Measurement history

History of measurements

Why do we measure? Where did the desire and need for measurement come from? What we do not measure, we do not control is a known truth familiar to each of us. Control, accounting, knowledge, and science all exist thanks to measurements, every day each of us takes our measurements or receives data from devices, buying goods in the market, driving a car, or looking at a thermometer outside the window, all these measurements make our life orderly both simpler and more reliable. But how it all began, and what path humanity has gone through in the desire to measure everything, everywhere and always.

Of course, numbering, counting objects and accounting for them is the simplest system of measurement in any civilization, in fact, it can be argued that the connection between measurement and accounting has been going on since the very beginning of existence. What are measurements and how we understand it, measurements lead to the expression of certain characteristics in numbers. As Lord Calvin explained, “When you can measure what you are talking about and express it in numbers you know something about the object of your measurements, but when you cannot express it in numbers your knowledge of the object is poor and unsatisfactory. In fact, this is so, the purpose of measurements is to obtain reliable information about the object of measurement.

One of the oldest evidence of the measuring process in medieval civilizations can be attributed to clay balls found in Mesopotamia, which were used to count sheep. In spherical clay balls, special signs were added to determine the amount of delivered goods, and closed with a special seal, the amount of goods was checked by breaking the clay ball. They were also used to count the sheep in the herd, according to the number of sheep, small clay balls were placed in a large clay vessel, thus the number of heads in the herd was recorded. If necessary, the vessel was broken and it was possible to judge the number of heads in the herd earlier. Various symbols were used as signs.

The main countries that contributed to the world measurement system were the Egyptians, as evidenced by the Egyptian pyramids, the Indonesians, the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, these civilizations can be taken to the main ones in the development of measurement systems and measuring instruments.

Length

Length - measurement of length and distance is one of the most necessary measurements in everyday life, and the measurement values of length in many countries still display and save the first simplest methods of measuring length.
An inch is a big toe that speaks for itself. A yard is very closely related to a man's stride and is also related to two cubits. A mile comes from the Roman mille passus "thousand steps" which corresponds to a mile because the Romans defined a step as two steps, returning the walker to the same foot. Thanks to such measurements, it is very easy to explain how far the next village is, and to determine where the object is located.

But for complex measurements of the problems of civilization - the demarcation of the earth, in order to register the right of ownership or to sell goods that have a length, more accurate means of measurement are needed.
The solution was to use a rod or bar of a certain length which would be placed in a public place and from this standard other rods or bars could be copied and distributed throughout the community. In Egypt and Mesopotamia, these standards were kept in temples. The basic unit of measurement in both civilizations was the cubit, which was measured from the elbow to the index finger. When the length of this type was taken as the standard it was usually the length of the cubit of the incumbent king.

Unity of measurements.

The problem of measuring distance, weight, volume, and not only has always been relevant and was very acute for mankind. The process of standardizing measuring and control instruments has always been complex and not simple, and especially the unity of measurement throughout the world.

Despite the logicality of the general measurement system throughout the world, it is not accepted everywhere, even now you can observe different measurement systems in different countries, a kilometer or a mile, a gallon or a liter, a different measurement system for shoes, clothes. What was the path to the common standards that we have now, and how long has humanity traveled this path, making the kilogram, meter, centimeter, mile and gallon universal measurement standards and familiar to each of us. Which country was a pioneer in measurements?

The main driver for the standardization of measurements and the measurement process in general was, of course, trade, or the exchange of goods that were produced. It was also important to measure and know the time, the change of seasons, thanks to this it was possible to plant crops on time, and the harvest at that time was a way survival. Also, all these quantities were the basis of many sciences.

England

For a certain part of history, English rulers had a habit of setting measures according to their size, for example. There are several versions of the origin of the name and size of the yard. A large measure of length, called a yard, was introduced by the English king Edgar (959-975) and was equal to the distance from the tip of His Majesty's nose to the tip of the middle finger of the outstretched hand. As soon as the monarch changed, the yard became different - lengthened, since the new king was of a larger physique than his predecessor. Then, at the next change of king, the yard became shorter again. Such frequent changes in the unit of length brought confusion and chaos.

Several attempts were made to standardize the size of the yard, so that at different times the yard had a different length. The modern yard is a compromise between British and American standards and is calibrated to the metre .

France

The lack of standardization was a problem for mainland Europe too, on the eve of the French Revolution there were about 250,000 measures. The length was indicated by several thousand units. By the end of the 18th century, people realized that it was necessary to change the cards that led to the reefs, traders were cheating, and building plans developed in one place were not suitable for construction in another city due to differences in measurements. Finally, the problem was solved in the French Academy of Sciences. A group of scientists drew up their plan, which excluded the size of the rulers and their vanity in the measurement system, the scientists preferred to rely on something permanent and unchanging, and this was the earth itself.

On March 26, 1791, the academicians of the French Academy of Sciences decided to found and name the new unit the meter from the Greek "metron" - which means measure. a purely French unit of measurement, and how to solve this problem? But such a solution was found and accepted, and it was decided to level the meter to the ground. This system was for all peoples at all times. One of the rulers of France who supported this decision was Napoleon Bonaparte, who said that victories are forgotten and this invention is for centuries.

Almost a hundred years later

Signed in Paris:

The metric convention ( fr. Convention du Mètre) is an international treaty that serves to ensure the unity of metrological standards in different countries . The treaty was signed in 1875 inParis by 17 countries,

17 countries signed the historic metric convention, but in practice, only a few introduced the meter into use, confusion with different units of measurement continued. This document defined the basic units of the SI system - meter , kilogram , second , ampere , kelvin , mole and candela .

USA

Standards and measures differed from city to city and even from factory to factory. Often, adapters from different cities did not fit, different standards made life inconvenient for each other within a radius of 100 km. The measures are long, needed immediate standardization. The state agency made a company for new standards. Inspired by this company, the industrialists realized that it was possible to earn money by improving the quality of measurements, the production of Henry Ford began to use very accurate templates and measurements, which made it possible to significantly increase the quality of cars produced, as well as subsequent service at all Ford enterprises. reliable measurements made mass production possible shift work made clocks work, it was the dawn of a new era for the first time in history it was possible to produce millions of parts to standards, which became the main industrial revolution where quantity and quality converged. Accurate measurements can make a difference.

The level of accuracy did not meet the needs of the global industry

Humans were faced with the task of accuracy, how to increase accuracy in connection with space flights.

The standard meter no longer had sufficient accuracy, a new meter method was required. A new quantum age has arrived....