Jefferson and the American "metric" system

The whole thing about the metric system being easier to convert in your head and therefore better for science and technology...yes, it does make sense on paper, but I've slowly become convinced that that's bunkum. After all, as has been said above, the United States not only uses pints of milk and ounces of cheese, but pounds-per-square-inch when its researchers at DARPA calculate the lift of the F-22 Raptor or whatever...and America continues to lead the way in science and technology in many areas. Is that despite their use of the imperial system, or because of it? I'm inclined to think the latter - after all, if you're always converting things based on multiplying or dividing by 12 and 27 and 24, you're going to have a better grasp of mental arithmetic than a European who only has to put extra zeroes on the end.

Thande

I remember making the same argument when at school when decimalisation came in originally. [Before anyone chirps up I mean in Britain, I'm getting on but not that old.:p] However cerebus has some useful counter arguments. Possibly its more accurate to say that the decimal system is easier to understand but since its a lot less demanding it trains the mind less. So as to be a factor in a population less capable at maths.

Steve
 
I would be remiss if I did not mention the horrible rythym-related problems if Sammy Hagar had to sing "I can't drive 88.5." :D

I agree that proponents of competing "American" and "French" or even "European" systems would fight to the death (or at least to severe boredom) trying to hammer out whether the meter or the wingding was the appropriate name for the standard unit of distance, and how the precise size of said unit was to be determined.

This might have been a wonderful project to hand off to Benjamin Franklin had he not been dying of old age about that time (1790). Franklin might have commanded the attention of European scientists and worked out a system at least attractive enough to enter official usage in all of the Western European cultures including the US.

Is it conceivable for the concept of a universal decimal-based system of measurement to come to the fore about a decade or so earlier, while Franklin was in Paris anyway? He might have been able skip a few evening parties and add this to his Wikipedia entry. :D
 
I'm going to semi-hijack this thread and postulate that for Jefferson's system (in which the unit of length was a pendulum with a period of one second located at the latitude of Monticello, I believe) to catch on, it would have had to happen in a non-revolutionary North America where he could devote considerable time and energy into promulgating this new system with Franklin's assistance/prestige.

Let's assume, just for the heck of it, that there was no revolution and that a peaceful accommodation with home rule was accomplished (never mind the details here). That would leave Jefferson as some sort of higher level functionary analogous to secretary of state plenty of time to develop his system. Franklin's scientific and social connections could have led to its presentation at the Royal Society in London in the late 1770s/early 1780s, with Priestly and Watt (among others) as converts/proponents. As Great Britain and the Commonwealth of North America (for lack of a better name) industrialized, Jefferson's system proved to work well for design and construction; the system also meshed well with the decimal currency in use in the Commonwealth.

By the time steam-powered railroads became practical in the 1820s, the Jefferson system was well on its way to full adoption in the CNA, Great Britain, and its dominions/territories. At the same time, the French Civil War (1789-1796) and the subsequent victory of the Intellectuals spawned a move to purge France of ties to the old regime as thoroughly as possible, including the old system of measurements: that led to the development of the système française, based on the metre, defined as one ten-millionth the distance between the equator and the north pole at the longitude of Paris. With the marching of the armies of Napoleon, the système française spread throughout the continent into Russia.

The two competing systems stood side by side as technology developed in the 19th century, and the establishment of parallel systems spread into other areas as well: for example, the English-speaking world today uses the North American domestic electrical standard of 60Hz/120VAC power while the European continent and various overseas dominions use the continental system based on 50Hz/240 VAC. Temperature, however, seems to be the one area where the systems work in concert: the world uses the Rankine-Gibbs scale for thermodynamics, physical chemistry, etc. (absolute zero = 0°R; the triple point of pure water is approximately 492°R; the boiling point of pure water at sea level is approximately 672°R), and domestic use (e.g., weather forecasts) use the Fahrenheit scale.

With the increasing prominence of the CNA and the British Commonwealth of Nations in science and industry, the système française seems to be fading slowly: the Bundeskönigreich Deutschland (Federal Kingdom of Germany) formally adopted the Jefferson system in 1976, as did the kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden/Norway, and the Netherlands. Other European nations have followed suit over time; it is expected, however, that the Francophone world will continue to adhere to the système française, particularly since l'Academie Française has been charged with its preservation, along with its original charge of preservation of the purity of the French language.
 
I'm going to semi-hijack this thread and postulate that for Jefferson's system (in which the unit of length was a pendulum with a period of one second located at the latitude of Monticello, I believe) to catch on, it would have had to happen in a non-revolutionary North America where he could devote considerable time and energy into promulgating this new system with Franklin's assistance/prestige.

I like it! Looks like a nice add-on / secondary line for "no ARW" timelines and stories.
 
I'm going to semi-hijack this thread and postulate that for Jefferson's system (in which the unit of length was a pendulum with a period of one second located at the latitude of Monticello, I believe) to catch on, it would have had to happen in a non-revolutionary North America where he could devote considerable time and energy into promulgating this new system with Franklin's assistance/prestige.

[...]

At the same time, the French Civil War (1789-1796) and the subsequent victory of the Intellectuals spawned a move to purge France of ties to the old regime as thoroughly as possible, including the old system of measurements: that led to the development of the système française, based on the metre, defined as one ten-millionth the distance between the equator and the north pole at the longitude of Paris. With the marching of the armies of Napoleon, the système française spread throughout the continent into Russia.

Ironicaly if i recall correctly at first the meter was defined as the length of string of a pendulum with a half period of a second.

And the US said that they didn't like it because it is dependent on your latitude and altitude.

Can anyone confirm I can't find reference...

PS : By the way it's système français (french system), or système à la française (french style system)...
 
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