Abstract
DEAR SIR RICHARD GLAZEBROOK, Dr. Rayner has written to me regarding the meetings of the E.M.M.U. at Scheveningen. It was agreed that the M.K.S. system should have units which were consistent with the C.G.S. system, and all the representatives of the different countries agreed that it was very desirable that the present practical system should be extended so as to make it a coherent system of units. When the matter came up for discussion at the Committee of E.M.M.U., the question under discussion was divided into two. The first was concerned solely with the desirability of a coherent M.K.S. system without specifying the fourth unit, and the second with the choice of the fourth fundamental unit. On the first question, all the members declared themselves in favour of the adoption of an M.K.S. system with four fundamental units, except the representative of Norway, who abstained. On the second question, the Committee decided to consult, on one hand the Consultative Committee of the B.I.P.M., and on the other hand, the S.U.N. Dr. Lombardi was asked to prepare the question to submit to the Consultative Committee of the B.I.P.M., and Dr. Kennelly to prepare that to be submitted to the S.U.N. Although there is nothing in the minutes of the proceedings stating that the basis of the decision regarding the fourth unit should be that the permeability of free space should be taken as unity, that point was repeatedly raised in the discussion, and the way in which the matter was left, was that the committees to be consulted should be asked to give a value for the fourth unit which was consistent with the value of the permeability of free space being equal to unity.
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MARCHANT, E. Electrical Units and the I.E.C.. Nature 136, 110 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136110b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136110b0
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