Basic electrical networks are described that compensate for the thermal time lag of thermocouple and resistance thermometer elements. For a given set of operating conditions, networks requiring no amplifiers can provide a thirtyfold reduction in effective time lag. This improvement is obtained without attenuation of the voltage signal, but does result in a large reduction in the amount of electric power available because of an increase in the output impedance of the network. Networks used commercially available amplifiers can provide a thousandfold reduction in the effective time lag without attenuation of the alternating voltage signal or or the available electric power, but the improvement is often obtained at the expense of loss of the zero-frequency signal. The completeness of compensation is limited by the extent of off-design operation required.