That is true. However, I would argue the MKSA system recommended by the CIPM in 1946 and adopted by the CGPM in 1948 "essentially" defined the SI from the viewpoint of a rocket engineer (or most engineers), completing the adoption of modern electrical units. The newton was a nameless unit of force in 1946 and named in 1948. In my view (and reading of the SI Brochure) there were no MAJOR resolutions adopted between 1948 and 1960 that would shift metric practice. However, CGS was probably less deprecated in 1948 and more likely to have existed in parallel. The liter was "fixed" in 1960 and the mole adopted in 1971. When I started college in 1962, none of my textbooks had yet reacted to the adoption of the SI, still referring to the MKSA system. However, I never saw any real shift in metric practice. (The mole existed long before it was adopted in 1971; I used the concept in high school chemistry.)
--- On Sat, 2/5/11, Martin Vlietstra <[email protected]> wrote: From: Martin Vlietstra <[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:49762] RE: Super Bowl: NFL, stop with the Roman numerals To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Date: Saturday, February 5, 2011, 12:35 PM It would have been difficult for the German rocket-engineers to use SI - SI was only formally adopted in 1960! -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: 05 February 2011 17:06 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:49761] RE: Super Bowl: NFL, stop with the Roman numerals The German rocket engineers used metric *gravitational* units, i.e. meter-kg(force)-second units, not SI. von Braun's monograph "Das Mars Projekt" was also m-kgf-s, but to their credit they were the first NASA Center to adopt SI which is a metric "absolute" system, meter-kilogram(mass)-second. You are mistaken to imply that NASA Research Centers have abandoned SI. Only NASA-Houston (manned space flight) has not used SI (for the Shuttle). The canceled Constellation Program tried to revert to inch/pound units. Gene. ---- Original message ---- >Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2011 09:40:27 -0500 >From: "Kilopascal" <[email protected]> >Subject: [USMA:49753] RE: Super Bowl: NFL, stop with the Roman numerals >To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> >... > I will disagree with you about you comment on Space > Flight. America's greatest achievements in Space > Flight came when it was under the direction of > Werner von Braun, a German who did all of his > designs and conceptualizing using metric units. In > an interview in the early '70s he told the > interviewer that he never used USC and loathed it. > ...
