James Vincent

They took these measurements by traveling across Europe, a pair of astronomers, and they came up with this measurement, one ten millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the equator. And then they realized, okay, great, we've got this, but how is everyone else going to copy this? So they turned it into a physical meter standard.

And the first meter and the first kilogram, which are known as the meter and kilogram in the archives, were unveiled in 1799. And so for a while, every meter was a copy of that meter stick. And is that meter stick still around? No. It is. I've seen it. I've seen it. It is in the National Archives in Paris, in the Hôtel de Subban, if my memory is correct. Yeah, it's still there.

And the first meter and the first kilogram, which are known as the meter and kilogram in the archives, were unveiled in 1799. And so for a while, every meter was a copy of that meter stick. And is that meter stick still around? No. It is. I've seen it. I've seen it. It is in the National Archives in Paris, in the Hôtel de Subban, if my memory is correct. Yeah, it's still there.

And the first meter and the first kilogram, which are known as the meter and kilogram in the archives, were unveiled in 1799. And so for a while, every meter was a copy of that meter stick. And is that meter stick still around? No. It is. I've seen it. I've seen it. It is in the National Archives in Paris, in the Hôtel de Subban, if my memory is correct. Yeah, it's still there.

It's a beautiful thing. It's kept in this iron vault in the center of the archive.

It's a beautiful thing. It's kept in this iron vault in the center of the archive.

It's a beautiful thing. It's kept in this iron vault in the center of the archive.

So they decided when they were making the metric system that they wanted all the units to be interconnected. So once they had the meter, they then turned that into a cube, which is a decimeter on each side. That's a tenth of a meter. And then... That would be the capacity measure, that cube. And then they filled that with water and then they made the weight of that water the kilogram.

So they decided when they were making the metric system that they wanted all the units to be interconnected. So once they had the meter, they then turned that into a cube, which is a decimeter on each side. That's a tenth of a meter. And then... That would be the capacity measure, that cube. And then they filled that with water and then they made the weight of that water the kilogram.

So they decided when they were making the metric system that they wanted all the units to be interconnected. So once they had the meter, they then turned that into a cube, which is a decimeter on each side. That's a tenth of a meter. And then... That would be the capacity measure, that cube. And then they filled that with water and then they made the weight of that water the kilogram.

So that's where the kilogram comes from. And then you divide that into thousands to get your grams. But again, this is something that, okay, so that sounds like it's really easy to work out. You make the cube, you fill it with water, you weigh it, that's your kilogram.

So that's where the kilogram comes from. And then you divide that into thousands to get your grams. But again, this is something that, okay, so that sounds like it's really easy to work out. You make the cube, you fill it with water, you weigh it, that's your kilogram.

So that's where the kilogram comes from. And then you divide that into thousands to get your grams. But again, this is something that, okay, so that sounds like it's really easy to work out. You make the cube, you fill it with water, you weigh it, that's your kilogram.

But when you look into the sort of very high precision measurements, you realize, OK, well, what type of water are you going to use? You know, saltwater has a slightly different weight to freshwater. And where are you going to measure this?

But when you look into the sort of very high precision measurements, you realize, OK, well, what type of water are you going to use? You know, saltwater has a slightly different weight to freshwater. And where are you going to measure this?

But when you look into the sort of very high precision measurements, you realize, OK, well, what type of water are you going to use? You know, saltwater has a slightly different weight to freshwater. And where are you going to measure this?

Because if you measure it at the top of a mountain, it's going to have a slightly different weight to if you measure it at the bottom, because the effect of gravity will be different on the mass. So, again, they decided that rather than have this sort of definition of, Um, they would instead create a physical standard and these were created at the same time.

Because if you measure it at the top of a mountain, it's going to have a slightly different weight to if you measure it at the bottom, because the effect of gravity will be different on the mass. So, again, they decided that rather than have this sort of definition of, Um, they would instead create a physical standard and these were created at the same time.

Because if you measure it at the top of a mountain, it's going to have a slightly different weight to if you measure it at the bottom, because the effect of gravity will be different on the mass. So, again, they decided that rather than have this sort of definition of, Um, they would instead create a physical standard and these were created at the same time.

And again, copies were made and shared around the world.