Why a School on Measurement?

A very common feeling about measurement activity is that it does not involve anything else than connecting a suitable instrument to a measured system, reading the instrument's display and, if needed, making a few calculations on the value provided by the instrument.

This is a very reductive interpretation of the measurement activity, which involves many other factors, much deeper interpretations that go well beyond the mere technical implications and imply several philosophical concepts concerned with epistemology and ontology.

From the epistemology point of view, the measurement activity can be thought as the bridge between the empirical world of events and occurrences and the abstract world of concepts and knowledge.

Ontology has debated the way these two worlds are supposed to contribute to knowledge for the last 26 centuries, at least, since Socrates started debating the relationship between knowledge and sensation.

No wonder that these concepts began to be debated in the ancient Greece, the cradle of the modern philosophy. No wonder also that, due to the limited technical knowledge of that period and the very limited number of measuring instruments (mainly restricted to capacity measurements for liquids and grain), the empirical knowledge was confined to sensorial perception (Socrates' sensation) and did not develop into a well defined subject.

We had to wait the more practical Roman civilization to see, probably for the first time in history, the big metrology problem of standards and their dissemination covered in an orderly way. In fact, it is known that, under Augustus, the Pes Romanus was the length standard, its use became mandatory and an artifact was kept in the temple of Iuno Moneta. It is likely that other artifacts, directly obtained from this one, were kept in the temples of the major towns of the Empire.

No doubt that the measurement science has come quite a long way since then. Instruments have been built to free the experimental knowledge from the limitations imposed by human senses, from the early telescope used by Galileo to peer into the sky to the most modern tunnel-effect microscopes used to investigate the matter almost at the atomic level. Thanks to Maxwell's insight and Giorgi's work, standards have evolved from artifacts to devices based on physical properties of the matter and a unique system of units (the SI) has been universally adopted. Modern computer-based instruments make almost every physical (and not only physical) quantity measurable, so that we can actually believe that every measurement problem can be solved if the proper instrument is built. But...

Yes, there is a "but" that motivates this School: the old question, debated by Socrates, about the role of the empirical knowledge, and the old question, already asked at Augustus time, about how well the measurement result describes the measure and, are still open questions and the evolution of the modern instruments only makes them more difficult to answer.
While finding an answer to the first question is the task of epistemologists, finding an answer to the second question is the task of the science of measurement and measurement engineers. To accomplish this task, the knowledge of the instruments and their operating principles is important, but it is not enough. A solid background about the fundamentals of the measurement science, the measurement methods, the mathematical basis of either signal analysis and digital signal processing, the mathematical theories for representing incomplete knowledge, and the current Standards is required.

Many important measurement applications, such as those for human health and environment preservation, are performed by means of accurate electronic instruments, but, due to still inaccurate models, may lead to very inaccurate estimations of the quantities subject to measurement if the people who operate the instruments and interpret the measured values do not show deep competence in the above fields.

For these reasons, the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society has started this International Measurement University. The IMU is intended to provide students with the aforementioned background of knowledge, so that, at the end of the whole three-year cycle, they have the know-how to perform different kind of measurements in any possible application field. One time attendance at IMU will also provide a strong background on the fundamentals of measurement and opportunity to network and form collaborations with experts in the field. Ph.D. students, young scientists and entry level engineers in all fields that want to increase their competence and practical skill level in this fascinating area of the human scientific knowledge should attend the IMU. Here they can meet the major worldwide experts in the different fields of instrumentation and measurement, enjoy their lectures, ask them questions and exchange ideas with them and the other students on their activity.