Alder, Ken

The Measure of All Things : The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World

The story of the creation of the metric system in 1792 traces the endeavors of Delambre and Méchain, the backlash of superstitious contemporaries, the impact of the French Revolution, and the mistake that drove Méchain to the brink of madness. Reprint. 50,000 first printing.