Changing Cycles 'till it Hertz

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Parpp807-at-aol-dot-com>

The last two are mispellings, as other things that frequently appear on
>  this list (see "variations" of toroid and gauge).
>   

Hi Antonio,
I'll just bet that you were testing us.

Some of the older IEEE members may have a clearer explanation
of what happened at the 1960 Systems International (SI) conference to saddle
us with the Hertz to replace the meaningful and self-descriptive
cyc and cps. The way I heard it, the American delegation (IEEE and other 
suspects)
wanted to keep cyc and cps as the unit of frequency. The euros wanted to make 
a 
distinction between sinusoidal frequency and other cyclic waveforms. They 
wanted 
two new units. And the Germans wanted to honor one of their own. The Great
Compromise :-)) was to be the new unit of the Hertz which they defined as 
equal  
 to one cycle per second. No reference is made to the type of wave form, the 
Germans got their representation, and we narrowly missed having to learn 
another
new unit.

Shears,
Ralph Zekelman