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How Did The Meter Get Its Length?
![One of 30 copies of the first protoype meter made by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) in Sevres, France. 1875-1889 <em> </em>](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/a3a183f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1767x1325+0+0/resize/880x660!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.npr.org%2Fassets%2Fimg%2F2014%2F06%2F30%2Fmeterbar_plain_hr-aa1446ed5ebe4269dd63340f6a8444847963c4a1.jpg)
NIST Museum Collection
Corrected: June 23, 2014 at 12:00 AM EDT
Previous versions of this story said a platinum bar cast in the 19th century was what the world used as the official length of a meter. It was the first official standard for the length of the meter. There's another in effect today.