Zooming in on Temperature

Temperature measurement and the Celsius scale is generally gauged against the melting and boiling point of water. Well, for scientists that's to imprecise, reports Michael Fuhs in Deutschlandfunk radio (26.10.2006). They try to measure directly the energy content of material and thus deduce temperature. That's done by electronics equipment or sound propagation. By the year 2011 researchers will have set up all details to swap to this measurement procedures and connect temperature measurements to physical constants, like the definition of the meter and the second.