This is another occasion when an assembly has been tidied up into blog format. Assemblies at BGS can be straightforward or somewhat ambiguous, and they might answer and ask questions in equal measure. Over the course of a year we hope our assemblies encourage folk to think differently about things. Often in my case, what I intend to say and what comes out of my mouth can be different. This was today’s tangent:
Welcome to BGS 2021 and the start of a new Spring Term. But it’s not the return to School that we were expecting when we broke up for Christmas. Most of you are, for example, and not for the first time, plugged in at home. So, here we are again, making the best of things as we have before in uncertain times.
The coronavirus has scrambled much in our lives; it disrupts and disconcerts us still. Should we panic? No, we shouldn’t. But present times do make us reflect about the future and what we can and can’t rely on. This can be disorientating. But many fixed points remain, solid constants that do not change, firm handrails that help to steady things and to which we cling to from time to time for guidance. I’m talking about essential, incontrovertible truths that do not alter even when the world seems more chaotic and worrisome than usual.
So, big picture stuff then? Yes… but I’m going to start will a small thing.
Enter ‘Exhibit A’. You might recognise it (see image top left).
This is an ordinary pencil case rule. And this is 1cm. And this, on the same rule, is a different 1cm division. But both are the same length. Both are, unsurprisingly, 1cm long. Take a different rule, from a different pencil case, each new 1cm length will be the same as for the previous rule, and that is a comforting thought. The same 1cm can be found in accurate, standardised abundance. Familiar and unfaltering. Dependable. Whatever the challenge of the present time might be, whatever calamity dollops down on you and I, 1cm is 1cm! Irrefutable.
What we have here is a very simple example of a universal constant, one, just one, of those fixed points. It’s a very simple and pure example of a thing we can depend upon no matter what. The meter, not the centimetre, is the standard unit for measuring length, for dividing up our world, our universe. It is the unit, the point of origin from which all other divisions of length are now drawn. And reassuringly a meter in Bradford is the same as a meter in Beijing or Brisbane, or on Mars or Mercury for that matter (you might think?). Whilst some things change, some things, it seems, do not. Comforting constants.
The definitive meter bar to end all meter bars was first engineered in platinum in France by Marc Étienne Janety. It was called the étalon and first displayed to the public in 1799. It formed the basis for an accurate survey of France providing cartographic precision in a vague and then largely unknown world. Today, our instruments for measuring and understanding are even sharper. In an age of atomic accuracy, the meter is currently defined as: “the length of the path travelled by light in a vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second”.
Admittedly, these words lack the romance and allure of a shiny French thing, but they are precise and trustworthy and speak of our increased mastery over nature. It is an example of a physical, ageless certainty and a family member of a known and interrelated system of measurements including, for instance, length, electric current, temperature, light, mass, voltage, the list goes on.
The universe is measurable and incontrovertible dimensions can be established. Knowable, orderly existence. The disharmony visited upon us by such things as an ephemeral pandemic are passing blemishes on the face of such big and steadying constructs, it could be argued. The geometric, scientific and mathematical rules of our universe do not flex. Empirical, absolute. And we know them, giving us a degree of control. What a comfort! Is this the message of today’s assembly?
Err… sadly no. Not entirely. Sorry. Let’s look a little closer.
There was an element hidden in that wordy but ultra-exact definition of the meter earlier that merits attention. Did you hear the bedrock on which modern, mega-precise measurements of everything on Earth and in the wider universe are made? The foundation for understanding and controlling existence? It can be found in the other SI measurements too. That element is time, the words “per second” were hiding in plain sight. Time: the greatest constant of all.
Only it’s not, sorry, again, because time bends too it turns out; it distorts under the influence of gravity. Which is a nuisance.
A clock only 5cm higher than another, and therefore 5cm further away from the centre of gravity on Earth, the middle of our core, will record a measurably longer second. Time runs slower with greater distance from the epicentre of gravity. This is an open secret, known to GPS systems in your watch and smartphone, both of which triangulate with distant satellites.
But what does all of this mean for us today in assembly? Anything? Or has Dr Hinchliffe had too much festive cheer and ‘gone off on one’ again? I’ll take this slowly:
- if we can’t trust to something as simple as 1cm, because time is bendy, malleable, and it’s all gravity’s fault,
- and our systems for measuring, knowing and controlling things are all based on a fixed understanding of time, then
- what certainties can we trust?
- And worryingly, isn’t this a metaphor for something bigger, maybe?
It turns out that our world is more inconsistent and unexpected than we might have thought. So it is with the humble centimetre, and much more. So, what then? What is the message today?
2020 has taught us some fundamental lessons that we would do well to remember. We might not trust to all the things we once did, and second guess the future only with great caution. But people flex, we can apply ourselves to new situations, face uncertainty with confidence if we choose to, and overcome unexpected challenges. So perhaps that’s the message after all?
Have purpose in 2021, show some character, be willing to work hard and help others, but be ready to adapt. These deep, abiding and positive human qualities provide the bedrock upon which a meaningful and fulfilled life can be built, one centimetre at a time.
Wishing you a good year ahead.
(With thanks to Simon Winchester and his excellent book ‘Exactly’ for inspiration).
“Have purpose in 2021, show some character, be willing to work hard and help others, but be ready to adapt.”
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