FAHRENHEIT, GABRIEL DANIEL Ger man physicist, was born at Danzig on May 14, 1686. For the most part he lived in England and Holland, devoting himself to the study of physics and making a living, apparently, by the manufacture of meteorological instruments. He was the author of important improvements in the construction of thermometers, and he introduced the thermometric scale known by his name and still extensively used in Great Britain and in the United States (see THERMOMETRY). He also invented an improved form of hygro meter, a description of which, together with accounts of various observations and experiments made by him, was published in the Phil. Trans. for 1724. He died in Holland on Sept. 16, 1736.