Of current interest: Congress establishes new values for electrical and photometric units

By an act approved July 21, 1950 (Public Law 617), the 81st Congress has given formal statutory sanction to a revision of the practical system of electrical units. In large part, the values adopted for these units resulted from research by the National Bureau of Standards and the present legislation was proposed by the Bureau. The changes in the magnitude of the units are small, in no case larger than 1/20 of one per cent, but the new law puts the values on a clear and unambiguous basis which assures the closest practicable agreement between electrical and mechanical units.