Thermometer screen

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A thermometer screen is used to protect thermometers from direct sunlight. This example, to a design published by Edinburgh scientist John Aitken in 1884, may well have been one of his experimental prototypes.

Constructed of painted metal and wood, access to the thermometer (missing) in this thermometer screen was by a small door in the upright cylinder, seen upright in this photograph. Air circulated from below, all around the instrument.

John Aitken (1839-1919) is famous for his work on the nuclei of condensation in the atmosphere. He gave careful thought to the problems encountered with the popular Stevenson thermometer screen, especially in warm climates.

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• Online ID: 000-100-102-814-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  T.1983.281
• Date: 1884
  
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• Subject:
• Who: Aitken
  John Aitken, Edinburgh (Designer)
  
• Where: Scotland, Midlothian, Edinburgh
  
• Event:
• Description: Aitken's thermometer screen, possibly one of John Aitkens experimental prototypes, 1884
  
• References:
  • Aitken, John, 'Thermometer Screens' in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Vol XII 1882-4, pp 660-697, and his posthumously published paper bearing the same title in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Vol XL 1919-20, pp 172-81 
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