Surface temperature control of a thin plate is investigated. Temperature is controlled on one side of the plate using the other side temperature measurements. This is a decades-old problem, reactivated more recently by the awareness that this is a fractional-order problem that justifies the investigation of the use of fractional order calculus. The approach is based on a transfer function obtained from the one-dimensional heat conduction equation solution that results in a fractional-order s-domain representation. Both the inverse problem approach and the fractional controller approach are studied here to control the surface temperature, the first one using inverse problem plus a Proportional only controller, and the second one using only the fractional controller. The direct problem defined as the ratio of the output to the input, while the inverse problem defined as the ratio of the input to the output. Both transfer functions are obtained, and the resulting fractional-order transfer functions were approximated using Taylor expansion and Zero-Pole expansion. The finite number of terms transfer functions were used to form an open-loop control scheme and a closed-loop control scheme. Simulation studies were done for both control schemes and experiments were carried out for closed-loop control schemes. For the fractional controller approach, the fractional controller was designed and used in a closed-loop scheme. Simulations were done for fractional-order-integral, fractional-order-derivative and fractional-integral-derivative controller designs. The experimental study focussed on the fractional-order-integral-derivative controller design. The Fractional-order controller results are compared to integer-order controller’s results. The advantages of using fractional order controllers were evaluated. Both Zero-Pole and Taylor expansions are used to approximate the plant transfer functions and both expansions results are compared. The results show that the use of fractional order controller performs better, in particular concerning the overshoot.