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The measure of all things the seven-year odyssey and hidden error that transformed the world

The story of the creation of the metric system in 1792 traces the endeavors of Delambre and Méchain, the backlash of superstitious contemporaries, and the mistake that drove Méchain to the brink of madness.

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  • "En 1792, deux astronomes Jean-Baptiste Joseph Delambre et Pierre François André Méchain sont chargés de définir le mètre en suivant l'arc de méridien qui va de Dunkerque à Barcelone en passant par Paris, pour mettre fin à la multitude des mesures existantes. En se fondant sur des documents d'époque, l'auteur relate à la façon d'une enquête historique cette aventure scientifique qui dura sept ans."
  • "En 1792, deux astronomes Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Delambre et Pierre-François André Méchain sont chargés de définir le mètre en suivant l'arc méridien qui va de Dunkerque à Barcelone en passant par Paris, pour mettre un terme à la multitude des mesures existantes. En se basant sur des documents d'époque, l'auteur relate à la façon d'une enquête historique cette aventure scientifique qui dura sept ans."
  • "In June 1792, the erudite and cosmopolitan Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Delambre and the cautious and scrupulous Pierre-Francois-Andre Mechain set out from Paris -- one north to Dunkirk, the other south to Barcelona to calculate the length of the meter. In the face of death threats from village revolutionary councils, superstitious peasants, and civil war, they had only their wits and their letters to each other for support. Their findings would be used to create what we now know as the metric system. Despite their painstaking and Herculean efforts, Mechain made a mistake in his calculations that he covered up. The guilty knowledge of his error drove him to the brink of madness, and in the end, he died in an attempt to correct himself. Only then was his mistake discovered. Delambre decided to seal all evidence of the error in a vault at the Paris Observatory. Two hundred year later, historian Ken Alder discovered the truth. With scintillating prose and wry wit, Alder uses these previously overlooked letters, diaries, and journals to bring to life a remarkable time when everything was open to question and the light of reason made every dream seem possible."
  • "The story of the creation of the metric system in 1792 traces the endeavors of Delambre and Méchain, the backlash of superstitious contemporaries, and the mistake that drove Méchain to the brink of madness."@en
  • "In June 1792, amidst the chaos of the French Revolution, two intrepid astronomers set out in opposite directions on an extraordinary journey. Starting in Paris, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Delambre would make his way north to Dunkirk, while Pierre-Francois-AndrE MEchain voyaged south to Barcelona. Their mission was to measure the world, and their findings would help define the meter as one ten-millionth of the distance between the pole and the equator'a standard that would be used "for all people, for all time." The Measure of All Things is the astonishing tale of one of history's greatest scientific adventures. Yet behind the public triumph of the metric system lies a secret error, one that is perpetuated in every subsequent definition of the meter. As acclaimed historian and novelist Ken Alder discovered through his research, there were only two people on the planet who knew the full extent of this error: Delambre and MEchain themselves. By turns a science history, detective tale, and human drama, The Measure of All Things describes a quest that succeeded as it failed'and continues to enlighten and inspire to this day."@en

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  • "Biography"
  • "Biography"@en
  • "Electronic books"@en
  • "History"@en
  • "History"

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  • "The measure of all things the seven-year odyssey and hidden error that transformed the world"@en
  • "The measure of all things the seven-year odyssey and hidden error that transformed the world"
  • "The measure of all things : the seven-year Oddyssey that transformed the world"
  • "The Measure of all things : the seven-year odyssey and hidden error that transformed the world"
  • "Mesurer le monde : 1792-1799 : l'incroyable histoire de l'invention du mètre"
  • "The measure of all things : the seven-year odyssey that transformed the world"@en
  • "The measure of all things : the seven-year odyssey that transformed the world"
  • "The measure of all things : the seven-year odyssey and the hidden error that transformed the world"
  • "The measure of all things"
  • "The measure of all things : the seven-year Odyssey that transformed the world"
  • "Mesurer le monde : 1792-1799, l'incroyable histoire de l'invention du mètre"
  • "The measure of all things : the seven-year odyssey and hidden error that transformed the world"@en
  • "The measure of all things : the seven-year odyssey and hidden error that transformed the world"

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