The Measure of All Things

Professor Richard J. C. Brown; Head of Metrology, National Physical Laboratory; and President of the Consultative Committee for Units

Measurement is ubiquitous in our daily lives, and makes everything function, and yet we rarely notice it. The reason for this is because the measurement system that we rely on works so smoothly.  Metrology, the science of measurement, is the crucial infratechnology that develops, maintains, and assures our measurement system, providing confidence in billions of measurements that are made and used every day to support  international trade, manufacturing, human health and safety, protection of the environment, global climate studies and scientific research. This talk will explore why accurate measurement matters and how we have developed a language of science to express our measurement results; a brief history of where our current measurement system originated from; how international agreement on measurement units was established; and concludes with a reminder of how our measurement system has changed recently to future proof it against technological developments yet to come.