Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich

Portrait

Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich (4 August 1815, Sulz am Neckar – 25 September 1877, Leipzig) was a German physician, pioneer psychiatrist, and medical professor. He is known for his measurement of mean normal human body temperature of 37 °C (98.6 °F), now known more accurately to be about 36.8 °C (98.2 °F).[1]

  1. ^ Mackowiak, Philip A.; Wasserman, Steven S.; Levine, Myron M. (September 23, 1992). "A critical appraisal of 98.6°F, the upper limit of the normal body temperature, and other legacies of Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich". JAMA. 268 (12): 1578–1580. doi:10.1001/jama.1992.03490120092034. PMID 1302471. The conversion of 37°C to Fahrenheit should have conserved Wunderlich's two significant figures, thus the standard ought to have been 99 °F (37 °C) until its recent empirical correction.