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Dr Richard Brown, NPL’s Head of Metrology, has published a research paper in Metrologia where he reviews the history of non-SI units that have been accepted for use with the SI (the International System of Units).
In his review, he notes that this set of non-SI units has decreased significantly as the SI has become more deeply embedded in modern society, and analyses the current situation, where a relatively small set of non-SI units remain accepted for use with the SI.
In his paper, Dr Brown proposes that in future the set of non-SI units should be as small as possible and that clear rules for their use are necessary, most obviously with SI prefixes where the current guidance needs improvement.
Dr Richard Brown has played an important role in the SI system recently via his leadership of the expansion of the range of SI prefixes, recommending the new names – ronna and quetta – as SI prefixes for 1027 and 1030, ronto for 10−27 and quecto for 10−30.
Find out more about NPL’s work with the SI
12 Sep 2023