It’s been nearly 450 years since Shakespeare asked, “What’s in a name?” In 2012, The Washington Post sought to answer, reporting on how the government tracks baby names and monitors trends over time.

Unsurprisingly, traditional names dominate the top of the pack for people born between 1946 and 1964. This group, commonly known as the baby boomers, results from the post-war population boom that accompanied an era of American prosperity during the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s. Names like Susan, Linda, and Gary may sound old-fashioned now—but at the time, they represented the traditions and values of a new American dream.

To determine the most popular names of the baby boomer generation, Stacker compiled data from the Social Security Administration’s Baby Names Archives and ranked every popular name by how many babies were given that moniker from 1946 to 1964. The most popular years for each name and each name’s 2018 rank (most recent data available) are also included. Behind the Name was consulted for facts about a name’s etymology and history.

While names from the Bible occupy much of the list, the name Kathleen has the distinction of being the first name given to any baby boomer , just one second after midnight in 1946. Hollywood and pop culture also played a significant role in helping a name’s popularity jump up the list, with everything from actors, book characters, and athletes helping advance the generation’s top names. Some names, like Larry and Cynthia, have lost their Hollywood luster and faded from use in the decades since.

Read on to find out the most popular baby names for baby boomers.

You may also like: These baby names are going extinct

25. Girl: Judy

– Total baby boomers with this name: 239,145

The success of two Judys in Hollywood helped spur this name up the list. The Golden Era’s most recognizable starlet, Judy Garland, who starred in 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz , and Judy Holliday, who won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1949’s Born Yesterday . The name Judy derives from the name Judith, which in Hebrew translates to “Jewish woman” from the tribe of Judah.

25. Boy: George

– Total baby boomers with this name: 342,077

The name George is Greek for “farmer or earth-worker,” and it rose to popularity in the 18th century, beginning with the first King George’s rise to the throne of England. George Washington brought the name West, and it reached peak popularity from 1946 to 48 in part because of the death of WWII hero Gen. George S. Patton in 1945. Additionally, the loss of George Herman “Babe” Ruth in 1948 also made the name famous.

24. Girl: Carolyn

– Total baby boomers with this name: 256,829

Deriving from the name Caroline, a feminine version of Charles meaning “free man,” Carolyn’s popularity spiked from the late 1930s through 1950. The Nancy Drew book series, written by a collection of authors under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene, was popular during the time and led to a series of films in the early 1940s that helped further the name’s use.

24. Boy: Jeffrey

– Total baby boomers with this name: 343,488

A variant of the name Geoffrey, stemming from German meaning “pledge of peace,” Jeffrey became a common name in the early 1960s among boys. Olympian Jeffrey Farrell, a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, helped the name’s popularity. Famous Jeffs born during the 1962-64 spike include actor Jeff Garlin and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos .

23. Girl: Margaret

– Total baby boomers with this name: 284,735

Tracing back to Sanskrit and ancient Greek words meaning “pearl,” the name Margaret takes many forms, including Marge, Maggie, and Peggy. Actress Angela O’Brien, who took the name Margaret for the stage , was a wildly famous actress at the time, popularizing the name after earning a Juvenile Academy Award in 1944. One of the first female astronauts, Margaret Rhea Seddon, was born in 1948 during the name’s peak popularity.

23. Boy: Timothy

– Total baby boomers with this name: 344,399

A popular biblical name, Timothy, meaning “honoring God,” accompanied the apostle Paul during his missionary work and was the name of several early Christian saints. The name reached the height of its use around 1960, and popular Timothys of that time include actor Timothy Carey, who became a cult icon in the late 1950s for his portrayal of several mentally unstable characters. Timothy Hutton is one famous baby boomer with the name, as are Tim Burton and Tim Robbins, who shortened their title.

22. Girl: Janet

– Total baby boomers with this name: 285,736

Popular actress Janet Leigh released a series of hit movies in the late 1940s, including a film adaptation of Little Women , helping perpetuate the name Janet’s popularity. She also may have helped precipitate its slide after starring in the 1960 classic Psycho . An offshoot of the name Jane, Janet is one of many feminine derivatives of the name John.

22. Boy: Stephen

– Total baby boomers with this name: 345,212

The name Stephen, which means “crown,” rose to use after Saint Stephen, who is considered the first Christian martyr of the New Testament. It has been used by 10 popes, as well as kings and saints. Baby boomers with the name Stephen include author Stephen King and actors Stephen Fry and Stephen Rea. While not as popular today, the moniker’s link to royalty and religion helps it remain in baby-naming books.

21. Girl: Cheryl

– Total baby boomers with this name: 294,755

A combination of the names Cherie and Beryl, Cheryl wasn’t used as a name often until the 1930s. The release of the French book “Cheri,” about a young man and his older female lover, helped spur its popularity . Cheryl Ladd and Cheryl Tiegs are two famous baby boomers.

21. Boy: Edward

– Total baby boomers with this name: 346,440

The name Edward, meaning “rich guard,” has been used by 11 kings of England, most recently in 1936 by Edward VIII. The name’s popularity post-WWII can be attributed to several famous Edwards: journalist Edward R. Murrow, actor Edward G. Robinson, and Jane Eyre character Edward Rochester, who was portrayed by Orson Welles in the 1943 movie adaptation .

You may also like: 47 Plants That Begin to Bloom in March

20. Girl: Elizabeth

– Total baby boomers with this name: 302,285

First appearing in Greek form in the Bible, Elizabeth, which means “my God is an oath,” is still among the most popular girl names today. It was linked to royalty during the mid-20th Century, with Elizabeth Truman serving as First Lady from 1945 to 53, and Queen Elizabeth of England rising to the throne in 1952. Actress Elizabeth Taylor was still perhaps the most recognizable namesake of the time, starring in several blockbuster Hollywood movies in the 1940s–1960s.

20. Boy: Dennis

– Total baby boomers with this name: 355,270

Adapted from the French name Denis, the name Dennis traces back to the Greek god of wine, Dionysius. Dennis Barlow was the main character from Evelyn Waugh’s 1948 satirical novel The Loved One , which helped perpetuate the name’s image as cool, but began to fall in popularity after two separate Dennis the Menace comics cast a mischievous light on it. Some popular baby boomers with the name include actors Dennis Quaid and Dennis Waterman, as well as Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley.

19. Girl: Lisa

– Total baby boomers with this name: 310,117

A diminutive of Elizabeth, Lisa stems from Hebrew meaning “God is my vow,” and would remain the most popular name for girls from 1962 to 1969. The sudden jolt in the name Lisa, which wasn’t common before 1940, can be attributed in part to Nat King Cole’s famous song “Mona Lisa” in the 1950s, and Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa touring the U.S. for the first time in 1963. Actresses Lisa Kudrow and Lisa Rinna were named during the last spike of baby boomers in the early ’60s.

19. Boy: Daniel

– Total baby boomers with this name: 420,632

Meaning “God is my judge,” Daniel’s connection as a hero in the Old Testament of the Bible has helped it maintain top 25 status since 1943 . During the baby boomer era, Daniel peaked at #16 in 1957–58, including the birth of Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis in 1957. Baby boomer actors Dan Aykroyd, Danny Glover, Danny Bonaduce as well as former NBA star Danny Ainge all use a form of their given name: Daniel.

18. Girl: Diane

– Total baby boomers with this name: 347,824

Derived from the French name Diana, who was the Roman goddess of the moon and hunting, Diane became more popular among English-speaking countries following the publication of Sir Walter Scott’s novel Rob Roy in 1817. Diane first appeared as an American name in 1904 and surged in popularity during the baby boomer generation before falling back out of the top 100 in 1972. Popular Dianes born during that time include TV personality Diane Sawyer and actress Diane Keaton.

You may also like: 50 Most Popular Biblical Baby Names

18. Boy: Larry

– Total baby boomers with this name: 455,659

The name Larry exploded in usage during the baby boomer era before falling out of favor, and the top 100, in the late 1980s. A pair of Larrys helped push the name into the public consciousness: Larry Doby, who was the second African American to play Major League Baseball after Jackie Robinson; and comedian Larry Fine, one-third of the popular Three Stooges, who made their television debut in the late 1940s. The most famous baby boomer born during the era was NBA legend Larry Bird.

17. Girl: Brenda

– Total baby boomers with this name: 375,275

Brenda means “sword” and stems back to the Old Norse name Brandr. Actress Brenda Joyce starred as Jane in the Tarzan movies in the late 1940s and helped move the name up the list. Musician Brenda Lee helped it reach peak success following her hit “Sweet Nothings,” which topped the rock ‘n’ roll charts in late 1959 .

17. Boy: Paul

– Total baby boomers with this name: 463,865

Latin for small or humble, Paul was one of the first Christian saints and has been the name of six popes. The moniker has faded in usage after remaining in the top 100 from 1880 until 2000. In 1958, when the name reached its zenith among baby boomers, actor Paul Newman earned an Oscar nomination starring alongside Elizabeth Taylor in the smash hit Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

16. Girl: Pamela

– Total baby boomers with this name: 378,780

The name Pamela was invented for the poem “Arcadia” by Sir Philip Sidney and didn’t appear on Social Security data until 1925. Pamela Churchill Harriman helped popularize the name in England during the 1940s when she was married to the son of Winston Churchill. The name’s popularity spread west, with the likes of actress Pam Grier and astronaut Pamela Melroy representing the moniker during the baby boomer era.

16. Boy: Kenneth

– Total baby boomers with this name: 481,489

The Daily Beast reported in 2014 that while Kenneth was famous in the 1960s, the name is not coming back anytime soon. The English name and surname is also the monogram of three demographic regions in Indiana, Minnesota, and Florida. Baby boomer and singer Kenneth “Kenny” Logins, and famed fashion doll and companion of Barbie , Ken Carson helped make the name extra famous among their generation.

You may also like: 100 Baby Names That Dominated the 1970s

15. Girl: Kathleen

– Total baby boomers with this name: 389,111

This name may be No. 15 on the list, but the actual first baby boomer, according to NPR , is Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, who was born one second past 12 a.m. on Jan. 1, 1946. One famous baby boomer named Kathleen is J.K. (Joanne Kathleen) Rowling, the English author of the famed literary series Harry Potter . Another baby boomer with the name is Academy and Golden Globe Winner Kathleen “Kathy” Bates.

15. Boy: Donald

– Total baby boomers with this name: 485,417

A popular Scottish moniker, Donald means “ruler of the world” and was the name of many kings throughout the early ages. Walt Disney ‘s Donald Duck brought the name into common use during the 1930s and again while helping defeat Nazis in the early 1940s. Some of the most famous baby boomers with the moniker are actor Don Johnson and President Donald J. Trump.

14. Girl: Cynthia

– Total baby boomers with this name: 400,675

The name Cynthia comes from a Latinized form of Greek, meaning “woman of Kynthos,” and was an epithet toward Artemis, the goddess of the moon. In the 1930s, the moniker rose in public awareness thanks to sculptor Lester Gaba, who created a mannequin of that name for Saks Fifth Avenue. The imperfect statue would become so popular that it attracted fan mail, along with a newspaper column and radio show.

14. Boy: Ronald

– Total baby boomers with this name: 514,894

A pair of Hollywood actors helped make this name popular among baby boomers. Ronald Colman was one of the hottest artists during the 1920s through the 1940s and the first to receive a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. Long before he was President of the United States, Ronald Reagan was a Hollywood star and president of the Screen Actors Guild in the 1930s and 1940s.

13. Girl: Debra

– Total baby boomers with this name: 402,356

The Debra naming boom of 1956 can be attributed to actress Debra Paget, who starred in a pair of blockbuster movies that year including Elvis Presley’s Love Me Tender and the highly acclaimed The Ten Commandments . Also a variant of Deborah, who was an Old Testament prophetess, Debra means “bee.”

You may also like: 102 Years of Milestones in Women’s History

13. Boy: Steven

– Total baby boomers with this name: 523,192

Originating from the Greek word for “crown,” the rise of Stevens among baby boomers can be associated with a few different factors including Captain America Steve Rogers. Bodybuilder Steve Reeves was making a name for himself as Hercules, and the “King of Cool” Steve McQueen was in full force during the 1950s and early ’60s. Other famous Stevens born during the era include Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and directors Steven Spielberg and Steven Soderbergh.

12. Girl: Carol

– Total baby boomers with this name: 434,726

Short for Caroline and derived from the masculine name Carolus, Carol was the fifth most popular name at its peak in 1946. Comedic actress Carole Lombard was the highest-paid actress of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Her romance with actor Clark Gable and untimely death in a plane crash in 1942 kept the name in the public eye.

12. Boy: Gary

– Total baby boomers with this name: 545,323

The name Gary rose to prominence for baby boomers because of Oscar-winning actor Frank Cooper, a movie star who adapted the stage name Gary after his agent’s hometown of Gary, Indiana. The name’s usage has faded over time, falling out of the top 100 in 1989. Popular baby boomers with the name include Gary Sinise, Gary Oldman, and Gary Busey.

11. Girl: Sharon

– Total baby boomers with this name: 443,862

Sharon didn’t crack the top 1,000 as a name until 1925, but shot into the top 10 from 1943 to ’49, perhaps because of the heroine in the novel The Skyrocket and its subsequently lost film. The name traces back to the Old Testament regarding the Rose of Sharon tree. Sharon Stone and Sharon Osbourne are a pair of baby boomers who claim the name.

11. Boy: Joseph

– Total baby boomers with this name: 551,127

Like so many names on the list, Joseph’s roots trace back to the Bible. It remained consistently in the low teens as a name during the baby boomer era. It has been the name for kings, popes, prime ministers, U.S. presidents, Oscar winners, and countless saints. Not even notorious communist Joseph Stalin marred the name’s usage in the U.S., as boxer Joe Louis was shedding a positive light on it in the early 1940s.

10. Girl: Donna

– Total baby boomers with this name: 489,566

The Italian word for lady, Donna is also the feminine form of Donald, which means “ruler of the world.” Singer Ritchie Valens helped bring the name popularity with his hit tune “Oh Donna,” as did Joan Baez with “Donna Donna.” One famous baby boomer with the moniker is the fashion designer Donna Karan.

10. Boy: Mark

– Total baby boomers with this name: 634,671

Also the name of the second gospel in the New Testament, Mark, like many other baby boomer names, is derived from the Bible. The popularity of author Mark Twain and his novel Huckleberry Finn also lent weight to the moniker when baby boomers were being named. Additionally, the 1963 Hollywood hit Cleopatra brought recognition to the name when it depicted her lover Mark Antony.

9. Girl: Nancy

– Total baby boomers with this name: 504,734

Originally a diminutive of Ann, which means “grace,” Nancy is also the name of a fictional character in Oliver Twist . Though a popular baby boomer moniker, the name skyrocketed by 115.88 percent in 1936, according to Everything Birthday . Three famous women that have kept the name in the forefront are former First Lady Nancy Reagan, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi , and singer Nancy Sinatra.

9. Boy: Charles

– Total baby boomers with this name: 666,134

Considered a royal name after the birth of Charles, Prince of Wales, the moniker which means “man,” gained popularity among baby boomers. It’s also the title of one of author Shirley Jackson’s short stories “Charles,” published in 1948. Nicknames for the moniker are Charlie and Chuck. Some of the most famous Charles’ include Darwin, Chaplin, Dickens, Sheen, and Barkley—not to mention Manson.

8. Girl: Sandra

– Total baby boomers with this name: 505,923

Often short for Cassandra or Alessandra, this name was first used as a standalone moniker by author George Meredith in the 1864 novel Emilia in England . Sandra was one of the most popular baby boomer names. Meaning, “defending men,” the name has remained popular over the years in part due to Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. However, baby boomer and actress Sandra Dee may be the most notable of all Sandras.

You may also like: These Are 50 of the Best Private High Schools in America

8. Boy: Thomas

– Total baby boomers with this name: 810,322

As one of the 12 apostles and the follower of Jesus in the New Testament who doubted the resurrection, Thomas became a famous baby boomer name among others derived from the Bible. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer , authored by Mark Twain, also gave the name recognition during the baby boom. Two of the most famous men with the name are President Thomas Jefferson and inventor Thomas Edison.

7. Girl: Deborah

– Total baby boomers with this name: 541,809

Most famous for the Old Testament prophetess, the name Deborah means “bee.” A variant of the name includes Debbie, which has been made notable by actress Debbie Reynolds and singer Debbie Harry. “Deborah has suffered from the fact that in the mid-twentieth century there were so many Debbies on the block that the beauty and meaning of the original name got lost,” reports Nameberry.

7. Boy: Richard

– Total baby boomers with this name: 964,562

The German-derived name Richard, which means “brave power,” may have been the moniker of many rulers, but it became most famous for the 1950s singer Little Richard. His Billboard reign with the hit “Tutti Frutti,” in 1955 likely spurred the name on the baby boomer list. Also famous during the era, President Richard Nixon brought name recognition, even if the connotation grew notorious.

6. Girl: Karen

– Total baby boomers with this name: 566,563

The name Karen, of Danish origin, means “pure.” Nameberry reports the moniker “was so popular during the baby boom (Karen was No. 3 in 1960) that it’s locked firmly into fashion limbo today.” One woman who gave the name worldwide recognition in the 20th century was Karen Carpenter, the drummer and lead vocalist in the 1970s sibling singing duo.

6. Boy: William

– Total baby boomers with this name: 1.08 million

The name William, which remains popular today, was booming for baby boomers. The name has been the second-most popular baby name for 400 years, according to Nameberry . While the most notable William would be Shakespeare, others who use the name’s variant Bill or Billy include Crystal, Joel, Clinton, Gates, Idol, and Ray Cyrus.

5. Girl: Barbara

– Total baby boomers with this name: 653,737

Barbara, meaning “foreign woman” in Greek, had gained traction as a name in the early 20th century, thanks in part to George Bernard Shaw’s 1905 play Major Barbara . Broadway star Barbara Stanwyck helped the name move into the top 10 from 1928 to 58. Subsequent actresses Barbara Hale and Barbara Payton helped keep the name alive in the 1950s, but it fell back outside the top 100 by 1977 and is nearly falling out of the top 1,000 today.

5. Boy: David

– Total baby boomers with this name: 1.37 million

A popular Jewish name, David was the most well-known King of Israel, made famous in the Bible for his defeat of Goliath in 10 B.C. In the baby boomer era, director David Lean snagged Oscars for directing two of the era’s most famous movies: Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Rock ‘n’ rollers David Bowie and David Gilmour, as well as the television personality David Letterman, share the name as baby boomers.

4. Girl: Susan

– Total baby boomers with this name: 734,198

Adapted from Susanna, meaning “lily,” Susan rose into and remained in the top 10 the entire baby boomer era. Two actresses brought the name to the forefront during the era: Susan Peters, who was an established dramatic actress in the 1940s; and Susan Hayward, who starred in multiple major motion pictures during the early 1950s. Susan Lucci, Sarandon, Collins, and Rice all bear the name that nearly reached the top in the late 1950s.

4. Boy: Michael

– Total baby boomers with this name: 1.42 million

Michael’s widespread use across religious and cultural groups helped it reach the top spot multiple times among baby boomer names. Meaning “who is like God,” it remained prominent from 1961 through 1998 and was given to athletes Michael Jordan and Mike Tyson, as well as actors Michael J. Fox and Mike Myers. The name has fallen from favor slightly since dominating the 20th century.

3. Girl: Patricia

– Total baby boomers with this name: 793,488

Patricia, the female form of Patrick, meaning “noblewoman,” cracked the top 10 from 1930 to 1967, peaking at third from 1946 to 1952. An influx of Irish immigrants to the U.S. around the turn of the 20th century helps to explain the name’s sudden rise in popularity. One famous baby boomer with the name is actress Patricia Heaton, who starred in Everybody Loves Raymond and The Middle .

You may also like: 101 Popular Trends From the Year You Were Born

3. Boy: John

– Total baby boomers with this name: 1.54 million

The name John ranked in the top five until 1972 thanks to its Biblical ties and consistent heroes in society. John “The Duke” Wayne was captivating audiences on the screen in the early 1940s with his tough-guy westerns. The death of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 precipitated the name rising back into the No. 2 spot until 1965.

2. Girl: Linda

– Total baby boomers with this name: 1.12 million

Linda shot to the top in 1947 and is ranked as the “trendiest baby name in U.S. history.” Jack Lawrence had a smash hit song called “Linda” in 1947 about Linda Eastman, the 1-year-old daughter of his attorney, who would go on to become Linda McCartney. Linda Ronstadt, Linda Hamilton, and Linda Blair were all born during the Linda surge.

2. Boy: Robert

– Total baby boomers with this name: 1.54 million

From the Germanic word meaning “bright fame,” Robert grabbed the top spot one last time in 1953, after reigning from 1924 until 1939. Some men who may have helped the name reach the pinnacle once again include actor Robert Newton, who invented the pirate voice in the 1950s Treasure Island , and Hollywood bad boy Robert Mitchum , whose arrest for marijuana possession in 1949 only made his films more popular. Boston Celtics great Robert Parish and musician Robert Plant are two famous baby boomers.

1. Girl: Mary

– Total baby boomers with this name: 1.14 million

Mary ranked as the top girl’s name from the first released Social Security data in 1880 until 1946, and again from 1953 to 61. The name is revered in the Christian religion for the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. Popular Marys bringing the name further to the forefront at the time include Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein , and fictional nanny Mary Poppins.

1. Boy: James

– Total baby boomers with this name: 1.59 million

The Old Testament name James has been the given moniker of six U.S. presidents, four saints, and a trio of actors in the 1940s. James “Jimmy” Stewart and James Cagney both claimed Oscars in the early 1940s for their respective roles in The Philadelphia Story and Y ankee Doodle Dandy . At the turn of the 1950s, actor James Dean made the name super cool among baby boomers, although his death in 1955 saw the name’s use slow. After years in the teens, James has climbed back to the No. 4 position today.

You may also like: 50 Things Turning 100 in 2021

Hot and cold are measured using a numeric scale called temperature. Temperature scales are how we communicate about the weather, measure safety and comfort and explain the physical world. Using baselines chosen by scientists to create relative measurements, temperature scales measure heat intensity, or the amount of thermal energy contained in a material or substance (like the air, a pot of water or the surface of the sun). There are three commonly used measurement systems: Fahrenheit, Celsius and Kelvin.

What is temperature?

Temperature is energy measured with a tool called a thermometer, which comes from the Greek words “thermos” (hot) and “metron” (measure), according to the Online Etymology Dictionary . Another definition of temperature is that it’s a measure of the average kinetic energy — the energy of a mass in motion — of a substance’s molecules, according to Georgia State University

The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates allegedly taught that the human hand could be used to judge the presence of fever in a person as early as 400 B.C., according to a 2019 report  in the journal Nature Public Health Emergency Collection . However, precise instruments to measure human body temperature were not developed until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Fahrenheit: The first precise thermometer

In 1714, the Polish-born Dutch physicist, inventor and scientific instrument maker Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit unveiled a mercury-based thermometer. Mercury , a liquid metal, expands and contracts based on the surrounding temperature When Fahrenheit placed mercury in a closed tube marked with a numbered scale, he saw the mercury rise and fall when it was exposed to different temperatures. According to The Royal Society in the United Kingdom, this was the world’s first known practical, accurate thermometer.

Fahrenheit had based his invention on Danish scientist Ole Roemer’s alcohol-based thermometer. Roemer labeled his temperature scale with zero marked at the temperature where brine (salt water) froze and 60 as the point at which water boiled, wrote Ulrich Grigull, the late director of the Institute for Thermodynamics at the Technical University of Munich in Germany , in a 1986 conference presentation . Ice melted at 7.5 degrees on the Roemer scale, and a human body registered at 22.5.

Related: What if temperature determined a baby’s sex?

Fahrenheit’s thermometer, though, was much more accurate. He used the same freezing and boiling reference points as Roemer’s scale — referred to in his writings as “Extream Cold” and “Extream Hott” — but roughly multiplied the scale by four to divide each marker on the scale into finer increments. On Fahrenheit’s scale, wrote Grigull, the four reference points were: 0 (at the combined freezing temperature of brine), 30 (the freezing point of regular water), 90 (body temperature) and 240 (the boiling point of water).

Related: Supernovas heat atoms to hundreds of millions of degrees Fahrenheit.

Fahrenheit published a paper describing his scale in the journal Philosophical Transactions in 1724. That same year, Fahrenheit was inducted into the Royal Society, the United Kingdom’s national science academy. Grigull wrote “His fellowship of the Royal Society resulted in his thermometer, and thereby his scale, receiving particular acceptance in England and consequently later also in North America and the British Empire.” Fahrenheit’s measurement system, sometimes referred to as part of the imperial system, traveled the world with the British Empire.

Related: The world’s oceans are heating up at an accelerated rate.

However, only a few countries today still use Fahrenheit to measure temperature. The United States and its territories, along with the Bahamas, Palau, Belize, the Cayman Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, have stuck with the temperature scale, despite the rest of the world moving to the Celsius scale, according to the online geography resource World Atlas .

After Fahrenheit’s death in 1736, the Fahrenheit scale was recalibrated to make it slightly more accurate. The exact freezing and boiling points of plain water, minus the salt, were marked at 32 and 212 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively. Normal human body temperature was marked at 98.6.

Read more: Has the average human body temperature changed?

Temperatures in Fahrenheit are often expressed as a number followed by  ℉, or simply F.

Celsius: A more scientific scale

“Anders Celsius should be recognized as the first to perform and publish careful experiments aiming at the definition of an international temperature scale on scientific grounds,” wrote Olof Beckman , a solid state physicist at Uppsala University in Sweden. Celsius was a Swedish astronomer and is credited with discovering the connection between the aurora borealis , also known as the Northern Lights, and the Earth’s magnetic field , as well as a method for determining the brightness of stars , according to the U.S. National High Magnetic Field Laboratory .

In a proposal to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1742, Celsius proposed a scale based on two fixed points: 0 (the boiling point of water) and 100 (the freezing point of water). Following Celsius’ death in 1744, the famous Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus proposed that the fixed points be switched, with 0 indicating the freezing point of water and 100 its boiling point, according to The Legacy of Anders Celsius in JSTOR Daily, a digital library. The scale has also been extended to include negative numbers.

Celsius initially called his scale “Centigrade” from the Latin for one hundred (“centi”) degrees (“grade”), because there were 100 points between water freezing and boiling. In 1948, an international conference on weights and measures (Conference General des Poids et Measures) changed the name to “Celsius” in honor of Anders Celsius, according to the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) .

Related: As the 2015 Paris Agreement aims to cut emissions, we have already blown past warming targets.

The Celsius scale is part of the metric system, otherwise known as the International System of Units (SI). Temperatures in Celsius can be expressed as a number of degrees followed by the symbols ℃, or simply C.

The Celsius scale has 100 degrees between water boiling and freezing, while Fahrenheit has 180 degrees. This means that a single degree Celsius equals 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit. At -40°, both scales have the same value: -40 C = -40 F.

Kelvin: An absolute scale for scientists

In 1848, British mathematician and scientist William Thomson (also known as Lord Kelvin) proposed an absolute temperature scale, which was independent of the properties of a substance like ice or the human body. He suggested that the range of possible temperatures in the universe far exceeded those proposed by Celsius and Fahrenheit. The concept of an absolute minimum temperature was not new, according to NIST , but Kelvin put an exact number to it: 0 kelvins is equal to -273.15 C.

Related: What’s the coldest place in the universe?

“Thermodynamic temperature” is distinct from temperatures based on freezing and melting points of fluids, Julia Scherschligt, an expert in vacuum and pressure metrology at the National Institute of Science and Technology in the United States, told  Live Science.

“Thermodynamic temperature is absolute, not relative to fixed points. It describes the amount of kinetic energy contained by the particles that constitute a blob of matter, that wiggle and jiggle around at sub-microscopic levels,” she said. “As the temperature drops, the particles slow down until at some point, all motion ceases. This is absolute zero, which is the benchmark of the Kelvin scale.”

Related: Scientists pinpoint a new record for coldest natural temperature in Greenland.

Absolute zero occurs at −273.15 C or −459.67 F. Until recently, scientists thought that humans could not recreate this temperature (because to become that cold, energy would have to be added to the system to cool it, meaning that the system would be warmer than absolute zero). But in 2013, German physicists managed to push particles into paradoxical temperatures below absolute zero .

To Kelvin’s mind, absolute zero was where a temperature scale should begin, but for convenience, he used the markers and intervals of the widely-known Celsius scale as a base for his own. As such, in the Kelvin scale, water freezes at 273.15 K (0 C) and boils at 373.15 K, or 100 C.

A single kelvin is referred to as a unit, rather than a degree, and is equal to a single degree on the Celsius scale. The Kelvin scale is mainly used by scientists.

In 2018, the Kelvin was redefined to make it more accurate, according to a paper in the journal Metrologia , and its definition is now tethered to the Boltzmann constant . This constant links temperature to the kinetic energy inside matter.

The new definition, according to the General Conference on Weights and Measures , is: “The kelvin, symbol K, is the SI unit of thermodynamic temperature; its magnitude is set by fixing the numerical value of the Boltzmann constant to be equal to exactly 1.380649 × 10-23…J K-1 [joules per kelvin].”

Which scale is best?

The best scale for measuring temperatures can vary depending on the circumstance, namely the community with whom you are sharing information. Historically, Americans use the Fahrenheit scale for daily life, including for weather and cooking, so it is best to use Fahrenheit measurements in the United States. But most countries use Celsius, so it is better to use that scale across the rest of the globe, and while communicating internationally. Ultimately, the best scale for casual use depends on convention and what people around you are using.

But which scale is the most precise?

“Precision isn’t really a feature of a scale,” Scherschligt said. Rather, the precision of a measurement depends on the increments given by the thermometer being used, and the technique of the person using it. “A number can be measured with arbitrary precision on any scale. But only the kelvin is physics-based, which means it is the most accurate scale.”

The Kelvin scale, which is based on the physical properties of any gas, can be calibrated precisely anywhere in the universe with proper equipment and a universal constant. That’s why scientists often prefer to use the Kelvin scale in their experiments.

Conversion formulas

Celsius to Fahrenheit: Multiply by 9, divide by 5, then add 32

Fahrenheit to Celsius: Subtract 32, then multiply by 5, then divide by 9

Celsius to Kelvin: Add 273

Kelvin to Celsius: Subtract 273

Fahrenheit to Kelvin: Subtract 32, multiply by 5, divide by 9, and then add 273.15

Kelvin to Fahrenheit: Subtract 273.15, multiply by 1.8, and then add 32

Additional resources

• Here is a video on how to make a thermometer at home.
• This video compares the coldest temperatures known to humans with the hottest.
• Meet the universal constants that define the International System of Units, also known as the metric system.

“I will always try to study and figure out things that we don’t understand about the origins of Chinese characters. We understand a lot, but we don’t understand everything,” said Sears.

BEIJING, March 23 (Xinhua) — “Chinese characters, you will never get to the bottom of them,” says American Richard Sears. And he should know, having devoted almost 50 years to learning, teaching and disseminating the pictographic origins of Hanzi, the septuagenarian has earned the nickname “Hanzi Shushu,” or Uncle Hanzi.

Richard Sears, 71, a physicist from the state of Tennessee, was first exposed to Chinese characters in 1972 because of a fascination with China and its culture.

Richard Sears takes notes on his research materials in Tianjin, north China, Aug. 8, 2012.(Xinhua/You Sihang)

“When I was 22, I went to Taiwan and learned to speak Chinese, but I wasn’t all that diligent,” Sears told Xinhua during an interview at his home in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, east China.

By 40, he still couldn’t read Chinese characters, so he started to study.

“I found that almost all Chinese had learned to read and write by absolute blind memorization and almost no one had a clue where the characters actually came from,” he noted, “but I am a physicist, a scientist, so I don’t like to blindly memorize stuff.”

In 1994, with computers becoming more available, Sears started programming and he built a database of oracle bone inscriptions. It took him seven years just to scan the source characters from antique books.

In 2002, he launched his Hanzi etymology website. It only clocked up a few page views per day for many years, this changed in 2011, when a blogger recommended the site on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform. From a handful of views, daily traffic surged to 600,000.

Photo taken in 2002 shows Richard Sears in front of his newly-launched website. (Photo provided to Xinhua)

Over the past 29 years, his website has become a go-to resource, with information on more than 100,000 ancient Chinese character forms.

Sears believes his work is useful because it breaks down each character to reveal their logic.

“Chinese characters are part of archaeology, and so I hope that my research can be a big contribution to archaeology, “he said.

Sears was also involved in the development of a product that combines augmented reality and animation. Using Chinese Character Origin Cards, which were co-developed by Sears and a Nanjing-based company, people can bring Hanzi characters, such as “ren” (person), “niao” (bird), or “lei” (thunder), alive right in front of their eye by scanning the cards. Animations show how the character evolved from the pictographs carved on ancient oracle bones to the modern day.

Richard Sears(L) posed for picture after he was awarded for Jinling Friendship Award, a biennial award set up by the Nanjing municipal government to recognize foreign experts’ contributions to local economic and social development on June 22, 2020. (Photo provided to Xinhua)

Off the back of this project, on June 22, 2020, Sears was awarded the Jinling Friendship Award, a biennial accolade issued by the Nanjing municipal government in recognition of foreign experts’ contributions to local economic and social development.

Sears now lives in the ancient city of Nanjing; “Finally, after many years, I have permanent residence in China, so I plan to stay here for the rest of my life. China is my home.”

“I will always try to study and figure out things that we don’t understand about the origins of Chinese characters. We understand a lot, but we don’t understand everything,” he added. ■

What’s the likely identity of the “forbidden fruit” described in the Bible’s Garden of Eden, which Eve is said to have eaten and then shared with Adam?

If your guess is ” apple ,” you’re probably wrong.

The Hebrew Bible doesn’t actually specify what type of fruit Adam and Eve ate. “We don’t know what it was. There’s no indication it was an apple,” Rabbi Ari Zivotofsky, a professor of brain science at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, told Live Science.

Related: What led to the emergence of monotheism?

The pivotal scene is described in Genesis, the first book of the Hebrew Bible, shortly after God warns Adam not to eat from the “tree of knowledge.” A serpent in the garden, however, tells Eve to go ahead and take a bite.

“When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate” (Genesis 3:6), according to the Jewish Publication Society’s translation at Sefaria.org .

As for the type of fruit, it’s described as “just the ‘fruit of the tree,'” Zivotofsky said. “That’s all it says. No identification. We don’t know what kind of tree, we don’t know what fruit.”

The Hebrew word used in that verse is “peri,” a generic word for fruit in both biblical and modern Hebrew, according to Zivotofsky. The modern Hebrew word for apple, “tapuach,” on the other hand, does not appear anywhere in Genesis or in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, Zivotofsky said. (It does appear in other, later biblical texts.) In biblical times, “tapuach,” was a word for generic fruit.

So, if the forbidden fruit wasn’t an apple, what was it?

Rabbis commenting on the Hebrew Bible in the Talmud, a collection of rabbinic teachings and biblical law, and other writings completed by around A.D. 500 , have noted several ideas about the mystery fruit’s identity, but — spoiler alert — apple is not one of them, Zivotofsky said.

Over the years, rabbis have written that the fruit could have been a fig, because in the Hebrew Bible, Adam and Eve realized they were naked after eating from the tree of knowledge, and then used fig leaves to cover themselves. Or maybe, some rabbis wrote, it was wheat, because the Hebrew word for wheat, “chitah,” is similar to the word for sin, “cheit,” Zivotofsky said. Grapes, or wine made from grapes, are another possibility. Finally, the rabbis wrote that it might have been a citron , or “etrog” in Hebrew — a bittersweet, lemon-like fruit used during the Jewish fall festival of Sukkot, a harvest celebration in which Jews erect temporary dwellings.

Given all of these potential forbidden fruits, how did apples — which aren’t even from the Middle East, but from Kazakhstan in Central Asia, according to a 2017 study in the journal Nature Communications — become the predominant interpretation?

It turns out this interpretation likely didn’t originate in Jewish lore, Zibotofsky said. “I don’t think that within Jewish tradition it ever did become the apple, meaning in Jewish art, you don’t find that,” Zivotofsky said.

Instead, the possible path from fruit to apple began in Rome in A.D. 382., when Pope Damasus I asked a scholar named Jerome to translate the Bible into Latin, according to Encyclopedia Britannica . As part of that project, Jerome translated the Hebrew “peri” into the Latin “malum,” according to Robert Appelbaum, a professor emeritus of English literature at Uppsala University in Sweden and the author of “Aguecheek’s Beef, Belch’s Hiccup, and Other Gastronomic Interjections” (University of Chicago Press, 2006).

“The word [“malum”] in Latin translates into a word in English, apple, which also stood for any fruit … with a core of seeds in the middle and flesh around it. But it was a generic term [for fruit] as well,” Appelbaum told Live Science. Apple had this generic meaning until the 17th century, according to the Online Etymological Dictionary . Jerome likely chose the word “malum” to mean fruit, because the very same word can also mean evil, Appelbaum said. So it’s a pun, referring to the fruit associated with humans’ first big mistake with a word that also means essentially that.

Meanwhile, paintings and other artistic recreations of the Garden of Eden have helped solidify the apple as the forbidden fruit. In art, unlike in writing, a fruit cannot be purely generic, Appelbaum said. “Artists, more than writers, had to show something,” he said. They didn’t always show an apple: Artistic renderings of the “Fall from Eden” depicted the fruit as a citron (” Ghent Altarpiece ” by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, 1432), as an apricot (” Eve Tempted By the Serpent ” by Defendente Ferrari, 1520-25), and as a pomegranate (” The Fall of Man ” by Peter Paul Rubens, 1628-29), according to Appelbaum.

Yet by the 16th century, the apple had also entered the proverbial fruit bowl. In 1504, an engraving by the German painter Albrecht Dürer and a 1533 painting by German painter, Lucas Cranach the Elder, depicted the fruit as an apple, according to NPR . Also according to NPR, in the epic poem “Paradise Lost,” first published in 1667, English poet John Milton uses the word “apple” twice to refer to the forbidden fruit.

But was the apple in “Paradise Lost” really the apple that we think of today, or was it some generic fleshy fruit with seeds in the middle? There’s at least some room for doubt about that, according to Appelbaum. Milton describes the “apple” once Eve takes a bite, “as being fuzzy on the outside, and extremely juicy and sweet and ambrosial. All words which are attached to peaches,” Appelbaum said.

The so-called Franken-tree , a modern grafted tree bearing 40 types of fruit, didn’t exist in biblical times, but if it did, it just might clear up this mystery.

Originally published on Live Science.

(CNN) — If a steaming bowl of soup strikes you as the ultimate in old-fashioned comfort, you’ve got plenty of company. Soup is one of the world’s oldest and most universal foods, said Janet Clarkson, author of the book “Soup: A Global History.”

“Every culture has some kind of soup,” she said. “It’s got very ancient roots.” Early people simmered everything from turtle shells to lengths of bamboo in soup, she writes in the book, turning out metal soup pots starting in the Bronze Age.

READ MORE: ‘I’m Helping Save Lives’: UC Davis Cash Incentive Working As Students Skip Spring Break Travel

Boiling food made it possible to subsist on stable grains, with herbs and other ingredients added for nourishment or medicinal purposes.

Each time you deliver a pot of soup to a friend with the sniffles, Clarkson said you’re in fact carrying on an age-old tradition. “Separating food and medicine — that’s not how ancient people thought of it,” she said. “I think in every country in the world, historically, some soups were seen as restorative.”

That’s true no matter what you call it. Today, soup leans brothy while stews are more substantial, but the world’s spoonable foods have never fit neatly into the two English-language categories.

While Clarkson dove into centuries of etymology to trace the history of soup, potage and broth, she settled on a generously broad take. “Just some stuff cooked in water,” she wrote, “with the flavored water becoming a crucial part of the dish.”

It’s a definition that leaves room for the world’s astonishing culinary diversity. These are CNN’s nominations for 20 of the best soups around the world:

Banga | Nigeria

It’s so popular that packets of ready-mixed banga spice are sold in shops. Most blends include African nutmeg, castor seed, orima, jansa and beletete leaves.

The spices infuse a rich, red sauce that’s the soup’s main draw: Soak it up with eba or a ball of starch, two Nigerian staples both made from cassava prepared with different methods.

Beef pho (phở bò) | Vietnam

Pho is among Vietnam’s most recognized culinary exports, but the soup is a relatively new food, wrote Andrea Nguyen, author of “The Pho Cookbook.”

And while today’s pho restaurants serve a wide range of flavors, beef is the original. By 1930, Nguyen explained, the soup was served with slices of raw beef cooked gently in the broth.

Today, beef pho remains the most beloved version in Vietnam, with options that include the original raw beef, a mix of raw and cooked beef, brisket and tendon.

Borscht | Ukraine

And while the soup is sometimes attributed to Russian cuisine, that claim is hotly contested. Now, Ukrainian chefs are behind a campaign to get their version on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Bouillabaisse | France

At one time, that fish would reflect each day’s catch, but things have gotten a bit stricter.

According to signatories of the 1980 Bouillabaisse Charter — a collective attempt by local chefs to ensure the quality of the French soup — the most authentic recipe must include at least four kinds of seafood chosen from a list that includes monkfish and crab.

Caldo verde | Portugal

In many versions, tender Portuguese chouriço sausage adds an undercurrent of smoky, salty flavor that makes the soup even heartier. Enjoy alongside a glass of Minho’s famed vinho verde wine.

Chorba frik | Algeria, Libya and Tunisia

The tender grains absorb a tomato broth and aromatic spices, their flavor melding with chickpeas plus stewed chicken, beef, mutton or lamb. Serve with lemon wedges and a hunk of kesra bread.

Chupe de camarones | Peru

It’s got a kick, too. The addition of ají amarillo, a chili pepper with a lilting, fruity flavor, adds satisfying spice to balance out the rich and creamy ingredients. Maybe that explains the soup’s reputation as a powerful aphrodisiac.

Gazpacho | Spain

Arabs brought the dish to the Iberian Peninsula centuries before Spaniards tasted tomatoes, a New World ingredient. The original was a blend of bread, garlic and olive oil, pounded in a mortar and seasoned with vinegar.

READ MORE: Project Safe Ground: First City-Sanctioned Site For Homeless Opens In Sacramento

Groundnut soup | West Africa

No matter the country, such soups and stews are creamy, rich and salty, a satisfying combination that often gets a fiery jolt from the addition of Scotch bonnet peppers.

Gumbo | United States

Ground, dried sassafras leaves — called filé and long harvested by the Choctaw people — give many gumbo recipes a distinctive spice. Some cooks thicken their soup with a cooked flour paste called roux, while others swear by sautéed slices of okra.

Every possible version is on display each year at the World Champion Gumbo Cookoff in New Iberia, Louisiana, where cooks battle for some serious soup-master bragging rights.

Harira | Morocco

While vegetarian recipes are popular, the most classic version is simmered with tender chunks of lamb or other meat. It’s not just fasting fare for Muslims; some North African Jews also prepare harira to break the annual fast of Yom Kippur.

Kharcho | Georgia

It’s made with unripe plums, whose sour note balances the richness of fatty beef and ground walnuts cooked into the soup. The aromatic kick, though, comes from the spice mix khmeli suneli, a blend of coriander, savory, fenugreek, black pepper, marigold and more.

Lanzhou beef noodle soup | China

Slip them into a bowl of beef broth for a world-class soup that includes tender beef, pale slices of radish, chili oil and fresh herbs. (At some shops, diners may even ask for noodles of a preferred thickness and shape.)

Mohinga | Myanmar

Fish lends added richness, while the thin rice noodles are perfect for slurping. Mohinga is so beloved that it’s gone from breakfast dish to anytime snack, and each region has its own twist on the classic soup.

Menudo | Mexico

It’s sheer comfort food, with kernels of hominy that get fresh bite from a garnish of raw onions, chiles and cilantro. Choose from one of two main varieties: Menudo rojo turns a deep red from chiles in the broth, while Sonoran-style Menudo blanco is a milder alternative.

Moqueca de camarão | Brazil

This soup’s real draw is sweet, tender shrimp floating in the broth, however. Traditionally, moqueca de camarão is cooked in a handmade pot made from black clay and the sap of mangrove trees, then brought to the table in the same authentic vessel.

Soto ayam | Indonesia

Every part of Indonesia has a local twist, and the soup is also beloved in Singapore, Malaysia and in faraway Suriname in South America, where the recipe arrived with Javanese immigrants.

Eat topped with fried shallots, fresh limes and a fiery scattering of sliced red chiles.

Tom yum goong | Thailand

Tom yum goong is just one of many varieties of tom yum soup in Thailand — this version comes enriched with fat prawns, and is a favorite with many diners.

Tonkotsu ramen | Japan

While the indulgent broth is the star of tonkotsu ramen, a bowl isn’t complete without slices of pork belly and a tangle of noodles that are hard in the center. Eat with a pair of chopsticks and a flat-bottomed spoon, and don’t forget to slurp — it’s believed to enhance the flavor.

Yayla çorbasi | Turkey

A crumble of dried mint helps balance the yogurt’s slight tang. Serve with a pillowy round of fresh pita bread.

MORE NEWS: Activists Protest Outside Sacramento City Manager’s Home; City Officials Denounce Actions, ‘Wanted’ Posters

The-CNN-Wire