How pirates stole the metric system from America - photos
According to the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), America almost adopted the metric system, were it not for some meddling British pirates in the Caribbean.
In 1793, Thomas Jefferson sought to introduce the metric system in the United States (this process is called "metrication"). Jefferson requested measurement standards to be brought from France to implement metrication in the American states.
The French and the Americans were best buddies at the time, while the British were still bitter over their loss in the American Revolutionary War - losing those 13 American colonies marked the end of what we now refer to as The First British Empire.
Enter Joseph Dombey, a French botanist and physician, and the major participant in what we now call The Dombey Affair.
Here's a bust of Dombey:
https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...ombey_bust.jpg
To answer Thomas Jefferson's requests for measurement standards, the French sent Dombey, a respected scientist and explorer, to America. Dombey carried with him two standards made of copper: a standard measure of length (a meter), and a standard measure of mass (a kilogram, then called a "grave"). Dombey was to meet Jefferson in Philadelphia, and the meter and kilogram were to be introduced to the States as their measurement standards.
Here's a centuries-old grave now owned by the NIST museum:
https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...1793_grave.jpg
Dombey's ship never made it to America. While in the Caribbean en route to America in 1794, it was boarded by pirates. The pirates were British privateers; they had tacit approval from the British government to plunder maritime vessels and keep a portion of the profit for themselves. Today we would call this state-sponsored terrorism, but in the 18th century, privateering was a common tactic in maritime life, openly utilized by various countries.
When Dombey's ship was boarded by the pirates, he tried to disguise himself by quickly putting on the clothes of an ordinarily sailor, but he was outed by his unusual accent. The pirates imprisoned him on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, where he died. The ship's cargo, including the copper standards, was auctioned off. The standards eventually found their way into American hands, but by then, it was too late.
I found this beauty on the NIST website. Looks like a creative NIST graphic designer has added a grave standard to a pirate flag, creating a fine flag for a metric rebel.
https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...irate_flag.jpg
More:
https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-me...metric-edition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric..._United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_(unit)
Previously:
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...1787#post94713
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Confessions of a metric convertite
Thank you, nhengineer for sharing that.
Just my 2/3 thruppence worth, being an "early adopter" of the metric system, I scrutinize my own beliefs in this respect:
1) Measurement systems and/ or their units aren't TRUE in any ontological, cosmological, theological or absolute sense, merely arbitrarily chosen systems of units.
2) Some measurement systems are more logical: consistent, complete and coherent than others.
3) Some measurement systems are more pragmatic than others, i.e. has allowance for development, simplifications and revisions as needed.
4) Some measurement systems are more self-explanatory and simple to use than others.
So, perhaps being a heretic metric user I don't give a hoot about the age of the system itself,
neither do I get any problems if the system adopts a new definition of any base unit within,
nor if it infers yet another prefix, unit or anything else as long as it keeps up the system's own consistency.
Personally, I can share a profound moment in my youth, when I got hit by the insight of the SI systems "interconnectedness" between several of the
mechanical, kinematic, electromagnetic, thermodynamic, photometric derived units (I wasn't much into chemistry then).
On a daily, rational and pragmatic level, I just dig the SI system because:
-When I know THAT any derived unit could be put up as a base unit equation, then I also know HOW to use them and check for my mistakes.
Prefixes are also a pretty simple way of displaying ratios in my part of the world.
That's just good enuff for me, I don't need any sacred, eternal, "natural" or "true" units - but then call me "relativist, revisionist or any other -ist" if you need.
Also, pardon my eventual abuse of your English, as it's not my native language.
Following pic shows some Imperial units and their different (7/8, 1 (sic!), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15, 20, 25, 50, 63, 96, 100, 120, 1760 & 6080) factors:
Attachment 31189