How the Metric System Was Introduced in Russia from 1875 to 1925

A standard metre reached Russia as early as the late eighteenth century, but the metric system began to be used there only after 1875, when Russia, together with 16 other countries, signed the international Metre Convention. The law permitting the use of the metric system of measures in Russia was signed in 1899, and it was drafted by none other than Dmitry Mendeleev. As for making the system compulsory, that was proclaimed only under Soviet power, in 1918, and in the Soviet Union in 1925.

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

In the finale of the Strugatskys' Roadside Picnic, the Golden Ball is told: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to offend nobody, but the digest really does come free of charge. So, here is the main business of the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

How the Metric System Was Introduced in Russia from 1875 to 1925

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s