In 1790 the French Assemblée Nationale set in train a process that would result in the metric system. But for quirks of history, the course of metrication might have had an Anglo-French dimension – and a different outcome.
Enjoying our latest content?
Log in or create an account to continue
- Access the most recent journalism from Nature's award-winning team
- Explore the latest features & opinion covering groundbreaking research
or
Author information
Author notes
J. H. Freeman, who until recently was Counsellor for Science and Technology at the British Embassy in Paris, will shortly take up a British Nuclear Fuels Chair in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT, UK.
- J. H. Freeman
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Freeman, J. The metre and the pendulum. Nature 348, 105–106 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/348105a0
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/348105a0
