Temperature > 17 - William John Macquorn Rankine

William John Macquorn Rankine (Edinburgh, July 5, 1820 - Glasgow, December 24, 1872) was a Scottish polymath with British nationality, who worked in the civil engineering sectors, assisting in the work of mechanical and naval engineering, as well as physics.

He, together with the scientific work of Rudolf Clausius and William Thomson, founded thermodynamics. His best-known works are the formulation of the First Law of Thermodynamics and the construction of the steam engine, in addition to several engineering manuals, without developing concepts of hydrodynamics that are still applied today. He published hundreds of articles and notes on science and engineering, starting in 1842. With diverse interests, he studied botany and music theory, as well as the branches of mathematics, science and engineering. He was an enthusiastic amateur singer who composed his own songs.

Because of his scientific work, he received several honors during his lifetime and after his death, including membership in the Royal Society of Edinburgh and membership in the Royal Society.

The Rankine scale (symbol °R, °Ra) is a temperature scale named after him, who proposed it in 1859.

Just like the Kelvin scale, 0°Ra is absolute zero, but the Rankine degree is defined as being equal to one degree Fahrenheit. Thus, a variation of one degree °Ra is equivalent to a variation of one degree °F. So the temperature of -459.67°F is exactly equal to 0°Ra.

lthough not as popular, the Rankine scale is used in some engineering fields in the United States, however the National Institute of Standards and Technology recommends not using this scale in NIST publications.