What do you think?
Rate this book
Celsius: A Life and Death by Degrees
This is the first, full-length English language biography of Swedish astronomer and Earth science pioneer Professor Anders Celsius. It reveals what his extraordinary but tragically short life and career can teach us about our today and humanity's tomorrow.
The book tells how Celsius' study, travels and relationships at the peak of the European Enlightenment helped him to unlock fundamental mysteries of the natural world, and how his life offers vital lessons for now and the future. He was a mercurial thinker who ran out of time, but his discoveries, philosophy and personality still point a hopeful way forward.
Best remembered for inventing the Centigrade scale, Celsius' name now frames humanity's future in the international targets to limit average global temperature increases to no more than 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. As our world faces this life-or-death struggle, there's much we can learn from Celsius. If we will listen.
The book tells how Celsius' study, travels and relationships at the peak of the European Enlightenment helped him to unlock fundamental mysteries of the natural world, and how his life offers vital lessons for now and the future. He was a mercurial thinker who ran out of time, but his discoveries, philosophy and personality still point a hopeful way forward.
Best remembered for inventing the Centigrade scale, Celsius' name now frames humanity's future in the international targets to limit average global temperature increases to no more than 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. As our world faces this life-or-death struggle, there's much we can learn from Celsius. If we will listen.
469 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 26, 2024
2 people are currently reading
6 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 16, 2025
I received a digital review copy of this book from NetGalley.
Prior to reading this book, I knew Anders Celsius as the man who created the temperature scale most of the world uses. I did not know about all the other scientific work he was involved in. For example, he played a large role in determining the shape of the Earth, established the first serious observatory in Uppsala, studied magnetism, etc. he also influenced numerous other scientists who left their own mark. Surprisingly, this book spends very little time and space on his development of the temperature scale. One of the things that is really remarkable is that Celsius did all this despite dying relatively young (early 40s).
The account of Celsius' life was well-written and interesting. The author did an excellent job in bringing him and his colleagues back to life. The science in the book is broken down so it should be easily understood even if the reader doesn't have prior subject knowledge. There is also a good attempt to show the lasting impact and implications of Celsius' work. This is most successful when the author discusses the immediate aftermath of Celsius' death, and does a rundown of his closest colleagues and assistants. It is less successful when the author pretends to be Celsius and pens a letter that Celsius would have written to future generations. That merely comes off as self-aggrandizing and arrogant; it was a poor way to end the book. It was also not the first time the author intruded on Celsius's story; there are several points throughout the book where the author unnecessarily inserts himself, interrupting the flow of the narrative and detracting from the overall impact.
Prior to reading this book, I knew Anders Celsius as the man who created the temperature scale most of the world uses. I did not know about all the other scientific work he was involved in. For example, he played a large role in determining the shape of the Earth, established the first serious observatory in Uppsala, studied magnetism, etc. he also influenced numerous other scientists who left their own mark. Surprisingly, this book spends very little time and space on his development of the temperature scale. One of the things that is really remarkable is that Celsius did all this despite dying relatively young (early 40s).
The account of Celsius' life was well-written and interesting. The author did an excellent job in bringing him and his colleagues back to life. The science in the book is broken down so it should be easily understood even if the reader doesn't have prior subject knowledge. There is also a good attempt to show the lasting impact and implications of Celsius' work. This is most successful when the author discusses the immediate aftermath of Celsius' death, and does a rundown of his closest colleagues and assistants. It is less successful when the author pretends to be Celsius and pens a letter that Celsius would have written to future generations. That merely comes off as self-aggrandizing and arrogant; it was a poor way to end the book. It was also not the first time the author intruded on Celsius's story; there are several points throughout the book where the author unnecessarily inserts himself, interrupting the flow of the narrative and detracting from the overall impact.
October 18, 2025
This first full-length biography brings to life Anders Celsius (1701-1744), the Swedish astronomer and physicist, whose name is now largely remembered for the temperature scale named after him, and which thousands use every day without even considering the real man and his work. Certainly I’d never thought about who actually invented the scale, and this easily accessible and readable account of his life makes for some very interesting reading. Although the author does his best, I still found some of the science beyond me, but that’s my problem not the book’s. Occasionally the narrative pace slackened, especially when recounting Celsius’ expeditions, like the one to the Arctic, but overall I found the book engaging, and I enjoyed the way the author inserted himself into the narrative on occasion and brought the past into the present. Celsius may be long dead, but his science and discoveries left a legacy that is still relevant today.
December 13, 2025
I enjoyed this book. I was very interested in reading about the expedition to the arctic to measure a degree of latitude. Understanding the physical endurance and privations that the team had to suffer to do this was fascinating. The fact that they did it so accurately is a tribute to all involved in the 18th century expedition.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews