I can no longer play the TV clip either, looks like the BBC have removed it.
David K
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I was able to hear the radio clip but could not connect to the server for the
TV clip.
Did anyone else have better luck?
Ezra
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: David King <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The UKMA has issued a press release drafted by Pat Naughtin and
issued today.
Metric system invented in England - new discovery.
London, 12 July 2007.
Recent historical research makes it clear that
not only was the metric system invented in England, but also the idea
behind the International System of Units (SI), that is now used all over
the world, came from the work of John Wilkins, the founder and first
secretary of the Royal Society. This discovery finally discredits the
arguments of last ditch defenders of "imperial" units that the metric
system is "foreign".
John Wilkins published his description for a 'universal measure' in
1668, more than 120 years before the metric system was adopted by France
in the 1790s.
The research was conducted by Pat Naughtin, a metrication specialist
from Australia, who carried out his research at Wadham College in
Oxford, at Trinity College in Cambridge, and at the Royal Society in
London.
Wilkins' system was complete in that it was based on decimal numbers
(10s, 100s, and 1000s) and its measurements were to be based on an
internationally agreed 'universal measure', which would become the basis
for other measures.
Our modern measuring methods now use all of Wilkins' ideas: we use
prefixes to go from millimetres via metres to kilometres, we have a
universally agreed definition of a metre, and a litre of water has a
mass of a kilogram.
Wilkins' 'universal measure' worked out to be:
"38 Rhineland inches, or (which is all one) 39 inches and a quarter
according to our London standard. "John Wilkins: An Essay towards a Real
Character and a Philosophical Language (London, 1668 May 13).
Pat Naughtin says, 'In modern terms this is equivalent to 997
millimetres or quite close to the modern metre'.
Although Wilkins did not use the word 'metre', its use became common
after Tito Livio Burattini translated Wilkins 'universal measure' to its
Italian equivalent, 'metro catholico' and, it seems that this was later
translated, and shortened, to the French word, metre.
Pat Naughtin will be in London to speak at the Annual Conference of the
United Kingdom Metric Association (UKMA) on Saturday 14 July.
You can find details about Pat Naughtin from his web site at:
http://www.metricationmatters.com/ or
http://www.metricationmatters.com/pat_naughtin/
Pat Naughtin also appeared today on BBC News 24 and on BBC Radio 4, here in the
UK, being interviewed about his discovery.
There is a link at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/mainframe.shtml?http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/ra
dio4_aod.shtml?radio4/pm
When the sound starts, forward to 22 mins 50 secs for the start of Pat
Naughtin's part. Ends at 27:00.
The TV news clip can be seen at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_5260000/newsid_5261200/5261222.stm?bw=bb
&mp=rm&news=1&ms3=4
be quick though, I am not sure how long these things stay available online.
David King
