John and Martin, You guys are fortunate that you were taught meter/kilogram/second/ampere (MKSA) units of measurement, and did not have to suffer through esu and emu as an undergraduate as I did, completing my BS in physics in 1952.
Later, I taught physics at a University of Alabama-Huntsville night class from the text by Halliday and Resnick (1962 Combined Edition) which still used the acronym "MKS" although SI was formally created in 1960. The EM chapters do, however, use the conventions of SI, although without a single mention of the two-year-old SI at the time. Such a two-year delay of recognition of "SI" would be intolerable today with sources rapidly posted by the Internet. Eugene Mechtly ________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of Martin Vlietstra [[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2013 4:12 PM To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:52367] Re: milliliters exclusively instead of teaspoons I was a few years behind John – I sat my BSc exams in November/December 1968 and my BCs (Hons) a year later . (Southern hemisphere – South Africa, hence summer holidays over Christmas). As John said, I was brought up using the MKS system I(as we called it) in physics. But the applied mathematicians used the cgs system – one set of lecturers using c^2 and the other using με (or was it their inverses?) as the constant in the wave equation. Anyway, it helped me when I was writi9ng the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system. As with Paul and John, our department did not mention SI, but the notes from our thermodynamics lecturers (who walked with a limp due to WWII injuries) read “To fix the temperature scale we need two points. Now however we use point”. I will leave you with that. Martin From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John M. Steele Sent: 16 February 2013 19:56 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:52365] Re: milliliters exclusively instead of teaspoons I received my BSEE in 1966 and it was never called SI, or the International System of Units. However, I learned "metric" as at least a somewhat coherent system in high school chemistry and physics, and as MKSA (meter/kilogram/second/ampere) in college where its coherence was emphasized. The work of Giorgi in incorporating electical units into mks was specifically discussed, and our physics courses weren't to use cgs units. That was new direction and the textbook for our fifth term of physics had not been re-written to comply -- very confusing. A few minor details changed but the differences between MKSA approved by the CIPM in 1946 and the formal approval of the SI in 1960 are really negligible. Certainly the kelvin, the mole, and the candela (candle back then) were all well known and used before incorporation into the SI. ________________________________ From: Paul Trusten <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Sent: Sat, February 16, 2013 1:32:05 PM Subject: [USMA:52364] Re: milliliters exclusively instead of teaspoons Great question, Martin. I'll have to find out. I got my pharmacist license during the Bicentennial, so much may have changed. I would he interested to know if is taught as a system approach. I would hope that it is in-depth if it is taught as part of a pre-professional curriculum, since it would have to be adopted for use there by younger students who would then branch off into different healthcare disciplines (medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, medical laboratory science, radiology, respiratory therapy) and should indeed know SI in depth before entering their professional curricula. I can tell you this: I was never taught SI. No teacher--and I have a BA in biology as well as a BS in Pharmacy-- ever stood in front of me and uttered even the words "International System of Units," much less deliver a few lectures on the subject. What we learned about SI was gleaned by rote, and without an appreciation that they were part of a coherent whole. I'll start by asking my alma mater. PaulPaul R. Trusten Registered Pharmacist Vice President and Public Relations Director U.S. Metric Association, Inc. www.metric.org<http://www.metric.org> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> +1(432)528-7724 ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Sent: 2013-02-16 11:05 Subject: [USMA:52363] Re: milliliters exclusively instead of teaspoons > Paul Trusten-- I'm curious: what kind of training in measurement do > pharmacists get these days? Is it just the minimum to do the job, or do they > get in-depth training for an understanding of measurement systems, including > not only basic metric units, but also SI. I notice that the Merck Manual is > using more SI units, e.g., to replace millimetres of mercury and decilitres > of blood components. --Martin Morrison > > >
