The Measure of All Things: the seven-year odyssey and hidden error that transformed the world

'The Measure of All Things' is the story of the scientific mission, undertaken in 1792, to measure the Earth and define the meter for all nations and for all time. It is based on the correspondance between the two men, their mission log books, and takes as its central point the fact that one of the two astronomers on the mission, Pierre-Francois-Andre Mechain, made contradictory measurements from Barcelona and, in a panic, covered up the discrepancy. His guilty secret drove him to the brink of madness, and ultimately to his death. Only after Mechain's death and when the meter had already been publicly announced, did his partner, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Delambre, discover the truth and face the choice of whether to announce it or not.