Metres invented in Oxbridge
Hot off the radio: the Metric System was invented by an English Bishop, John Wilkins.
This story was first covered by the Daily Mirror Science Blog this morning:
In a bit of a blow to those who want to cling on to good old British Imperial measures like pounds and ounces – it turns out it was an Englishman who invented the “foreign” metric system.
Or so claims Pat Naughtin, a metrication specialist from Australia, who carried out his research at Wadham College in Oxford, at Trinity College in Cambridge, and at the Royal Society in London.
He says John Wilkins, founder of the Royal Society, first published his ideas for a metric measure in 1668 – 120 years before the French adopted the metric system.
Wilkins’ system was complete in that it was based on decimal numbers (10s, 100s, and 1000s) and its measurements were to be based on an internationally agreed ‘universal measure’, which would become the basis for other measures. (link)
www.mattwardman.com/blog/