Review of Smoot's Ear
Robert Tavernor Explores the History of Measurement
In the 2007 book "Smoot's Ear: The Measure of Humanity," Robert Tavernor takes an interesting and novel approach to understanding how mankind measures things.
One might think that there might not be much to the history of measuring things. After all, isn’t all so very self-evident?
Humanity needed to know how big, or heavy, or far something was, so they agreed that to do so all that they needed to do was to agree on a common size of measurement (such as the use of a man’s foot as a unit of length) and go from there.
According to this authoritative work of Robert Tavernor, the problem with this undeniably naïve view of how today’s systems of measurement came about is that, as in all other things, it is not always so easy for people to come to agreement.
Agreeing to Disagree
The troublesome task of agreeing on standards of measurement has been with humanity since the earliest days of mathematics, science, architecture and engineering (and, of course, remains to this day).
In Smoot’s Ear, Tavernor takes his readers step by step through the history of this debate; from the earliest days when it was thought that man, being a reflection of God’s image, should be the sole source of measurement. Such famous early units of measurement as the cubit (the length of a man’s forearm) are found in accord with this, and more details are being borne out in continued archaeological exploration.
With advancements in science, however, this view was gradually surpassed by the idea that measurement must be based on nature. The metric system – the most commonly used system of measurement today, and the chief focus of this book – was founded in part as such a system.
Scientists decried measurements based on the human anatomy as being far too inaccurate and prone to differences in each person (surely a valid point), and proposed systems based on the circumference of the Earth (which was found to be difficult due to Newton’s discovery that the Earth is not a true sphere) and, even more importantly, the period of a very specific pendulum.
Even greater advancements led to the formulation of measurement systems based on such intricate things as the wavelength of light emitted by certain atoms (such as cesium). It is here that we arrive very close to the modern state of things.
Unexpected Associations
What Tavernor does which is especially interesting in this book is to infuse all of this very vivid historical writing with a vivid sense of philosophy – begging the reader to answer the question of measurement for themselves.
This book’s 249 pages take special care to traverse the details of the 18th and 19th centuries in Europe – the age in which the world’s first truly standard measurements began to fully arrive – with shocking precision. All of the names, dates, and most intricate details which led to the formalization and near-worldwide acceptance of the metric system are presented here.
In addition, there are some very unexpected things – forays into detailed, yet fascinating explanations of advancements in art and science which either influenced or reflected the world’s yearning to unite under common measurement.
The Last Word
Anyone with an even passing curiosity about history in general, and especially how various aspects of history – politics, art, science, geography – all find themselves interconnected, should be drawn to this book.
The intricacies of its details can make it at times difficult, and the great many names, dates, and places have a tendency to become, by their very nature, confusing to keep track of, but in the end there is something tremendously rewarding about having learned so very much about this surprisingly important topic.
Smoot’s Ear: The Measure of Humanity by Robert Tavernor truly feels like a labor of love by an author who became fully immersed in his difficult subject.
For More Information:
Smoot’s Ear: The Measure of Humanity
By Robert Tavernor
Yale University Press
Aug 13, 2007
224 p., 5 x 8
20 b/w illus.
ISBN: 9780300124927
ISBN-10: 0300124929
Buy this book on Amazon.com
