Chief of time, mass and measures shares the metrics we need, and the one that irks him

Meet the Chiefs is an occasional series by Petra Stock. She previously covered the role of Chief Engineer.

If you’ve ever ordered a drink at a pub or bar, you’ll realise why an agreed system of measurement is useful. 

In Australia, a 285ml glass of beer might be called a middy, a pot or a schooner depending on which state or territory you’re in. And Victorians ordering a pint in South Australia are sure to be disappointed (in SA a pint is 425ml, significantly smaller than in Victoria).

“Part of the challenge for measurement is making sure that we’re always talking the same language,” says Australia’s measurement chief – or should that be ‘ruler’ – Dr Bruce Warrington.

Warrington is the Chief Metrologist and CEO of the government’s National Measurement Institute. 

A metrologist is “nothing to do with the weather”, he quips.

“It is my responsibility to think about measurement for the country, to try and make sure that Australia has the measurement capabilities that it needs, as technology evolves, as our needs in trade or society evolve,” he says.

This is a particularly pivotal time in Australia’s history and in global history where we do need lots of new measurement capability

Dr Bruce Warrington, Chief Metrologist

Measurement might be an ancient science – “thinking about scales and rulers is as old as civilisation”, Warrington says – but it’s far from settled.

He says new measurement standards and capabilities are needed all the time: as part of the transition to net zero emissions (things like hydrogen fuels and electric charging stations); to keep track of climate change (via precision measurements like the CSIRO’s ocean temperature data); to meet the needs of international trading partners; and to keep up with the demands of new technologies. 

“This is a particularly pivotal time in Australia’s history and in global history where we do need lots of new measurement capability,” Warrington says.

Warrington and the NMI ensure Australians and other countries can trust our system of measurement. That includes developing and maintaining standards for everything from seconds, kilograms and metres, to specialist capabilities like drug testing for professional sports, and bespoke chemical and biological measurements. 

The NMI has labs in Sydney and Melbourne which calibrate reference instruments and keep Australia’s reference clocks. “In our lab in Sydney, there’s a small group of those ticking away,” Warrington says. “Our job is to keep them ticking and make sure we are on time with the rest of the world through global timekeeping and synchronisation.”

He also oversees cooperation in international and regional forums like the International Bureau for Weights and Measures

International agreement about measurement is really old, Warrington says.  

The metric system used by most countries dates back to the time of the French Revolution, he says. Its adoption as a shared language between countries dates to an international treaty signed in 1875. 

Yet even 150 years on, there are still notable hold outs. 

The United States is one of a tiny number of countries that don’t use the metric system in daily life. But the US Office of Weights and Measures still uses metric measurements like metres and kilograms to participate in the global framework, translating into yards and miles, pounds and ounces for a domestic audience.

We rely on measurement every day without thinking about it. Every time we fill up our car with fuel, or we buy something at the supermarket that’s weighed on a scale.

Since Brexit, the UK has toyed with reverting to the imperial system.

Even in Australia, some imperial measures survive as a result of customary practice. Pilots still use feet to measure aircraft altitude, for example.

And there are plenty of quirks yet to be ironed out.

Warrington originally trained in physics, and has a background in atomic clocks – making precision measurements in atoms. He’s also a keen baker.

“One of the things that bugs me is that the Australian tablespoon, and the rest of the world’s tablespoon, are slightly different sizes. So, you have to know where the recipe came from to have it come out right,” he says. [Bakers beware: in the US a tablespoon is 14.8ml, while an Australian tablespoon is 20ml and in most other countries it’s 15ml].

But he’s not keen to wade into an international debate over baking just yet. Warrington has bigger measurement fish to fry – including as it turns out, actual fish. 

“One of the first decisions I had to make as Chief Metrologist was about the definition of fish,” Warrington reveals. He explains there was a particular concern about measuring the amount of product in frozen seafood, particularly shellfish, and the definition for fish was needed in regulatory procedures to give consumers and industry confidence. 

Warrington is also steering clear of getting involved in interstate debates over beer glasses. 

But NMI inspectors do go into pubs and clubs to make sure spirit dispensers and glassware align to a standard size, and to audit the accuracy of supermarket scales and petrol pumps.  

“Measurement is everywhere in our world,” says Warrington. 

“We rely on measurement every day without thinking about it. Every time we fill up our car with fuel, or we buy something at the supermarket that’s weighed on a scale, we’re trusting that measurement.”

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Interested in maths? Check out ‘Born to ruler?’ in Cosmos Print Magazine (Dec 2023).