"Down with the metric system. Imperial is what put a man on the moon."
The response I normally make when this canard is raised is:
"Yes, and the ancient Egyptians built the Great Pyramid -- which was the
largest man made structure in the world for 3800 years -- without the
use of wheels, pulleys or metal tools. This was an incredible feat, and
is a tribute to their engineering skills. It doesn't mean that because
of this, modern engineers should so limit themselves. Similarly, the
fact that the US put a man on the moon -- despite the handicap of having
an incoherent system of measurement -- is more a tribute to American
ingenuity and engineering than an argument to keep using the same system
going forward. In both cases, that was then - this is now".
Tom Wade
[email protected]
We have all heard this mindless drivel expressed on the internet. BUT --
First of all, as several Metric Today articles have shown, most of the
U.S. lunar program was done in metric.
Second, the non-metric part was not in Imperial, but U.S. legacy units.
Third, it was metric that first put a man into space (Russia).
Fourth, it will be metric that sends a man to Mars.
"Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and
drunkenness sobered, but STUPID lasts forever." Aristophanes, the
ancient Greek comedy writer (446-386 B.C.)
--Martin Morrison
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