How many degrees Celsius is 1 degree Fahrenheit?

For the rest of the world, who use Celsius scale, temperature expressed in Fahrenheit degrees can be confusing. How to convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius, then?

The conversion formula is:

[°C] = ([°F]−32) × 5⁄9  

or, the other way round, from Celsius to Fahrenheit:

[°F]=[°C]× 9⁄5 + 32

Degrees Fahrenheit are abbreviated to “°F”.

The creator of the Fahrenheit scale was an 18th century Dutch-German-Polish physicist, Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit. The scale is based on two fixed points: 32°F - the melting point of ice, and the boiling point of water: 212°F. These two points are separated by 180 degrees Fahrenheit, while they are 100 degrees apart in the Celsius scale.

One may wonder why the melting point of ice is set at such an arbitrary number as 32°F, while it is simply 0°C in the Celsius scale. What is the zero point in the Fahrenheit scale, then? The legend has it, that 0oF was fixed at the lowest temperature recorded in D.G. Fahrenheit’s hometown, Danzig (Gdańsk). However, the truth is that Fahrenheit established the zero point at his scale at the lowest temperature that he could produce in his laboratory by freezing a mixture of ice, water and ammonia chloride.

Did you know?

The Fahrenheit and Celsius scales overlap at one point: -40°C = -40°F

In what real-life situations did you need to convert degrees Fahrenheit to Celsius?