[Essay Today] Ondogye

The air grew colder as we passed Ipchun (the Beginning of Spring). In Seoul, temperatures dropped below freezing deeply for the first time in a while. One could say "the mercury plunged." There weren't many cold days this winter. When the temperature suddenly falls, the cold feels even harsher. It seems this winter, spanning from last year to this year, will pass with just this modest display.

The early February period, when Seollal (Lunar New Year) and Ipchun come one after another, is originally a time not to be underestimated. Piercing cold that numbs the crown of the head often arrives. On this day in 1980, Seoul’s temperature dropped to minus 12 degrees Celsius, and Suwon’s to minus 19 degrees. Elementary, middle, and high schools postponed their openings. That year, the plunging mercury could not raise its head.

Mercury thermometers are suitable for temperature measurement because their volume expansion with temperature changes is more consistent than that of alcohol thermometers. The most accurate mercury thermometer is the "Beckmann thermometer," invented by German chemist Ernst Otto Beckmann. It can measure up to one-hundredth of a degree. It is used to measure boiling and freezing point changes, heat of reaction, molecular weights of organic compounds, and more.

The thermometer was first made by Galileo Galilei in 1593. He used the principle that the volume of air changes with temperature. This thermometer was inaccurate due to atmospheric pressure influences. The temperature units we use are Fahrenheit (℉) and Celsius (℃). The Fahrenheit thermometer was created in 1714 by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, and the Celsius thermometer in 1742 by Anders Celsius.

At the beginning of this winter, I went to a stationery store to buy envelopes, tape, and other necessary items to send out my newly published poetry book, and there I found a thermometer. It was an imported alcohol thermometer, crudely made. However, the moment I saw the thermometer, a warm feeling welled up in my chest. Father. The thermometer hung deep inside my heart as an objective correlative pointing to my father.

My father spent most of his short life as a construction worker. But his profession should have been an architect. For many reasons including creativity, spirit of challenge, sensitivity, curiosity, and a desire for excellence. However, my father willingly walked the path of a technician rather than an artist to support his family. He loved the construction site dusted with cement powder more than the office.

My father’s company, with an office in Sinseol-dong, Seoul, seemed to have made money designing and building commercial multi-story buildings. But he also built quite a few residential buildings. These small buildings must have contributed to my father’s joy. Of course, the houses were sold after completion. The buildings my father constructed were always special. Even when building houses, he expressed individuality, differentiating them from the houses popular in the 1970s.

Some houses were built separating the building supplying energy from the building receiving it. Spiral staircases were installed inside three-story buildings to save movement paths. After finishing a house, my father would hang a thermometer in the living room. When my father hung the thermometer, it meant the house was complete. My father’s completion must have meant a new beginning of life for someone.

The houses my father built still remain in several places. If you bought a fairly old house located in Imun-dong, Seokgwan-dong, Jangwi-dong, Myeonmok-dong, Junggok-dong, or Sangbong-dong, and there is a very old thermometer hanging in the living room, though the probability is low, it could be one of my father’s works.

That day, I bought the thermometer I found at the stationery store and hung it on the wall of my study.

Heo Jin-seok, poet and professor at Korea National Sport University

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.