The Measure of All Things
Sunday, January 18th, 2009I finished reading “The Measure of All Things” by Ken Alder, the story of the origins of the metric system. We follow Pierre Méchain and Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre as they endeaver to measure the Paris meridian across the entire span of France and into Spain in ordere to determine the distance from the pole to the equator and thus set the length for the metre which they had defined as one ten-millionth of that distance. By basing the metre on the size of the Earth, the metric system would be “for all people, for all time.”
Their seven year journey took them across France and through the French Revolution. The book was a reminder of the great cost of scientific advancement and the determination and discipline required by her adherants. It makes me glad to be an engineer.
I must say that the book was quite long and took a considerable amount of effort to read. However, despite the somewhat long-winded style, the information was very interesting and opened my eyes to the history buried within the things we use every day. If something as seemingly mundane as the metric system could have such a colourful and scandalous origin, what about milk cartons or yield signs?
You can see this book in my library here.
★★★☆☆
