Fahrenheit, fa'ren-hit, Gabriel (1686-1736), a German scientist. He was born at Dantzic and died at Amsterdam. He was a tradesman, but gave over business for the pleasures of science. He originated the idea of using mercury in thermometers. The point of greatest cold observed at Dantzic he called zero. He divided the space between this zero and the height to which his column of quicksilver rose in boiling water into 212 parts. Discovering later that he could obtain a still greater degree of cold by artificial means, he adopted the temperature of a mixture of ice and salt as a more scientific zero. Prior to Fahrenheit, spirits of wine--alcohol--was used to mark changes in temperature. See THERMOMETER; CELSIUS.