Math! Science! History!™

The French Rev­o­lu­tion and the Birth of a Uni­ver­sal Mea­sure It’s 1789 in Paris. The French Rev­o­lu­tion is in full swing, heads are rolling (lit­er­al­ly), ideas of lib­er­ty and rea­son are elec­tri­fy­ing the air, and noth­ing is off-lim­its for reform. Amid this upheaval, one very prac­ti­cal prob­lem stood out: weights and mea­sures. Every region and every trade in France seemed

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