The measurement of body temperature is thought to have always been of interest to humankind because of its indication of health, or otherwise: if we ‘run a temperature’, we are not in the best of health. However, any sort of accurate determination of comparative values of temperature has always depended on some property of a material.
Typically, we use a change of volume with temperature to give useful quantitative values (e.g. in an alcohol-in-glass thermometer). Obviously, very high temperatures, such as those of a plasma (1 Across) or a blast-furnace require other methods. Here we can use the range and intensities of electromagnetic radiation emitted, and their effect on the electrical properties of materials.
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