventory:
      78
    • Phial thermometer (Inv. 78)

Thermometer consisting of a single tiny phial containing small glass spheres of different density immersed in acquarzente. The rise in temperature causes an increase in the volume of the acquarzente, reflected in the movement of the small spheres (first the less dense, then the more dense). Because of the spheres' sluggish motion, this thermometer was also called infingardo [slothful, slow]. The invention of this model is attributed to Grand Duke Ferdinand II de' Medici.