CELEBRATING NCSLI AT FORTY FIVE YEARS YOUNG: AN INSTITUTIONAL AND ORTGNISATIONAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE FUTURE

摘要

Forty five years ago, I was still at school grappling with the newfangled International System of Units (SI) which replaced the old metre-kilogram-second-ampere (MKSA) system. The definition of the metre had just moved away from being based on a bar artifact to a definition based on the number of wavelengths of light. The second was a fraction of the tropical year. And the kilogram was (and still is!) a lump of platinum-indium alloy. Metrology was primarily concerned with physics and engineering and there was virtually no chemistry--the SI mole wasn't added until 1971.