Let's Get Metric

Rerun. Feet, inches, palms, cubits, rods… all were SWEPT ASIDE on 28th September, 1889, when the first General Conference of the Weights and Measures Commission met in Sèvres, France to refine a definition for the NEW universal measurement of distance: the metre.

The calculation was painstakingly made by measuring a quarter of the meridian of the Earth - running from the North Pole to the Equator - and then dividing it into 10 million parts. Metal bars measuring exactly one metre were then distributed to attendees of the Conference.

In this episode Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider whether this scientific method of calculating distance was *really* any better than barleycorns and man-size hugs; ask why the USA still hasn’t got on-board with the metric system; and explain why Napoleon might not have been as short as we think he was…

Further Reading:

• ‘Galileo, Krypton, and How the Metric Standard Came to Be’ (WIRED, 2018): https://www.wired.com/story/book-excerpt-the-perfectionists-history-meter/

• ‘How France created the metric system’ (BBC Travel, 2018): https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20180923-how-france-created-the-metric-system

• ‘Who Invented the Meter?’ (It’s Okay To Be Smart, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3eHHwcMVcA

‘Why am I hearing a rerun?’ Every Thursday is 'Throwback Thursday' on Today in History with the Retrospectors: running one repeat per week means we can keep up the quality of our independent podcast. Daily shows like this require a lot of work! But as ever we'll have something new for you tomorrow, so follow us wherever you get your podcasts:podfollow.com/Retrospectors

 

 

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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill. Edit producer: Sophie King. Mix & Scheduling: Steve Stonhold

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023. 

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