On Aug 12 , at 12:08 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:
Of course if (the kilogram) does become a derived unit we can name it after a person, ...
I think most people assign far too much importance to the tradition of naming some units after people (and the related tradition involving capitalization of unit symbols).
The above statement by Simon is typical. There is the implication (perhaps unintended) that naming a unit after a person is only possible if a unit is a derived unit, not a base unit.
That's not true. The SI units Kelvin and the Ampere are named after people even though they are base units, not derived ones.
CGPM traditionally uses names of famous people associated with certain types of measurement when looking for a name for a unit of that type of measurement, but it is just a traditional practice, and far from being a hard and fast law or rule.
The kilogram unit could be renamed by naming it after a prominent scientist (or anyone else!) regardless of whether it is a base or a derived unit. NOT doing so might be a break from tradition but it would not be "breaking the law".
Bill Hooper 72 kg body mass* Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA * plus or minus a kilogram or so.
