Scoville Units

[Trillipse]

What's the -provenance- of the "Scoville Unit" of hotness (i.e in chilli)? Where does the term come from?

[Clanad]

At the beginning of the 20th century, a scientist named Wilbur Scoville was experimenting with the heat generating effects of capsaicin from peppers for the Parke Davis drug company. His problem was determining the exact strength of his various extracts so he developed a system to measure the "heat" of peppers based on the strength and mix of the capsaicinoids. Simply put he would dilute a sample with water until the human tongue could no longer detect any heat. The hotter the mixture-the greater quantity of water was required to dilute it. The number of "units" of water required were termed "Scoville Units" and most of the varieties of peppers in the world have been tested and rated on the "Scoville Scale"...