Hypsometer: altitude from the boiling point of water
Hipsómetro: altitud por el punto de ebullición del agua
- Date
- 1801-1802 · confidence high
- Place
- Popayán, Cauca, Colombia
- Credited to
- Francisco José de Caldas
- People
- 👤 Francisco José de Caldas1768–1816
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Caldas linked the boiling temperature of water to atmospheric pressure and altitude, and built an instrument for measuring heights without a barometer. It was a practical solution in the Andes.
The dependence of the boiling point on pressure had been known since the 18th century (Fahrenheit, Deluc); Caldas turned it into an altimetric method independently.
What it led to
- barometric levelling and Andean cartography
- 19th-century field hypsometers