CELSIUS, Anders (1701-1744), a Swedish astronomer, was born at Upsala in 1701. After travelling in Germany, England, Italy, and France, he took part in the famous expedition which was undertaken in 1736 by Maupertuis, Clairaut, Camus, and others, for the purpose of measuring a degree of the meridian in Lapland. He became member of the academies of Stockholm and Berlin, and of the Royal Society of London, and was appointed secretary of the Royal Society of Upsala. He died in his native towa in 1744, leaving several works on astronomical subjects, including Observations on the Measurement of the Earth (1738), A new method of Measuring the Distance of the Sun from the Earth lyl⅛tt}, and a paper in which he tried to show that the waters of the ocean are decreasing in volume.