Established the International Bureau of Weights and Measures and a permanent framework for global standardization of measurement units, leading to the SI system.
Key Facts
- Date signed
- 20 May 1875
- Original signatory nations
- 17 nations
- CGPM members (as of 2024)
- 64 members, 37 associates
- BIPM headquarters
- Saint-Cloud, France
- SI system named
- 1960, at 11th CGPM meeting
- BIPM staff
- Approximately 70 employees
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
By the mid-19th century, the absence of a shared international system of measurement created practical obstacles for science, trade, and industry across nations. Governments recognized that coordinating measurement standards required a permanent intergovernmental structure rather than ad hoc bilateral agreements.
On 20 May 1875, representatives of 17 nations signed the Metre Convention in Paris, creating the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) under the authority of the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) and the supervision of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM), forming a standing organizational structure for common action on measurement units.
The treaty provided the institutional foundation through which the scope of international metrology expanded beyond mass and length to all fields of physics by 1921, and in 1960 the CGPM formally named the resulting framework the International System of Units (SI), now the globally dominant system of measurement with 64 member states.
Political Outcome
Created permanent intergovernmental organizations (BIPM, CGPM, CIPM) to coordinate international measurement standards, culminating in the International System of Units (SI) in 1960.