General Conference on Weights and Measures

The General Conference on Weights and Measures is the English name of the Conférence générale des poids et mesures (CGPM, never GCWM). It is one of the three organizations established to maintain the International System of Units

International System of Units

The International System of Units is the modern form of the metric system and is generally a system of units of measurement devised around seven base units and the convenience of the number ten. The older metric system included several groups of units...

(SI) under the terms of the Convention du Mètre (Metre Convention) of 1875. It meets in Sèvres

Sèvres

Sèvres is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.The town is known for its porcelain manufacture, the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, making the famous Sèvres porcelain, as well as being the location of the International Bureau of Weights...

(in the southwestern suburbs of Paris) every four to six years. The CGPM represents 52 member states and 26 further associate members.

CGPM meetings

1st (1889)	kilogram defined as mass of the international prototype kilogram (IPK) made of platinum Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal... -iridium Iridium Iridium is the chemical element with atomic number 77, and is represented by the symbol Ir. A very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum family, iridium is the second-densest element and is the most corrosion-resistant metal, even at temperatures as high as 2000 °C... and kept at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures International Bureau of Weights and Measures The International Bureau of Weights and Measures , is an international standards organisation, one of three such organisations established to maintain the International System of Units under the terms of the Metre Convention... (Bureau international des poids et mesures), Sèvres Sèvres Sèvres is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.The town is known for its porcelain manufacture, the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, making the famous Sèvres porcelain, as well as being the location of the International Bureau of Weights... , France. International prototype metre sanctioned.
2nd (1897)	No resolutions were passed by the 2nd CGPM.
3rd (1901)	litre Litre pic\|200px\|right\|thumb\|One litre is equivalent to this cubeEach side is 10 cm1 litre water = 1 kilogram water The litre is a metric system unit of volume equal to 1 cubic decimetre , to 1,000 cubic centimetres , and to 1/1,000 cubic metre... redefined as volume of 1 kg of water. Clarified that kilograms are units of mass, "standard weight" defined, standard acceleration of gravity Standard gravity Standard gravity, or standard acceleration due to free fall, usually denoted by g0 or gn, is the nominal acceleration of an object in a vacuum near the surface of the Earth. It is defined as precisely , or about... defined endorsing use of grams force and making them well-defined.
4th (1907)	carat = 200 mg adopted.
5th (1913)	International Temperature Scale proposed.
6th (1921)	Metre Convention revised.
7th (1927)	Consultative Committee for Electricity (CCE) created.
8th (1933)	Need for absolute electrical unit identified.
9th (1948)	ampere Ampere The ampere , often shortened to amp, is the SI unit of electric current and is one of the seven SI base units. It is named after André-Marie Ampère , French mathematician and physicist, considered the father of electrodynamics... , bar Bar (unit) The bar is a unit of pressure equal to 100 kilopascals, and roughly equal to the atmospheric pressure on Earth at sea level. Other units derived from the bar are the megabar , kilobar , decibar , centibar , and millibar... , coulomb, farad Farad The farad is the SI unit of capacitance. The unit is named after the English physicist Michael Faraday.- Definition :A farad is the charge in coulombs which a capacitor will accept for the potential across it to change 1 volt. A coulomb is 1 ampere second... , henry, joule Joule The joule ; symbol J) is a derived unit of energy or work in the International System of Units. It is equal to the energy expended in applying a force of one newton through a distance of one metre , or in passing an electric current of one ampere through a resistance of one ohm for one second... , newton, ohm, volt Volt The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the... , watt Watt The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:... , weber Weber (unit) In physics, the weber is the SI unit of magnetic flux. A flux density of one Wb/m2 is one tesla.The weber is named for the German physicist Wilhelm Eduard Weber .- Definition :... defined. Chose degree Celsius Celsius Celsius is a scale and unit of measurement for temperature. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death... from among the three names then in use. l (lowercase L) adopted as symbol for litre. Both the comma and dot on a line are accepted as decimal marker symbols. Symbols for the stere Stère The stere or stère is a unit of volume in the original metric system equal to one cubic metre. The name was coined from the Greek στερεός stereos 'solid' in 1793 France as a metric equivalent to the cord. The stère is typically used for measuring large quantities of firewood or other cut wood,... and second changed http://www.bipm.org/jsp/en/ViewCGPMResolution.jsp?CGPM=9&RES=7. The universal return to the Long Scale Long and short scales The long and short scales are two of several different large-number naming systems used throughout the world for integer powers of ten. Many countries, including most in continental Europe, use the long scale whereas most English-speaking countries use the short scale... numbering system was proposed but not adopted.
10th (1954)	kelvin Kelvin The kelvin is a unit of measurement for temperature. It is one of the seven base units in the International System of Units and is assigned the unit symbol K. The Kelvin scale is an absolute, thermodynamic temperature scale using as its null point absolute zero, the temperature at which all... , standard atmosphere Standard atmosphere Standard atmosphere may refer to:* A standard reference value for air pressure: Atmosphere , an approximation of the value at sea level Atmospheric pressure, other reference values* A model of how atmospheric pressure varies with altitude:... defined. International System of Units (metre, kilogram, second, ampere Ampere The ampere , often shortened to amp, is the SI unit of electric current and is one of the seven SI base units. It is named after André-Marie Ampère , French mathematician and physicist, considered the father of electrodynamics... , kelvin Kelvin The kelvin is a unit of measurement for temperature. It is one of the seven base units in the International System of Units and is assigned the unit symbol K. The Kelvin scale is an absolute, thermodynamic temperature scale using as its null point absolute zero, the temperature at which all... , candela Candela The candela is the SI base unit of luminous intensity; that is, power emitted by a light source in a particular direction, weighted by the luminosity function . A common candle emits light with a luminous intensity of roughly one candela... ) began.
11th (1960)	metre redefined in terms of wavelengths of light. Units: hertz Hertz The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications.... , lumen Lumen (unit) The lumen is the SI derived unit of luminous flux, a measure of the total "amount" of visible light emitted by a source. Luminous flux differs from power in that luminous flux measurements reflect the varying sensitivity of the human eye to different wavelengths of light, while radiant flux... , lux Lux The lux is the SI unit of illuminance and luminous emittance, measuring luminous flux per unit area. It is used in photometry as a measure of the intensity, as perceived by the human eye, of light that hits or passes through a surface... , tesla Tesla (unit) The tesla is the SI derived unit of magnetic field B . One tesla is equal to one weber per square meter, and it was defined in 1960 in honour of the inventor, physicist, and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla... adopted. New metric system given the official symbol SI for *Système International d'Unités, the "modernized metric system". Prefixes pico-, nano-, micro-, mega-, giga-* and tera- confirmed.
12th (1964)	original definition of litre Litre pic\|200px\|right\|thumb\|One litre is equivalent to this cubeEach side is 10 cm1 litre water = 1 kilogram water The litre is a metric system unit of volume equal to 1 cubic decimetre , to 1,000 cubic centimetres , and to 1/1,000 cubic metre... = 1 dm³ restored. atto- and femto- Femto- Femto- is a prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of 10−15 or . Adopted by the 11th Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, it was added in 1964 to the SI... prefixes.
13th (1967)	second redefined as duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium Caesium Caesium or cesium is the chemical element with the symbol Cs and atomic number 55. It is a soft, silvery-gold alkali metal with a melting point of 28 °C , which makes it one of only five elemental metals that are liquid at room temperature... -133 atom at a temperature of 0 K. Degree Kelvin renamed kelvin. Candela redefined.
14th (1971)	new SI base unit SI base unit The International System of Units defines seven units of measure as a basic set from which all other SI units are derived. These SI base units and their physical quantities are:* metre for length... mole Mole (unit) The mole is a unit of measurement used in chemistry to express amounts of a chemical substance, defined as an amount of a substance that contains as many elementary entities as there are atoms in 12 grams of pure carbon-12 , the isotope of carbon with atomic weight 12. This corresponds to a value... defined. pascal Pascal (unit) The pascal is the SI derived unit of pressure, internal pressure, stress, Young's modulus and tensile strength, named after the French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and philosopher Blaise Pascal. It is a measure of force per unit area, defined as one newton per square metre... , siemens Siemens (unit) The siemens is the SI derived unit of electric conductance and electric admittance. Conductance and admittance are the reciprocals of resistance and impedance respectively, hence one siemens is equal to the reciprocal of one ohm, and is sometimes referred to as the mho. In English, the term... approved.
15th (1975)	peta- and exa- prefixes. gray Gray (unit) The gray is the SI unit of absorbed radiation dose of ionizing radiation , and is defined as the absorption of one joule of ionizing radiation by one kilogram of matter .... and becquerel Becquerel The becquerel is the SI-derived unit of radioactivity. One Bq is defined as the activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per second. The Bq unit is therefore equivalent to an inverse second, s−1... radiological units.
16th (1979)	candela Candela The candela is the SI base unit of luminous intensity; that is, power emitted by a light source in a particular direction, weighted by the luminosity function . A common candle emits light with a luminous intensity of roughly one candela... , sievert Sievert The sievert is the International System of Units SI derived unit of dose equivalent radiation. It attempts to quantitatively evaluate the biological effects of ionizing radiation as opposed to just the absorbed dose of radiation energy, which is measured in gray... defined. Both l and L provisionally allowed as symbols for litre.
17th (1983)	metre redefined in terms of the speed of light, but keeps same length.
18th (1987)	conventional values adopted for Josephson constant, K_J, and von Klitzing constant, R_K, preparing the way for alternative definitions of the ampere and kilogram.
19th (1991)	new prefixes yocto-, zepto-, zetta- and yotta-.
20th (1995)	SI supplementary units (radian Radian Radian is the ratio between the length of an arc and its radius. The radian is the standard unit of angular measure, used in many areas of mathematics. The unit was formerly a SI supplementary unit, but this category was abolished in 1995 and the radian is now considered a SI derived unit... and steradian Steradian The steradian is the SI unit of solid angle. It is used to describe two-dimensional angular spans in three-dimensional space, analogous to the way in which the radian describes angles in a plane... ) become derived units.
21st (1999)	new SI derived unit, the katal Katal The katal is the SI unit of catalytic activity. It is a derived SI unit for expressing quantity values of catalytic activity of enzymes and other catalysts. Its use is recommended by the General Conference on Weights and Measures and other international organizations. It replaces the non-SI enzyme... = mole Mole (unit) The mole is a unit of measurement used in chemistry to express amounts of a chemical substance, defined as an amount of a substance that contains as many elementary entities as there are atoms in 12 grams of pure carbon-12 , the isotope of carbon with atomic weight 12. This corresponds to a value... per second, for the expression of catalytic activity.
22nd (2003)	A comma or a dot on a line are reaffirmed as decimal marker symbols, and not as grouping symbols in order to facilitate reading; "numbers may be divided in groups of three in order to facilitate reading; neither dots nor commas are ever inserted in the spaces between groups".
23rd (2007)	clarification about the kelvin Kelvin The kelvin is a unit of measurement for temperature. It is one of the seven base units in the International System of Units and is assigned the unit symbol K. The Kelvin scale is an absolute, thermodynamic temperature scale using as its null point absolute zero, the temperature at which all... and thoughts about possible revision of certain base units

CGPM meetings

See also