The General Conference on Weights and Measures (French: Conférence générale des poids et mesures - CGPM) is the senior of the three Inter-governmental organizations established in 1875 under the terms of the Metre Convention (French: Convention du Mètre) to represent the interests of member states. The treaty, which also set up two further bodies, the International Committee for Weights and Measures (French: Comité international des poids et mesures- CIPM) and the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (French: Bureau international des poids et mesures - BIPM,) was drawn up to coordinate international metrology and to coordinate the development of the metric system.
The conference meets in Sèvres (south-west of Paris) every four to six years. Initially it was only concerned with the kilogram and the metre, but in 1921 the scope of the treaty was extended to accommodate all physical measurements and hence all aspects of the metric system. In 1960 the 11th CGPM approved the Système International d'Unités, usually known as "SI".
Read more about General Conference On Weights And Measures: Establishment, CGPM Meetings
Famous quotes containing the words general, conference, weights and/or measures:
“The reputation of generosity is to be purchased pretty cheap; it does not depend so much upon a man’s general expense, as it does upon his giving handsomely where it is proper to give at all. A man, for instance, who should give a servant four shillings, would pass for covetous, while he who gave him a crown, would be reckoned generous; so that the difference of those two opposite characters, turns upon one shilling.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“For 350 years we have been taught that reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man and writing an exact man. Football’s place is to add a patina of character, a deference to the rules and a respect for authority.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)
“What do you believe in?—In this, that the weights of all things must be determined anew.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“To the eyes of a god, mankind must appear as a species of bacteria which multiply and become progressively virulent whenever they find themselves in a congenial culture, and whose activity diminishes until they disappear completely as soon as proper measures are taken to sterilise them.”
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947)