National Temperature Control Day Timeline

1714

Fahrenheit comes first

German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit creates the mercury thermometer. His famous temperature scale (now used in only a few countries) follows ten years later. Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius invents his scale (also known as centigrade) in 1742. Fahrenheit has 180 degrees separating the freezing and boiling points of water, while centigrade has an easier-to-remember 100.

1830s

Too hot in here?

Credit for the modern thermostat generally goes to Scottish chemist Andrew Ure — who created a bimetallic version for textile mills. The thermostat would bend as one of the metals expanded in response to increased temperature — thereby controlling the mills' energy supply. American Warren S. Johnson patents a bimetal room thermostat in 1883.

1963

PolyScience

Seaton T. Preston creates the Illinois-based startup company — which goes on to sell over a million temperature control solutions to large, well-respected manufacturers and distributors. Among the brand's innovations? An award-winning line of culinary products. (The Food Network honored the brand with a technology award in 2007.)

2003

PSL: Autumn's official drink

Starbucks exec Peter Dukes, who arrived at the company with a BA in Economics and an MBA from Stanford, comes up with a new idea for a fall espresso flavor. As it happens, Dukes and his former Cardinal basketball teammates used to alternate sips of espresso with bites of pumpkin pie. Do you see where we're going here? Starbucks has now sold more than 350 million pumpkin spice lattes in 50 countries.