Dear Joe, What you say is quite right, but I think it leaves out the long and continuous support that the USA has provided to the development of firstly the metric system and subsequently the International System of Units. To summarise this briefly:
Since independence, in 1783, the USA has made many attempts at converting from the inefficient old ways of measuring to the simpler metric units. Thomas Jefferson (1743/1826) and John Quincy Adams (1767/1848) recommended conversion to a metric system for the USA to replace the existing Imperial system sometime before 1784. To put this into context you might recall that 1785 was the year that the USA legislated for the introduction of decimal currency, which took place in 1793. Thomas Jefferson independently developed a system of measures very similar to the French decimal metric system. He differed from the French in that he wanted the metre to be the length of a pendulum that beats seconds because other countries could readily reconstitute that at any time. I don't think we can underrate the effect that support from the USA had on the development of the metric system in France and in Europe generally. I think that the support of this 'new' nation was crucial to the social and political mood of the times. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams again recommended the adoption of the decimal system of measurement for the USA in 1821, but this time he was referring to the metric system as it was used in France. He wrote regarding the French metric system: �Considered merely as a labor-saving machine, it is a new power, offered to man, incomparably greater than that which he has acquired by the new agency which he has given to steam. It is in design the greatest "invention" of human ingenuity since that of printing.� When the next attempt was made to convert the USA to metric, in 1866, several errors were made. Reasons for this failure centre around the ideas that the various laws all called for voluntary conversion to the new units, and that they all insisted on using a dual systems of units during the transition from the old to the new. For example when the first attempt to convert was made in 1866 the USA Congress authorised the use of the metric system for measuring weights and legal in contracts, dealings and court actions; but the same bill also retained the use of the colonial measures. At the same time, other nations were introducing the new units and making the use of the metric system compulsory. The United States was among the original 17 signatories to the Treaty of the Metre in 1875, establishing an international bureau to supervise standard weights and measures. Among other things, this treaty established the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) to provide standards of measurement for worldwide use. Since 1875, the USA has continuously supported the 'Treaty of the Metre' financially, diplomatically, and politically. This support from the USA and the other 47 signatories of the 'Treaty of the metre' have led us to the not-too-bad position we are in today with an SI that is universally respected and that is making gains in the last bastion of old measures, the USA, on an almost daily basis. Regards, Pat Naughtin CAMS Geelong, Australia on 2002-07-13 11.04, Joseph B. Reid at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > The SI unit of inductance is the henry, named after the American physicist > Joseph Henry (1797-1878). Eight Americans have served or are serving on > the Comit� International des Poids et Mesures (CIPM). If I remember > correctly, American laboratories have participated in the latest work in > determining the second, and the speed of light, which is now used to define > the metre. > > Joseph B.Reid > 17 Glebe Road West > Toronto M5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071 >
