SPOILER ALERT:
The official UK and USA metrology websites are INACCURATE
Since the inception of the International System of Units (SI) in 1960, it has always been recognised that some non-SI units, such as the litre, minute and hour, are “widely used and are expected to continue to be used for many years”.
Continue reading “Which non-SI units are accepted for use with the SI?”
1 July 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the switch to metric road signs in Australia.
For about a year before the change, car manufacturers fitted dual speedometers to their vehicles and, after 1974 all new cars were fitted with metric-only speedometers. Several kinds of speedometer conversion kits were available. As a result of all these changes, conversion on the roads occurred without incident.
Continue reading “50 years of metric road signs in Australia”
Recent Metric Views articles have discussed the poor awareness of the meaning of driver location signs amongst the general public, and argued that despite their inclusion in recent editions of the Highway Code, there is still a need for a new public information campaign about these signs.
However, could there be another reason why driver location signs are poorly understood? And is there a solution that would both increase public awareness and increase their use?
Continue reading “Do our motorway junction numbers hinder the use of driver location signs?”
120 years ago, in addition to the activities of their members, the Decimal Association made use of pamphlets to make their case for the adoption of the metric system in place of the bewildering array of imperial weights and measures that were in use at the time.
Continue reading “How did campaigners for the metric system get their message across 120 years ago?”
With the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee still fresh in people’s memories, and with a new King on the throne, it is a momentous time in our country’s history as the House of Lords votes unanimously to switch to the sole use of the metric system for all official purposes within a 2-year period.
The vote was undoubtedly influenced by the massive public support recently expressed in favour of the metric system.
Continue reading “House of Lords votes in favour of full adoption of the metric system”
When four new SI prefixes were added to the International System of Units (SI) in November 2022, one of the main reasons cited for their need was for their use in data science, where the numbers involved in describing quantities of information have become ever larger. e.g. The amount of data generated by the internet is projected to hit 175 zettabytes by 2025.
Whether it is twips for typographic screen measurements, hands for horses’ heights or furlongs for horse racing, many imperial units are used for specific purposes. By contrast, the International System of Units (SI), the modern version of the metric system, is based on the principle that each measurable phenomenon has one basic named unit and all the multiples and subdivisions of the unit then follow the same logical structure using prefixes.
Continue reading “Universal metric or particular imperial?”We are mourning the death at the age of only 65 of Benjamin Zephaniah, the man for whom perhaps the term Performance Poet was invented. He was a man of many parts, poet, writer, performer, campaigner, anarchist, professor, doctor 16 times over, and last but not least, supporter of the UK Metric Association.
Continue reading “One in a million”Glenys Elizabeth Kinnock, Lady Kinnock of Holyhead, née Parry. Born 7 July 1944; died 3 December 2023.
We are mourning the death at the age of 79 of Lady Glenys Kinnock, whose husband, Neil Kinnock, is one of the patrons of UKMA. She was somebody who was much more than a political spouse, but rather a politician of note in her own right.
Continue reading “Lady Kinnock of Holyhead obituary”The fight to keep the imperial system and resist the growing role of the metric system in the UK has been erroneously seen as the plucky British underdog gaining victory over the European bully. This is how metrication issues are reported in populist national newspapers. Hence the growing hostility to the European Union has come in tandem with growing hostility to the metric system. Many wrongly believe the myth that the metric system has been imposed on the UK by the EU. The EU is seen as the villain or bogeyman in the metrication process in the twenty-first century. How can we demolish the EU bogeyman to clear the path for the completion of metrication in the UK?
Continue reading “How can we get rid of the EU bogeyman to clear path for metrication?”
Metric Views 