There is a new board game, about measurement, called “How Many What?!”. Or rather it is about describing the size of things without the benefit of a universal measurement system.
The game’s blurb says, “Some people will use anything but the metric system to measure things! How Many What?! is the ridiculous party game of absurd comparisons.”
165 years ago, in his opening address at the London meeting of the International Statistical Congress, held on 16 July 1860, Prince Albert drew attention to the measurement muddle prevalent at the time, and was in no doubt that the muddle would have to go.
Words from his speech were included in the 1862 Report From The Select Committee On Weights And Measures, dated 15 July 1862.
Continue reading “Prince Albert and the measurement muddle in the 1860s”
The English bishop John Wilkins was not the only one who developed a decimal-based measurement system that predates the metric system. Anders Bure, a Swedish mathematician and cartographer who lived from 1571 to 1646, developed a different decimal system that used the Swedish foot as the base unit. He tried to introduce this system of weights and measures in Sweden in the seventeenth century. Georg Stiernhielm, a Swedish civil servant, linguist and poet who lived from 1598 to 1672, later recommended this system should become the standard. This system was used between 1855 and 1889. Then Sweden changed over to the metric system on 1 January 1889.
Continue reading “The old Swedish decimal measurement system”Martin Vlietstra attended the St Cross Centre for the History and Philosophy of Physics (HAPP) one-day conference in Oxford on Saturday 7 June 2025 and has written a report about the conference for Metric Views.
Continue reading “Report on Measure for Measure Conference”When the latest Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions (TSRGD) came into force in April 2016, imperial-only restriction signs for height, width and length were no longer authorised. However, the Traffic Signs Manual (TSM) that provides guidance to road contractors on signage has not been updated since 2009 and still includes imperial-only restriction signs to this day. Six months ago, I asked my local MP to contact the Secretary of State for Transport to ask why the Department for Transport has been promoting the use of unauthorised imperial-only road signs since 2016. I received a reply from the DfT a few days ago.
Continue reading “DfT excuse for promoting unauthorised imperial signs in the TSM for the last 9 years”On 19 May 2025, the UK concluded a new agreement with the European Union amid cries of betrayal from the pro-Brexit press. While UKMA has no position on UK-EU relations or on this new agreement, it is a case study to show how it is possible to implement policies such as the completion of the Metric Programme, which started in 1965, while resisting attacks from a hostile media.
Continue reading “Recent example shows way to beat hostile press on metrication”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.
Continue reading “Happy 150th anniversary to the Metre Convention”As we once again enter the Celsiheit season, that uniquely British time of year, where temperatures become so warm that some assume that a switch to the larger numbers of the old Fahrenheit scale is required, the BBC has dashed any hope that 2025 might be the year when Fahrenheit is finally consigned to the history books of UK weather forecasting.
Continue reading “Are UK weather forecasts a form of gaslighting?”
Chris Eubank Jr. has reportedly been fined for being “0.05 lb overweight” at the weigh in for tonight’s middleweight boxing match with Conor Benn.
Continue reading “For Chris Eubank Jr, the cost of professional boxing not going metric is £375 000”
The St Cross Centre for the History and Philosophy of Physics (HAPP) is holding a one-day conference on the history of measurement at the Mathematical Institute in Oxford on Saturday 7 June 2025 from 10.30 am – 5.00 pm BST. Participants can register to attend in person or online. Everyone is welcome to attend. Registration to attend this conference is free but booking is required to attend the conference in person or online.
Continue reading “HAPP one-day conference on the history of measurement”
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