Metre and kilogram of the Archives
Metro y kilogramo de los Archivos
- Date
- 1799 · confidence high
- Place
- Paris, Île-de-France, France
- Credited to
- Étienne Lenoir, Marc-Étienne Janety and the Académie des sciences
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
A one-metre platinum bar and a one-kilogram platinum cylinder deposited in the French National Archives on 22 June 1799 as the definitive material standards of the metric system. The metre was derived from the meridian arc and the kilogram from the weight of a cubic decimetre of water.
The Archives metre is an end standard (measured between its faces), not a line standard. It was the basis of the copies made in the 19th century until the international prototypes replaced it.
What it led to
- official standards until 1889
- the idea of a standards repository kept by the State
- copies for other countries adopting the system