World in the Balance
The Historic Quest for an Absolute System of Measurement
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
“Shows that the story of metrology . . . can in the right hands make for a riveting read.”—The Economist
Millions of transactions each day depend on a reliable network of weights and measures. But achieving such a network was anything but easy, as Robert P. Crease, physicist and philosopher, demonstrates in this endlessly fascinating, always entertaining look at just how this international system evolved. From the link between musical pitch and distance in the dynasties of ancient China and the use of figurines to measure gold in West Africa to the creation of the French metric and British imperial systems, Crease takes readers along on one of history’s greatest philosophical and scientific adventures.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Anyone who doubts the romance and history to be found in a meter stick will find this book a revelation. As Crease notes, the human body is the first and oldest measuring device in the world; for example, nearly every civilization has the equivalent of a "foot. In China, systems of measurement date back to the third millennium B.C.E., ., eventually becoming, as one scholar wrote, "a metaphor for the moral and spiritual order of the universe . The first effort to create worldwide standards of distance and weight came from the French Revolution, with the meter (based on a fraction of the Earth's meridian), and the kilogram (the weight of a cubic deciliter of water). But for the terrible luck of a wayward French emissary, America might have adopted the metric system around 1800. More precise measures now define the meter in terms of atomic wavelengths, and atomic values will probably also be used to define the kilogram. Through entertaining anecdotes and history, Stony Brook philosophy chair and Physics World columnist Crease (The Great Equations) ably reveals our modern world as a "metroscape shaped by the things we measure and the way we measure them. 35 illus.
