Article ID: CBB001212581

Twentieth-Century Length: The Origins, Use, and Formalization of Electromagnetic Standards (2013)

unapi

There was a fundamental change in our standards of length during the twentieth century, as the metal bars that had served for so long gave way to standards based on the wavelength, and then velocity, of light. This article describes those changes with particular emphasis on the standards-in-use of practitioners at the frontier of precision: spectroscopists, industrialists, geodesists, and astronomers. It reveals a multiplicity of de facto standards that supported their various innovations in practical electromagnetic measurement techniques. These de facto standards often came before, and guided the adoption of, the more visible new de jure standards that have been the subject of greater historical attention. I also offer a new explanation of the processes of change in our standards of length, based not simply on the search for better precision but more on concepts of mutual grounding and coherence.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001212581/

Similar Citations

Book Whitelaw, Ian; (2007)
A Measure of All Things: The Story of Man and Measurement (/isis/citation/CBB000830137/)

Book Moulinier, Laurence; Sallmann, Line; Verna, Catherine; Weill-Parot, Nicolas; (2005)
La juste mesure: quantifier, évaluer, mesurer entre orient et occident, VIIIe-XVIIIe siècle (/isis/citation/CBB000701246/)

Chapter Michele Gasparetto; Sergio Sartori; (2014)
Il contributo delle misure (/isis/citation/CBB771468546/)

Book Guan, Zengjian; (2005)
Zhongguo jin xian dai ji liang shi gao (/isis/citation/CBB000953182/)

Book Sergio Sartori; (2014)
Storia delle misure nella società dal 1875 (/isis/citation/CBB319376938/)

Thesis Vera, Hector; (2012)
The Social Life of Measures Metrication in the United States and Mexico, 1789--2004 (/isis/citation/CBB001561019/)

Book National Institute of Standards and Technology (U.S.), ; Lide, David R.; (2002)
A Century of Excellence in Measurements, Standards, and Technology (/isis/citation/CBB000201730/)

Book Quinn, Terry J.; (2011)
From Artefacts to Atoms: The BIPM and the Search for Ultimate Measurement Standards (/isis/citation/CBB001250513/)

Article Rubin, Vera C.; (2010)
Charlotte Moore Sitterly (/isis/citation/CBB001034821/)

Chapter Abattouy, Mohammed; (2007)
The Arabic Tradition of ʿilm al-athqāl (Science of Weights): Texts and Context (/isis/citation/CBB001024047/)

Book Connor, Robert Dickson; Simpson, Allen David Cumming; Morrison-Low, A. D.; (2004)
Weights and Measures in Scotland: A European Perspective (/isis/citation/CBB000750862/)

Article Joshua DiCaglio; (2020)
Scale Tricks and God Tricks, or The Power of Scale in Powers of Ten (/isis/citation/CBB242994383/)

Chapter Giannichedda, Enrico; (2008)
Pesi e misure: storia e archeologia di sistemi eterogenei (/isis/citation/CBB000951238/)

Authors & Contributors
Sartori, Sergio
Gasparetto, Michele
Emma Prevignano
Epstein, Jessica
DiCaglio, Joshua
Morrison-Low, A. D.
Concepts
Measurement
Weights and measures
Metrology
Standards and standardization
Metric system
Science and government
Time Periods
20th century
21st century
19th century
18th century
Modern
Renaissance
Places
United States
Italy
Europe
China
Scotland
Japan
Institutions
Convention du mètre (1875)
International Bureau of Weights and Measures
United States. National Bureau of Standards
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment