2002 November 19
Dear Dr. Maenen;
It brings great joy to learn that your doctorate was awarded.
I got mine 40 years ago. To do that I had to change to metric.
(In those days it was called MKS. In 1962 SI had just been invented
but I did not know that.) I was faced with making radiometers for
use in the stratosphere. Because there were problems with radiometers
in use, there was need for a radiometer that was not "calibrated",
that is, not calibrated by comparison with another radiometer. To
do this thermal coefficients had to be found for all of the materials
in a radiometer. But, lo, information on the various materials
(wood, plastic, air, aluminum, copper, paint, etc.) had different
combinations of units (Btu, d, min, s, degC, degF, in, ft, cm, cal,
W). From this I decided to change all numbers to MKS, regardless
of the source units. Even radiation in the atmosphere was in
langleys. Quel dommage.
So, metric it has been ever since, for everything.
Moral: To understand the world, everything needs to be done in SI.
Your work is going to help us all. Thanks.
Robert Bushnell
