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Mathematical Treasure: John Quincy Adams’s Report upon Weights and Measures
John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States Secretary of State from 1817 to 1825. One of his tasks as Secretary of State for the still-young United States was to set up a uniform system of weights and measures. Here are images of a report he sent to Congress on this matter. It was prepared in 1817 and published in 1821:
A full digitization of its copy is available from Wellcome Library.
Frank J. Swetz (The Pennsylvania State University), "Mathematical Treasure: John Quincy Adams’s Report upon Weights and Measures," Convergence (September 2023)
