massacre of prisoners in, 11–12, 31
massacre of Swiss Guard in, 26
Méchain’s delayed departure from, 39–41, 322, 359–60
metric system introduced in, 152, 256–57
municipal council of, 96
on national meridian, 1
weights and measures used in, 32–33, 77, 84–85, 90
Paris, University of, Delambre as treasurer of, 314
Paris Bureau of Weights and Measures, 259
Paris National Guard, 29, 31, 36
Paris Observatory, 5, 19, 97, 118, 242, 245, 268, 300, 337
Cassinis and, see Cassini
Delambre and Méchain’s records deposited in, 5–7, 296, 321, 353
Delambre as Professor at, 147, 148
description of, 5
Franco-British expedition of 1788 and, 43–45, 62, 241
invasion of, 42
Méchain as capitaine-concierge of, 195
Méchain as director of, 233, 235–36, 265–66, 268, 322–23
Méchain family’s residence at, 40, 43, 209–10, 236, 264, 286
Méchain’s work at, 40–41, 43, 195
Revolutionary politics and, 146–47, 170–71
staffing of, 147, 148, 149
Paris World’s Fair (1867), 332
Parliament, British, 88, 240–41, 332–33
Pascal, Blaise, 107, 201
patois, 139, 369
Paucton, Alexis, 33
Pavillon de Breteuil, 338
pelicans, symbolic meaning of, 155
pendulums, 87–89, 92, 93, 95, 173–74, 238, 240–41, 365
Père-Lachaise cemetery, 321
Perny, Jean, 146–47
Perpignan, 46, 50, 52, 64, 93, 109, 111, 112, 115, 177–79, 183, 191–92, 196, 197, 226, 229–30, 265, 268
“personal equation,” 307–8
Peru, 93, 250, 331
Philae, island of, 243
philosophes, ix, 308, 310
Phoenicians, 273
physiocrats, 130
Picardy, 42, 97, 171
Pic Combatjou, 226
Pic de Nore, 205, 212, 215
pied, 85, 91, 99, 129, 130, 316, 351
Piedmont, 331
Piedmontese army, 165
Piery, Louise-Elisabeth-Félicité du, 79
Pinel, Philippe, 174
pinte, 32, 359
Pisa, 162–63, 167, 177
planets, 82–83
Planez, Francisco, 48, 50, 59, 61–62
platinum:
first official meter stick made of, 3, 253, 289, 303, 335, 338
rulers made of, 217, 229–30, 382
second official meter bar made of, 335–38, 337
plumb lines, 297
Polaris, 60, 117–18, 119, 188–89, 190, 300
Pollux, 117, 300
Pommard, Achille-César-Charles de, 217, 229, 245, 312, 314
Pommard, Elisabeth-Aglaée Leblanc de, 245, 312, 314
Port de Saint-Honoré, 257
Porte-Libre prison, 143
Portugal, 331
postal treaty, international (1863), 332
pouce, 99, 316, 351
Pradelles, 210–11, 215
precision, accuracy compared with, 299–301, 307
Prieur-Duvernois, Claude-Antoine (Prieur de la Côte-d’Or), x, 254
background and description of, 136–37
as member of Committee of Public Safety, 100, 104–5, 126, 137, 143
meridian expedition purged and halted by, 104–5, 143–44
metric reform and, 84, 152
vindictiveness of, 143
productivity, measurement and control of, 130, 350
Prony, Gaspard, 103–4
Protagoras, 350
provisional meter, 98, 99–100, 126, 131, 153, 168, 218, 238, 252, 303, 366
Prussia, 333–34
Prussian army, 13, 64, 70, 97, 105, 336
Delambre suspected of spying for, 28–36
Louis XVI supported by, 11, 29
volunteers’ battling of, 36
Ptolemy, 213, 319
Puebla, Barón de la, 272, 276, 284
Puig, 278, 280
Puig Camellas, 111, 114
Puig de l’Estella, 111–12, 114, 192
Puig Rodos, 56
Puig-se-Calm, 56
Puig Singli, 112
Puy Camellas, 109
Puy de Dôme, 201
Puy Saint-Georges, 227
Puy Violent, 203
Pyrénées, 46, 51, 52, 56–57, 64, 107, 110–11, 116, 181, 194
quantum mechanics, 338
quinine, 285
quintidi, 141, 255, 256
Rambla, La, 64, 108
Ramsden, Jesse, 43–44
Rankine, William, 340
Réaumur scale, 370
reason:
in the Enlightenment, 2
French Revolution and, 19
metric reform and, 135, 137–38, 140, 152, 214
refraction, see atmospheric refraction
Renaissance, 36, 86, 154, 203, 237
Renommée statue, atop Panthéon, 73, 74, 245
repeating circle, see Borda repeating circles
Report to the Emperor (Delambre), 319
Restoration France, 101, 321, 330–31
Revolutionary calendar, 139, 140–41, 151, 152, 315–16
Revolutionary Tribunal, 145, 147, 170
Revolution of 1830, 327
Rhine, 242, 318
Ricardos, General, 108–9, 110, 115, 121
Rieupeyroux, 205, 226, 377
Robespierre, Maximilien, 75, 100, 145, 147, 150, 153, 154, 166
Roca-Corra mountain, 56
Rodez, 209, 213, 216, 221, 232, 248, 265, 377
Delambre at, 205–6
as designated rendezvous point of meridian expedition, 21, 56, 102, 104, 116, 181, 187, 197, 198, 200, 207
Rodez Cathedral, 205–6, 207, 226
Roland de la Platière, Jean-Marie, 20–21, 366
Rolland, Raymond de, 212–13
Romme, Gilbert, 140, 151, 369
Rosalie, “La belle,” 103–4
Rosetta Stone, 244
Rothschild, Baron de, 14, 71
Rotterdam, 317–18
Rouergue, 181
Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 17, 47, 75, 254, 320
Roussillon, 50, 64, 109, 181–82
Route de l’Intendant, 205
Royal Academy of Sciences, see Academy of Sciences
Royal Mint, 136
Royal Navy, British, 165, 177, 267, 269
Royal Observatory, see Paris Observatory
Royal Observatory of Madrid, 269
Royal Society (of London), 94, 145, 240, 315
Ruelle, Alexandre, 146–47, 148, 170–71
rulers, 316, 382
platinum, 217, 229–30
Russia, 316, 339
Sacré-Coeur church, 23
Saint-Denis, Delambre’s detention in, 29–36, 52, 302
Saint-Denis Basilica, 27, 29, 30, 35, 36–37, 74, 206, 320
Sainte-Montaine, 157
Saint-Germain-des-Prés, 320
Saint Helena, 318
Saint-Just, Louis Antoine Léon de, 100
Saint-Martin-du-Tertre, 25, 27, 70–73, 76
Saint-Pierre church, 23–24
Saint-Pons, 6, 227, 231
Saint-Vincent church, 212
Salers, 203–5
Salses, 111, 196, 229
Salvà i Campillo, Francesco, 48, 65–66, 108
Sand, George, 263
San Lorenzo cathedral, 175
sans-culottide, 140–41
Santa Barbara, Calif., 7, 294, 353
Sartre, Jean-Paul, 347
satellite surveys, of earth, 7, 22
sciences, 37, 65, 295
Archimedes on power of, 9
Cassini’s rejection of, 148–49, 223
collective nature of, 82, 233, 301
D
elambre and Méchain’s effect on, 9
error viewed as crime against, 147, 171
first history of, 319
first international conference in, see International Commission
human history and, 1, 25, 147, 229
inevitability of error in, 213, 301
Lalande’s popularization of, 77, 310
metric system used in, 4
Napoleon on, 177
political neutrality of, 67, 99, 109–10, 113–14, 123, 162, 315
progress of, 95, 98, 182
repetition in history of, 268
simultaneous discovery in, 306–7
as social weapon, 213–14
uncertainty in, 118, 308
scientifiques, 308
scientists:
anomalous data suppressed by, 301
eulogies for, 286
experimentalists vs. theorists, 250
first international association of, 334
first use of term, 308, 389
professional courtesy of, 184–86, 190
reputation and, 348
seniority and, 41
Scotland, 240
Senate, French, 316
Senate, U.S., metric reform and, 238–39
Seneca, 212, 232
Sierra de Espadán, 280, 281
Sillas Torellas, 59, 262, 275
Size and Shape of the Earth, The (Delambre), 323
Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind (Condorcet), 142
Slop de Cadenburg, Francesco, 163, 166, 177
Slop de Cadenburg, Giuseppe, 221
astronomy career of, 162
Méchain’s correspondence with, 162–64, 167–68, 170, 171, 174, 177, 372
Méchain’s stay with, 162–63
smallpox, 16, 65
Smith, Adam, 138, 142
Snell, Willebrord, 91
Socrates, 18, 309
solar eclipse, 275
solar system, formation of, 214
Sóller, 262, 275
Sologne, 156–58, 183
solstice:
summer, 108, 162
winter, 117
sorcery, 204, 227–28
Souesme, 157
Soviet Union, 339
Spain, 7, 40, 164, 210, 238, 323
border between France and, 47–48, 50, 65, 123
Méchain offered scientific appointment in, 110, 167
Méchain’s meridian expedition portion in, 46–67, 107–22
Méchain’s second expedition to, 262, 263–89
metric system adopted in, 331
reaction to French Revolution in, 47, 51–52, 64, 269
relations between France and, 47, 48–49, 51–52, 59, 64, 267
Treasury of, 66
war between France and, 62–67, 105, 107–16, 121, 123, 191
spiders, 18, 79, 309
Spirit of Laws, The (Montesquieu), 125
spring equinox, 91
stade, 87, 91
statistical method, 214, 305–8
Statue of Liberty, 342
Stevin, Simon, 86
Suez canal, 144
summer solstice, 108, 162
“sun clock,” 274–75
Supreme Being, 150, 154
surveyors, 28, 132, 227–28
Sweden, 320
Swinden, Jan Hendrik Van, 249
Swiss Guard, massacre of, 26
Switzerland, 238
Syène (Aswan), 91, 243
System of the World (Laplace), 82
Tallyrand, Charles-Maurice de, 85, 87, 88–89, 235, 237, 241
Tauch, 196
taxes, 33, 50, 96, 100, 133, 135, 144, 157, 227–28
tax farms, tax farmers, 105, 135, 143, 145
Tech, battle of, 109, 111, 114–15
temperature, measurement rationalization of, 370
Temple district, of Paris, 19
Temple of Isis, 243
Temple of Reason, 103, 206
Temporary Agency of Weights and Measures, 152
Terror, 146, 149, 153, 170, 223, 305
description of, 105
“tertian fever,” 278, 285
theodolite, 43–44
thermidor, counterrevolution of, 145
Thoburn, Steve, 340
Thoreau, Henry David, 195
Thuban, 117–18, 300
time:
atomic standard for, 338
Babylonian-derived vs. decimal-scale units, 89, 152, 255
time zones, 332
toise, 85, 95, 316, 338, 351
Toulon, 116, 177
trade, 50
freedom of, 19, 130, 138
metric system and, 244, 259–60, 332
in old measurements, 19, 127–34
see also globalization
Tranchot, Jean-Joseph, ix, 242, 266
back pay of, 191–92
capture of, 111–12
death of, 322
death of family of, 166–67
as Delambre’s assistant, 205–6, 217, 229–30
as Méchain’s assistant, 45–46, 50, 59, 60, 62, 108, 109, 110–15, 119, 121, 164, 172, 173, 178, 191–92, 193, 196, 209, 216, 227
Méchain’s relationship with, 167, 175–76, 178, 222, 226, 233, 377
military rank of, 156
naval cartography and, 169
Revolutionary sympathies and activities of, 112–15, 166, 177, 361–13
surveyor’s experience of, 45–46, 112–13
Treasury, French, 100, 260
Treatise on Astronomy (Delambre), 314, 319–20, 322–23
triangulation:
description of, 22–23
of Europe, 324, 334
of France, 290
introduction of, 91
as method for all knowledge, 223–24
tricolor flag, 202
“Trois Stoppages Etalon,” 343
truth, public and ephemeral nature of, 338–39
Turgot, Anne-Robert-Jacques, Chief Minister, 88
Turin, 172–73
United States:
commercial use of metric system in, 4
currency reform in, 86
and development of metric system, 88–89, 94, 238–40
excluded from International Commission, 238
exploration and mapping of, 300
mapping of Pacific coast of, 244
metric system legalized in, 333, 342
metric system’s increasing use in, 341–45
official rejection of metric system in, 3–4, 326–27
Uranus, 82–83
utopianism, 3, 4, 9
Valencia, 269, 271, 276, 279, 281, 285
Valencia, archbishop of, 277
Valmy, 70
Valvidrera ridge, 50–51, 56
Vauban, Sébastien Le Prestre de, 86
Verdun, 11, 30
Versailles, 40
verticality, gravity and, 297–98
Villars, Ambassador, 172, 173
Virgil, 206, 312
Voltaire, 17, 47, 75, 77, 78, 79, 320
volunteer soldiers, in Paris national Guard, 29, 30, 36
Vouzon, 157
wage and price controls, 105, 155–56
wages, 47
WAM! (We Ain’t Metric!), 344
Washington, George, 88, 239
Watten, 45, 97
weights:
determination of metric standard for, 143
in metric system, 86
pre-metric units of, 32–33
see also measurement, measurement systems
Weights and Measures, Agency of, 254–56, 257, 260, 305
Weights and Measures, Bureau of, 259
white, as royalist color, 202
wigmakers, 142
William I of Orange, King, 331
winter solstice, 117
women, 149, 309
in astronomy, 79, 308
equality for, 142
World’s Fair, of 1929, 57
World Trade Organizatio
n (WTO), 228
World War I, 330
World War II, 339
Wren, Christopher, 240
yard, 240
yellow fever, 271, 272, 278
“you,” formal vs. informal forms of, 184
Zach, Franz Xaver, Baron von, 247, 388, 390
Zeno, 213
Zollverein, 333
THE FREE PRESS
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Copyright © 2002 by Ken Alder
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
THE FREE PRESS and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Designed by Dana Sloan
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Alder, Ken.
The measure of all things : the seven-year odyssey and hidden error that transformed the world / Ken Alder.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Arc measures—History. 2. Meter (Unit)—History. 3. Delambre, J. B. J. (Jean Baptiste Joseph), 1749–1822. 4. Méchain, Pierre, 1744–1804. I. Title.
QB291 .A43 2002
526'.1—dc21
2002070267
ISBN 0-7432-1675-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-4902-7 (eBook)