Doctors only started measuring body temperature 200 years ago – here's why

Over the past year, fever thermometers have become omnipresent. Body temperature is taken in front of shops, at airports, even before visiting a museum – often with ultra-modern devices. So-called fever cameras or fever scanners can determine the body temperature even without contact. It might now seem obvious that fevers are connected to a high body temperature – in many cultures, the question “do you have a temperature?” is clear evidence of that – but this hasn’t always been the case.

The beginnings of measuring fever go back more than 400 years. At the turn of the 17th century,…

© La Conversation - jeudi 25 mars 2021