The General Conference on Weights and Measures, known by its French initials CGPM, is the supreme body of the international system of measurement, bringing together delegates of the member states of the Metre Convention of 1875. It meets every few years in Paris to approve the definition of units and to oversee the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, at Sevres near Paris, which looks after the international standards. At its first meeting it approved the international prototype metre and kilogram. Its decisions govern the International System of Units, the SI, and in 2018 it voted to redefine the kilogram and other base units in terms of fixed natural constants rather than physical objects.
Before and after
- 28 April 1889Birth of António de Oliveira Salazar
- 11 June 1889Birth of Anna Akhmatova
- 5 July 1889Birth of Jean Cocteau
- 8 July 1889Launch of The Wall Street Journal
- 21 September 1889Founding of General Conference on Weights and Measure
- 23 September 1889Founding of Nintendo
- 26 September 1889Birth of Martin Heidegger
- 11 October 1889Death of James Prescott Joule
- 14 November 1889Birth of Jawaharlal Nehru
More in Society, economy & sport
- 12 May 1792Founding of New York Stock Exchange
- 17 February 1863Founding of International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
- 23 June 1894Founding of International Olympic Committee
- from 6 April 1896 to 15 April 1896The first modern Olympic Games open in Athens
- 1903Rise of Bolsheviks
- 1907Rise of scouting
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.