World in the Balance: The Historic Quest for an Absolute System of Measurement

World in the Balance: The Historic Quest for an Absolute System of Measurement
ISBN-10
0393072983
ISBN-13
9780393072983
Series
World in the Balance
Category
Science
Pages
317
Language
English
Published
2011-10-24
Publisher
W. W. Norton & Company
Author
Robert P. Crease

Description

The Meter of Archives, a simple, unadorned stick, has ruled an international network of measures for almost a century. How did such an unprepossessing object come to such importance? Crease follows the evolution of our system of measurement from countless disparate systems that arose from local resources and practices to their consolidation into a single network, the 'International System of Units' (SI). World in the Balance is organized chronologically: Crease begins with body measures (the practice of using parts of our own body to improvise measures) and moves through the creation of the metric system in the wake of the French Revolution and the codification of units inherited from the Romans into a second system, the Imperial System of Great Britain. Crease ends with the quest for ultimate precision and efforts to exchange the kilogram, currently a man-made simple metal cylinder slightly over 2 inches high, for an absolute standard in nature (e.g., atoms). Much as he did in The Great Equations, Crease centers each chapter on a dramatic, defining moment in this sweeping history and the colorful characters who took on the struggle to create an invisible but essential network to connect international commerce and scientific laboratories all over the world. We encounter a West African student whose research on the Akan ethnic group leads to the discovery that their currency system relies on weighing gold dust. We met Charles S. Peirce, an eccentric American scientist, who was the first to tie a unit, the meter, to an absolute standard (the wavelength of light). And we see how a piece of artwork by Marcel Duchamp attempts to sabotage the rationality of the meter. Along the way, readers are treated to 'interludes' on topics ranging from how the Great Pyramid of Egypt was a contender for a metrological standard to 'moctrology,' the practice of making fun of units and measures.

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