NASA units
Today is the anniversary of the day NASA lost a $125 million spacecraft to a unit conversion. Mars Climate Orbiter disappeared because one engineering team worked in imperial units while another worked in metric. Somewhere, Dr Foy is still saying: “Units and dimensions, class…” Dr Foy was my physics teacher and, as a child, my role model. Elegant, brilliant and prone to regaling us with stories from her PhD days. I went on to study physics at university, before evolving into a chemical engineer via biochemistry and, eventually, a PhD of my own. (See what I did there? No? Never mind. It amused me.) The right role model can change the trajectory of a student. A great mentor can do the same for someone at the beginning of their career. And apparently, some lessons have a remarkably long shelf life. Units matter. Those who have worked for me or been unfortunate enough to be mentored by me will scarcely believe I’m still banging on about this. But I see it constantly...