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Category Archives: History
The metric changeover – a continuum or a barrier to surmount?
Readers may have seen versions of world maps showing ‘non-metric’ countries, usually Liberia, Myanmar and the US. The previous article on Metric Views generated comments about the qualifications for membership of this select band, and we now consider this further.
How decimalisation succeeded while metrication stalled
The media like nothing better than an anniversary, so it was predictable that the 40th anniversary of “decimal day” – 15 February, 1971, when the UK finally gave up its archaic and inconvenient coinage and currency – would get a … Continue reading
Posted in General, History, Media, Road signs
Tagged decimalisation, Department for Transport, metrication, weights and measures
14 Comments
An ‘el’ of a standard
The powers that be of the metric system are wrestling with the problem of defining the kilogram independently of an actual physical object (i.e. the very slowly degrading cylinder of platinum-iridium alloy kept at Sèvres, near Paris, known as “the … Continue reading
Did “Victorian values” block metrication?
What is it about the British that makes it so difficult to implement a simple, obvious and necessary reform – the adoption of a single, rational system of measurement, used by everybody for all purposes? A newly published dissertation attempts … Continue reading
Parts of the knowledge economy hit the buffers in South America
It has been said that Britain is becoming a knowledge economy, and also that metal bashing can now be safely left to the low-wage economies of the Far East. If only it were that simple. Consider the railway industry …
Posted in General, History, Technical, Transport
Tagged knowledge-economy railway-industry high-speed-line, metrication
3 Comments
10-10-10. A reason for celebration
For many in Britain, the metric system and decimal measures are the same. Sunday’s once-in-a-century date provides an opportunity to consider the link between the two.
Posted in Education, General, History, Technical, Views from abroad
Tagged decimal, mesures-usuelles, metric, rational-system, USA
24 Comments
Linked by a common system of measures
There is a widely held view in the UK that we share our measurement system with the USA. True – but not in the way many believe.
Why do nautical miles linger on?
I recently had an exchange of correspondence with an acquaintance (a former RAF pilot) who tried to explain to me why most of the world of aviation still uses nautical miles and knots rather than kilometres and km/h. The explanation … Continue reading
Posted in General, History, Technical, Transport
Tagged aviation, Chinook, knot, nautical mile
27 Comments
Big Bang vs “voluntary gradualism”
A correspondent asks whether countries that carried out their metrication programme quickly fared better or worse than countries that have tried to do the job gradually and voluntarily.
An anniversary overlooked
This year marks 125 years since the United Kingdom signed the Metre Convention.