Measures of Genius

A fascinating book about scientists who gave their name to units of measure, while also introducing the reader to the whole history of measurement, including Roman formulations, the invention of the clock by Huygens in 1566 and the origins of the metric system and its connection with the French Revolution. The previous system was pretty chaotic, with different measurements for the French yard depending on which city you lived in. Most readers will not perhaps have realised that our temperature systems derive from Daniel Fahrenheit and Anders Celsius with their parameters of freezing temperature of salt water (0F), fresh water, human body temperature and boiling point at sea level. The other scientists covered in chronological order are: Pascal, Newton, Watt, Coulomb, Volta, Ampere, Ohm, Faraday, Joule, Kelvin, Clerk Maxwell and Tesla. The approach is informatively biographical and brings in many other contributing scientists – for instance, the role of Edison in trying to resist the competing invention of Tesla. The book is a significant and highly readable contribution to the history of science.