Many Americans still refer to the SI as the metric system even though
the SI has been around for well over half a century. I am almost
finished reading a fascinating book by Robert P. Crease - World in the
Balance: The Historic Quest for a Universal System of Measurement -
ISBN 978-0-393-07298-3 and on Page 226, the last page of Chapter 10,
Mr Crease puts this question into perspective. The following is right
from his book:
The eleventh CGPM in 1960 faced the question of what to call this new
reorganization and extension of measures. The name "metric system" had
referred to the units for length and mass. What the CGPM had created
was much more comprehensive, and after some discussion this new system
was called "The International System of Units," or SI after its French
initials. For the first time, the world had not merely universal units
but a universal system of units.
David Pearl MetricPioneer.com 503-428-4917
