Defining and measuring nature :the make of all things /

---

"Version: 20140301"--Title page verso."A Morgan & Claypool publication as part of IOP Concise Physics"--Title page verso.Includes bibliographical references.Measurement in antiquity -- Man is the measure of all things -- Seeds and cosmic forces -- The Bronze-Age -- The Roman Empire -- Further readingMeasurement in the early modern period -- 'Measured by the king's iron rod' -- Measuring the worldMeasurement in the Modern World -- La R?evolution Fran?caise -- Defining the size of the world -- The metric survey -- Envy, money, terror and the metric system -- The endgame -- Further readingFalling out of favour with the metric systemCreating the language that is science -- Dividing apples with oranges to make ... something different -- The consequences of mixing units -- Derived units -- A final comment on the value of a quantityWhat was not in the original metric system? -- Energy, work and power -- ElectricityMeasurement in the age of scientific certainty -- The Convention du M?etre -- The CGPM, the CIPM and the BIPMA true universal language? -- Even scientists cannot always agree on units20th century refinements in measurement -- Two peoples separated by a common system of weights and measuresThe base units of the Syst?eme international des unit?es -- Metre -- Kilogram -- Second -- Atomic time -- Ampere -- Kelvin -- Candela -- Mole -- Final comments on Ionizing radiation -- Further readingFor this is science -- Units of measurement must evolve, because science evolves -- The constants of natureRe-inventing the Syst?eme international des unit?es : towards a Quantum-SI -- Is the kilogram getting lighter...or heavier? -- The 'smoking gun' -- The how and the why of redefinition -- The devil is in the detail -- 'Who will explain the explanations?' -- Further readingDialects of the single language of science -- Final thoughts on the evolution of units of measurement.Full-text restricted to subscribers or individual document purchasers.Weights and measures form an essential part of our ingrained view of the world. It is just about impossible to function effectively without some internalized system of measurement. In this volume, I outline a history of the science of measurement, and the origin of the International System of Units ('SI'). The simplicity and coherence of the Metric System is outlined, and we see how a system of weights and measures, based on only seven fundamental quantities, can be used as the basis of all science. We will soon witness a redefinition of four of the seven fundamental quantities upon which the SI is based. This change in how we all define a number of fundamental quantities will not be subject to any discussion or appeal, humanity will be presented with a fait accompli. What will this mean for us?Also available in print.Mode of access: World Wide Web.System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.Jeffrey Huw Williams, born 13 April 1956, gained his PhD in chemical physics from Cambridge University in 1981. His career has been in the physical sciences. First, as a research scientist in the universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard and Illinois, and subsequently as a physicist at the Institute Laue-Langevin. He has published more than sixty technical papers and invited review articles in the peer-reviewed literature. He left research in 1992 and moved to the world of science publishing and the communication of science by becoming the European editor for the physical sciences for the AAAS's Science. Subsequently, he was the Assistant Executive Secretary of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, the agency responsible for the advancement of chemistry through international collaboration. Most recently, 2003-2008, he was the head of publications at the Bureau international des poids et mesures (BIPM), S?evres. The BIPM is charged by the Metre Convention of 1875 with ensuring world-wide uniformity of measurements and their traceability to the International System of Units (SI). It was during these years at the BIPM that he became interested in, and familiar with the origin of the Metric System, its subsequent evolution into the SI, and the coming transformation into the Quantum-SI.Title from PDF title page (viewed on March 5, 2014).

---

Availability

No copy data

Detail Information

Series Title

-

Call Number

-

Publisher

: .,

Collation

1 online resource (various pagings) :colour illustrations.

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

9781627052795

Classification

530.8/1

Content Type

-

Media Type

-

Carrier Type

-

Edition

-

Subject(s)

Weights and measures
Measurement
Metric system
Mensuration and systems of measurement.
SCIENCE / Weights & Measures.

Specific Detail Info

-

Statement of Responsibility

Jeffrey H. Williams.

Other version/related

File Attachment

Comments

---

You must be logged in to post a comment