Course:History 344/Nasty Families/Inventions

From UBC Wiki

A Barometer or “storm glasses” as they were known in the 17th century, is a device that measures air pressure. It measures the weight of the column of air that extends from the instrument to the top of the atmosphere.[1] It was invented by Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647) in 1643, an Italian physicist who was a pupil of Galileo. It was his mentor that suggested he use mercury in his vacuum experiments. Torricelli realized that the variation of the height of the mercury from day to day was caused by changes in the atmospheric pressure. Torricelli built the first mercury barometer around 1644.[2]

  1. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/1600.shtml
  2. Mary Bellis, “The History of the Barometer: Evangelista Torricelli invented the mercurial barometer.” http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventors/a/Barometer.htm