[USMA:23420] Re: A quote that I want to counter

[kilopascal]

2002-11-17   Actually this topic was discussed many times on this list.  I will reiterate my contribution for you.    We got to the moon because of one man.  That man was a German by the name of Werner von Braun.  Werner von Braun once stated that he loathed the American measurements and never used them.  He designed everything in metric.  But, I think he used the cgs subset.  Still he conceived and calculated only in metric units.  But, as was the practice at the time, others working under him converted his designs into FFU for manufacture.  If it wasn't for von Braun, there never would have been a trip to the moon.   When von Braun retired and then died in 1977, NASA was run by others.  Also, as all of the old Peenem�nde Germans (do a google search to find out more about Peenem�nde or see http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/history/vonBraun/Visit/VILLAGE.HTML) who came with him, also have retired and/or died off, NASA deteriorated into a mess of mistakes and errors.    Can't speak much for the A-bombs, but to my knowledge, the work was done mostly in the US by Fermi.  Being Italian born and educated he most likely calculated in metric.  Also, there are a lot of scientific units that do not have FFU equivalents, so of course, SI has to be used.   John   ----- Original Message ----- From: Matthew Zotter To: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Sunday, 2002-11-17 10:18 Subject: [USMA:23414] A quote that I want to counter 2002 NOV 17 SUN   Once I ask someone, "Why don't we use SI?" Response, "Inch pounds put an american on the moon and dropped the A-bomb on Japan, so they're good enough for me."   So does anybody know if the Apollo missions were done in SI or US Customary Units? I know that a lot of Nuclear research is done in SI, but was the Manhattan project in SI?  Was the first bomb made with is mix of SI and inches?   Matthew Zotter