Going Metric

Green areas of map use the metric system of measurement

February 12, 1973: The first metric road signs in the US are erected along Interstate 71 in Ohio, giving metric distances from Cincinnati to Columbus and from Columbus to Cleveland. As far back as 1790 Thomas Jefferson wanted the new nation to adopt a decimal based system for weights and measurements. The metric system was first well defined by the French in 1791. This early system was concerned with length and mass and were based on the meter and the gram.

The sun may have never set on the British Empire, but systems for measuring were not standardized throughout the world. The Imperial and US measures were identical for length. Mass measurement remained a weighty issue. The Avoirdupois system had a basic unit of the pound weighing in at 16 ounces. The Brits had a weight called a “stone” that was 14 pounds that the US did not employ at all. The US hundredweight was 100 pounds while the British added a “long” to the weight and it came to 112 pounds making the US ton 2,000 pounds and the British one 2,240 pounds.

Systems of measurement were necessary for building, buying, or bartering. The earliest codified system of measurements shows up in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley areas in the 4^th – 3^rd millennium BC. An ivory ruler, found in the Indus Valley, shows amazingly accurate measurements. The smallest division was only 1.704 mm. In ancient Egypt, measurement systems were necessary for the building of the pyramids. Many of the early tombs have pictures of scales, a necessary accoutrement to fair bartering. Early measurements were based on body size and then formalized or codified. The cubit was the measure a man’s forearm and was comprised of 28 digits, or width of 28 fingers. These lengths were eventually codified for accuracy.

Today’s world, with a world market, needs a standardized measurement system. The International System of Units [SI] is that standard. It is not accepted worldwide, however. The European Union has given the rest of the world until 2010 to convert measurements on any goods that will be imported to the EU nations. Now, if we could only get one monetary system in order to pay for our accurately measured goods.

“Thus the metric system did not really catch on in the States, unless you count the increasing popularity of the nine-millimeter bullet.” – Dave Barry

“For many years the National Pretend Speed Limit was fifty-five miles per hour (metric equivalent: 378 kilograms per hectare.)” – Dave Barry

“A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me. I’m afraid of widths.” – Stephen Wright

“I think that a particle must have a separate reality independent of the measurements. That is an electron has spin, location and so forth even when it is not being measured. I like to think that the moon is there even if I am not looking at it.” – Albert Einstein

Also on this day:
Nine Days of Rule – In 1554, Lady Jane Grey was executed.
NAACP – In 1909, the NAACP was formed.