This second volume of Gyllenbok's encyclopaedia of historical metrology comprises the first part of the compendium of measurement systems and currencies of all sovereign states of the modern World (A-I).

Units of measurement are of vital importance in every civilization through history. Since the early ages, man has through necessity devised various measures to assist him in everyday life. They have enabled and continue to enable us to trade in commonly and equitably understood amounts, and to investigate, understand, and control the chemical, physical, and biological processes of the natural world. The encyclopeadia will be of use not only to historians of science and technology, but also to economic and social historians and should be in every major academic and national library as standard reference work on the topic.

Auteur
Jan Gyllenbok was born in Lund, Sweden (1963), and graduated in 1990 with a B.Sc. in Computer Science from Lund University. Gyllenbok has over 30 years of experience of leading organizations, management teams, boards and task forces. He has been a board member and chairman of a wide range of non-profit organizations, and board member of both private and state companies. He has in recent years produced a diversity of specialist books and articles, mainly in technology and management. His interest in metrology began in his early teens, when he came across an article about various ancient measurement systems in a reference book. As the great importance of these measurement systems in different cultures through the millennia became obvious to him, he began to compare and compile information about different systems of measurement. This demanding project, which spanned over forty years, is reported in the three volumes of Encyclopaedia of Historical Metrology, Weights, and Measures.

Contenu

6.National Systems of Weights, Measures and Currencies, A-I.