WHAT SCIENTIFIC TERM OR CONCEPT OUGHT TO BE MORE WIDELY KNOWN AND APPRECIATED? - THE IMPORTANCE OF MEASUREMENTS
Editor’s Note: In this piece, Hannah Goncher (‘19) explains the origin and importance of measurements and scientific units in the scientific, and greater, world.
Every day billions of people use units; they are important tools that often get overlooked despite being a vital part of our scientific work. We take for granted the ease provided by units, as they are woven into our daily lives and we don't have to think twice about them. Standardized units are a common language, which we can use to recreate experiments, communicate, manufacture, and engineer, among many other things. The development of the first universal measurement began in the 1700s during the French Revolution. With over 250,000 measures in use, there was need for a common measurement in the trading world. Without a common tool of measurement many problems occurred for example, there was no way to accurately assign value to products or ensure buyers how much they were getting. Standardized measurements were needed in society for people to be able to keep up with advancements. The goal was to make a universal measurement, so that relationships could be easily established by using one tool.
When the French began developing their system they knew they wanted it to stand the test of time. The system was created using the most universal thing they could think of; the earth itself. They sent Pierre Méchain, a French astronomer and surveyor, to measure a fraction of the meridian between France and Spain. This was done in hopes of extracting a precise measurement: one ten-millionth of the length between the Equator and the North Pole, to use as the meter. Although this measurement did end up being inaccurate, it served the intended purpose and still lasts to this day.
Measurements are useful because they allow us to draw conclusions and establish relationships between objects, and in turn they make observations more specific. We are also able to identify properties and characteristics of substances, as well as the specific tool used to make that measurement. The ability to give a numerical value to something is helpful when trying to replicate experiments or products, and leaves a platform to be able to make inferences from those numbers. Historian Ken Alder writes about the metric system’s impact on our world “They’re agreements that we strike as an individual culture, as a global society. And the metric system is an incredibly successful global agreement of what measurement can and should be. It has, in a sense, made it possible to communicate over the whole world” (The measure of all things). This demonstrates the profound way measurement affects our lives; it unifies and connects us on a global scale.
Works Cited
[Audio blog interview]. (2014, June 13). Retrieved March 30, 2017, from http://www.radiolab.org/story/kg/.
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. (1998, July 20). Pierre Mechain. Retrieved March 30, 2017, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/
Pierre-Mechain Nasser, L. (2014, June 9). The Meter: The Measure of a Man. Retrieved March 30, 2017, from http://www.radiolab.org/story/meter-measure-man/.
When the French began developing their system they knew they wanted it to stand the test of time. The system was created using the most universal thing they could think of; the earth itself. They sent Pierre Méchain, a French astronomer and surveyor, to measure a fraction of the meridian between France and Spain. This was done in hopes of extracting a precise measurement: one ten-millionth of the length between the Equator and the North Pole, to use as the meter. Although this measurement did end up being inaccurate, it served the intended purpose and still lasts to this day.
Measurements are useful because they allow us to draw conclusions and establish relationships between objects, and in turn they make observations more specific. We are also able to identify properties and characteristics of substances, as well as the specific tool used to make that measurement. The ability to give a numerical value to something is helpful when trying to replicate experiments or products, and leaves a platform to be able to make inferences from those numbers. Historian Ken Alder writes about the metric system’s impact on our world “They’re agreements that we strike as an individual culture, as a global society. And the metric system is an incredibly successful global agreement of what measurement can and should be. It has, in a sense, made it possible to communicate over the whole world” (The measure of all things). This demonstrates the profound way measurement affects our lives; it unifies and connects us on a global scale.
Works Cited
[Audio blog interview]. (2014, June 13). Retrieved March 30, 2017, from http://www.radiolab.org/story/kg/.
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. (1998, July 20). Pierre Mechain. Retrieved March 30, 2017, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/
Pierre-Mechain Nasser, L. (2014, June 9). The Meter: The Measure of a Man. Retrieved March 30, 2017, from http://www.radiolab.org/story/meter-measure-man/.
