Metrics, and How It All Came About

Surveying? Just use the laser beam for a measuring device; accuracy of one mm to a range of eight km. But why the need for accuracy and what is a meter? The use of the meter as the basis of all linear measurement has been a matter of controversy for several centuries. Some few nations oppose the adoption of the metric system, most nations have adopted it wholly. No effort will be made here to analyze the controversy. However, the controversy leads one to wonder why and how the metric system came into existence. The purpose of this article is to give the historical background of the metric system. Of specific historical interest are the events and incidences that brought about its establishment, the actual measurement of the earth in establishing the length of the meter, and its acceptance in the world