Convert Delisle to Newton

Convert Delisle (°De) to Newton (°N) instantly and accurately.

Conversion Formula

°N = 33 − °De × 11/50

About Delisle

Delisle (°De) was created by French astronomer Joseph-Nicolas Delisle in 1732 and used in Russia for nearly a century before metrication. Uniquely, the scale is inverted: it increases as temperature decreases. Water boils at 0°De and freezes at 150°De - the opposite of Celsius. Delisle calibrated his mercury thermometer against the boiling point of water, assigning it zero. The scale was adopted by the Russian Academy of Sciences and used by astronomers and naturalists across the Russian Empire throughout the 18th century. It still appears in historical scientific records from that era.

About Newton

Newton (°N) was devised by Isaac Newton around 1700 and published anonymously in 1701. The scale places water's freezing point at 0°N and boiling point at 33°N - a choice that allowed body temperature to fall at approximately 12°N. Newton used linseed oil as the thermometric fluid and described his scale in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Although never widely adopted, it is historically significant as one of the earliest systematic temperature scales and directly inspired Ole Rømer, who visited Newton, and later Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, who built upon Rømer's work.

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