Spirit level
Nivel de burbuja
- Date
- 1661 · confidence medium
- Place
- Paris, Île-de-France, France
- Credited to
- Melchisédech Thévenot
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
A glass tube almost full of liquid with an air bubble that centres between two marks when the surface is horizontal. Its sensitivity made it the levelling reference in surveying, building and the mounting of scientific instruments.
Thévenot described it in a letter to Huygens in 1661; it spread soon in England and France. It is debated whether he invented it or took it from other makers.
What it led to
- precision levelling in surveying and civil works
- horizontal mounting of telescopes, theodolites and machines
- carpenters' and masons' levels