On May 20, 1875, representatives from 17 of the leading industrial nations of the world met in Paris to set precise international standards for the meter and kilogram. Coming out of the meetings, the signatories to the Treaty of the Metre agreed to maintain internationally accepted standards and formed the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) as a governing body. This is why we celebrate World Metrology Day each year on May 20.

Without the Metre Convention, there would never have been the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) here in the United States, or the Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS).

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