[Wikipedia-l] Ångström

Thu Nov 21 06:27:40 UTC 2002

Lir wrote:

>Angstrom, being a word not in common usage at all, should be written Ångström,
>in honor of Anders Jonas Ångström, who was smarter than many of you and thus
>knew how to spell his own name.

Maybe the word *should* be spelled "Ångström", but it's not.
I agree with you that Anders Jonas' name shouldn't be Anglicised
(which in this case would involve dropping the diacritics),
but the unit of measurement has been called "angstrom"
since it was invented (I believe after Ander Jonas' death).
Maybe the people in charge of units of measurement
(le Bureau International des Poids et Mesures)
shouldn't drop the diacritics, but they do.
This is a common noun, and isn't analogous to "Lunik"
(where I believe that you are right).

-- Toby

PS:  Most of this discussion is now happening on <wikiEN-l>.
     You're missing out!  Without you, I'm one side of the debate,
     but with you, I'm the voice of reason and compromise ^_^.