I wanted to share this upcoming event with USMA members in the Washington, DC metro area. I can register guests (must have proper government issued ID) until Friday, March 7, 2008. Please contact me if you would like to attend ([EMAIL PROTECTED], or 301-975-3690).
Best regards, Elizabeth 3/14/08 10:30 AM - NIST COLLOQUIUM SERIES: The Measure of All Things: The Seven Year Odyssey That Changed the World In June 1792, in the midst of the French Revolution, two astronomers set out from Paris on a mission to measure the size of the world. Their goal was to establish a universal standard equal to one ten-millionth of the distance from the north pole to the equator--a unit to be known as the meter. After 7 years they returned to a hero's welcome. "Conquests will come and go," Napoleon proclaimed, "but this work shall endure." In the past 200 years the meter has become the measure of the world. Yet all this time a secret "error" has been incorporated into the determination of the meter--an error known only to the two astronomers and hidden by them from public view. This history of their expedition will examine the origin of error analysis, the rise of modern geodesy, and history's first debate over globalization. Copies of the award-winning book, The Measure of All Things, will be available for review and purchase at the talk. Ken Alder, Department of History, Northwestern University. Administration Building, Red Auditorium, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD. (NIST Contact: Kum Ham, 301-975-4203, [EMAIL PROTECTED]) Special Assistance Available Elizabeth J. Gentry National Institute of Standards and Technology Weights and Measures Division Laws and Metric Group 100 Bureau Drive Stop 2600 Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-2600 301-975-3690 Fax: 301-975-8091 http://www.nist.gov/metric
<<image001.gif>>
