The International office of the weights and measures is one of the three organizations established to maintain the International Système of units (IF) under the terms of the Convention of the Meter.
It is located at the Pavillon of Breteuil to Sevres, in the Parc of Saint-Cloud close to Paris, where it enjoys an off-shore statute .
Mission
According to the official site:
- the BIPM has the role of ensuring the world uniformity of measurements and their traceability the international System of units (IF).
- It works under the authority of the Convention of the Meter, which is a treated diplomatic concluded between fifty and one nations. He carries on his activity with the assistance of a certain number of Advisory committees, whose members are national laboratories of Métrologie Member States of the Convention of the Meter, and by his work of laboratory.
- the BIPM carries out research related to metrology. It organizes or takes part in international comparisons of national standards of measurement and carries out calibrations for the Member States.
- It works under the authority of the Convention of the Meter, which is a treated diplomatic concluded between fifty and one nations. He carries on his activity with the assistance of a certain number of Advisory committees, whose members are national laboratories of Métrologie Member States of the Convention of the Meter, and by his work of laboratory.
The BIPM also has the role of maintaining the universal Time coordinated (UTC), which is the scale of time from which the frequencies of reference and the time signals are disseminated in a way coordinated in the world.
The other organizations of reference are:
- the General conference of the weights and measures (CGPM) and
- the International committee of the weights and measures (CIPM).
History
First of all, the origin of the International office of the weights and measures come from the decision to use the Decimal system taken under the impulse of Gaspard Monge.
May 20th 1875 was signed in Paris the Convention of the meter by seventeen States. The International office of the weights and measures was created on this occasion.
The House of Breteuil, with Sevres, shelters the BIPM since 1884, date on which the building intended for the installation of the laboratories, called “Observatory”, was brought into service.
In 1889 the first General conference of the weights and measures sanctioned the new international prototypes of the Mètre and the Kilogram, and required that they be officially deposited with the House of Breteuil.
Personalities
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Charles Edouard Guillaume (1861 - 1938), physicist having created the Invar (alloy with very low dilation coefficient), director of the International office of the weights and measures of 1915 with 1936, Nobel Prize of physics
-
Land Jean, physicist raises Charles Fabry and of Raymond Boulouch, teacher with SupOptique (photometry) he is the inventor of the double mirror monochromator and was director of the BIPM of 1962 with 1977.
See too
- international System of units
- Metric system
- IERS, international service of rotation of the Earth.
External bond
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Official site
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