The ‘nec plus ultra’ of precision measurement: Geodesy and the forgotten purpose of the Metre Convention
@article{Kershaw2012TheP,
title={The ‘nec plus ultra’ of precision measurement: Geodesy and the forgotten purpose of the Metre Convention},
author={Michael Kershaw},
journal={Studies in History and Philosophy of Science},
year={2012},
volume={43},
pages={563-576}
}Abstract Geodesy—the determination of the size and shape of the earth—has often been the science operating at the frontier of precision in the measurement of length. Its contribution to the technologies and standards of length measurement has, however, been underestimated in the literature. That, instead, places emphasis on the on the creation and international acceptance of the metric system as a whole. By new research into the standards-in-use of the community of geodesists, I rediscover the… CONTINUE READING
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