Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Measure for Measure
  • Published:

The nature of natural units

Nature Physics volume 12, page 1082 (2016)Cite this article

Subjects

Nick van Remortel demystifies natural unit systems — and advises what to do when you see a mass expressed in GeV.

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. SI Brochure: The International System of Units (SI) 8th edn (BIPM, 2006); http://go.nature.com/2ehp2XP

  2. Jaffe, R. MIT Quantum Theory Notes (2007); http://go.nature.com/2ebYqeU

  3. Elliott, I. in Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers (eds Hockey, T. et al.) 2072–2074 (Springer, 2014).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  4. Olive, K. A. et al. Chinese Phys. C 38, 090001 (2014).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nick van Remortel is in the Department of Physics, University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium,

    Nick van Remortel

Authors
  1. Nick van Remortel
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nick van Remortel.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

van Remortel, N. The nature of natural units. Nature Phys 12, 1082 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3950

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3950

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing