Metric System

Wednesday, 19 December 2012

Metric Conversion Rap - by The Metric Crew

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Burma
Burma ⁱ/ˈbɜrmə/ BUR-mə, also known as Myanmar ⁱ/ˌmjɑːnˈmɑr/ MYAHN--MAR, is a country in South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is bordered by India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand. One-third of Burma's total perimeter of 1,930 kilometres (1,200 mi) forms an uninterrupted coastline along the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. At 676,578 km² (261,227 sq mi), it is the 40th largest country in the world and the second largest country in Southeast Asia. Burma is also the 24th most populous country in the world with over 60.28 million people.
Burma is home to some of the early civilizations of Southeast Asia including the Pyu and the Mon. In the 9th century, the Burmans of the Kingdom of Nanzhao, entered the upper Irrawaddy valley and, following the establishment of the Pagan Empire in the 1050s, the Burmese language and culture slowly became dominant in the country. During this period, Theravada Buddhism gradually became the predominant religion of the country. The Pagan Empire fell due to the Mongol invasions (1277–1301), and several warring states emerged. In the second half of the 16th century, the country was reunified by the Taungoo Dynasty which for a brief period was the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia. The early 19th century Konbaung Dynasty ruled over an area that included modern Burma as well as Manipur and Assam. The country was colonized by Britain following three Anglo-Burmese Wars (1824–1885).

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Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (German: Wiener Kongress) was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars, and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire.
This objective resulted in the redrawing of the continent's political map, establishing the boundaries of France, the Duchy of Warsaw, the Netherlands, the states of the Rhine, the German province of Saxony, and various Italian territories, and the creation of spheres of influence through which Austria, Britain, France and Russia brokered local and regional problems. The Congress of Vienna was the first of a series of international meetings that came to be known as the Concert of Europe, which was an attempt to forge a peaceful balance of power in Europe, and served as a model for later organizations such as the League of Nations and United Nations.

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France
France (English ⁱ/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] ( listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km² (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km² / 4,383,000 sq mi).
Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.

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German Empire
The German Empire (German: Deutsches Kaiserreich) is the common name given to the state officially named the Deutsches Reich (literally: "German Realm"), designating Germany from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.
The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent territories (most of them ruled by royal families). While the Kingdom of Prussia contained most of the population and most of the territory of the Reich; the Prussian leadership became supplanted by German leaders and Prussia itself played a lesser role. As Dwyer (2005) points out, Prussia's "political and cultural influence had diminished considerably" by the 1890s. Its three largest neighbors were rivals Imperial Russia to the east and France to the west and ally Austria-Hungary to the south.
After 1850, Germany industrialized rapidly, with a foundation in coal, iron (and later steel), chemicals and railways. From a population of 41 million people in 1871, it grew to 68 million in 1913. From a heavily rural nation in 1815, it was now predominantly urban. During its 47 years of existence, the German Empire operated as an industrial, technological and scientific giant, receiving more Nobel Prizes in science than Britain, France, Russia and the United States combined.

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Guinea
Guinea ⁱ/ˈɡɪni/, officially the Republic of Guinea (French: République de Guinée), is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea (Guinée française), it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau and the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. Guinea has almost 246,000 square kilometres (94,981 sq mi) and a population of 10,057,975. It forms a crescent by curving from its western border on the Atlantic Ocean toward the east and the south. Its northern border is shared with Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Mali, the southern one with Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire. The Niger River's source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea.
Guinea is geographically divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures. Conakry is the capital, largest city and economic centre. The other major cities in the country include Kankan, Nzérékoré, Kindia, Labe, Guéckédou, Mamou and Boke.
Guinea's 10 million people belong to twenty-four ethnic groups. The largest and most prominent groups are the Fula 40%, Mandingo 30%, and Susu 20%.

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Hectare
The hectare ( /ˈhɛktɛər/ or /ˈhɛktɑr/; symbol ha) is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres (100 m by 100 m), and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the 'are' was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare ('hecto-' + 'are') was thus 100 'ares' or 1/100 km². A hectare of land is about 2.47 acres.
When the metric system was further rationalised in 1960, resulting in the International System of Units (SI), the are was not included as a recognised unit. The hectare is one of the non-SI units accepted for use with the SI units.
The metric system of measure was first given a legal basis in 1795 by the French Revolutionary government. The law of 18 Germinal, Year III (7 April 1795) defined five units of measure:
Although the law defined the length of the metre, there was no practical way of accurately measuring the metre (and hence the are) until 1799 when the first standard metre was manufactured and adopted.
The standard metre remained in the custody of successive French governments until 1875 when, under the Convention of the Metre, its supervision passed into international control under the auspices of the General Conference on Weights and Measures (GCPM). At the first meeting of the GCPM in 1889 when a new standard metre, manufactured by Johnson Matthey & Co of London was adopted, the are and hectare were automatically redefined.

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Kilometre
The kilometre (American spelling: kilometer; SI symbol: km) is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand metres (kilo- being the SI prefix for 1000). It is now the measurement unit used officially for expressing distances between geographical places on land in most of the world; notable exceptions are the United States and the United Kingdom where the statute mile is the official unit used.
k (pronounced kay) is occasionally used in some English-speaking countries as an alternative for the word kilometre in everyday writing and speech. A slang term for the kilometre in the U.S. military is klick.
There are two common pronunciations for the word:
The former pronunciation follows the general pattern in English whereby SI units of measurement are pronounced with the stress on the first syllable, and the pronunciation of the actual base unit does not change irresepective of the prefix. It is generally preferred by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

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Liberia
Liberia ⁱ/laɪˈbɪəriə/, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Ivory Coast on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open to a plateau of drier grasslands. The country possesses 40% of the remaining Upper Guinean rainforest. Liberia has a hot equatorial climate, with significant rainfall during the May to October rainy season and harsh harmattan winds the remainder of the year. Liberia covers an area of 111,369 km² (43,000 sq mi) and is home to about 3.7 million people. English is the official language, while over 30 indigenous languages are spoken within the country.
Along with Ethiopia, Liberia is one of the two modern countries in Sub-Saharan Africa without roots in the European colonization of Africa. Beginning in 1820, the region was colonized by freed American slaves with the help of the American Colonization Society, a private organization that believed ex-slaves would have greater freedom and equality in Africa. Slaves freed from slave ships were also sent there instead of being repatriated to their countries of origin. In 1847, these colonists founded the Republic of Liberia, establishing a government modeled on that of the United States and naming the capital city Monrovia after James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States and a prominent supporter of the colonization. The colonists, known as Americo-Liberians, led the political and economic sectors of the country.

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NASA
Coordinates: 38°52′59″N 77°0′59″W / 38.88306°N 77.01639°W / 38.88306; -77.01639
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research. Since February 2006, NASA's mission statement has been to "pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research." On September 14, 2011, NASA announced that it had selected the design of a new Space Launch System that it said would take the agency's astronauts farther into space than ever before and provide the cornerstone for future human space exploration efforts by the U.S.
NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958, replacing its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The agency became operational on October 1, 1958. U.S. space exploration efforts have since been led by NASA, including the Apollo moon-landing missions, the Skylab space station, and later the Space Shuttle. Currently, NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and Commercial Crew vehicles. The agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program (LSP) which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for unmanned NASA launches.

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Netherlands
The Netherlands (ⁱ/ˈnɛðərləndz/; Dutch: Nederland [ˈneːdə(r)lɑnt] or [ˈneɪ̯də(r)lɑnt] ( listen); West Frisian: Nederlân; Papiamento: Hulanda) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with some islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders with Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is a parliamentary democracy organised as a unitary state. The country capital is Amsterdam and the seat of government is The Hague. The Netherlands in its entirety is often referred to as Holland, although North and South Holland are actually only two of its twelve provinces (a case of pars pro toto; see terminology of "the Netherlands").

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NIST
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), known between 1901 and 1988 as the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), is a measurement standards laboratory, otherwise known as a National Metrological Institute (NMI), which is a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce. The institute's official mission is to:
Promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.
NIST had an operating budget for fiscal year 2007 (October 1, 2006-September 30, 2007) of about $843.3 million. NIST's 2009 budget was $992 million, but it also received $610 million as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. NIST employs about 2,900 scientists, engineers, technicians, and support and administrative personnel. About 1,800 NIST associates (guest researchers and engineers from American companies and foreign nations) complement the staff. In addition, NIST partners with 1,400 manufacturing specialists and staff at nearly 350 affiliated centers around the country. NIST publishes the Handbook 44 that provides the "Specifications, tolerances, and other technical requirements for weighing and measuring devices".

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Papal States
The Papal State(s), the State(s) of the Church, the Pontifical States, the Ecclesiastical States, or the Roman States (Italian: Stato Pontificio, also Stato della Chiesa, Stati della Chiesa, Stati Pontifici, and Stato Ecclesiastico; Latin: Status Pontificius, also Dicio Pontificia) were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia (after which the Papal States, in less territorially extensive form, continued to exist until 1870).
The Papal States comprised territories under direct sovereign rule of the papacy, and at its height it covered most of the modern Italian regions of Romagna, Marche, Umbria and Lazio. This governing power is commonly called the temporal power of the Pope, as opposed to his ecclesiastical primacy.
The plural Papal States is usually preferred; the singular Papal State (equally correct since it was not a mere personal union) tends to be used (normally with lower-case letters) for the modern State of Vatican City, an enclave within Italy's national capital, Rome. The Vatican City was founded in 1929, again allowing the Holy See the political benefits of territorial sovereignty.

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Reading, Berkshire
Reading (ⁱ/ˈrɛdɪŋ/ RED-ing) is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some 40 miles (64 km) west of London.
The Borough of Reading has a population of 145,700 (2008 estimate) and the town formed the largest part of the Reading/Wokingham Urban Area which had a population of 369,804 (2001 census). The town is currently represented in the UK parliament by two members, and has been continuously represented there since 1295. For ceremonial purposes the town is in the county of Berkshire and has served as its county town since 1867, previously sharing this status with Abingdon.
The first evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century. Reading was an important centre in the medieval period, as the site of Reading Abbey, a monastery with strong royal connections. The town was seriously impacted by the Civil War, with a major siege and loss of trade, and played a pivotal role in the Revolution of 1688, with that revolution's only significant military action fought on the streets of the town. The 19th century saw the coming of the Great Western Railway and the development of the town's brewing, baking and seed growing businesses.

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Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone (ⁱ/siːˌɛrə liːˈoʊn/), officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the northeast, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest. Sierra Leone is a constitutional representative democratic republic and covers a total area of 71,740 km² (27,699 sq mi) Sierra Leone has a tropical climate, with a diverse environment ranging from savannah to rainforests. As of 2011, Sierra Leone has an estimated population of 6 million[1] (2011 United Nations estimte). Freetown is the capital, largest city as well as its economic, commercial, educational, cultural and political centre. Bo is the country's second largest city and the second major economic and commercial centre.
Sierra Leone is divided into four geographical regions: the Northern Province, Eastern Province, Southern Province and the Western Area; which are subdivided into fourteen districts. The districts have their own directly elected local government known as district council, headed by a council chairman. The country's six municipalities of Freetown, Bo, Kenema, Makeni, Koidu Town and the coastal town of Bonthe have their own directly elected city councils headed by mayors.

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Soviet Union
The Soviet Union (Russian: Советский Союз, tr. Sovetsky Soyuz), officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR; Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик, tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik; IPA: [sɐˈjus sɐˈvʲetskʲɪx sətsɨəlʲɪˈstʲitɕɪskʲɪx rʲɪsˈpublʲɪk] ( listen); abbreviated СССР, SSSR), was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991.
The Soviet Union was a single-party state ruled by the Communist Party from its foundation until 1990. A union of 15 subnational Soviet republics, the Soviet state was structured under a highly centralized government and economy.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 caused the downfall of the Russian Empire. Following the Russian Revolution, there was a struggle for power between the Bolshevik party, led by Vladimir Lenin, and the anti-communist White movement. In December 1922, the Bolsheviks won the civil war, and the Soviet Union was formed with the merger of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.

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United States
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.

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Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( /ˈælbərt ˈaɪnstaɪn/; German: [ˈalbɐt ˈaɪnʃtaɪn] ( listen); 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics. While best known for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc² (which has been dubbed "the world's most famous equation"), he received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect". The latter was pivotal in establishing quantum theory within physics.
Near the beginning of his career, Einstein thought that Newtonian mechanics was no longer enough to reconcile the laws of classical mechanics with the laws of the electromagnetic field. This led to the development of his special theory of relativity. He realized, however, that the principle of relativity could also be extended to gravitational fields, and with his subsequent theory of gravitation in 1916, he published a paper on the general theory of relativity. He continued to deal with problems of statistical mechanics and quantum theory, which led to his explanations of particle theory and the motion of molecules. He also investigated the thermal properties of light which laid the foundation of the photon theory of light. In 1917, Einstein applied the general theory of relativity to model the structure of the universe as a whole.

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Anatol Rapoport
Anatol Rapoport (Russian: Анато́лий Бори́сович Рапопо́рт, born May 22, 1911 – January 20, 2007) was a Russian-born American Jewish mathematical psychologist. He contributed to general systems theory, mathematical biology and to the mathematical modeling of social interaction and stochastic models of contagion.
Rapoport was born in Lozоvaya, Kharkov Governorate, Russia (in today's Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine). In 1922, he came to the United States, and in 1928 he became a naturalized citizen. He started studying music in Chicago and continued with piano, conducting and composition at the Vienna Hochschule für Musik where he studied from 1929 to 1934. However, due to the rise of Nazism, he found it impossible to make a career as a pianist.
He shifted his career into mathematics, getting a Ph.D. degree in mathematics under Otto Schilling and Abraham Adrian Albert at the University of Chicago in 1941 on the thesis Construction of Non-Abelian Fields with Prescribed Arithmetic. According to the Toronto Globe and Mail, he was a member of the American Communist Party for three years, but quit before enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1941, serving in Alaska and India during World War II.

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Anthony Wilden
Anthony Wilden (14 December 1935, London, England) is a writer, social theorist, college lecturer, and consultant. Wilden has published numerous books and articles which intersect a number of fields, including systems theory, film theory, structuralism, cybernetics, psychiatry, anthropological theory, water control projects, urban ecosystems, resource conservation, and communications and social relations.
Wilden is credited with one of the first significant introductions to the work of Jacques Lacan in the Anglo-Saxon world, particularly in his role as one of Lacan's early English translators. Today and into the 21st century Wilden's work (and consequent reputation) is arguably more influential in the fields of communication theory, ecology and social interaction. These fields of study evolved out of a long scholarly tradition of "interactional semiotics" that originated with Plato's Cratylus. Along with such figures as Gregory Bateson (ie., Steps to an Ecology of Mind), R. D. Laing (ie., Sanity, Madness and the Family), and Walker Percy (ie., Lost in the Cosmos), Wilden is considered one of this tradition's contemporary (modern and postmodern) pioneers.

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Augustus de Morgan
Augustus De Morgan (27 June 1806 – 18 March 1871) was a British mathematician and logician. He formulated De Morgan's laws and introduced the term mathematical induction, making its idea rigorous. The crater De Morgan on the Moon is named after him.
Augustus De Morgan was born in 1806. His father was Col. Augustus De Morgan, who held various appointments in the service of the East India Company. His mother descended from James Dodson, who computed a table of anti-logarithms, that is, the numbers corresponding to exact logarithms. Augustus De Morgan became blind in one eye a month or two after he was born. The family moved to England when Augustus was seven months old. As his father and grandfather had both been born in India, De Morgan used to say that he was neither English, nor Scottish, nor Irish, but a Briton "unattached", using the technical term applied to an undergraduate of Oxford or Cambridge who is not a member of any one of the Colleges.
When De Morgan was ten years old, his father died. Mrs. De Morgan resided at various places in the southwest of England, and her son received his elementary education at various schools of no great account. His mathematical talents went unnoticed until he was fourteen, when a family-friend discovered him making an elaborate drawing of a figure in Euclid with ruler and compasses. She explained the aim of Euclid to Augustus, and gave him an initiation into demonstration.

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Béla H. Bánáthy
Béla Heinrich Bánáthy (December 1, 1919 – September 4, 2003) was a Hungarian linguist, systems scientist and a professor at San Jose State University and UC Berkeley. Bánáthy was the founder of the White Stag Leadership Development Program whose leadership model was adopted across the United States. He is also founder of the International Systems Institute with its innovative "conversation"-oriented conference structure, co-founder of the General Evolutionary Research Group, an influential professor of systems theory and a widely-read and respected author.
Béla Bánáthy was born in 1919 in Gyula, Hungary. The oldest of four sons, his father Peter was a minister of the Reformed Church in Hungary and his mother Hildegard Pallmann was a teacher. Peter Bánáthy had earned the honorary title Vitéz for his service during World War I, and Béla, as his oldest son, would inherit the title.
When Bánáthy was about six years old, their family informally adopted Tamas Feri. Tamas was about 13 years old and from a poor gardener family. Tamas took Bánáthy on his first overnight camp out with his patrol to a small forest near Gyula. Bánáthy's father then became the Scoutmaster of the "small scouts" troop (similar to American Cub Scouts).

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C. West Churchman
Charles West Churchman (29 August 1913, Philadelphia – 21 March 2004 Bolinas, California) was an American philosopher and systems scientist, who was Professor at the School of Business Administration and Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He was internationally known for his pioneering work in operations research, system analysis and ethics.
Churchman was born in Philadelphia in 1913, Pennsylvania, to Clark Wharton Churchman and Helen Norah Fassitt, descendents of old line Philadelphia families. His first intellectual love was for philosophy and this far-ranging love for wisdom captivated him to the end of his life. He studied philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was admitted to the Zeta Psi fraternity. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1935, a master's in 1936, and a PhD in 1938, all in philosophy. One of his teachers was Edgar A. Singer, who had been a student at Harvard of the philosopher and psychologist William James.
Before completing his dissertation, in 1937, he became Instructor of Philosophy, also at the University of Pennsylvania. Upon finishing his degree, he was appointed Assistant Professor at the University. During World War II, Churchman headed the mathematical section of the U.S. Ordnance Laboratory at the Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia and devised a way to test small arms ammunition and detonators based on the statistical methods of bioassay. He also investigated the theory of detonation, applying high-speed photography. In 1945, back in Pennsylvania he was elected Chairman of the Department of Philosophy. In 1951, Churchman moved to the Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio, and until 1957 he was Professor of Engineering Administration at Case. In 1957, he joined the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley and remained there as a Professor Emeritus after his retirement.

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Charles A S Hall
Charles A.S. Hall is ESF Foundation Distinguished Professor at State University of New York in the College of Environmental Science & Forestry. Hall describes himself primarily as a systems ecologist in the field of Systems ecology with strong interests in biophysical economics, and the relation of energy to society.
Dr. Hall was trained as a systems ecologist by Howard Odum at the University of North Carolina. Since then he has had a diverse career at Brookhaven Laboratory, The Ecosystems Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Cornell University, University of Montana and, for the last 20 years, at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF). His work has involved streams, estuaries and tropical forests but focused increasingly on human-dominated ecosystems in the US and Latin America. His research reflects his interest in understanding and developing analyses and computer simulation models of the complex systems of nature and humans and their interactions. Halls focus has been on energy as it relates to economics and environment. His focus is studying material and energy flows referred to as Industrial ecology, and applying this perspective, to attempting to understand human economies from a biophysical rather than just social perspective. Dr. Hall teaches a freshman course called The Global Environment and the Evolution of Human Culture and graduate level courses in Systems Ecology, Ecosystems, Energy systems, Tropical Development and Biophysical Economics.

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Christiaan Huygens
Christiaan Huygens, FRS (/ˈhaɪɡənz/; [ˈɦœyɣə(n)s] ( listen); 14 April 1629 – 8 July 1695) was a prominent Dutch mathematician, astronomer, physicist and horologist. His work included early telescopic studies elucidating the nature of the rings of Saturn and the discovery of its moon Titan, the invention of the pendulum clock and other investigations in timekeeping, and studies of both optics and the centrifugal force.
Huygens achieved note for his argument that light consists of waves, now known as the Huygens–Fresnel principle, which two centuries later became instrumental in the understanding of wave-particle duality. He generally receives credit for his discovery of the centrifugal force, the laws for collision of bodies, for his role in the development of modern calculus and his original observations on sound perception (see repetition pitch).
Christiaan Huygens was born in April 1629 at The Hague, the second son of Constantijn Huygens, (1596–1687), a friend of mathematician, philosopher and minor physicistRené Descartes, and of Suzanna van Baerle (deceased 1637), whom Constantijn had married on 6 April 1627. Christiaan studied law and mathematics at the University of Leiden and the College of Orange in Breda. After a stint as a diplomat, Huygens turned to science.

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Claude Shannon
Claude Elwood Shannon (April 30, 1916 – February 24, 2001) was an American mathematician, electronic engineer, and cryptographer known as "the father of information theory".
Shannon is famous for having founded information theory with one landmark paper published in 1948. But he is also credited with founding both digital computer and digital circuit design theory in 1937, when, as a 21-year-old master's student at MIT, he wrote a thesis demonstrating that electrical application of Boolean algebra could construct and resolve any logical, numerical relationship. It has been claimed that this was the most important master's thesis of all time. Shannon contributed to the field of cryptanalysis during World War II and afterwards, including basic work on code breaking.
Shannon was born in Petoskey, Michigan. His father, Claude Sr (1862–1934), a descendant of early New Jersey settlers, was a self-made businessman and for a while, Judge of Probate. His mother, Mabel Wolf Shannon (1890–1945), daughter of German immigrants, was a language teacher and for a number of years principal of Gaylord High School, Michigan. The first 16 years of Shannon's life were spent in Gaylord, Michigan, where he attended public school, graduating from Gaylord High School in 1932. Shannon showed an inclination towards mechanical things. His best subjects were science and mathematics, and at home he constructed such devices as models of planes, a radio-controlled model boat and a wireless telegraph system to a friend's house half a mile away. While growing up, he worked as a messenger for Western Union. His childhood hero was Thomas Edison, who he later learned was a distant cousin. Both were descendants of John Ogden, a colonial leader and an ancestor of many distinguished people.

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Donella Meadows
Donella H. "Dana" Meadows (March 13, 1941 Elgin, Illinois, USA - February 20, 2001, Hanover, New Hampshire) was a pioneering American environmental scientist, teacher and writer. She is best known as lead author of the influential book The Limits to Growth, which made headlines around the world.
Born in Elgin, Illinois, Meadows was educated in science, receiving a B.A. in chemistry from Carleton College in 1963, and a Ph.D. in biophysics from Harvard in 1968. After a year-long trip with her husband, Dennis Meadows, from England to Sri Lanka and back, she became, along with him, a research fellow at MIT as a member of a team in the department created by Jay Forrester, the inventor of system dynamics as well as the principle of magnetic data storage for computers. She taught at Dartmouth College for 29 years, beginning in 1972.
Meadows was honored both as a Pew Scholar in Conservation and Environment (1991) and as a MacArthur Fellow (1994). She received the Walter C. Paine Science Education Award in 1990. She also posthumously received the John H. Chafee Excellence in Environmental Affairs Award for 2001 presented by the Conservation Law Foundation.

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Edmund F. Robertson
Edmund Frederick Robertson FRSE B.Sc M.Sc Ph.D., born on 1 June 1943, St Andrews, Scotland, is a Professor emeritus of pure mathematics at the University of St Andrews.
He is one of the creators of the noted MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive along with John J. O'Connor. He has written over one hundred research articles, mainly in the theory of groups and semigroups. He is the author or co-author of seventeen textbooks.
In 1998 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
He lives at home with his wife Helena, and his two sons Colin and David.

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Edward Norton Lorenz
Edward Norton Lorenz (May 23, 1917 – April 16, 2008) was an American mathematician and meteorologist, and a pioneer of chaos theory. He discovered the strange attractor notion and coined the term butterfly effect.
Lorenz was born in West Hartford, Connecticut. He studied mathematics at both Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. From 1942 until 1946, he served as a meteorologist for the United States Army Air Corps. After his return from the war, he decided to study meteorology. Lorenz earned two degrees in the area from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he later was a professor for many years. He was a Professor Emeritus at MIT from 1969 until his death.
During the 1950s, Lorenz became skeptical of the appropriateness of the linear statistical models in meteorology, as most atmospheric phenomena involved in weather forecasting are non-linear. His work on the topic culminated in the publication of his 1963 paper Deterministic Nonperiodic Flow in Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, and with it, the foundation of chaos theory. His description of the butterfly effect followed in 1969,. He was awarded the Kyoto Prize for basic sciences, in the field of earth and planetary sciences, in 1991, the Buys Ballot Award in 2004, and the Tomassoni Award in 2008.^{[citation needed]} In his later years, he lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was an avid outdoorsman, who enjoyed hiking, climbing, and cross-country skiing. He kept up with these pursuits until very late in his life, and managed to continue most of his regular activities until only a few weeks before his death. According to his daughter, Cheryl Lorenz, Lorenz had "finished a paper a week ago with a colleague." On April 16, 2008, Lorenz died at his home in Cambridge at the age of 90, having suffered from cancer.

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Francisco Varela
Francisco Javier Varela García (September 7, 1946 – May 28, 2001), was a Chilean biologist, philosopher and neuroscientist who, together with his teacher Humberto Maturana, is best known for introducing the concept of autopoiesis to biology, and for co-founding the Mind and Life Institute to promote dialog between science and Buddhism.
Francisco Varela was born in 1946 in Santiago in Chile. After completing secondary school at the Liceo Aleman de Santiago (1951–1963). Like his mentor Humberto Maturana, Varela first studied medicine then biology at the University of Chile, then did a Ph.D. in biology at Harvard University. His thesis, defended in 1970 and supervised by Torsten Wiesel, was titled Insect Retinas: Information processing in the compound eye.
After the 1973 military coup led by Augusto Pinochet, Varela and his family spent 7 years in exile in the USA before returning to Chile to become a Professor of biology.
Varela became a Tibetan Buddhist in the 1970s, initially studying, together with Keun-Tshen Goba, with the meditation master Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, founder of Vajradhatu and Shambhala Training, and later with Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, a Nepalese meditation master of higher tantras.

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Gabriel Mouton
Gabriel Mouton (1618 – 28 September 1694) was a French abbot and scientist. He was a doctor of theology from Lyon, but was also interested in mathematics and astronomy.
His 1670 book, the Observationes diametrorum solis et lunae apparentium, came to form the basis of what was to become the metric system hundred years later. Based on the measurements of the size of the Earth conducted by Riccioli of Bologna (at 321,815 Bologna feet to the degree), Mouton proposed a decimal system of measurement based on the circumference of the Earth, explaining the advantages of a system based on nature. Mouton's publication appeared two years after John Wilkins, then president of the Royal Society published a similar proposal.
His suggestion was a unit, milliare, that was defined as a minute of arc along a meridian arc, and a system of sub-units, dividing successively by factors of ten into the centuria, decuria, virga, virgula, decima, centesima, and millesima. The virga, 1/1000 of a minute of arc, corresponding to 64.4 Bologna inches, or ~2.04 m, was reasonably close to then current unit of length, the Parisian toise (~1.95 m) – a feature which was meant to make acceptance of the new unit easier.

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George Dantzig
George Bernard Dantzig (November 8, 1914 – May 13, 2005) was an American mathematical scientist who made important contributions to operations research, computer science, economics, and statistics.
Dantzig is known for his development of the simplex algorithm, an algorithm for solving linear programming problems, and his work with linear programming, some years after it was invented by the Soviet mathematician & economist Leonid Kantorovich^{[citation needed]}. In statistics, Dantzig solved two open problems in statistical theory, which he had mistaken for homework after arriving late to a lecture of Jerzy Neyman.
Dantzig was the Professor Emeritus of Transportation Sciences and Professor of Operations Research and of Computer Science at Stanford.
Born in Portland, Oregon, George Bernard Dantzig was named after George Bernard Shaw, the Irish writer.. His father, Tobias Dantzig, was a Baltic German mathematician and linguist, and his mother, Anja Dantzig (née Ourisson), was a French linguist. Dantzig's parents met during their study at the Sorbonne University in Paris, where Tobias studied mathematics under Henri Poincaré. The Dantzigs immigrated to the United States, where they settled in Portland, Oregon.

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George Klir
George Jiri Klir (born 1932 Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech-American computer scientist and professor of systems sciences at the Center for Intelligent Systems at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York.
George Klir was born in 1932 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. In 1957 he received a M.S. degree in Electrical engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague. In the early 1960s he taught at the Institute of Computer Research in Prague. In 1964 he received a doctorate in Computer science from the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences.
In the 1960s Klir went to Iraq to teach at the Baghdad University for two years. At the end he managed to immigrate to the U.S. He started teaching computer science at UCLA and at the Fairleigh Dickinson University. In 1969 he came to Binghamton University, where he later became professor of Systems science. One year (1982–1983) he stayed as a fellow in Dutch Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS), where he completed the manuscript of his book Architecture of Systems Problem Solving. In 2007 he retired after 37 years at the University. One of his doctoral students was Richard Sternberg.

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George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732 [O.S. February 11, 1731] – December 14, 1799) was the first President of the United States of America, serving from 1789 to 1797, and the dominant military and political leader of the United States from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of the Constitution in 1787. Washington became the first president, by unanimous choice, and oversaw the creation of a strong, well-financed national government that maintained neutrality in the wars raging in Europe, suppressed rebellion, and won acceptance among Americans of all types. His leadership style established many forms and rituals of government that have been used since, such as using a cabinet system and delivering an inaugural address. Washington is universally regarded as the "Father of his country."

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Giovanni Giorgi
Giovanni Giorgi (27 November 1871 - 19 August 1950) was an Italian electrical engineer who invented the Giorgi system of measurement, the precursor to the International System (SI).
Giorgi was born in Lucca and studied engineering at the Institute of Technology of Rome, he worked at Fornaci Giorgi in Ferentino, then was the director of the Technology Office of Rome between 1906 and 1923. He also taught at the University of Rome between 1913 and 1939.
Toward the end of the 19th century, after James Clerk Maxwell's discoveries, it was clear that electric measurements could not be explained in terms of the three fundamental units of length, mass and time. Therefore, in 1901, Giorgi proposed to the AEI (Associazione Elettrotecnica Italiana) a new system that had as fundamental units the metre, the kilogram, the second and a fourth unit to be chosen from the units of electrotechnology.
In 1935 this was adopted by the IEC as the Giorgi system, also known as MKSΩ, because the fourth fundamental unit was that of electrical resistance, the ohm. In 1960, at the 11th General Conference of Weights and Measures, the SI (International System) was adopted, which was based on seven fundamental units: metre, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, mole and candela.

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Gottfried Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (sometimes von Leibniz) (German pronunciation: [ˈɡɔtfʁiːt ˈvɪlhɛlm fɔn ˈlaɪbnɪts] or [ˈlaɪpnɪts]) (July 1, 1646 – November 14, 1716) was a German mathematician and philosopher. He wrote in several languages, but primarily in Latin (~40%), French (~30%) and German (~15%).

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Gregory Bateson
Gregory Bateson (9 May 1904 – 4 July 1980) was an English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. In the 1940s he helped extend systems theory/cybernetics to the social/behavioral sciences, and spent the last decade of his life developing a "meta-science" of epistemology to bring together the various early forms of systems theory developing in various fields of science. Some of his most noted writings are to be found in his books, Steps to an Ecology of Mind (1972) and Mind and Nature (1979). Angels Fear (published posthumously in 1987) was co-authored by his daughter Mary Catherine Bateson.
Bateson was born in Grantchester in Cambridgeshire, England on 9 May 1904 - the third and youngest son of [Caroline] Beatrice Durham and of the distinguished geneticist William Bateson. The younger Bateson attended Charterhouse School from 1917 to 1921, obtained a BA in biology at St. John's College, Cambridge in 1925, and continued at Cambridge from 1927 to 1929. Bateson lectured in linguistics at the University of Sydney in 1928. From 1931 to 1937 he was a Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, spent the years before World War II in the South Pacific in New Guinea and Bali doing anthropology. During 1936-1950 he was married to Margaret Mead. At that time he applied his knowledge to the war effort before moving to the United States.

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Heinz von Foerster
Heinz von Foerster (born Heinz von Förster; November 13, 1911, Vienna – October 2, 2002, Pescadero, California) was an Austrian American scientist combining physics and philosophy. Together with Warren McCulloch, Norbert Wiener, John von Neumann, Lawrence J. Fogel, and others, Heinz von Foerster was an architect of cybernetics.
Von Foerster was born in 1911 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, as Heinz von Förster. He studied physics at the Technical University of Vienna and at the University of Breslau, where in 1944 he received a Ph.D. in physics.
He moved to the USA in 1949, and worked at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was a professor of electrical engineering from 1951 to 1975. From 1962 to 1975 he also was professor of biophysics and 1958–75 director of the Biological Computer Laboratory. Additionally, in 1956–57 and 1963–64 he was a Guggenheim-Fellow. From 1963 to 1965 he was president of the Wenner-Gren-Foundation for anthropological research.
He knew well and was in conversation with John von Neumann, Norbert Wiener, Humberto Maturana, Francisco Varela, Gordon Pask, Gregory Bateson, Lawrence J. Fogel and Margaret Mead, among many others. He influenced generations of students as a teacher and inclusive, enthusiastic collaborator.

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Howard T. Odum
Howard Thomas Odum (1924, Chapel Hill, North Carolina–2002 Gainesville, Florida) (also known as Tom or just H.T.) was an American ecologist. He is known for his pioneering work on ecosystem ecology, and for his provocative proposals for additional laws of thermodynamics, informed by his work on general systems theory.
Odum was the third child of the American sociologist Howard W. Odum, and the brother of Eugene Odum. Their father "encouraged his sons to go into science and to develop new techniques to contribute to social progress. Howard learned his early scientific lessons about birds from his brother, about fish and the philosophy of biology while working after school for the marine zoologist Robert Coker, and about electrical circuits from The Boy Electrician by Alfred Powell Morgan
Howard Thomas studied zoology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he published his first paper while still an undergraduate. His education was interrupted for three years by his World War II service with the Army Air Force in Puerto Rico and the Panama Canal Zone where he worked as a tropical meteorologist. After the war, he returned to the University of North Carolina and completed his B.S. in zoology (Phi Beta Kappa) in 1947.

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Ilya Prigogine
Ilya, Viscount Prigogine (Russian: Илья́ Рома́нович Приго́жин, Ilya Romanovich Prigozhin) (25 January 1917 – 28 May 2003) was a Belgian physical chemist and Nobel Laureate noted for his work on dissipative structures, complex systems, and irreversibility.
Prigogine was born in Moscow a few months before the Russian Revolution of 1917, into a Jewish family. His father, Roman (Ruvim Abramovich) Prigogine, was a chemical engineer at the Moscow Institute of Technology; his mother, Yulia Vikhman, was a pianist. Because the family was critical of the new Soviet system, they left Russia in 1921. They first went to Germany and in 1929, to Belgium, where Prigogine received Belgian citizenship in 1949.
Prigogine studied chemistry at the Free University of Brussels, where in 1950, he became professor. In 1959, he was appointed director of the International Solvay Institute in Brussels, Belgium. In that year, he also started teaching at the University of Texas at Austin in the United States, where he later was appointed Regental Professor and Ashbel Smith Professor of Physics and Chemical Engineering. From 1961 until 1966 he was affiliated with the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago. In Austin, in 1967, he co-founded what is now called The Center for Complex Quantum Systems. In that year, he also returned to Belgium, where he became director of the Center for Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics.

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James Grier Miller
James Grier Miller (1916 – 7 November 2002, California) was an American biologist, a pioneer of systems science, who originated the modern use of the term "behavioral science", founded and directed the multi-disciplinary Mental Health Research Institute at the University of Michigan, and originated the living systems theory.
Miller received his A.B. summa cum laude in 1937, an A.M. in psychology in 1938, an M.D. cum laude in 1942, and Ph.D. in psychology in 1943 all from Harvard University, where he was also a junior fellow of the Society of Fellows. Following military service in World War II, he served as Chief of the newly formed Clinical Psychology section of the Veteran's Administration central office in Washington.
He has served on the faculty at Harvard. In 1948, he accepted the position of Chairman of the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago, which he held until 1955. From 1955 to 1967 he directed the multi-disciplinary Mental Health Research Institute At Michigan. In 1967 to pursue an administrative career, first as provost of the newly founded Cleveland State University, and then in 1973 as president of the University of Louisville, from which position he retired in 1980.

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James Prescott Joule
James Prescott Joule FRS ( /dʒuːl/; 24 December 1818 – 11 October 1889) was an English physicist and brewer, born in Salford, Lancashire. Joule studied the nature of heat, and discovered its relationship to mechanical work (see energy). This led to the theory of conservation of energy, which led to the development of the first law of thermodynamics. The SI derived unit of energy, the joule, is named after him. He worked with Lord Kelvin to develop the absolute scale of temperature, made observations on magnetostriction, and found the relationship between the current through resistance and the heat dissipated, now called Joule's law.
The son of Benjamin Joule (1784–1858), a wealthy brewer, and Alice Prescott Joule, James Prescott Joule was born in the house adjoining the Joule Brewery in New Bailey Street, Salford 24 December 1818. James was tutored at the family home 'Broomhill', Pendlebury, near Salford, until 1834 when he was sent with his elder brother Benjamin, to study with John Dalton at the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. The pair only received two years' education in arithmetic and geometry before Dalton was forced to retire owing to a stroke. However, Dalton's influence made a lasting impression as did that of his associates, chemist William Henry and Manchester engineers Peter Ewart and Eaton Hodgkinson. Joule was subsequently tutored by John Davies. Fascinated by electricity, he and his brother experimented by giving electric shocks to each other and to the family's servants.

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Jay Wright Forrester
Jay Wright Forrester (born July 14, 1918-) is a pioneer American computer engineer, systems scientist and was a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Forrester is known as the founder of System Dynamics, which deals with the simulation of interactions between objects in dynamic systems.
Forrester was born in 1918 on a cattle ranch near Anselmo, Nebraska. His early interest in electricity was possibly sparked by the fact that the ranch had none. While in high school, he built a wind-driven 12-volt electrical system using old car parts—it gave the ranch its first electric power. After finishing high school, he had received a scholarship to go to the Agricultural College. Three weeks before enrolling, he realized a future of herding cattle in Nebraska winter blizzards had never appealed to him. So in 1936 he enrolled in the Engineering College at the University of Nebraska to study electrical engineering. As it turns out this study was about the only academic field with a solid, central core of theoretical dynamics.

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Jean Picard
Jean-Félix Picard (July 21, 1620 – July 12, 1682) was a French astronomer and priest born in La Flèche, where he studied at the Jesuit Collège Royal Henry-Le-Grand. He was the first person to measure the size of the Earth to a reasonable degree of accuracy in a survey conducted in 1669–70, for which he is honored with a pyramid at Juvisy-sur-Orge. Guided by Maurolycus's methodology and Snellius's mathematics for doing so, Picard achieved this by measuring one degree of latitude along the Paris Meridian using triangulation along thirteen triangles stretching from Paris to the clocktower of Sourdon, near Amiens. His measurements produced a result of 110.46 km for one degree of latitude, which gives a corresponding terrestrial radius of 6328.9 km. The polar radius has now been measured at just over 6357 km. This was an error only 0.44% less than the modern value. This was another example of advances in astronomy and its tools making possible advances in cartography. Picard was the first to attach a telescope with crosswires (developed by William Gascoigne) to a quadrant, and one of the first to use a micrometer screw on his instruments. The quadrant he used to determine the size of the Earth had a radius of 38 inches and was graduated to quarter-minutes. The sextant he used to find the meridian had a radius of six feet, and was equipped with a micrometer to enable minute adjustments. These equipment improvements made the margin of error only ten seconds, as opposed to Tycho Brahe's four minutes of error. This made his measurements 24 times more accurate. Isaac Newton was to use this value in his theory of universal gravitation.

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John Riggs Miller
Sir John Riggs-Miller, 1st Baronet (c. 1744 – 28 May 1798) was an Anglo-Irish politician who championed reform of the customary system of weights and measures in favour of a scientifically founded system.
He was born John Miller in County Clare, Ireland. His father was John Miller and his mother, John's wife, Anne née Browne. He was educated at Dalston School and Eton College before joining the British Army in 1760 as a cornet. He was on active service in the Battle of Emsdorf and at Belleisle, France in 1761, before retiring from the army in 1763. He was admitted to study at the Middle Temple in 1765, though does not seem to have made any progress with his legal studies, but studied at Trinity Hall, Cambridge though he did not graduate. In August 1765 he married Anna née Riggs (1741–1781), adding her name to his own. They parented a son and a daughter. In July 1762 he inherited his family estates, though they were worth little, but his wife brought substantial wealth to the marriage, enabling him to build a prestigious house at Batheaston, Somerset. The couple there held a fortnightly literary salon along with competitions and prizes. The prizes were drawn from an ornately decorated Roman vase and the affair was mocked as Lady Miller's Vase, though that did not dissuade distinguished contributions from the like of David Garrick and Christopher Anstey. In 1778 he was created a Baronet, of Ballicasey in the County of Clare. Anna died on 24 June 1781 and on 9 September 1795 he marrier Jane née Sell, widow of Sir Thomas Davenport. He was elected Member of Parliament for Newport, Cornwall in 1784.

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John Wilkins
John Wilkins FRS (1 January 1614 – 19 November 1672) was an English clergyman, natural philosopher and author, as well as a founder of the Invisible College and one of the founders of the Royal Society, and Bishop of Chester from 1668 until his death.
Wilkins is one of the few persons to have headed a college at both the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. He was a polymath, although not one of the most important scientific innovators of the period. His personal qualities were brought out, and obvious to his contemporaries, in reducing political tension in Interregnum Oxford, in founding the Royal Society on non-partisan lines, and in efforts to reach out to religious nonconformists. He was one of the founders of the new natural theology compatible with the science of the time.
He is particularly known for An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language in which, amongst other things, he proposed a universal language and a decimal system of measure not unlike the modern metric system.

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Kenneth E. Boulding
Kenneth Ewart Boulding (January 18, 1910 – March 18, 1993) was an economist, educator, peace activist, poet, religious mystic, devoted Quaker, systems scientist, and interdisciplinary philosopher. He was cofounder of General Systems Theory and founder of numerous ongoing intellectual projects in economics and social science. He was married to Elise M. Boulding.
Boulding was born in Liverpool, England in 1910. He graduated from Oxford University, and was granted United States citizenship in 1948. During the years 1949 to 1967, he was a faculty member of the University of Michigan. In 1967, he joined the faculty of the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he remained until his retirement.
Boulding was president of numerous scholarly societies including the American Economic Association, the Society for General Systems Research, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was not only a prolific writer and a creative integrator of knowledge, but an academician of world stature—indeed, a magisterial figure in the discipline of social science. For Boulding, economics and sociology were not social sciences—rather, they were all aspects of a single social science devoted to the study of human persons and their relationships (organizations). Boulding spearheaded an evolutionary (instead of equilibrium) approach to economics.

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Kevin Warwick
Kevin Warwick (born 9 February 1954 Coventry, UK) is a British scientist and professor of cybernetics at the University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom. He is known for his studies on direct interfaces between computer systems and the human nervous system, and has also done research in the field of robotics.
Kevin Warwick was born in 1954 in Coventry in the United Kingdom. He attended Lawrence Sheriff School in Rugby, Warwickshire. He left school in 1970 to join British Telecom, at the age of 16. In 1976 he took his first degree at Aston University, followed by a Ph.D and a research post at Imperial College London.
He subsequently held positions at Oxford, Newcastle and Warwick universities before being offered the Chair in Cybernetics at the University of Reading in 1987.
Warwick is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and a Fellow of the City and Guilds of London Institute. He is Visiting Professor at the Czech Technical University in Prague and the University of Strathclyde and in 2004 was Senior Beckman Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. He is also Director of the University of Reading Knowledge Transfer Partnerships Centre, which links the University with Companies and is on the Advisory Boards of the Instinctive Computing Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University and the Centre for Intermedia, University of Exeter.

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Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured writer and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s. She earned her bachelor degree at Barnard College in New York City, and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University.
She was both a popularizer of the insights of anthropology into modern American and Western culture and a respected, if controversial, academic anthropologist. Her reports about the attitudes towards sex in South Pacific and Southeast Asian traditional cultures amply informed the 1960s sexual revolution. Mead was a champion of broadened sexual mores within a context of traditional western religious life.
An Anglican Christian, she played a considerable part in the drafting of the 1979 American Episcopal Book of Common Prayer.
Mead, the first of five children, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but raised in Doylestown. Her father, Edward Sherwood Mead, was a professor of finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and her mother, Emily (Fogg) Mead, was a sociologist who studied Italian immigrants. Her sister Katharine (1906–1907) died at the age of nine months. This was a traumatic event for Mead, who had named this baby, and thoughts of her lost sister permeated her daydreams for many years. Her family moved frequently, so her early education alternated between home-schooling and traditional schools. Born into a family of varying religious outlooks, she searched for a form of religion that gave an expression of the faith that she had been formally acquainted with, Christianity. In doing so, she found the rituals of the Episcopal Church to fit the expression of religion she was seeking. Margaret studied one year, 1919, at DePauw University, then transferred to Barnard College where she earned her bachelor's degree in 1923.

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Marquis de Condorcet
Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet ([maʁi ʒɑ̃n‿ɑ̃twan nikola də kaʁita kɔ̃dɔʁˈse]; 17 September 1743 – 28 March 1794), known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher, mathematician, and early political scientist whose Condorcet method in voting tally selects the candidate who would beat each of the other candidates in a run-off election. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he advocated a liberal economy, free and equal public education, constitutionalism, and equal rights for women and people of all races. His ideas and writings were said to embody the ideals of the Age of Enlightenment and rationalism, and remain influential to this day. He died a mysterious death in prison after a period of being a fugitive from French Revolutionary authorities.
Condorcet was born in Ribemont, Aisne, and descended from the ancient family of Caritat, who took their title from the town of Condorcet in Dauphiné, of which they were long-time residents. Fatherless at a young age, he was raised by his devoutly religious mother. He was educated at the Jesuit College in Reims and at the Collège de Navarre in Paris, where he quickly showed his intellectual ability, and gained his first public distinctions in mathematics. When he was sixteen, his analytical abilities gained the praise of Jean le Rond d'Alembert and Alexis Clairaut; soon, Condorcet would study under d'Alembert.

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Mihajlo D. Mesarovic
Mihajlo D. Mesarovic (1928), (Serbian: Mihajlo D. Mesarović, Serbian Cyrillic: Михајло Д. Месаровић) is a Yugoslavian scientist, who is a professor of Systems Engineering and Mathematics at Case Western Reserve University. Mesarovic has been a pioneer in the field of systems theory, he was UNESCO Scientific Advisor on Global change and also a member of the Club of Rome.
Mihajlo D. Mesarovic was born in Yugoslavia in 1928. He was awarded the M.S. from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Electrical Engineering in 1951. In 1955 he received a Ph.D. in Technical sciences from the University of Belgrade. In 1958 he became a Sloane Post-Doctoral Fellow at MIT.
Mesarovic held academic positions at University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia form 1954 to 1958. He was associate Professor at CWRU from 1959 to 1964 and professor from 1964 to 1978. In that time he was head of the Systems Engineering Group 1965-68, head of the Systems Engineering Department 1968-72 and director of the Systems Research Center 1968-78. Starting 1978, Prof. Mesarovic has been the Cady Staley Professor of Systems Engineering and Mathematics. One of his students was Roger W. Brockett.

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Murray Bowen
Murray Bowen, M.D., (31 January 1913, Waverly, Tennessee - 9 October 1990) was an American psychiatrist and a professor in psychiatry at the Georgetown University. Bowen was among the pioneers of family therapy and founders of systemic therapy. Beginning in the 1950s, he developed a systems theory of the family.
Murray Bowen was born in 1913 as the oldest of five and grew up in the small town of Waverly, Tennessee, where his father was the mayor for some time. Bowen got his B.S. in 1934 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He received his MD in 1937 at the Medical School of the University of Tennessee Medical School in Memphis. After that, he had internships at the Bellevue Hospital in New York City in 1938 and at the Grasslands Hospital, Valhalla, New York, from 1939 to 1941. From 1941 to 1946, he had his military training followed by five years of active duty with Army in the United States and Europe. During the war, his interest changed from surgery to psychiatry. While observing the soldiers he decided that mental illness was a more pressing and worthwhile goal. After his military service he had been accepted for fellowship in surgery at Mayo Clinic. But in 1946, he started at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas, as fellow in psychiatry and personal psychoanalysis. This psychiatric training and experience lasted here until 1954.

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Niklas Luhmann
Niklas Luhmann (December 8, 1927 - November 6, 1998) was a German sociologist, and a prominent thinker in sociological systems theory.
Luhmann was born in Lüneburg, Lower Saxony, where his father's family had been running a brewery for several generations. After graduating from the Johanneum school in 1943, he was conscripted as a Luftwaffenhelfer in World War II and served for two years until, at the age of 17, he was taken prisoner of war by American troops in 1945. After the war Luhmann studied law at the University of Freiburg from 1946 to 1949, when he obtained a law degree, and then began a career in Lüneburg's public administration. During a sabbatical in 1961, he went to Harvard, where he met and studied under Talcott Parsons, then the world's most influential social systems theorist.
In later years, Luhmann dismissed Parsons' theory, developing a rival approach of his own. Leaving the civil service in 1962, he lectured at the national Deutsche Hochschule für Verwaltungswissenschaften (University for Administrative Sciences) in Speyer, Germany, until 1965, when he was offered a position at the Sozialforschungsstelle (Social Research Centre) of the University of Münster, led by Helmut Schelsky. 1965/66 he studied one semester of sociology at the University of Münster.

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Norbert Wiener
Norbert Wiener (November 26, 1894, Columbia, Missouri – March 18, 1964, Stockholm, Sweden) was an American mathematician. He was Professor of Mathematics at MIT.
A famous child prodigy, Wiener later became an early researcher in stochastic and noise processes, contributing work relevant to electronic engineering, electronic communication, and control systems.
Wiener is regarded as the originator of cybernetics, a formalization of the notion of feedback, with many implications for engineering, systems control, computer science, biology, philosophy, and the organization of society.
Wiener was the first child of Leo Wiener and Bertha Kahn, Jews of Polish and German descent, respectively. Norbert Wiener became a famous child prodigy. Leo had educated Norbert at home until 1903, employing teaching methods of his own invention, except for a brief interlude when Norbert was 7 years of age. Earning his living teaching German and Slavic languages, Leo read widely and accumulated a personal library from which the young Norbert benefited greatly. Leo also had ample ability in mathematics, and tutored his son in the subject until he left home.

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Qian Xuesen
Qian Xuesen (simplified Chinese: 钱学森; traditional Chinese: 錢學森; pinyin: Qián Xuésēn; Wade–Giles: Ch'ien Hsüeh-sên) (11 December 1911 – 31 October 2009) was a scientist who made important contributions to the missile and space programs of both the United States and People's Republic of China. Historical documents in the U. S. commonly refer to him with the earlier family-name last spelling, Hsue-Shen Tsien or H.S. Tsien.
During the 1940s Qian was one of the founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. During the Second Red Scare of the 1950s, the United States government accused Qian of having communist sympathies, and he was stripped of his security clearance in 1950. Qian then decided to return to China, but instead was detained at Terminal Island near Los Angeles. After spending 5 years under virtual house arrest, Qian was released in 1955, in exchange for the repatriation of American pilots captured during the Korean War. Notified by U.S. authorities that he was free to go, Qian immediately arranged his departure, leaving for China in September 1955, on the passenger liner SS President Cleveland of American President Lines, via Hong Kong. He returned to lead the Chinese rocket program, and became known as the "Father of Chinese Rocketry" (or "King of Rocketry").

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Richard E. Bellman
Richard Ernest Bellman (August 26, 1920 – March 19, 1984) was an American applied mathematician, celebrated for his invention of dynamic programming in 1953, and important contributions in other fields of mathematics.
Bellman was born in 1920 in New York City, where his father John James Bellman ran a small grocery store on Bergen Street near Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Bellman completed his studies at Abraham Lincoln High School in 1937, and studied mathematics at Brooklyn College where he received a BA in 1941. He later earned an MA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. During World War II he worked for a Theoretical Physics Division group in Los Alamos. In 1946 he received his Ph.D. at Princeton under the supervision of Solomon Lefschetz. From 1949 Bellman worked for many years at RAND corporation and it was during this time that he developed dynamic programming.
He was a professor at the University of Southern California, a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1975), and a member of the National Academy of Engineering (1977).

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Russell L. Ackoff
Russell Lincoln Ackoff (12 February 1919 – 29 October 2009) was an American organizational theorist, consultant, and Anheuser-Busch Professor Emeritus of Management Science at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Ackoff was a pioneer in the field of operations research, systems thinking and management science.
Russell L. Ackoff was born in 1919 in Philadelphia to Jack and Fannie (Weitz) Ackoff. He received his bachelor degree in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in 1941. After graduation, he taught at Penn for one year as an assistant instructor in philosophy. From 1942 to 1946, he served in the U.S. Army. He returned to study at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received his doctorate in philosophy of science in 1947 as C. West Churchman’s first doctoral student. He also received a number of honorary doctorates, from 1967 and onward.
From 1947 to 1951 Ackoff was assistant professor in philosophy and mathematics at the Wayne State University. He was associate professor and professor of operations research at Case Institute of Technology from 1951 to 1964. In 1961 and 1962 he was also visiting professor of operational research at the University of Birmingham. From 1964 to 1986 he was professor of systems sciences and professor of management science at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Simon Stevin
Simon Stevin (1548/49 – 1620) was a Flemish mathematician and military engineer. He was active in a great many areas of science and engineering, both theoretical and practical. He also translated various mathematical terms into Dutch, making it one of the few European languages in which the word for mathematics, wiskunde ("the art of what is certain"), was not derived from Greek (via Latin).
Stevin was born in Bruges, Flanders (now Belgium) around the year 1548, to unmarried parents, Antheunis (Anton) Stevin and Catelyne van der Poort. His father is believed to have been a cadet son of a mayor of Veurne, while his mother Cathelijne (or Catelyne) was the daughter of a burgher family from Ypres. Simon's mother Cathelijne was later married to a man who was involved in the carpet and silk trade. Through her marriage Cathelijne became a member of a family who were Calvinists and it is presumed that Simon was brought in the Calvinist faith. Very little has been recorded about his life. Even the exact date of birth and the date and place of his death (The Hague or Leiden) are uncertain. It is known that he left a widow with two children; and one or two hints scattered throughout his works inform us that he began life as a merchant's clerk in Antwerp, that he travelled in Poland, Denmark and other parts of northern Europe. After his travels, in 1581, while in his thirties, he moved to Leiden where he attended the Latin school and at the age of 35 (1583) entered the University of Leiden where he befriended William of Orange's second son, Maurits (Maurice), the Count Of Nassau. Following William of Orange's assassination and Prince Maurice of Nassau's assumption of his father's office, he became an advisor and tutor of Maurice, who asked his advice on many occasions, and made him a public officer – at first director of the so-called "waterstaet" (the government authority for public works) from 1592, and later quartermaster-general of the army of the States-General.

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Talcott Parsons
Talcott Parsons (December 13, 1902 – May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist who served on the faculty of Harvard University from 1927 to 1973.
Parsons developed a general theory for the study of society called action theory, based on the methodological principle of voluntarism and the epistemological principle of analytical realism. The theory attempted to establish a balance between two major methodological traditions: the utilitarian-positivist and hermeneutic-idealistic traditions. For Parsons, voluntarism established a third alternative between these two. More than a theory of society, Parsons presented a theory of social evolution and a concrete interpretation of the "drives" and directions of world history.
Parsons analyzed the work of Émile Durkheim and Vilfredo Pareto and evaluated their contributions through the paradigm of voluntaristic action. Parsons was also largely responsible for introducing and interpreting Max Weber's work to American audiences. Although he was generally considered a major structuralist functionalist scholar, in an article late in life, Parsons explicitly wrote that the term "functional" or "structural functionalist" were inappropriate ways to describe the character of his theory. For Parsons, "structural functionalism" was a particular stage in the methodological development of the social science, and "functionalism" was a universal method; neither term was a name for any specific school. In the same way, the concept "grand theory" is a derogatory term, which Parsons himself never used.

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Talleyrand
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, 1st Prince de Bénévent (French: [ʃaʁl moʁis də tal(ɛ)ʁɑ̃ peʁiɡɔʁ]; 1754–1838) was a French diplomat. He worked successfully from the regime of Louis XVI, through the French Revolution and then under Napoleon I, Louis XVIII, Charles X, and Louis-Philippe. Known since the turn of the 19th century simply by the name Talleyrand, he remains a figure that polarizes opinion. Some regard him as one of the most versatile, skilled and influential diplomats in European history, and some believe that he was a traitor, betraying in turn, the Ancien Régime, the French Revolution, Napoleon, and the Restoration. He is also notorious for turning his back on the Catholic Church after ordination to the priesthood and consecration to the episcopacy.

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Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 (April 2, 1743 O.S.) – July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence (1776) and the third President of the United States (1801–1809). At the beginning of the American Revolution, Jefferson served in the Continental Congress, representing Virginia. He then served as a wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781). Just after the war ended, from mid-1784 Jefferson served as a diplomat, stationed in Paris, initially as a commissioner to help negotiate commercial treaties. In May 1785, he became the United States Minister to France. He was the first United States Secretary of State (1790–1793) during the administration of President George Washington. Upon resigning his office, with his close friend James Madison he organized the Democratic-Republican Party. Elected Vice-President in 1796, under his opponent John Adams, Jefferson with Madison secretly wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which attempted to nullify the Alien and Sedition Acts.

wn.com/Thomas_Jefferson
William Ross Ashby
W. Ross Ashby (London, 6 September 1903 – 15 November 1972) was an English psychiatrist and a pioneer in cybernetics, the study of complex systems. His first name was not used: he was known as Ross Ashby.
His two books, Design for a brain and An introduction to cybernetics, were landmark works. They introduced exact and logical thinking to the nascent discipline, and were highly influential.
William Ross Ashby was born in 1903 in London, where his father was working at an advertising agency. From 1917 to 1921 William studied at the Edinburgh Academy in Scotland, and from 1921 at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he received his B.A. in 1924 and his M.B. and B.Ch. in 1928. From 1924 to 1928 he worked at the St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London. Later on he also received a Diploma in Psychological Medicine in 1931, and an M.A. 1930 and M.D. from Cambridge in 1935.
Ross Ashby started working in 1930 as a Clinical Psychiatrist in the London County Council. From 1936 until 1947 he was a Research Pathologist in the St Andrew's Hospital in Northampton in England. From 1945 to 1947 he served in India where he was a Major in the Royal Army Medical Corps.

wn.com/William_Ross_Ashby

Metric & Standard Measurement Systems

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The metric system film

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Metric System

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Basics of the Metric System

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Metric Conversion Rap - by The Metric Crew

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High School Physics: Metric System

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photo: AP / Charles Krupa

Police officers cross the road after searching a strip mall near an elementary school, which was in a lockdown, in Ridgefield, Conn., Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, after a suspicious person was seen near a train station close by.

Gunspicuous Consumption and Bio-Cultures of Violence

WorldNews.com

18 Dec 2012

Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. "Most people reason dramatically, not quantitatively." -Oliver Wendell Holmes. On the same day that a 20-year-old, described as brilliant but remote, walked into an elementary school in Connecticut and massacred 26 children and adults, the school where I teach went on "lock-down." Four students with a handgun were arrested ... That morning before school, he had posted on Twitter and Facebook....(size: 14.0Kb)

photo: AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais

President Barack Obama gestures while speaking during the his visit to the Disaster Operation Center of the Red Cross National Headquarter to discuss superstorm Sandy

Obama backs bill to ban assault weapons

The Star

19 Dec 2012

WASHINGTON. US President Barack Obama backs a new bill to revive an assault weapons ban and other new gun laws, the White House said Tuesday, fleshing out his nascent response to a shocking school massacre. Obama also called an ardently pro-gun senator who has shifted his position on firearms laws since Friday's carnage in Connecticut and has begun meeting top cabinet officials to consider his options, his spokesman Jay Carney said ... ....(size: 4.9Kb)

photo: Creative Commons / Joachim Huber

Etosha's elephants belong to the group of elephants in northwestern Nambia and southern Angola.

Stupider and Still Developing an Extermination Gene

WorldNews.com

18 Dec 2012

Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. When a Stanford geneticist, Gerald Crabtree, published a provocative and controversial new view on evolutionary change, namely that humans are actually getting dumber, he should have also added that humans are still developing an extermination gene ... Paleontologist Tim Flannery would more than likely agree with Crabtree ... Strange strings of gravel also overlaid some bones ... (1) Kane, Alex ... 195....(size: 9.4Kb)

photo: AP / Narciso Contreras

In this Monday, Dec. 17, 2012 photo, a man runs between debris after a mortar shell hit a street killing several people in the Bustan Al-Qasr district of Aleppo, Syria.

U.N. seeks $1.5 billion to address Syria crisis

The Star

19 Dec 2012

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations appealed on Wednesday for $1.5 billion (920.1 million pounds) to provide life-saving aid to Syrians suffering from a "dramatically deteriorating" humanitarian situation ... "The magnitude of this humanitarian crisis is indisputable," said Radhouane Nouicer, U.N ... Inside Syria, U.N ... ....(size: 1.5Kb)

photo: AP / Manu Brabo

A Syrian family warm themselves at a refugee camp in Azaz, Syria, Monday, Dec 17, 2012.

Fuel shortage blocks aid support in Syria, UN warns

BBC News

18 Dec 2012

The UN's humanitarian chief has called on Syria to urgently allow fuel imports for aid deliveries and give access to 10 more aid agencies. Valerie Amos met government officials in the capital, Damascus, to discuss the growing humanitarian crisis. UN workers also needed to freely move into opposition-controlled areas to step up their aid efforts, she said ... 'Greater rebel contact' ... The claim could not be independently verified ... ....(size: 2.6Kb)

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Playing the point for Buffalo in Toronto

Buffalo News

16 Dec 2012

Lee Meister is back in Buffalo business. The economic development consultant had been the state’s representative in the Toronto market for 22 years, until New York officials closed the Ontario office last April in a cost-cutting move ... Q. What does it mean to have somebody on the ground in Toronto?. A ... Q ... A ... section ... market. Q ... A ... Q ... A ... Q ... A ... Q ... In Canada we have bilingual French and English regulations, in packaging we have the metric system....(size: 7.2Kb)

Two Higgs Bosons? CERN Scientists Revisit Large Hadron Collider Particle Data

Huffington Post

15 Dec 2012

By Michael Moyer. A month ago scientists at the Large Hadron Collider released the latest Higgs boson results. And although the data held few obvious surprises, most intriguing were the results that scientists didn’t share ... Also on HuffPost ... In 1812, Napoleon first authorized the use of what would become the metric system, Pierre-Simon Laplace laid the groundwork for much of statistics in his 'Théorie analytique des probabilités .' ... Like ... ....(size: 11.3Kb)

Gene B. Glick Company Realizing Notable New Lease and Renewal Rates with Rainmaker LRO™ Revenue Management

San Francisco Chronicle

14 Dec 2012

The system calculates optimized pricing based on multiple factors that influence rate setting, including traffic and lease duration, move-in dates, competitive affects and other metrics. The system also produces enterprise-wide demand forecasts by measuring and analyzing historical and current market metrics and performing calculations necessary for occupancy predictions that are dynamically updated as market conditions change....(size: 5.8Kb)

Aruvio Announces the Availability of Aruvio UCF Browser, an Intuitive Web Based Tool to Facilitate ...

San Francisco Chronicle

13 Dec 2012

Aruvio UCF Browser allows for easier browsing of UCF extensive library of authority documents and controls through a familiar “directory-like” interface ... Santa Clara, CA (PRWEB) December 12, 2012 ... Network Frontiers UCF- Since 1992, Network Frontiers has developed ground-breaking tools to support IT best practices with a special focus on regulatory compliance, metrics, systems continuity, and governance ... Aruvio Press Contacts....(size: 4.3Kb)

Clinical Research Advantage Receives Silver Best in Biz Award for Finance Executive and Finance Department of the Year

Business Wire

12 Dec 2012

The company received the Silver Award for Finance Executive of the Year and Finance Department of the Year ... Jim Vesely, Chief Financial Officer, and his team of Sandy Zipp, Accountant, and Jan Jacobson, Accounting Associate, were recognized for developing and implementing a metrics system that allowed the company to increase revenue and obtain the capital needed for expansion ... “Jim Vesely and his team have done an extraordinary job ... ....(size: 4.4Kb)

What's the historical significance of the number 12?

CBC

12 Dec 2012

The number 12 is ubiquitous — it's the number of months in a year, hours on a clock face and the number of members on a typical court jury. And today, Dec. 12, 2012, corresponds to the date 12-12-12 ... From a dozen eggs to the 12 ribs on the average human to the 12 inches that comprise a foot (a height measurement we still use in Canada, despite using the metric system in most other instances) ... local time....(size: 3.6Kb)

All eyes on Ryan Lochte as he pursues golden haul in Istanbul pool

The Guardian

12 Dec 2012

Swimmers could have been forgiven for taking a sabbatical after London 2012 but the short-course contest offers a chance to exchange 50 metres for 25m and an even faster format ... Photograph ... Swimming in 25-yard pools is commonplace in the US, where imperial measures still make up an uncomfortable marriage with the metric system, and competing in the Olympic-sized pools presents a break from the norm for American swimmers ... ....(size: 5.3Kb)

High insulin levels cause obesity, scientists discover; low carb diet may help (Video)

The Examiner

12 Dec 2012

Eating more than we need may cause obesity, not as a result of chronically elevated levels of the hormone insulin, rather than obesity causing high insulin levels as has previously been thought. These are the results of new research in mice reported in the December issue of Cell Metabolism, out Dec ... To find your BMI using the metric system, divide your weight in kilograms by your height in meters squared ... Sources.. Arya E ... Templeman, G ... ....(size: 5.3Kb)

Greener Fields Together™ Partners With SureHarvest for Continuous Sustainability Improvement Verification

PR Newswire

11 Dec 2012

  Google. Download image. Download image. Download image. , Dec ... (Logo ... (Logo ... The five P's ... From best practices to metrics and systems for tracking progress, they're helping us to keep the focus squarely on continuous sustainability improvement." ... SureHarvest co-founded the Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops, a multi-stakeholder effort to develop sustainability performance metrics for the fruit, vegetable, and nut sector. CONTACT. ... ....(size: 8.3Kb)

New math: Treegonometry helps celebrants decorate their Christmas tree properly

The Examiner

06 Dec 2012

Great Britain’s University of Sheffield has produced a mathematical formula to produce the perfectly decorated Christmas tree. This could have been a boon to Charlie Brown, but alas, it arrives some 47 years too late, as it was only reported on Thursday. The university’s Maths Society (SUMS) was given the challenge by department store Debenhams ... Sorry, those in the U.S. Since this was created in the U.K., it uses the metric system ... ....(size: 2.2Kb)

The Mathematical Formula For the Perfectly Decorated Christmas Tree

Gizmodo

06 Dec 2012

Jamie Condliffe - . It turns out that decorating your Christmas tree isn’t necessarily all about taste. Mathematicians at the University of Sheffield have developed a formula for the perfect way to deck the halls ... Since the geniuses behind the formula hail from the UK and embrace that new-fangled metric system, you’ll need to know the height of your tree in centimetres ... [The University of Sheffield via PhysOrg] ... Comments....(size: 3.6Kb)

Composer Dylan Mattingly hits stride - at 21

San Francisco Chronicle

05 Dec 2012

If you ever feel as though you've gotten a slow start in life, you might be better off not thinking too hard about the example of Dylan Mattingly ... He's 21 years old ... This week brings two commissioned world premieres on his home turf ... He talked with The Chronicle by phone last week. Q ... A ... Q ... A ... Q ... A ... Q ... A ... Q ... A ... ... I'm currently writing music for the choruses in "The Bacchae," trying to use the actual metric system of the choral odes in Euripides ... ....(size: 4.7Kb)

Aruvio Partners with the Unified Compliance Framework

San Francisco Chronicle

04 Dec 2012

Aruvio (http.//www.aruvio.com), an innovative provider of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) applications in the Cloud, today announced its partnership with Network Frontiers UCF, the Unified Compliance Framework ... Network Frontiers UCF- Since 1992, Network Frontiers has developed ground-breaking tools to support IT best practices with a special focus on regulatory compliance, metrics, systems continuity, and governance....(size: 3.3Kb)

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This article is about the metric system in general. For information about specific versions of the system, such as the International System of Units or the cgs system of units, see #Variants.

For a generally accessible and less technical introduction to the topic, see Introduction to the metric system.

"The metric system is for all people for all time." (Condorcet 1791) Four objects used in making measurements in everyday situations that have metric calibrations are shown: a tape measure calibrated in centimetres, a thermometer calibrated in degrees Celsius, a kilogram weight, and an electrical multimeter which measures volts, amps and ohms.

The metric system is an international decimalised system of measurement that was originally based on the mètre des archives and the kilogramme des archives introduced by France in 1799. Over the years, the definitions of the metre and kilogram have been refined and the metric system extended to incorporate many more units. Although a number of variants of the metric system emerged in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the term is now often used as a synonym for the "International System of Units" - the official system of measurement in almost every country in the world.

The United States is the only industrialized country that does not use the metric system as its official system of measurement, although the metric system has been officially sanctioned for use there since 1866. Although the United Kingdom committed to officially adopting the metric system for many measurement applications, it is still not in universal use there and the customary imperial system is still in common and widespread use. Although the originators intended to devise a system that was equally accessible to all, it proved necessary to use prototype units under the custody of government or other approved authorities as standards. Until 1875, control of the prototype units of measure was maintained by the French Government when it passed to an inter-governmental organisation – the Conférence générale des poids et mesures (CGPM). It is now hoped that the last of these prototypes can be retired by 2014.

From its beginning, the main feature of the metric system was the standard set of inter-related base units and a standard set of prefixes in powers of ten. These base units are used to derive larger and smaller units and replaced a huge number of unstandardised units of measure that existed previously. While the system was first developed for commercial use, its coherent set of units made it particularly suitable for scientific and engineering purposes.

The uncoordinated use of the metric system by different scientific and engineering disciplines, particularly in the late 19th century, resulted in different choices of fundamental units, even though all were based on the same definitions of the metre and the kilogram. During the 20th century, efforts were made to rationalise these units and in 1960 the CGPM published the International System of Units ("Système international d'unités" in French, hence "SI") which, since then, has been the internationally recognised standard metric system.

Features [link]

Although the metric system has changed and developed since its inception, its basic concepts have hardly changed - it was designed for transnational use; it consisted of a basic set of units of measurement, now known as base units; derived units were built up from the base units using logical rather than empirical relationships while multiples and submultiples of both base and derived units were decimal based and identified by a standard set of prefixes.

Universality [link]

At the outbreak of the French Revolution each country, and in many cases each city, had its own system of measurement. Although different countries might have used the same names for their units of measure such as the foot (or a translation such as pied, fuß, voet etc), the sizes of those units varied as did their relationship with their multiples and submultiples, much like the modern-day variation between the US and the UK pint and gallon.

Chinese expressway distances road sign in eastern Beijing. Although the primary text is in Chinese, the distances use internationally recognised characters.

The metric system was, in the words of the French philosopher Condorcet to be "for all people for all time".^[1] It was designed for ordinary people, for engineers who worked in human-related measurements and for astronomers and physicists who worked with numbers both small and large, hence the huge range of prefixes that have now been defined in SI.^[2]

The metric system was designed to be universal, that is, available to all. When the French Government first investigated the idea of overhauling their system of measurement, Talleyrand, in the late 1780s, acting on Concordet's advice, invited Riggs, a British Parliamentarian and Jefferson, the American Secretary of State to George Washington, to work with the French in producing an international standard by promoting legislation in their respective legislative bodies. However, these overtures failed and the custody of the metric system remained in the hands of the French Government until 1875.^[3]

To help make it universal, common unit symbols that are independent of language were developed. Thus the length unit symbol "km" is used in French and in British English for "kilometre", in German, Danish, Dutch and in American English for "kilometer", in Spanish for "kilómetro", in Portuguese for "quilómetro", in Italian for "chilometro", in Greek for "χιλιόμετρα", in Russian for "Километр", in Urdu for "کلومیٹر" and so on.^[4]^[5]

Decimal multiples [link]

The metric system is decimal, except where the non-SI units for time and plane angle measurement are concerned. All multiples and divisions of the decimal units are factors of the power of ten, an idea first proposed by the Flemish mathematician Simon Stevin in 1586.^[6]

Decimal prefixes are a characteristic of the metric system; conversions between units of different magnitudes is accomplished by shifting the decimal point or changing an exponent; for example, the speed of light may be expressed as 299792.458 km/s or 2.99792458×10⁸ m/s. This is done at the cost of losing the simplicity associated with many traditional systems of units where division by 3 or 4 does not result in awkward fractions; for example one third of a foot is four inches.

In 1854, the mathemetican de Morgan, when summarised the advantages of a decimal-based system over a non-decimal system "In the simple rules of arithmetic, we practice a pure decimal system, nowhere interrupted by the entrance of any other system: from column to column we never carry anything but tens".^[7]

Prefixes [link]

Metric prefixes in everyday use

Text	Symbol	Factor
tera	T	1000000000000
giga	G	1000000000
mega	M	1000000
kilo	k	1000
hecto	h	100
(none)	(none)	1
deci	d	0.1
centi	c	0.01
milli	m	0.001
micro	μ	0.000001
nano	n	0.000000001

Main article: metric prefix

A common set of decimal-based prefixes is applied to some units which are too large or too small for practical use without adjustment. The effect of the prefixes is to multiply or divide the unit by a factor of ten, one hundred or an integer power of one thousand. (This idea was first suggested by Mouton in 1670.^[8]) The prefix kilo, for example, is used to multiply the unit by 1000, and the prefix milli is to indicate a one-thousandth part of the unit. Thus the kilogram and kilometre are a thousand grams and metres respectively, and a milligram and millimetre are one thousandth of a gram and metre respectively. These relations can be written symbolically as:^[9]

1 mg = 0.001 g

1 km = 1000 m

When applying prefixes to derived units of area and volume that are expressed in terms of units of length squared or cubed, the square and cube operators are applied to the unit of length including the prefix,^[9] as illustrated here:

1 mm² (square millimetre) = (1 mm)² = (0.001 m)² = 0.000 001 m²

1 km² (square kilometre) = (1 km)² = (1000 m)² = 1,000,000 m²

1 mm³ (cubic millimetre) = (1 mm)³ = (0.001 m)³ =0.000 000 001 m³

1 km³ (cubic kilometre) = (1 km)³ = (1000 m)³ = 1,000,000,000 m³

Prefixes are not usually used to indicate multiples of a second greater than 1; the non-SI units of minute, hour and day are used instead.^[9] On the other hand, prefixes are used for multiples of the non-SI unit of volume, the litre (l, L), or the stere (cubic metre). Examples:

1 mL = 0.001 L

1 kL = 1000 L

Initially positive powers of ten had Greek-derived prefixes and negative power of ten Latin-derived prefixes. The most familiar prefixes in everyday use are kilo- and mega-, which are of Greek origin, and centi- and milli-, which are of Latin origin. However, later SI extensions to the prefix system did not follow the Latin-less-than-one convention; instead, such prefixes (nano- and micro-, for example) use prefixes with Greek roots.

During the 19th century the prefix myria-, derived from the Greek word μύριοι (mýrioi), was used as a multiplier for 10,000 (10⁴).^[10]

Replicable prototypes [link]

The initial way to establish a standard was to make prototypes of the base units and distribute copies to approved centres. This made the new standard reliant on the original prototypes, which would be in conflict with the previous goal, since all countries would have to refer to the one holding the prototypes.

Instead, where possible, definitions of the base units were developed so that any laboratory equipped with proper instruments would be able to construct their own copies of the standard. In the original version of the metric system the base units could be derived from a specified length (the metre) and the weight [mass] of a specified volume (¹⁄₁₀₀₀ of a cubic metre) of pure water. Initially the Assemblée Constituante considered defining the metre as the length of a pendulum that has a period of one second at 45°N and an altitude equal to sea level. The altitude and latitude were specified to accommodate variations in gravity – the specified latitude was a compromise between the latitude of London (51° 30'N), Paris (48° 50'N) and the median parallel of the United States (38°N) to accommodate variations.^[11] However Borda persuaded the Assemblée Constituante that a survey having its ends at sea level and based on a meridian that spanned at least 10% of the earth's quadrant would be more appropriate for such a basis.^[12]

Realisability [link]

The base units used in the metric system must be realisable, ideally with reference to natural phenomena rather than unique artifacts. Each of the base units in SI is accompanied by a mise en pratique published by the BIPM that describes in detail at least one way in which the base unit can be measured.^[13]

Two of the base units originally depended on artifacts – the metre and the kilogram. The original prototypes of each artifact were adopted in 1799 and replaced in 1889. The 1889 prototypes used the best technology of the day to ensure stability.

In 1889 there was no generally accepted theory regarding the nature of light but by 1960 the wavelength of specific light spectra could give a more accurate and reproducible value than a prototype metre. In that year the prototype metre was replaced by a formal definition which defines the metre in terms of the wavelength of specified light spectra. By 1983 it was accepted that the speed of light was constant and that this provided a more reproducible procedure for measuring length, the metre was redefined in terms of the speed of light. These definitions give a much better reproducibility and also allow anyone, anywhere to make their own "standard" metre (assuming that they have a good enough laboratory).^[14]

Similarly, at the 13th convocation of the GCPM in 1968, the definitive second was redefined in terms of measurements taken from atomic clocks rather than from the earth's rotation;^[15] in 2008 the solar day was 0.002 s longer than in 1820^[16] but it was only in the 1960s that this could be measured more accurately using clocks rather than relying on astronomy.

Coherence [link]

James Clerk Maxwell played a major role in developing the concept of a coherent cgs system and in extending the metric system to include electrical units.

Each variant of the metric system has a degree of coherence – the various derived units being directly related to the base units without the need of intermediate conversion factors.^[17] For example, in a coherent system the units of force, energy and power are chosen so that the equations

force = mass × acceleration

energy = force × distance

energy = power × time

hold without the introduction of constant factors. Once a set of coherent units have been defined, other relationships in physics that use those units will automatically be true - Einstein's mass-energy equation, E = mc², does not require extraneous constants when expressed in coherent units.^[18]

The cgs system had two units of energy, the erg that was related to mechanics and the calorie that was related to thermal energy so only one of them (the erg) could bear a coherent relationship to the base units. Coherence was a design aim of SI resulting in only one unit of energy being defined - the joule.^[19]

In SI, which is a coherent system, the unit of power is the "watt" which is defined as "one joule per second".^[20] In the foot-pound-second system of measurement, which is non-coherent, the unit of power is the "horsepower" which is defined as "550 foot-pounds per second", the pound in this context being the pound-force.

The concept of coherence was only introduced into the metric system in the third quarter of the nineteenth century; in its original form the metric system was non-coherent - in particular the litre was 0.001 m³ and the are (from which we get the hectare) was 100 m². A precursor to the concept of coherence was however present in that the units of mass and length were related to each other through the physical properties of water, the gram having been designed as being the mass of one cubic centimeter of water at its freezing point.^[21]

History [link]

Main article: History of the metric system. See also: Metrication.

John Wilkins who first proposed a decimal system of measurement

In 1586, the Flemish mathematician Simon Stevin published a small pamphlet called De Thiende ("the tenth").^[6] Decimal fractions had been employed for the extraction of square roots some five centuries before his time, but nobody used decimal numbers in daily life. Stevin declared that using decimals was so important that the universal introduction of decimal weights, measures and coinage was only a matter of time.

The idea of a metric system was proposed by John Wilkins, first secretary of the Royal Society of London in 1668.^[22]^[23]^[24] Two years later, in 1670, Gabriel Mouton, a French abbot and scientist, proposed a decimal system of measurement based on the circumference of the Earth. His suggestion was that a unit, the milliare, be defined as a minute of arc along a meridian. He then suggested a system of sub-units, dividing successively by factors of ten into the centuria, decuria, virga, virgula, decima, centesima, and millesima.^[8] His ideas attracted interest at the time, and were supported by both Jean Picard and Christiaan Huygens in 1673, and also studied at the Royal Society in London. In the same year, Gottfried Leibniz independently made proposals similar to those of Mouton.

In pre-revolutionary Europe, each state had its own system of units of measure. Some countries, such as Spain and Russia, saw the advantages of harmonising their units of measure with those of their trading partners.^[25] However, vested interests who profited from variations in units of measure opposed this. This was particularly prevalent in France where there was a huge inconsistency in the size of units of measure.^[1] During the early years of the French Revolution, the leaders of the French revolutionary Assemblée Constituante decided that rather than standardising the size of the existing units, they would a introduce a completely new system based on the principles of logic and natural phenomena.^[1]

Initially France attempted to work with other countries towards the adoption of a common set of units of measure. Among the supporters of such an international system of units was Thomas Jefferson who, in 1790, presented a document Plan for Establishing Uniformity in the Coinage, Weights, and Measures of the United States to congress in which he advocated a decimal system that used traditional names for units (such as ten inches per foot).^[26] The report was considered but not adopted by Congress. There was little support from other countries.

Woodcut dated 1800 illustrating the new decimal units which became the legal norm across all France on 4 November 1800

Original system [link]

The law of 18 Germinal, Year III (7 April 1795) defined five units of measure:^[21]

The metre for length
The are (100 m²) for area [of land]
The stère (1 m³) for volume of stacked^[27] firewood
The litre (1 dm³) for volumes of liquid
The gram for mass.

This system continued the tradition of having separate base units for geometrically related dimensions, e.g., metre for lengths, are (100 m²) for areas, stère (1 m³) for dry capacities, and litre (1 dm³) for liquid capacities. The hectare, equal to a hundred ares, is the area of a square 100 metres on a side (about 2.47 acres), and is still in use. The early metric system included only a few prefixes from milli (one thousandth) to myria (ten thousand), and they were based on powers of 10 unlike later prefixes added in the SI, which are based on powers of 1,000.

Originally the kilogram was called the "grave"; the "gram" being an alternative name for a thousandth of a grave. However, the word "grave", being a synonym for the title "count" had aristocratic connotations and was renamed the kilogram.^[28]

France officially adopted the metric system on 10 December 1799^[29] with conversion being mandatory first in Paris and then across the provinces.

International adoption [link]

The areas that were annexed by France during the Napoleonic era inherited the metric system. In 1812, Napoleon introduced a system known as mesures usuelles which used the names of pre-metric units of measure, but defined them in terms of metric units – for example, the livre metrique (metric pound) was 500 g and the toise metrique (metric fathom) was 2 metres.^[30] After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, France lost the territories that she had annexed; some, such as the Papal States reverted to their pre-revolutionary units of measure, others such as Baden adopted a modified version of the mesures usuelles, but France kept her system of measurement intact.^[31]

In 1817, the Netherlands reintroduced the metric system, but used pre-revolutionary names – for example 1 cm became the duim (thumb), the ons (ounce) became 100 g and so on.^[32] Certain German states adopted similar systems^[31]^[33] and in 1852 the German Zollverein (customs union) adopted the zollpfund (customs pound) of 500 g for intrastate commerce.^[34] In 1872 the newly formed German Empire adopted the metric system as its official system of weights and measures^[35] and the newly formed Kingdom of Italy likewise, following the lead given by Piedmont, adopted the metric system in 1861.^[36]

The Exposition Universelle (1867) (Paris exhibition) devoted a stand to the metric system and by 1875 two thirds of the European population and close on half the world's population had adopted the metric system. By 1872 the principal European countries not to have adopted the metric system were Russia and the United Kingdom.^[37]

The first attempt to have the US adopt the metric system was in the late 1920s by The General Federation of Women's Clubs for the US to adopt the metric system sending 100,000 petitions to Congress in 1927 with over seven million signatures. This first effort as with all future efforts failed as the old system had too much tradition behind it.^[38]

International standards [link]

In 1861, a committee of the British Association for Advancement of Science (BAAS) including William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin), James Clerk Maxwell and James Prescott Joule introduced the concept of a coherent system of units based on the metre, gram and second which, in 1873, was extended to include electrical units.

Seal of the International Bureau for Weights and Measures (BIPM)

On 20 May 1875 an international treaty known as the Convention du Mètre (Metre Convention)^[39] was signed by 17 states. This treaty established the following organisations to conduct international activities relating to a uniform system for measurements:^[40]

Conférence générale des poids et mesures (CGPM), an intergovernmental conference of official delegates of member nations and the supreme authority for all actions;
Comité international des poids et mesures (CIPM), consisting of selected scientists and metrologists, which prepares and executes the decisions of the CGPM and is responsible for the supervision of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures;
Bureau international des poids et mesures (BIPM), a permanent laboratory and world centre of scientific metrology, the activities of which include the establishment of the basic standards and scales of the principal physical quantities and maintenance of the international prototype standards.

In 1881, first International Electrical Congress adopted the BAAS recommendations on electrical units, followed by a series of congresses in which further units of measure were defined.^[41]

Variants [link]

A number of variants of the metric system evolved, all using the Mètre des Archives and Kilogramme des Archives as their base units, but differing in the definitions of the various derived units.

Variants of the metric system

Quantity	CGS	MKS	MTS
length (l)	centimetre (cm)	metre (m)	metre
mass(m)	gram (g)	kilogram (kg)	tonne (t)
time (t)	second (s)	second	second
velocity(v)	cm/s	m/s	m/s
acceleration (a)	gal (Gal)	m/s²	m/s²
force (F)	dyne (dyn)	newton (N)	sthene (sn)
pressure (p)	barye (Ba)	pascal (Pa)	pieze (pz)
energy (W)	erg (erg)	joule (J)	kilojoule (kJ)
power (P)	erg/s	watt (W)	kilowatt (kW)
viscosity (µ)	poise (p)	Pa·s	pz·s

Centimetre-gram-second systems [link]

The centimetre gram second system of units (CGS) was the first coherent metric system, having been developed in the 1860s and promoted by Maxwell and Thomson. In 1874 this system was formally promoted by the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS).^[42] The system's characteristics are that density is expressed in g/cm³, force expressed in dynes and mechanical energy in ergs. Thermal energy was defined in calories, one calorie being the energy required to raise the temperature of one gram of water from 15.5 °C to 16.5 °C. The meeting also proposed two sets of units for electrical and magnetic properties - the electrostatic set of units and the electromagnetic set of units.

Metre-kilogram-second systems [link]

The cgs units of electricity were cumbersome to work with. This was remedied at the 1893 International Electrical Congress held in Chicago by defining the "international" ampere and ohm using definitions based on the metre, kilogram and second.^[43] In 1901, Giorgi showed that by adding an electrical unit as a fourth base unit, the various anomalies in electromagnetic systems could be resolved. The metre-kilogram-second-coulomb (MKSC) and metre-kilogram-second-ampere (MKSA) systems are examples of such systems.^[44]

The International System of Units (System international units or SI) is the current international standard metric system and the system most widely used around the world. It is an extension of Giorgi's MKSA system; its base units are the metre, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, candela and mole. Proposals have been made to change the definitions of four of the base units at the 24th meeting of the CGPM in October 2011. These changes should not affect the average person.^[45]

Metre-tonne-second systems [link]

The metre-tonne-second system of units (MTS) was based on the metre, tonne and second - the unit of force is the sthène and the unit of pressure is the pièze. It was invented in France in industry and was mostly used in the Soviet Union from 1933 to 1955.^[41]^[46]

Gravitational systems [link]

Gravitational metric systems use the kilogram-force (kilopond) as a base unit of force, with mass measured in a unit known as the hyl, TME, mug or metric slug. Note these are not part of the International System of Units (SI).

International System of Units [link]

Main article: International System of Units

File:SI Brochure Cover.jpg

Cover of brochure The International System of Units

The 9th CGPM met in 1948, fifteen years after the 8th CGPM. In response to formal requests made by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics and by the French Government to establish a practical system of units of measure, the CGPM requested the CIPM to prepare recommendations for a single practical system of units of measurement, suitable for adoption by all countries adhering to the Metre Convention.^[47] At the same time the CGPM formally adopted a recommendation for the writing and printing of unit symbols and of numbers.^[48] The recommendation also catalogued the recommended symbols for the most important MKS and CGS units of measure and for the first time the CGPM made recommendations concerning derived units.

The CIPM's draft proposal, which was an extensive revision and simplification of the metric unit definitions, symbols and terminology based on the MKS system of units, was put to the 10th CGPM in 1954. In accordance with Giorgi's proposals of 1901, the CIPM also recommended that the ampere be the base unit from which electromechanical would be derived. The definitions for the ohm and volt that had previously been in use were discarded and these units became derived units based on the metre, ampere, second and kilogram. After negotiations with the CIS and IUPAP, two further base units, the degree kelvin and the candela were also proposed as base units.^[49] The full system and name "Système International d'Unités" were adopted at the 11th CGPM.^[50] During the years that followed the definitions of the base units and particularly the mise en pratique^[51] to realise these definitions have been refined.

The formal definition of International System of Units (SI) along with the associated resolutions passed by the CGPM and the CIPM are published by the BIPM on the Internet and in brochure form at regular intervals. The eighth edition of the brochure Le Système International d'Unités - The International System of Units was published in 2006.^[52]

Units outside the SI [link]

Main article: Non-SI units mentioned in the SI

Although SI, as published by the GCPM, should, in theory, meet all the requirements of commerce, science and technology, certain units of measure have acquired such a position within the world community that it is likely they will be used for many years to come. In order that such units be used consistently around the world, the SI Brochure, the GCPM catalogued such units in the SI brochure. The 8th edition of the brochure catalogued the following categories:^[53]

Non-SI units accepted for use with the International System of Units (Table 6). This list includes the hour and minute, the angular measures (degree, minute and second of arc) and the historic [non-coherent] metric units, the litre, tonne and hectare (originally agreed by the GCPM in 1879)
Non-SI units whose values in SI units must be obtained experimentally (Table 7). This list includes various units of measure used in atomic and nuclear physics and in astronomy such as the dalton, the electron mass, the electron volt, the astronomical unit and a number of other units of measure that are well-established, but dependent on experimentally-determined physical quantities.
Other non-SI units (Table 8). This list catalogues a number of units of measure that have been used internationally in certain well-defined spheres including the bar for pressure, the ångström for atomic physics, the nautical mile and the knot in navigation.
Non-SI units associated with the CGS and the CGS-Gaussian system of units (Table 9). This table catalogues a number of units of measure based on the cgs system and dating from the nineteenth century. They appear frequently in the literature, but their continued use is discouraged by the GCPM.

"New SI"[link]

Main article: New SI definitions

Relations between proposed SI units definitions (in colour) and with seven fundamental constants of nature (in grey) with fixed numerical values in the proposed system.

When the metre was redefined in 1960, the kilogram was the only SI base unit that relied on a specific artifact. Moreover, after the 1996-1998 recalibration a clear divergence between the various prototype kilograms was observed.

At its 23rd meeting (2007), the CGPM mandated the CIPM to investigate the use of natural constants as the basis for all units of measure rather than the artifacts that were then in use. At a meeting of the CCU held in Reading, United Kingdom in September 2010, a resolution^[54] and draft changes to the SI brochure that were to be presented to the next meeting of the CIPM in October 2010 were agreed to in principle.^[45] The proposals that the CCU put forward were:

In addition to the speed of light, four constants of nature - Planck's constant, an elementary charge, Boltzmann constant and Avogadro's number be defined to have exact values.
The international prototype kilogram be retired
The current definitions of the kilogram, ampere, kelvin and mole be revised.
The wording of the definitions of all the base units be tightened up

The CIPM meeting of October 2010 found that "the conditions set by the General Conference at its 23rd meeting have not yet been fully met. For this reason the CIPM does not propose a revision of the SI at the present time".^[55] The CIPM did however sponsor a resolution at the 24th CGPM in which the changes were agreed in principle and which were expected to be finalised at the CGPM's next meeting in 2014.^[56]

Usage around the world [link]

Further information: Metrication

Adoption of the metric system

1800

1820

1840

1860

1880

1900

1920

1940

1960

1980

no data

Not metric

The usage of the metric system varies around the world. According to the US Central Intelligence Agency's Factbook, the International System of Units is the official system of measurement for all nations in the world except for Burma, Liberia and the United States,^[57] while NIST has noted that the United States is the only industrialized country where the metric system is not the official system of units.^[58] Some sources, though, suggest that this information is out of date.^[59] An Agence France-Presse report from 2010 stated that Sierra Leone, not Liberia, had continued to use the Imperial system, but had passed a law to enact metrication, in line with its Mano River Union (MRU) neighbours Guinea and Liberia.^[60] Reports from Burma suggest that that country is planning to adopt the metric system also.^[61]

In the United States, where the use of metric units was authorised by Congress in 1866,^[62] such units are widely used in science, military, and partially in industry, but customary units predominate in household use.^[63]^[64] At retail stores, the litre is a commonly used unit for volume, especially on bottles of beverages, and milligrams are used to denominate the amounts of medications, rather than grains. Also, other standardised measuring systems other than metric are still in universal international use, such as nautical miles and knots in international aviation.

In the countries of the Commonwealth of Nations the metric system has replaced the imperial system by varying degrees: Australia, New Zealand and Commonwealth countries in Africa are almost totally metric, India is mostly metric, Canada is partly metric while in the United Kingdom the metric system, the use of which was first permitted for trade in 1864,^[65] is used in much government business, in most industries including building, health and engineering and for pricing by measure or weight in most trading situations, both wholesale and retail. However the imperial system is often used by journalists and continues to be used in many unregulated applications.^[66]^[63]

A number of other jurisdictions, such as Hong Kong,^[67] have laws mandating or permitting other systems of measurement in parallel with the metric system in some or all contexts.

Variations in spelling [link]

The SI symbols for the metric units are intended to be identical, regardless of the language used.^[68] For example, the SI unit symbol for kilometre is "km" everywhere in the world, even though the local language word for the unit name may vary. Language variants for the kilometre unit name include: chilometro (Italian), Kilometer (German), kilometer (Dutch, Malay), kilomètre (French), χιλιόμετρο (Greek), quilómetro (Portuguese) and Километър (Bulgarian).^[69]

Variations are also found with the spelling of unit names in countries using the same language, including differences in American English and British spelling. For example meter and liter are used in the United States whereas metre and litre are used in other English-speaking countries. In addition, the official US spelling for the rarely used SI prefix for ten is deka. In American English the term metric ton is the normal usage whereas in other varieties of English tonne is common. Gram is also sometimes spelled gramme in English-speaking countries other than the United States, though this older usage is declining.^[70]

Conversion and calculation errors [link]

The dual usage of metric and non metric units has resulted in serious errors. These include:

The degree of overloading of an American International Airways aircraft flying from Miami to Maiquetia, Venezuela on 26 May 1994 was consistent with a cargo weighed in kilograms, not pounds.^[71]
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices has reported that confusion between grains and grams led to a patient receiving phenobarbital 0.5 grams instead of 0.5 grains (0.03 grams) after the practitioner misread the prescription.^[72]
The Canadian "Gimli Glider" accident in 1983, when a Boeing 767 jet ran out of fuel in mid-flight because of two mistakes in calculating the fuel supply of Air Canada's first aircraft to use metric measurements.^[73]
The root cause of NASA's 1999 loss of the $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter which crashed into Mars was a mismatch of units - the spacecraft engineers calculated the thrust forces required for velocity changes using US customary units (lbf·s) whereas the team who built the thrusters were expecting a value in metric units (N·s) as per the agreed specification.^[74]^[75]

Conversion between SI and legacy units [link]

Main article: Conversion of units

During its evolution, the metric system has adopted many units of measure. The introduction of SI rationalised both the way in which units of measure were defined and also the list of units in use. These are now catalogued in the official SI Brochure.^[76] The table below lists the units of measure in this catalogue and shows the conversion factors connecting them with the equivalent units that were in use on the eve of the adoption of SI.

Quantity	Dimension	SI unit and symbol	Legacy unit and symbol	Conversion factor^[77]^[78]^[79]
Time	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): T	second (s)	second (s)	1
Length	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L	metre (m)	centimetre (cm) ångström (Å)	0.01 10⁻¹⁰
Mass	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): M	kilogram (kg)	gram (g)	0.001
Electric current	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): I	ampere (A)	international ampere abampere or biot statampere	1.000022 10.0 3.335641×10⁻¹⁰
Temperature	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \Theta	kelvin (K) degrees Celsius (°C)	centigrade (°C)	K = °C + 273.15 1
Luminous intensity	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): J	candela (cd)	international candle	0.982
Amount of substance	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): N	mole (mol)	No legacy unit	n/a
Area	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L^2	square metre (m²)	are (are)	100
Acceleration	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): LT^{-2}	(ms⁻²)	gal (gal)	10⁻²
Frequency	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): T^{-1}	hertz (Hz)	cycles per second	1
Energy	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L^2MT^{-2}	joule (J)	erg (erg)	10⁻⁷
Power	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L^2MT^{-3}	watt (W)	(erg/s) horsepower (HP) Pferdestärke (PS)	10⁻⁷ 745.7 735.5
Force	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): LMT^{-2}	newton (N)	dyne (dyn) sthene (sn) kilopond (kp)	10⁻⁵ 10³ 9.80665
Pressure	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L^{-1}MT^{-2}	pascal (Pa)	barye (Ba) pieze (pz) atmosphere (at)	0.1 10³ 1.0197×10⁻⁵
Electric charge	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): IT	coulomb (C)	abcoulomb statcoulomb or franklin	10 3.335641×10⁻¹⁰
Potential difference	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L^2MT^{-3}I^{-1}	volt (V)	international volt abvolt statvolt	1.00034 10⁻⁸ 2.997925×10²
Capacitance	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L^{-2}M^{-1}T^4I^2	farad (F)	abfarad statfarad	10⁹ 1.112650×10⁻¹²
Inductance	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L^2MT^{-2}I^{-2}	henry (H)	abhenry stathenry	10⁻⁹ 8.987552×10¹¹
Electric resistance	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L^2MT^{-3}I^{-2}	ohm (Ω)	international ohm abohm statohm	1.00049 10⁻⁹ 8.987552×10¹¹
Electric conductance	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L^{-2}M^{-1}T^3I^2	siemens (S)	mho (℧) abmho statmho	0.99951 10⁹ 1.112650×10⁻¹²
Magnetic flux	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L^2MT^{-2}I^{-1}	weber (Wb)	maxwell (Mx)	10⁻⁸
Magnetic flux density	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): MT^{-2}I^{-1}	tesla (T)	gauss (G)	1×10⁻⁴
Magnetic field strength	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): IL^{-1}	(A/m)	oersted (Oe)	10³/4π = 79.57747
Dynamic viscosity	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): ML^{-1}T^{-1}	(Pa·s)	poise (P)	0.1
Kinematic viscosity	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L^2T^{-1}	(m²s⁻¹)	stokes (St)	10⁻⁴
Luminous flux	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): J	lumen (lm)	stilb (sb)	10⁴
Illuminance	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): JL^{-2}	lux (lx)	phot (ph)	10⁴
[Radioactive] activity	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): T^{-1}	becquerel (Bq)	curie (Ci)	3.70×10¹⁰
Absorbed [radiation] dose	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L^2T^{-2}	gray (Gy)	roentgen (R) rad (rad)	2.58×10⁻⁴ 0.01
Radiation dose equivalent	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L^2T^{-2}	sievert	roentgen equivalent man (rem)	0.01
Catalytic activity	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): NT^{-1}	katal (kat)	No legacy unit	n/a

The SI brouchure also catalogues certain non-SI units that are widely used with the SI in matters of everyday life or units that are exactly defined values in terms of SI units and are used in particular circumstances to satisfy the needs of commercial, legal, or specialised scientific interests. These units include:

Quantity	Dimension	Unit and symbol	Equivalence
Mass	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): M	tonne (t)	1000 kg
Area	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L^2	hectare (ha)	0.01 km² 10⁴ m²
Volume	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L^3	litre (L or l)	0.001 m³
Time	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): T	minute (min) hour (h) day (d)	60 s 3600 s 86400 s
Pressure	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L^{-1}MT^{-2}	bar	100 kPa
Plane angle	Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): none	degree (°) minute (ʹ) second (″)	(^π⁄₁₈₀) rad (^π⁄₁₀₈₀₀) rad (^π⁄₆₄₈₀₀₀) rad

References [link]

[Alder] Alder, Ken (2002). The Measure of all Things - The Seven-Year-Odyssey that Transformed the World. London: Abacus. ISBN 0 349 11507 9.
[SI Brochure] International Bureau of Weights and Measures (2006), The International System of Units (SI) (8th ed.), ISBN 92-822-2213-6, http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8_en.pdf

^ ^a ^b ^c Alder - Prologue, p 1
^ SI Brochure - §3.1 SI prefixes - p 103
^ Alder; page 92
^ "Online Translation- Offering hundreds of dictionaries and translation in more than 800 language pairs". Babylon. http://translation.babylon.com/. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
^ Working Group 2 of the Joint Committee for Guides in Metrology (JCGM/WG 2). (2008), International vocabulary of metrology — Basic and general concepts and associated terms (VIM) (3rd ed.), International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) on behalf of the Joint Committee for Guides in Metrology, p. 9, http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/documents/jcgm/JCGM_200_2008.pdf, retrieved 2011-03-05
^ ^a ^b O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F. (January 2004), "Simon Stevin", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews, http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Stevin.html .
^ de Morgan, Augustus (1854). Decimal Association (formed Jun 12, 1854) - Proceedings with an introduction by Professsor de Morgan. London. p. 2. http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?view=image;size=100;id=nnc1.cu01594990;page=root;seq=5. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
^ ^a ^b O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F. (January 2004), "Gabriel Mouton", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews, http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Mouton.html .
^ ^a ^b ^c SI Brochure pg 121 - 122
^ D. Brewster (1830). The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia. p. 494. http://books.google.com/books?id=h6miHpDMjXEC&pg=PA494.
^ Alder, p93-95
^ Alder, p96
^ "What is a mise en pratique?". BIPM. 2011. http://www.bipm.org/en/si/new_si/mise-en-pratique.html. Retrieved 2011-03-11.
^ "The BIPM and the evolution of the definition of the metre". BIPM. http://www.bipm.org/en/si/history-si/evolution_metre.html. Retrieved 2011-03-11.
^ SI Brochure - Appendix 1 - p 120
^ "Leap Seconds". Washington, DC: Time Service Dept., U.S. Naval Observatory. http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/leapsec.html. Retrieved 2011-03-11.
^ Working Group 2 of the Joint Committee for Guides in Metrology (JCGM/WG 2). (2008), International vocabulary of metrology — Basic and general concepts and associated terms (VIM) (3rd ed.), International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) on behalf of the Joint Committee for Guides in Metrology, p. 7, http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/documents/jcgm/JCGM_200_2008.pdf, retrieved 2012-04-12
^ Michael Good. "Some Derivations of E = mc²". http://www.unc.edu/~mgood/research/RestEnergy.pdf. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
^ SI brochure - §1.2 Two classes of SI Units - p92
^ SI Brochure, Table 4,pg 118
^ ^a ^b "La loi du 18 Germinal an 3 la mesure [républicaine de superficie pour les terrains, égale à un carré de dix mètres de côté [The law of 18 Germanial year 3 "The republican measures of land area equal to a square with sides of ten metres"]"] (in french). Le CIV (Centre d'Instruction de Vilgénis) - Forum des Anciens. http://aviatechno.free.fr/unites/nouveausys.php. Retrieved 2010-03-02.
^ An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language (Reproduction)
^ An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language (Transcription)
^ Metric system 'was British' - from the BBC video news
^ Loidi, Juan Navarro; Saenz, Pilar Merino (6–9 September 2006). "The units of length in the Spanish treatises of military engineering". The Global and the Local: The History of Science and the Cultural Integration of Europe. Proceedings of the 2nd ICESHS. Cracow, Poland: The Press of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences. http://www.2iceshs.cyfronet.pl/2ICESHS_Proceedings/Chapter_16/R-8_Navarro_Merino.pdf. Retrieved 2011-03-17.
^ Thomas Jefferson (4 July 1790). "Plan for Establishing Uniformity in the Coinage, Weights, and Measures of the United States". http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/jeffplan.asp. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
^ Thierry Thomasset. "Le stère" (in French). Tout sur les unités de mesure [All the units of measure]. Université de Technologie de Compiègne. http://www.utc.fr/~tthomass/Themes/Unites/unites/infos/stere/Le%20stere.pdf. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
^ Nelson, Robert A (February 2000). "The International System of Units: Its History and Use in Science and Industry". Applied Technology Institute. http://www.aticourses.com/international_system_units.htm. Retrieved 12 April 2007.
^ National Industrial Conference Board (1921). The metric versus the English system of weights and measures .... The Century Co. pp. 10–11. http://books.google.com/books?id=tSUoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA10. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
^ Denis Février. "Un historique du mètre" (in French). Ministère de l'Economie, des Finances et de l'Industrie. http://www.industrie.gouv.fr/metro/aquoisert/metre.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-10.
^ ^a ^b "Amtliche Maßeinheiten in Europa 1842 [Official units of measure in Europe 1842]" (in German). http://home.fonline.de/fo0126//geschichte/groessen/mas1.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-26Text version of Malaisé's book
^ Jacob de Gelder (1824) (in Dutch). Allereerste Gronden der Cijferkunst [Introduction to Numeracy]. 's Gravenhage and Amsterdam: de Gebroeders van Cleef. pp. 163–176. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XYVbAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
^ Ferdinand Malaisé (1842) (in German). Theoretisch-practischer Unterricht im Rechnen [Theoritcal and practical instruction in arithmetic]. München. pp. 307–322. http://www.bsb-muenchen-digital.de/~web/web1008/bsb10082343/images/index.html?digID=bsb10082343&pimage=00001&v=pdf&nav=0&l=de. Retrieved 2011-03-26.
^ "Fundstück des Monats November 2006 [Exhibit of the month - November 2006]" (in German). Bundesministerium der FinanzenQuelle: www.zoll.de. 4 June 2009. http://www.zoll.de/h0_wir_ueber_uns/h0_zollmuseum/d0_gewinnspiel/c0_Archiv/a0_2006/y02_fundstueck_november_2006/index.html. Retrieved 2011-03-07.
^ Andreas Dreizler et al (20 April 2009). "Metrologie" (in German). Technische Universität Darmstaft. http://www.csi.tu-darmstadt.de/media/csi/institutes/nearwallreactiveflows/bilderdateien_1/messtechnik/mtmnormen.pdf. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
^ Maria Teresa Borgato (6–9 September 2006). "The first applications of the metric system in Italy". The Global and the Local:The History of Science and the Cultural Integration of Europe. Proceedings of the 2nd ICESHS. Cracow, Poland: The Press of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences. http://www.2iceshs.cyfronet.pl/2ICESHS_Proceedings/Chapter_16/R-8_Borgato.pdf. Retrieved 2011-03-17.
^ Secretary, the Metric committee (1873). "Report on the best means of providing a Uniformity of Weights and Measures, with reference to the Interests of Science". Report of the forty second meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at Brighton, August 1872 (British Association for the Advancement of Science): 25–28. http://www.archive.org/stream/report44sciegoog. Retrieved 2011-05-12.
^ "Metric Measure in U.S. Asked." Popular Science Monthly, January 1928, p. 53.
^ "Convention du mètre" (in French). Bureau international des poids et mesures (BIPM). http://www.bipm.org/utils/en/pdf/metre_convention.pdf. Retrieved 2011-03-221875 text plus 1907 and 1921 amendments
^ "The metre convention". Bureau international des poids et mesures (BIPM). http://www.bipm.org/en/convention/. Retrieved 2011-03-22.
^ ^a ^b "System of Measurement Units". IEEE Global History Network. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/System_of_Measurement_Units. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
^ SI Brochure - §1.1 Historical Note - p 91
^ "Historical context of the SI - Unit of electric current (ampere)". The NIST Reference on Constants, Units and Uncertainty. http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/ampere.html. Retrieved 2011-04-10.
^ "In the beginning... Giovanni Giorgi". International Electrotechnical Commission. 2011. http://www.iec.ch/about/history/beginning/giovanni_giorgi.htm. Retrieved 2011-04-05.
^ ^a ^b Ian Mills (29 September 2010). "Draft Chapter 2 for SI Brochure, following redefinitions of the base units". CCU. http://www.bipm.org/utils/en/pdf/si_brochure_draft_ch2.pdf. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
^ "Notions de physique - Systèmes d'unités [Symbols used in physics - units of measure]" (in French). Hydrelect.info. http://www.hydrelect.info/articles.php?lng=fr&pg=3. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
^ "Resolution 6 - Proposal for establishing a practical system of units of measurement". 9th Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures (CGPM). 12–21 October 1948. http://www.bipm.org/en/CGPM/db/9/6/. Retrieved 2011-05-08.
^ "Resolution 7 - Writing and printing of unit symbols and of numbers". 9th Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures (CGPM). 12–21 October 1948. http://www.bipm.org/en/CGPM/db/9/7/. Retrieved 2011-05-08.
^ "Resolution 6 - Practical system of units". 10th Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures (CGPM). 5–14 October 1954. http://www.bipm.org/en/CGPM/db/10/6/. Retrieved 2011-05-08.
^ "Resolution 12 - Système International d'Unités". 11th Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures (CGPM). 11–20 October 1960. http://www.bipm.org/en/CGPM/db/11/12/. Retrieved 2011-05-08.
^ "Practical realization of the definitions of some important units". SI brochure, Appendix 2. BIPM. 9 September 2010. http://www.bipm.org/en/si/si_brochure/appendix2/. Retrieved 2011-05-05.
^ International Bureau of Weights and Measures (2006), The International System of Units (SI) (8th ed.), ISBN 92-822-2213-6, http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8_en.pdf
^ International Bureau of Weights and Measures (2006), The International System of Units (SI) (8th ed.), pp. 124 - 129, ISBN 92-822-2213-6, http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8_en.pdf
^ Ian Mills (29 September 2010). "On the possible future revision of the International System of Units, the SI". CCU. http://www.bipm.org/utils/en/pdf/24_CGPM_Convocation_Draft_Resolution_A.pdf. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
^ "Towards the "new SI"". International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM). http://www.bipm.org/en/si/new_si/. Retrieved 2011-02-20.
^ [http://www.bipm.org/utils/en/pdf/24_CGPM_Resolution_1.pdf "Resolution 1 - On the possible future revision of the International System of Units, the SI"]. 24th meeting of the General Conference on Weights and Measures. Sèvres, France. 17–21 October 2011. http://www.bipm.org/utils/en/pdf/24_CGPM_Resolution_1.pdf. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
^ Appendix G "The World Factbook". Washington: Central Intelligence Agency. 2006. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/appendix/appendix-g.html Appendix G. Retrieved 8 August 2006.
^ "The United States and the metric system". NIST. http://www.nist.gov/pml/wmd/metric/upload/1136a.pdf. Retrieved 2011-11-02. "The United States is now the only industrialized country in the world that does not use the metric system as its predominant system of measurement."
^ "Metric System FAQ". misc.metric-system Newsgroup. 1 December 2009. http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/metric-system-faq.txt. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
^ "S.Leone goes metric after 49 years". Agence France-Presse. 11 June 2010. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jOO4s5CJG1MDuclJeYKyPmNlrBww. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
^ Ko Ko Gyi (18–24 July 2011). "Ditch the viss, govt urges traders". The Myanmar Times. http://www.mmtimes.com/2011/business/584/biz58401.html. Retrieved 2011-07-23.
^ 29th Congress of the United States, Session 1 (May 13, 1866). "H.R. 596, An Act to authorize the use of the metric system of weights and measures". http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/laws/metric-act-bill.html. Retrieved 2011-10-27. }}
^ ^a ^b Alder pg 361-366
^ "Metric usage and metrication in other countries". U.S. Metric Association. 22 July 2009. http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/internat.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-09.
^ Alder, Ken (2002). The Measure of all Things - The Seven-Year Odyssey that Transformed the World. London: Abacus. p. 360. ISBN 0 349 11507 9.
^ Jon Kelly (21 December 2011). "Will British people ever think in metric?". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16245391. "...but today the British remain unique in Europe by holding onto imperial weights and measures. ...the persistent British preference for imperial over metric is particularly noteworthy..."
^ "HK Weights and Measures Ordinance". http://www.legislation.gov.hk/blis_ind.nsf/d2769881999f47b3482564840019d2f9/ca7c0e7895c7f088c82564760077b0c9?OpenDocument. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
^ SI Brochure - pg 130
^ "Online Translation- Offering hundreds of dictionaries and translation in more than 800 language pairs". Babylon. http://translation.babylon.com/. Retrieved 2011-02-05.
^ "Weights and Measures Act 1985 (c. 72)". The UK Statute Law Database. Office of Public Sector Information. http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?activeTextDocId=2191980. Retrieved 2011-01-26. "§92."
^ "NTSB Order No. EA-4510". Washington, D.C.: National Transportation Safety Board. 1996. http://www.ntsb.gov/alj/O_n_O/docs/AVIATION/4510.pdf. Retrieved 3 August 2008.
^ ISMP Medication Safety Alert, (April–June 1999), Institute for Safe Medication Practices. Retrieved 3 August 2008.
^ "Jet's Fuel Ran Out After Metric Conversion Errors". New York Times. July 30, 1983. http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F00F17F73B5D0C738FDDAE0894DB484D81. Retrieved 21 August 2007. "Air Canada said yesterday that its Boeing 767 jet ran out of fuel in mid-flight last week following two mistakes in calculating the fuel supply of the airline's first aircraft to use metric measurements. After both engines lost their power, the pilots made what is now thought to be the first successful emergency dead stick landing of a commercial jetliner."
^ "NASA's metric confusion caused Mars orbiter loss". CNN. 30 September 1999. http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric/. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
^ "Mars Climate Orbiter; Mishap Investigation Board; Phase I Report". NASA. 10 November 1999. ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/reports/1999/MCO_report.pdf. Retrieved 2011-08-25.
^ SI brochure - §2 SI Units - p 94-102
^ "Index to Units & Systems of Units". sizes.com. http://www.sizes.com/units/index.htm. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
^ "Factors for Units Listed Alphabetically". NIST Guide to the SI. 2 July 2009. http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/appenB8.html. Retrieved 2011-04-14.
^ International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (1993). Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry, 2nd edition, Oxford: Blackwell Science. ISBN 0-632-03583-8. pp. 110-116. Electronic version..

External links [link]

CBC Radio Archives For Good Measure: Canada Converts to Metric

v t e Systems of measurement

Metric system	Introduction to the metric system International System of Units (SI) Metre-kilogram-second Centimetre-gram-second Metre-tonne-second Gravitational system History of the metric system

Natural units	Geometric Planck Stoney Lorentz–Heaviside Atomic Quantum chromodynamical

Conventional systems	Astronomical Electrical Temperature

Customary systems	Avoirdupois Apothecaries' British Imperial Burmese Canadian Chinese Cornish Danish Dutch English Finnish French German Hindu Hong Kong Irish Japanese Maltese Norwegian Pegu Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Scottish Spanish Swedish Taiwanese Tatar Turkish Troy United States

Ancient systems	Greek Roman Egyptian Hebrew Arabic Mesopotamian Persian Indian

Other systems	Non-standard Mesures usuelles N-body

v t e Systems and systems science

Systems categories	Systems theory Systems science Systems scientists Conceptual Physical Social

Systems	Biological Complex Complex adaptive Conceptual Database management Dynamical Economical Ecosystem Formal Global Positioning System Human anatomy Information systems Legal systems of the world Systems of measurement Metric system Multi-agent system Nervous system Nonlinearity Operating system Physical system Political system Sensory system Social system Solar System Systems art

Theoretical fields	Chaos theory Complex systems Control theory Cybernetics Living systems Sociotechnical systems theory Systems biology System dynamics Systems ecology Systems engineering Systems neuroscience Systems psychology Systems science Systems theory World-systems theory

Systems scientists	Russell L. Ackoff William Ross Ashby Béla H. Bánáthy Gregory Bateson Richard E. Bellman Stafford Beer Ludwig von Bertalanffy Murray Bowen Kenneth E. Boulding C. West Churchman George Dantzig Heinz von Foerster Jay Wright Forrester Charles A S Hall George Klir Edward Lorenz Niklas Luhmann Humberto Maturana Margaret Mead Donella Meadows Mihajlo D. Mesarovic James Grier Miller Howard T. Odum Talcott Parsons Ilya Prigogine Anatol Rapoport Claude Shannon Qian Xuesen Francisco Varela Kevin Warwick Norbert Wiener Anthony Wilden

http://wn.com/Metric_system

http://cs.wn.com/Metrická soustava

http://id.wn.com/Sistem metrik

http://es.wn.com/Sistema Métrico Decimal

http://ru.wn.com/Метрическая система мер

http://nl.wn.com/Metriek stelsel

http://pt.wn.com/Sistema métrico

http://fr.wn.com/Système métrique

http://de.wn.com/Metrisches Einheitensystem

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_system

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

Eddie Izzard
Izzard performing at the Garrick Theatre, 2 December 2008
Birth name	Edward John Izzard^[1]
Born	(1962-02-07) 7 February 1962 (age 50) Colony of Aden, Aden Protectorate (now Aden, Yemen)^[2]
Medium	Stand up, Television, Film
Nationality	British
Years active	1982–present
Genres	Surreal humour, Improvisational comedy, Observational comedy.
Subject(s)	History, Celebrities, Religion, Culture, Sex
Influences	Monty Python,^[3]^[4] Billy Connolly,^[5] Lenny Bruce, Bill Hicks,^[5] Steve Martin,^[4] Spike Milligan, Jerry Sadowitz.^[4]
Influenced	Hal Sparks, Harry Hill, Rhod Gilbert^[6]
Notable works and roles	Live at the Ambassadors Unrepeatable Definite Article Dress to Kill Glorious Circle Lenny Bruce in Lenny Wayne Malloy/Doug Rich in The Riches Roman Nagel in Ocean's Thirteen Erich Fellgiebel in Valkyrie Mr. Kite in Across the Universe
Website	eddieizzard.com

Emmy Awards
Individual Performance In A Variety Or Music Program 2000 Dress to Kill Writing In A Variety, Music Or Comedy Program 2000 Dress to Kill
British Comedy Awards
Top Stand-up 1993 Live at the Ambassadors Best Stand-up 1996 Definite Article

Edward John "Eddie" Izzard^[1] (born 7 February 1962) is an English stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. His comedy style takes the form of rambling, whimsical monologue and self-referential pantomime. He had a starring role in the television series The Riches as Wayne Malloy and has appeared in many motion pictures such as Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen, Mystery Men, Shadow of the Vampire, The Cat's Meow, Across the Universe, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Valkyrie. He is also the voice of Nigel in the 2006 animated film The Wild and Miles Axlerod in the 2011 Disney/Pixar animated film Cars 2.

He has cited his main comedy role model as Monty Python, and John Cleese once referred to him as the "Lost Python".^[3] In 2009, he completed 43 marathons in 51 days for Sport Relief in spite of having no prior history of long distance running.^[7] He is also known for his transvestism. He has won numerous awards including a Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program for his comedy special Dress to Kill, in 2000. Izzard's web site won the Yahoo People's Choice Award^[8] and earned the Webby Award.^[9]

Early life [link]

Izzard was born in Aden, Yemen, then the Colony of Aden in the Aden Protectorate.^[2] He was the younger son of British parents Dorothy Ella, a midwife and nurse, and Harold John Izzard, an accountant who was working in Aden with British Petroleum.^[10]^[11] A year after his birth, the family moved to Bangor in Northern Ireland and lived there until he was five.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[10] The family then moved to Skewen in south west Wales (near Swansea) where his mother died of cancer when Eddie was six and his brother Mark was eight.^[1]^[11]^[12] Following his mother's death, Izzard attended boarding schools:^[1]^[11] St John's School in Porthcawl,^[4] St. Bede's Preparatory School, Eastbourne,^{[citation needed]} and Eastbourne College^{[citation needed]}.

Career [link]

Early career [link]

Izzard began to toy with comedy at the University of Sheffield with student friend Rob Ballard.^[5]^[13] After leaving his accountancy degree course, he and Ballard took their act to the streets,^[5]^[13] often in Covent Garden.^[4]^[14]^[15] After his split with Ballard, Izzard spent a great deal of the early 1980s working as a street performer in Europe and the United States. He then moved his act into the stand-up comedy venues of Britain. His first gig was at the Banana Cabaret in Balham, London.^[1]^[16] In 1987, he made his first stage appearance at The Comedy Store, London.^[3] In 1989, he met actress Sarah Townsend who was running a Fringe venue at the Edinburgh Festival.^[17] He refined his material throughout the 1980s, and in the early 1990s he finally began earning some measure of recognition through his improvisation, in part at his own club "Raging Bull" in Soho.^[15]

Success as a comedian [link]

In 1991, Izzard got a spot on the Fry and Laurie produced AIDS benefit Hysteria 3, where he did his "Wolves" sketch, which broke him into the mainstream comedy circuit and television. His resultant stand-up work brought him British Comedy Awards in 1993 (for Live at the Ambassadors), a part in "Filth" which was a stand up presentation by left-wing sympathetic comedians in aid of raising money for the Terrence Higgins Trust in 1994, and 1996 (for Definite Article).

In 1996, he got a part in his first United States-produced film, The Secret Agent, where he met and befriended Robin Williams. Williams already knew of Izzard's act, and discussed bringing his act to the United States. As a result, Izzard took Definite Article on a successful stint in New York City in the same year, and as a support act to Williams took Dress to Kill to San Francisco in 1998 (the footage from which forms the performance on the Dress To Kill DVD). His US breakthrough came in 1999, when Dress to Kill was shown on the American television channel HBO, about a year or so after he performed the show on tour in the US, UK and France. Suddenly, America was aware of Izzard, and the show went on to earn him two Emmy Awards in 2000 (for performance and writing).

In 1999, after complaints that his act recycled jokes appearing on his DVDs, the BBC's consumer programme Watchdog investigated Izzard's live act. Izzard explained that like most comedy performers, he used some of his most successful routines in each show. Nonetheless, Izzard was issued a warning by the Department of Trade and Industry. Much of the problem was caused by the recording and selling of the American leg of his tour on DVD in the UK for the Christmas market before the UK leg of the tour took place. Izzard was greatly upset by early reactions to his UK shows, and the investigation, as he was initially unaware of the show's core material having already been seen. He commented on this debacle in later performances and furiously started to write new tangential material hoping to satisfy audiences. This also led to DVD releases of first the US tour show and later the altered UK version with new and evolved material. Since then, Izzard has rarely performed his stand-up act on television, saying that it uses up material at too high a rate, whereas stage material can be continually re-used in front of different audiences for several months.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, Izzard used his rambling style to provide the voice-over for the British government's television advertisements promoting recycling. The tagline of the ads was "Recycle. The possibilities are endless!" Izzard also performed on stage with Scottish musician Midge Ure at Live8 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He played the piano on the song "Vienna".

In January 2006, the US television network FX announced the production of a new drama series called The Riches (formerly Low Life). Izzard and British actress Minnie Driver star as a married couple, Wayne and Dahlia Malloy, who have been part of a caravan of con-artist Irish travellers swindling their way across the US with their children. After finding another family killed in a car accident, the Malloys assume their identities and start a new life as law-abiding suburbanites in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The youngest son has shown a preference for wearing girls' clothing, leading to some speculation that the role was based upon Izzard's experiences. Izzard has stated in several interviews that the character of Sam had been given transvestite tendencies long before he was cast as Wayne Malloy, but he has contributed his perspective to keep the character believable.

Theatrical, TV and film appearances [link]

In 1994, Izzard made his West End drama debut as the lead in the world premiere of David Mamet's The Cryptogram with Lindsay Duncan, in the production at London's Comedy Theatre. The success of that role led to his second starring role in David Beaird's black comedy 900 Oneonta. In 1995, he portrayed the title character in Christopher Marlowe's Edward II.

In 1998 Izzard appeared briefly on stage with the Monty Python team in The American Film Institute's Tribute to Monty Python (also referred to as Monty Python Live at Aspen). He walked on stage with the five surviving Pythons and he was summarily escorted off by Eric Idle and Michael Palin as he attempted to participate in a discussion about how the group got together.

Izzard portrayed comedian Lenny Bruce in the 1999 production of Julian Barry's 1971 play Lenny. In 2001, he replaced Clive Owen in Peter Nichols' 1967 play A Day in the Death of Joe Egg at the Comedy Theatre. Izzard and Victoria Hamilton then repeated their lead roles when the show was brought to Broadway in 2003, with The Roundabout Theatre Company production. The revival received four Tony Award nominations including Best Revival of a Play, Best Leading Actor and Actress for its stars Izzard and Hamilton in their Broadway debuts, and Best Direction for Laurence Boswell. In June 2010, Izzard replaced James Spader in the role of Jack Lawson in David Mamet's play Race on Broadway.^[18]

Izzard has appeared in numerous films, starting with 1996's The Secret Agent. He has appeared as several real-life individuals, including Charlie Chaplin in The Cat's Meow, actor Gustav von Wangenheim in Shadow of the Vampire and General Erich Fellgiebel in Valkyrie. Other roles have included Mr. Kite in Across the Universe, Lussurioso in Revengers Tragedy and criminal expert Roman Nagel in Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen. Voice work has included the titular It in Five Children and It, Nigel in The Wild and the mouse warrior Reepicheep in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. He said in 2009 that he would not be reprising his role as Reepicheep and the role was ultimately played by Simon Pegg in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. He also had a brief appearance in James Cameron's oscar winning film, Titanic. He appeared as a cabin boy on the ship.

Izzard appeared in the BBC science fiction miniseries The Day of the Triffids based on the 1951 novel, alongside Jason Priestley, Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, Dougray Scott and Brian Cox.^[19] He played Dr. Hatteras, a sceptical psychology professor, in the Showtime series United States of Tara.^[20]

In December 2011, he appeared in the British drama Lost Christmas as Anthony. The film was written by David Logan and John Hay. In January 2012, he appeared as Long John Silver in Sky1's adaptation of Treasure Island alongside Elijah Wood and Philip Glenister among others.

Comic style [link]

Elliott Gould and Eddie Izzard

Izzard's style is heavily influenced by Monty Python, or rather Spike Milligan, especially in his use of a stream-of-consciousness delivery that jumps between topics as he free associates on stage. He does not generally work from a script, owing to his dyslexia. Instead, he interrupts himself with new joke ideas, the characters he portrays turn into other characters, and he nonchalantly leaps from topic to topic. This often results in brief pauses in the routine which he fills with 'so, yeah', and other verbal tics that have become his trademarks. Thinking aloud is also part of Izzard's ongoing attempt to make the process of writing the show itself part of the humour. As he put it in a 2004 interview with The Guardian, "It's the oral tradition. Human beings have been doing it for thousands of years".^[21] He frequently notes the reaction to a joke midstream by pretending to write on his hand ("Should be funnier"; "Lost them there"; "They didn't believe me"; "They didn't follow, never do that again"; "Never link those two [references] together ever again.") He asks the audience questions and verbally engages with hecklers.

Among Izzard's comic talents are mimicry and mime. He portrays God as an authority figure using the voice of James Mason and casts Sean Connery as Noah; these impersonations appear in many of his performances. Izzard also imitates activities such as sawing wood, vacuum cleaning, and mowing the lawn, anthropomorphising the machines with accents and personalities. Successful impressions, such as his Scottish clarinet teacher, Mrs. Badcrumble, become running gags which recur in different shows. He tackles topics both contemporary and historic, including frequent re-imaginings of historical events which result in scenes like 'Cake or Death: Church of England runs the Inquisition', or 'Jesus Ministers to the Dinosaurs'.

When asked about his comedy style by George Stroumboulopoulos, host of CBC Television's talk show, The Hour, Izzard described his use of history by saying,

"I just talk complete bullshit. The history, the politics, I noticed that no one was using history, so there's a lot of history lying about the place, and it's all free, and it's on Wikipedia! You know, I use Wikipedia like a crazy idiot, now. Then I take all this stuff, and I regurgitate it into a weird angle".^[22]

In 2008, in his Stripped tour, Izzard began using Wikipedia itself as part of his stand-up act, reading from a live copy of an article and mocking Wikipedia's self-referential editorial style.

Traditionally, Izzard has focused on the creative possibilities of thinking through absurd situations in real time. He also turns much of the attention on himself and his personality, including his cross-dressing ("It is my manifest destiny to wear a dress on all seven continents"). Contemporary popular culture (Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc.) is also a frequent subject, brought up both to critique its weaknesses and to enhance his anecdotes.

His bent towards the surreal even went so far as to produce a sitcom called Cows in 1997 for Channel 4, a live action comedy with actors dressed in cowsuits.^[23]

Transvestism [link]

File:EddieIzzard17Oct2003.jpg

Izzard performing Sexie, 17 October 2003

Izzard started to freely talk about his transvestism in venues like Edinburgh Festival as early as 1992.^[24]^[25] In his show, Dress to Kill, Izzard describes himself as an "executive", "action" and "professional" transvestite, as "a male tomboy" rather than a drag queen or a "weirdo" transvestite (he cites J. Edgar Hoover and Hermann Göring as examples of the latter). In the past he regularly cross-dressed on stage but, since gaining success as a television and film actor, has decided to stay in "boy-mode" for the last several years. While there are those who suspect Izzard's cross-dressing was simply a comedic hook, he says that cross-dressing is, for him, neither a part of his performance nor a sexual fetish.^{[citation needed]} He remarks in his show Unrepeatable, "Women wear what they want and so do I". According to Izzard, "Most transvestites fancy women".^[26] He dismisses claims that he is a male homosexual, saying he is "a straight transvestite or a male lesbian".^[27] He has also described himself as "a lesbian trapped in a man's body",^[28] transgender,^[24] and "a complete boy plus half girl".^[27]

Activism [link]

Izzard has engaged in campaigning work. He is especially well known as a pro-European Union campaigner supporting the further integration of the UK into the EU. In May 2005, he appeared on the BBC's political debate show Question Time, describing himself as a 'British-European', comparing this with other cultural identities such as 'African-American'. As part of his integration campaigning, he was one of the first people to spend a euro in London. This pan-European approach has influenced his work: he regularly performs in French,^[15]^[20] in which he is fluent,^[14] and occasionally in German,^[15] in addition to English. In July 2003, Izzard received an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England for "pro-Europe campaigning", "his contribution to promoting modern languages and tolerance of other cultures and lifestyles" and for having "transcended national barriers" with his humour.^[29]

He has also campaigned unsuccessfully against the closure of the departments of Drama and Languages, Linguistics and Translation at the University of East Anglia, although the department of Drama was later reprieved. In 1998, Izzard was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the Labour Party.^[30] He appeared in a party political broadcast for the Labour Party in the run up to the 2005 general election. He donated nearly £10,000 to the party in 2008,^[31] appeared again in a party political broadcast for the 2009 European election and again in a 2010 election video entitled 'Brilliant Britain'. Izzard appeared in literature to support changing the British electoral system from first-past-the-post to alternative vote for electing Members of Parliament to the House of Commons in the Alternative Vote referendum in 2011.^[32] In 2011, Eddie Izzard revealed that he had political ambitions and wanted to become an MP, Mayor or MEP by 2020.^[33]

On 20 July 2006, he received an honorary doctorate in Letters from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Sheffield,^[34] where he spent one year on an Accounting and Financial Management course in the early 80s. During his time at the University he established the now-defunct Alternative Productions Society in the Union of Students with the aim of promoting fringe-based arts. On 4 March 2010, he was elected as the Honorary President of the University of Sheffield Students' Union.^[35]

On 7 July 2007, Izzard was one of the presenters from the London leg of Live Earth. During an interview for the 2008 Stripped tour, Izzard spoke about becoming more active in European politics as well as running for political office in Europe within the next decade. Izzard added a stop in New Orleans during his 2008 Stripped tour. All proceeds from the performance of 23 June 2008 were donated to Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans.^[36]

Marathons [link]

On 27 July 2009, with only 5 weeks' training and no significant prior history of running, Izzard began seven weeks of back-to-back marathon runs (with Sundays off) across the UK to raise money for Sport Relief. He ran from London to Cardiff, to Belfast, to Edinburgh, and back to London carrying flags of England, Scotland or Wales depending on which country he was in, and carried a self-designed green flag bearing a white dove when in Northern Ireland. The blog Eddie Iz Running was a document of his road running marathon, in which he ran 43 marathons in 51 days. He completed the run on 15 September 2009, after having run at least 27 miles each day, 6 days a week for 7 weeks straight, covering more than 1,100 miles across the UK.^[37] Izzard received a special award at BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2009 for his achievements.^[38]

Izzard ran his final marathon in five hours and 30 seconds, narrowly outside his projected time. However, had he not stopped and waited 20 minutes for his film crew to catch up with him he could have finished well under his target time. In March 2010, Izzard took part in the Sport Relief Mile event.^[39]

Following the completion of the marathon runs, Izzard has started training to take part in an Ironman Triathlon, saying he has become fascinated with fitness "because there's no point in throwing away all that training".^[40]

Personal life [link]

During his Stripped tour, Izzard said he realised he was an atheist. "I was warming the material up in New York, where one night, literally on stage, I realised I didn’t believe in God at all. I just didn’t think there was anyone upstairs."^[41]

He keeps his romantic life private, saying one of the reasons is due to the wishes of his companions not wanting to become content for his show.^[41] Izzard dated Sarah Townsend, the director of the documentary Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story,^[14] whom he first met while she was running a Fringe venue at the Edinburgh Festival in 1989.^[17]

Izzard speaks French and has performed stand up in French during his shows.^[14] He also speaks German and used it in the 2001 film All the Queen's Men.

He supports Crystal Palace FC.^[42]

Izzard is an outspoken supporter of the Labour Party, and in September 2011 declared his ambition to stand for the party in the future as an MP, MEP or as Mayor of London.^[43]

Critical reception [link]

On 18 March 2007, Izzard was listed as number 3 of the 100 Greatest British National Comedians (just behind Peter Kay at number 2 and Billy Connolly at number 1) as part of British television station Channel 4's ongoing 100 Greatest..., series. However in the 2010 updated version of the list he was ranked 5th^[44] In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, Izzard was voted amongst the top 20 greatest comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. He was number 75 in Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.

During the 1999 television special It's... the Monty Python Story,^[45] which Izzard hosted, John Cleese said Izzard was the "Lost Python"; Izzard furthered that idea via his substitution for Graham Chapman in public performance of Python material with the rest of the original members of the troupe. He also made a cameo appearance in the Python reunion interview Monty Python Live at Aspen.

In 2008, Izzard received the James Joyce Award of the Literary and Historical Society of UCD, Dublin, Ireland. In March 2010, Sheffield Students' Union of the University of Sheffield overwhelmingly elected him their honorary President.

Discography and appearances [link]

Stage [link]

900 Oneonta (1994)
The Cryptogram (1994)
Edward II (1995)
Lenny (1999)
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (2001–2002, 2003)
Trumbo (2003)
Race (2010)

Filmography [link]

The Oncoming Storm (1995) as Luthor Keeton
The Secret Agent (1996) as Vladimir
Velvet Goldmine (1998) as Jerry Devine
The Avengers (1998) as Bailey
Mystery Men (1999) as Tony P
The Criminal (1999) as Peter Hume
Circus (2000) as Troy
Shadow of the Vampire (2000) as Gustav von Wangenheim
The Cat's Meow (2001) as Charlie Chaplin
All the Queen's Men (2001) as Tony Parker
Revengers Tragedy (2002) as Lussurioso
Alien Invasion (2003) as Brik
Blueberry aka Renegade (2004) as Prosit
Around the World in 80 Days (2004)
Five Children and It (2004) as It (voice)
Romance & Cigarettes (2004) as Gene Vincent
Ocean's Twelve (2004) as Roman Nagel
The Aristocrats (2005) as Himself
The Wild (2006) as Nigel (voice)
My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006) as Professor Bedlam
Ocean's Thirteen (2007) as Roman Nagel
Across the Universe (2007) as Mr. Kite
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) as Reepicheep (voice)
Igor (2008) as Dr. Schadenfreude (voice)
Valkyrie (2008) as Erich Fellgiebel
Rage (2009) as Tiny Diamonds
The Other Side (2009) as Dean Bellamy
Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story (2009) as Himself
Every Day (2010) as Garrett
Cars 2 (2011) as Miles Axelrod
Lost Christmas (2011) as Anthony

TV appearances [link]

Barf Bites Back (Amnesty International Gala) (1991) – ITV
Open Fire (1994)
Have I Got News for You (1994, 1995 and 1996) – BBC Two
Aristophanes: The Gods are Laughing (1995)
Whose Line Is It Anyway? (1995)
Tales from the Crypt (1996) – HBO
Clive Anderson Talks Back (1996)
Inspector Derrick (1997)
Channel Izzard (1997)
The Roseanne Show (1998)
Rex the Runt (1998) – BBC
Shooting Stars (1998) – BBC
Parkinson (3 times)
Dennis Miller Live (1999) – HBO
Python Night – 30 Years of Monty Python (1999) – BBC
Good News Week (2000) – Network 10
Mongrel Nation (2002) – Discovery Channel
The Caroline Rhea Show (2002)
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (2002, 2004 and 2007)
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (2009)
40 (2003) – Channel 4
Late Night with Conan O'Brien (2003, 2008) NBC
QI (Unaired pilot- 2002 or 2003, and 2010)
Top Gear (2004) – BBC Two
Last Call with Carson Daly (2005)
The Sharon Osbourne Show (2006)
Late Show with David Letterman (6 times)
Late Late show with Craig Kilborn (4 times)
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011)
The Henry Rollins Show (2006)
The Paul O'Grady Show (2009)
The Secret Policeman's Ball (2006)
Kitchen (2007) – five
Comedy Cuts (interview) (2007)
The Hour (2007)
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (2007 and 2009)
The Daily Show (2000, 2003 and 2007)
The Riches (2007–2008)
The Secret Policeman's Ball (2008)
The Graham Norton Show (2008 and 2011)
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (2009)
Kevin Pollak's Chat Show (2009)
BBC Sports Personality of the Year (2009 award winner)
The Day of the Triffids (2009)
Marathon Man (2010)
The Simpsons episode To Surveil with Love (2010)
Chelsea Lately (2010)
United States of Tara (2011)
Alan Carr: Chatty Man (2011)
The Green Room with Paul Provenza (2011)
The Good Wife (2011) Season 3 – Episode 2, James Thrush ^[46]
The Big Fat Quiz of the Year (2011)
Treasure Island (2012) as Long John Silver
The Secret Policeman's Ball (2012)

Video game [link]

102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue – Sgt. Tibbs the Cat (voice)

References [link]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Ann Low, Lenny (20 January 2009). "Not just a pretty face". Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/film/not-just-a-pretty-face/2009/01/20/1232213629589.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c Bono (16 May 2006). "Eddie Izzard: 'We need Europe to be a melting-pot. We need to melt'". The Independent (UK). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/eddie-izzard-we-need-europe-to-be-a-meltingpot-we-need-to-melt-478359.html. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Sweeney, Eamon (27 November 2009). "Living the dream: Eddie Izzard". The Irish Independent. http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/day-and-night/living-the-dream-eddie-izzard-1956032.html. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Brownfield, Paul (11 June 2000). "Where He'll Stop, Nobody Knows". articles.latimes.com. http://articles.latimes.com/2000/jun/11/entertainment/ca-39615/4. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Appleyard, Bryan (18 July 1999). "The King of Comedy". The Sunday Times (Culture 2).
^ "Hal Sparks » FAQ". halsparks.com. http://halsparks.com/faq/. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
^ Heald, Claire (15 September 2009). "Run, Izzard, run and run again". news.bbc.co.uk. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8256589.stm. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
^ "Izzard beats bus shelter website to award". Izzard beats bus shelter website to award (London). 16 January 2004. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1451842/Izzard-beats-bus-shelter-website-to-award.html.
^ "People's Voice Winner". People's Voice Winner. http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?season=9.
^ ^a ^b James, Caryn (16 March 2008). "Eddie Izzard's Master Plan". New York Times (The New York Times Company). http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/arts/television/16jame.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2&ref=arts&oref=slogin. Retrieved 18 April 2008.
^ ^a ^b ^c Farndale, Nigel (30 July 2006). "I'm all boy". The Daily Telegraph (UK). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3654174/Im-all-boy.html. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
^ Neil, Beth (13 August 2009). "Eddie, steady, go". Daily Mirror. UK. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/08/13/eddie-steady-go-115875-21593180/. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
^ ^a ^b Taylor, James C. (24 January 2010). "Eddie Izzard works in 'boy mode'". articles.latimes.com. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/24/entertainment/la-ca-izzard24-2010jan24/2. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Burrell, Ian (16 December 2010). "Tears are never far from ruining the make-up of Eddie Izzard". The Independent (UK). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/tears-are-never-far-from-ruining-the-makeup-of-eddie-izzard-2162947.html. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Dessau, Bruce (19 December 2003). "Going for bust". Evening Standard. UK. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/theatre/article-8272409-going-for-bust.do. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
^ Izzard, Eddie; Simon Amstell (11 Feb 2009). "Did You Die On Stage for Years?" (audio). Live from London: Eddie Izzard. Did You Die On Stage for Years?: itunes.apple.com. http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/live-from-london-eddie-izzard/id305338464. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
^ ^a ^b Hoggard, Liz (24 November 2010). "Interview: Sarah McGuinness, singer and producer". The Scotsman (UK). http://news.scotsman.com/features/Interview-Sarah-McGuinness-singer-and.6635412.jp. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
^ Brantley, Ben (30 June 2010). "A New Team Tackles Mamet’s Moral Fable of Pride, Prejudice and Susceptibility". The New York Times. http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/theater/reviews/01race.html. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
^ "Vanessa Redgrave to star in BBC's The Day of the Triffids". London: Telegraph. 11 February 2009. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/4592119/Vanessa-Redgrave-to-star-in-BBCs-The-Day-of-the-Triffids.html. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
^ ^a ^b Fienberg, Daniel (2 May 2011). "Eddie Izzard talks 'United States of Tara' and more". hitfix.com. http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/the-fien-print/posts/hitfix-interview-eddie-izzard-talks-united-states-of-tara-and-more. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
^ Bedell, Geraldine (3 October 2004). "'Mentally, I'm all boy – plus extra girl' | | guardian.co.uk Arts". Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1318280,00.html. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
^ The Hour (TV-Series). Canada: CBC Television. 2007. Event occurs at 7m. http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/video.php?id=1562.
^ "cake or death: an eddie izzard site :: the biography". Auntiemomo.com. http://www.auntiemomo.com/cakeordeath/themannew.html. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
^ ^a ^b Garfield, Simon (27 May 2001). "Frock tactics". The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2001/may/27/features.magazine27. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
^ Lister, David (26 August 1992). "It's never too late in Edinburgh: David Lister stays up well past his bedtime to rub shoulders with the stars and crack jokes with the comics on a tour of festival night-spots". The Independent (UK). http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/its-never-too-late-in-edinburgh-david-lister-stays-up-well-past-his-bedtime-to-rub-shoulders-with-the-stars-and-crack-jokes-with-the-comics-on-a-tour-of-festival-nightspots-1542535.html. Retrieved 6 May 2011. "Eddie Izzard, one of the hottest names on the circuit, is chatting freely about his transvestitism. 'People ask me why I wear women's dresses. But I keep telling them, they're not women's dresses. They're my dresses.'"
^ Izzard, Eddie; Jordan, Lawrence (1999) (in English) (DVD). Dress to Kill. WEA Corp.
^ ^a ^b "Eddie Izzard: The tough transvestite who can take care of himself". The Independent (London). 23 May 2004. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/eddie-izzard-the-tough-transvestite-who-can-take-care-of-himself-564108.html. Retrieved 22 November 2008
^ "Comic Izzard promoting life story". news.bbc.co.uk. 17 May 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3720385.stm. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
^ "University of East Anglia: Events and News: Eddie Izzard". 2007. http://www1.uea.ac.uk/cm/home/schools/hum/llt/eventsandnews/Eddie+Izzard. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
^ "'Luvvies' for Labour". BBC News. 30 August 1998. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/161057.stm. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
^ "Feature: Political celebrities". Politics.co.uk. http://www.politics.co.uk/features/opinion-former-index/legal-and-constitutional/feature-political-celebrities-$1238735.htm. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
^ "Benjamin Zephaniah 'airbrushed from Yes to AV leaflets'". BBC News. 3 April 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12950712.
^ Eddie Izzard Tells 'The Green Room' That He Wants to Be a Politician. 1 September 2011. http://www.aoltv.com/2011/09/02/eddie-izzard-2020-political-ambitions-green-room-video/. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
^ "Latest News". Shef.ac.uk. http://www.shef.ac.uk/alumni/news/izzard.html. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
^ "Elections Results 2010". Sheffield Students' Union. http://www.shef.ac.uk/union/student-voice/elections10/. Retrieved 5 March 2010. ^{[dead link]}
^ "Eddie Izzard Adds New Orleans to Tour; Show to Benefit Housing Services – St. Tammany Art Association – NorthShoreNOLA". Blog.nola.com. 10 June 2008. http://blog.nola.com/staa/2008/06/eddie_izzard_adds_new_orleans.html. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
^ "Donate and Sponsor". Comic relief. http://www.comicrelief.com/donate/eddie. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
^ "Eddie Izzard given BBC Sports Personality special award". BBC Sport. 13 December 2009. http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_radio/sports_personality_of_the_year/8406078.stm. Retrieved 13 December 2009.
^ Nikkhah, Roya (21 March 2010). "Thousands prepare for mile run as Sport Relief raises record amount". London: Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/7488535/Thousands-prepare-for-mile-run-as-Sport-Relief-raises-record-amount.html. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
^ "Izzard To Tackle Ironman Triathlon". uk.imdb.com. 4 December 2008. http://uk.imdb.com/news/ni1260952/. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
^ ^a ^b Armstrong, Stephen (8 February 2009). "Eddie Izzard: Hollywood to House of Commons?". The Times (UK). http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/comedy/article5670333.ece?token=null&offset=12&page=2. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
^ Biography / Eddie Izzard. Eddieizzard.com. Retrieved on 2012-05-23.
^ Eddie Izzard: 'I will run for mayor, MEP or MP in 2020'. BBC. 28 September 2011
^ "100 Greatest Comedy Stand-ups of All Time!". channel4.com. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-100-greatest-stand-ups/articles/greatest-stand-ups-of-all-time. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
^ "It's... the Monty Python Story (1999) (TV)". Imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0220292/. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
^ [1]^{[dead link]}

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Eddie Izzard

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Eddie Izzard

Official web site
BBC America – Eddie Izzard
Eddie Izzard at the Internet Movie Database
Eddie Izzard at AllRovi
Interview with Izzard – The Observer, 3 October 2004
It's stupid and I love it – the Goon Show and me – The Guardian, 14 February 2005.
Izzard interviewed by Bono – The Independent, 16 May 2006
Venus Zine Staff Picks: Eddie Izzard, Dress to Kill

v t e Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play (2001–2025)

Richard Easton (2001) Alan Bates (2002) Eddie Izzard (2003) Kevin Kline (2004) Brían F. O'Byrne (2005) Richard Griffiths (2006) Frank Langella (2007) Mark Rylance (2008) Geoffrey Rush (2009) Liev Schreiber (2010) Bobby Cannavale (2011)

Complete list (1975–2000) (2001–2025)

v t e Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program (1976–2000)

Harvey Korman / Brenda Vaccaro (1974) Jack Albertson / Cloris Leachman (1975) Chevy Chase / Vicki Lawrence (1976) Tim Conway / Rita Moreno (1977) Tim Conway / Gilda Radner (1978) Cloris Leachman (1984) George Hearn (1985) Whitney Houston (1986) Robin Williams (1987) Robin Williams (1988) Linda Ronstadt (1989) Tracey Ullman (1990) Billy Crystal (1991) Billy Crystal (1992) Dana Carvey (1993) Tracey Ullman (1994) Barbra Streisand (1995) Tony Bennett (1996) Bette Midler (1997) Billy Crystal (1998) John Leguizamo (1999) Eddie Izzard (2000)

Complete list (1976–2000) (2001–2025)

v t e Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program (2000–2009)

2000 Eddie Izzard 2001 Eric Drysdale Jim Earl Dan Goor Charlie Grandy J. R. Havlan Tom Johnson Kent Jones Paul Mecurio Chris Regan Allison Silverman Jon Stewart 2002 Doug Abeles James Anderson Max Brooks James Downey Tina Fey Hugh Fink Charlie Grandy Jack Handey Steve Higgins Erik Kenward Dennis McNicholas Lorne Michaels Matt Murray Paula Pell Matt Piedmont Ken Scarborough Michael Schur Frank Sebastiano T. Sean Shannon Robert Smigel Emily Spivey Andrew Steele Scott Wainio 2003 Rich Blomquist Steve Bodow Eric Drysdale J. R. Havlan Scott Jacobson David Javerbaum Tom Johnson Ben Karlin Rob Kutner Chris Regan Jason Reich Jason Ross Jon Stewart 2004 Rich Blomquist Steve Bodow Tim Carvell Stephen Colbert Eric Drysdale J. R. Havlan Scott Jacobson David Javerbaum Ben Karlin Chris Regan Jason Reich Jason Ross Jon Stewart 2005 Rich Blomquist Steve Bodow Tim Carvell Stephen Colbert Eric Drysdale J. R. Havlan Scott Jacobson David Javerbaum Ben Karlin Rob Kutner Chris Regan Jason Reich Jason Ross Jon Stewart 2006 Rich Blomquist Steve Bodow Rachel Axler Kevin Bleyer Tim Carvell Stephen Colbert Eric Drysdale J. R. Havlan Scott Jacobson David Javerbaum Ben Karlin Rob Kutner Sam Means Chris Regan Jason Reich Jason Ross Jon Stewart 2007 Chris Albers Jose Arroyo Dan Cronin Kevin Dorff Daniel J. Goor Michael Gordon Berkley Johnson Brian Kiley Michael Koman Tim Harrod Brian McCann Guy Nicolucci Conan O'Brien Brian Stack Mike Sweeney Andrew Weinberg 2008 Bryan Adams Michael Brumm Stephen Colbert Richard Dahm Eric Drysdale Rob Dubbin Glenn Eichler Peter Grosz Peter Gwinn Barry Julien Laura Krafft Jay Katsir Frank Lesser Tom Purcell Meredith Scardino Allison Silverman 2009 Rory Albanese Rachel Axler Kevin Bleyer Rich Blomquist Steve Bodow Tim Carvell Wyatt Cenac J. R. Havlan David Javerbaum Elliott Kalan Rob Kutner Josh Lieb Sam Means John Oliver Jason Ross Jon Stewart

Complete list (1957–1969) (1970–1979) (1980–1989) (1990–1999) (2000–2009) (2010–2019)

Persondata
Name	Izzard, Eddie
Alternative names	Izzard, Edward John
Short description	Comedian
Date of birth	1962-02-07
Place of birth	Aden, Yemen
Date of death
Place of death

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Izzard

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