Awards
- Winner of 2021 Hughes Prize (formally the Dingle Prize) 2021 (UK)
Overview
Measurement forms an essential part of our view of the world. Our world is measured and calibrated, and we are all subject to the tyranny of these numbers. In this updated and extended edition, Jeffrey Huw Williams outlines the history of measurement; particularly of the International System of units (SI). Since the previous edition, the base units of the SI have been redefined; realizing a 150-year-old dream for a measurement system based on unchanging, fundamental quantities of nature. This change has created a new SI, a Quantum SI, which will significantly change the way we look at nature in a quantitative manner, and greatly facilitate the advance of science. Key Features Significantly updated and extended new edition The first book to include the new Quantum SI base unit definitions Features wider societal and philosophical implications of a move away from physical standards Outlines the history of the science of measurement, and the origin of the Metric System More than a textbook of metrology, it is also a history of how we have arrived at the Quantum SI
Full Product Details
Author: Jeffrey H Williams (Formerly at Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), Sèvres, France)
Publisher: Institute of Physics Publishing
Imprint: Institute of Physics Publishing
Edition: 2nd edition
Dimensions:
Width: 17.80cm
, Height: 1.30cm
, Length: 25.40cm
Weight: 0.545kg
ISBN: 9780750331418
ISBN 10: 0750331410
Pages: 185
Publication Date: 20 July 2020
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Author Information
Following a PhD in chemical physics from the University of Cambridge, Jeffrey Huw Williams worked as a research scientist in the universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard and Illinois, and subsequently as a physicist at the Institut Laue–Langevin, France. Leaving research, Williams moved to the world of science publishing and the communication of science by becoming the European editor for the physical sciences for the AAAS's Science and subsequently, the assistant executive secretary of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. From 2003 to 2008, he was the head of publications at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), Sèvres. It was during these years at the BIPM that he became interested in, and familiar with, the origin of the Metric System, its subsequent evolution into the SI, and the transformation into the Quantum SI. At the BIPM, he was the editor of their journal Metrologia. He has written widely about science, technology, the impact of science on society and the individual for general-interest magazines such as New Scientist and for more specialized magazines (Chemistry in Britain, Physics Today, Chemical & Engineering News, Physics World and Chemistry and Industry).
