![]() Though Dolbear’s “study” lacked crucial details - he didn’t specify the species of cricket,the number of observations, or variability - is was, for some reason, universally accepted by biologists and entomologists. From this, he gathered the following equation (where T represents temperature in degrees Fahrenheit, and N represents the number of chirps per minute): Cricket sounds series#Listening to the crickets in a meadow outside his home, Dolbear made a series of three observations: At 60 degrees Fahrenheit, the crickets chirped at a rate of 80 per minute, at 70 degrees, they chirped at 120 per minute, and at temperatures below 50 degrees, “the crickets had no energy to waste in music,” and retained a rate of 40 chirps per minute. “The rate of chirp seems to be entirely determined by the temperature and this to such a degree that one may easily compute the temperature when the number of chirps is known.” In an 1897 copy of the American Naturalist, Dolbear published an extremely brief, curious nugget of information, titled “ The Cricket as a Thermometer.” In it, he noted an observation: Amos Dolbear, the unintentional cricket scientist Tufts Digital Libraryĭespite his accomplishments, Dolbear has been largely forgotten in the annals of American inventors, save for one thing: He “proved” - through the shoddiest science imaginable - that crickets can be used to accurately estimate temperatures. “Had he been observant of patent office formalities,” wrote The Scientific American in 1881, “it is possible that the speaking telephone would be garnered among his laurels.” In 1885, Dolbear patented a wireless telegraphy system that was extensively used by Guglielmo Marconi to “invent” the radio (to this day, Dolbear’s role in the device is mostly neglected).ĭr. When Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876, Dolbear argued he’d invented it first his case against American Bell Telephone was so convincing that it made it all the way to the US Supreme Court before being dismissed. Though Sheldon eventually ends up being wrong about the species of cricket he identifies, scientists have had better luck: for decades, they’ve worked to validate the method of using crickets as natural thermometers.Īfter paying his way through Ohio Wesleyan University as a chapel organist in the 1860s, physicist Amos Emerson Dolbear proceeded to lay out the scientific foundation for some of the biggest inventions in American history - only to fall short of recognition for his efforts. The answer? Dolbear’s Law - a totally awesome, totally real formula from the late 19th century that can be used to accurately estimate the temperature based on the number of chirps a cricket emits. Howard adamantly disagrees: “How could you possibly know that,” he asks, “without seeing the cricket?” After timing the cricket’s “chirps” and noting the temperature in the room, Sheldon concludes, with utmost certainty, that the insect is a snowy tree cricket. In the third season of The Big Bang Theory, two supposedly nerdy fellows - Howard and Sheldon - get into a heated argument over a cricket. Speckled Bush Cricket via Johan J.Ingles-Le Nobel (Flickr) ![]()
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