Today is exactly 150 years since the Metre Convention was signed by 17 nations. This treaty established the use of the metric system internationally and created the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) and the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM), organizations with different roles, to co-ordinate international efforts to standardize measurements.
The BIPM has grown from the original 17 nations to 64 member states and 37 associate states and economies today. Meanwhile, the metric system has spread to every country in the world. It is hard to imagine a treaty that has had a greater impact on our daily lives than the Metre Convention. The metric system is now used in numerous daily activities including cooking, energy consumption, weather reports, supermarket shopping, sports activities and exercise, DIY and motoring. And this is not a comprehensive list.
One reason for the success of the metric system it is based on nature. The metre was derived from calculation of measurements to determine the distance of the North Pole to the Equator. A metre is ten millionth of that distance. Another reason for the success of the metric system is that it is all based on powers of ten and the use of common prefixes combined with base units.
Various events are being organized to celebrate this important anniversary.
Metric Views 
The World Metrology Day Symposium can be watched live now at this link:
https://youtu.be/GEt30j80CN4
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An interesting article from a Canadian visiting Britain:
https://lloydalter.substack.com/p/happy-150th-birthday-to-the-metric
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The UK did not sign the Metre Convention until 17 September 1884 (See https://www.bipm.org/en/countries/gb). Since then the British scientists have played a leading role in the development of the metric system, notably the production of the prototype metres and kilograms that were distributed to Metre Convention member states and the development at the NPL of the Watt Balance (now known as the Kibble Balance). Unfortunately the British politicians and British press have not given these British scientists the recognition that they deserve with certain popular British newspapers actively undermining their work.
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I’m sure you know this but just for the benefit of readers, the metre was intended to be a power of 10 of the polar distance, but this turned out not to be accurate as measuring devices improved.
Instead, the metre is the distance light travels in a vacuum during 1/299,792,458 of a second – in some ways more beautiful, as it’s a universal constant rather than something earthbound!
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@m
I did not know if I should laugh or cry at comment No. 10 from a supposed UK long term resident!!!!
One gem: – “… from in all my years living in the UK I never once heard a British person use Fahrenheit for a temperature.”
And “… If you order a pint in a British pub, you quite often get a metric pint which is 600 mL.”
Apparently we are all lying about the use of imperial. Now, where did I see that bed in feet and inches?
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Aren’t 600 ml pints in Australia? I agree people don’t use Fahrenheit much these days in the UK, but as you say the ‘screamer’ headlines use it, and people generally used to until maybe 20 years ago.
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