In contrast to his last article, John Frewen-Lord takes a look this week at some of the activities of seven famous people who later had SI units of measurement named after them.
Tag: measurement units
Hacking IKEA
It is said that people either love IKEA or hate it. Even those who fall into the latter group may find a recently published article amusing.
As others see us
A recent survey carried out by IPSOS Mori on behalf of the British Council may go some way to explain the UK’s failure to complete the metric changeover.
It’s official – the UK’s hybrid collection of measures is here to stay
Recently, one of our readers wrote to his MP about the UK’s measurement muddle. He received a reply from the office of the Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts MP, who has responsibility for measurement standards in the UK. This reply confirms that the Government has no plan to reduce the current mixture of units in common use in the UK or to promote a single system of measurement for all purposes.
Continue reading “It’s official – the UK’s hybrid collection of measures is here to stay”
One hundred years of metric rainfall measurement
– not that the media have noticed. John Frewen-Lord looks into this oversight, drawing our attention to a centenary that occurs on 1 May.
Continue reading “One hundred years of metric rainfall measurement”
Are imperial units ‘British’?
Continuing with our series on myths, misinformation and fallacies, we look at the claim occasionally made by defenders of imperial units that they are British and that they should continue in use for this reason.
Survey exposes the failure of measurement policy in the UK
The UK Metric Association has issued the following press release:
Continue reading “Survey exposes the failure of measurement policy in the UK”
The IET – how does it measure up?
We return to one of our favourite topics – the link between numeracy, units of measurement and British engineering success.
BBC told to stop undermining the National Measurement System
In its response to a recent BBC consultation the UK Metric Association (UKMA) has called on the BBC to live up to its declared mission and hence to support – and not to undermine – the exclusively metric National Measurement System.
Continue reading “BBC told to stop undermining the National Measurement System”
How should I say my height?
I am 1.79 m tall. But how should I say that? Continue reading “How should I say my height?”
Metric Views 