The 17th-century Roots of the Metric System
Stuff You Missed in History Class
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Wilkins and Mouton: Exploring a Universal System of Measurement
This chapter dives into the work of Wilkins and Mouton during the 17th century as they independently worked on creating a universal system of measurement. Wilkins proposed a decimal-based system using a pendulum as the standard unit, while Mouton suggested using the measurement of the earth as a basis.
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Two men, working separately but simultaneously, are each cited as the originator of the idea of the metric system depending on what source you read. But it took more than 100 years to implement the ideas they suggested.
Research:
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- “Origin of the Metric System.” U.S. Metric Association. https://usma.org/origin-of-the-metric-system
- Pepys, Samuel “Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete.” George Bell and Sons. London. 1893. Accessed online: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4200/4200-h/4200-h.htm
- Riebeek, Holli. “Planetary Motion: The History of an Idea That Launched the Scientific Revolution.” Earth Observatory NASA. July 7, 2009. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/OrbitsHistory
- Russell, Cristine. “Congress Inches Away from Metric Conversion.” BioScience, vol. 24, no. 8, 1974, pp. 441–43. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1296850
- Speziali, Pierre. “Mouton, Gabriel.” Dictionary of Scientific Biography, edited by Charles Coulston Gillespie. Vol. 9, pp. 554–555. New York. 1974.
- Stephen, Leslie. “Dictionary of National ” MacMillan. New York. 1885-1900. Accessed online: https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofnati61stepuoft/page/n11/mode/2up
- Wallis, John, Dr. “The Origin of the Royal Society, 1645-1662.” Fordham University Modern History Sourcebook. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1662royalsociety.asp
- “Latitude Dependent Changes in Gravitational Acceleration.” UNLV Department of Geosicence. https://pburnley.faculty.unlv.edu/GEOL452_652/gravity/notes/GravityNotes18LatitudeVariations.htm
- Wetfall, Richard S. “Mouton, Gabriel.” The Galileo Project. Rice University. http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/mouton.html
- Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "pendulum". Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 May. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/technology/pendulum
- Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Imperial units". Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Nov. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Imperial-unit
- Britannica, The Editors of E "metric system". Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Nov. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/science/metric-system-measurement
- “Metrication in other countries.” U.S. Metric Associatio https://usma.org/metrication-in-other-countries#chart
- Ramani, Madhvi. “How France created the metric system.” BBC. Feb. 24, 2022. https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20180923-how-france-created-the-metric-system
- Zupko, Ronald and Chisholm, Lawrence James. "measurement system."Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Oct. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/science/measurement-system
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