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The Association introduced the British Association (usually termed "BA") screw threads, a series of screw thread standards in sizes from 0.25mm ("25BA") up to 6mm ("0BA"), in 1884. The standards were ahead of their time in that they were based on the metric system, although they had to be re-defined in imperial terms for use by UK industry. They remained in general use for instruments and small assemblies until metrication in the 1970s.

A decision that became notorious in the twentieth century was made in 1878 when a committee of the Association recommended against constructing Charles Babbage's analytical engine.

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The Association introduced the British Association (usually termed "BA") screw threads, a series of screw thread standards in sizes from 0.25mm up to 6mm, in 1882. The standards were based on the metric system, although they had to be re-defined in imperial terms for use by UK industry. The standard was modified in 1884 to restrict significant figures for the metric counterpart of diameter and pitch of the screw in the published table, as well as not designating screws by their amount of threads per inch, and instead giving an approximation due to considerable actual differences in manufactured screws.

In 1878 a committee of the Association recommended against constructing Charles Babbage's analytical engine, due to concerns about the current state of the machine's lack of complete working drawings, the machine's potential cost to produce, the machine's durability during repeated use, how and what the machine will actually be utilized for, and that more work would need to be done to bring the design up to a standard at which it is guaranteed to work.

I know the citations here are auto generated and are not entirely correct, but the British Science Association article already has these as sources, currently unused at the bottom of their article

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Under "History"

During this second meeting, the first objects and rules of the Association were published. Objects included systematically directing the acquisition of scientific knowledge, spreading this knowledge as well as discussion between scientists across the world, and to focus on furthering science by removing obstacles to progress. The rules established included what constituted a member of the Association, the fee to remain a member, and the process for future meetings. They also include dividing the members into different committees. These committees separated members into their preferred subject matter, and were to recommend investigations into areas of interest, then report on these findings, as well as progress in their science at the annual meetings.

Additional sections were added throughout the years by either splitting off part of an original section, like making Geography and Ethnology its own section apart from Geology in 1851, or by defining a new subject area of discussion, such as Anthropology in 1869.

The Association relinquished control of the Kew Observatory in 1871 to the management of the Royal Society, after a large donation to grant the observatory its independence.

In 1872, the Association purchased its first central office in London, acquiring four rooms at 22 Albemarle Street. This office was intended to be a resource for members of the Association.

Under "Perception of Science in the UK"

At the beginning of the Great Depression, the Association’s focus began to shift their purpose to account for not only scientific progress, but the social aspects of such progress. In the Association’s 1931 meeting, the president General Jan Christiaan Smuts ended his address by the proposal of linking science and ethics together but provided no means to actuate his ideas. In the following years, debate began as to whom the responsibilities of scientists fell upon. The Association adopted a resolution in 1934 that dedicated efforts to better balance scientific advancement with social progress.

J.D. Bernal, a member of the Royal Society and the British Association, wrote The Social Function of Science in 1939, describing a need to correctly utilize science for society and the importance of its public perception. The idea of the public perception of science was furthered in 1985 when the Royal Society published a report titled The Public Understanding of Science. In the report, a committee of the Royal Society determined that it was scientists' duty to communicate to and educate the public. Lord George Porter, then president of the Royal Society, British Association, and Director of the Royal Institution, created the Committee of Public Understanding of Science, or COPUS, to promote public understanding of science.

Citations

Cite: The Association was parodied by English novelist Charles Dickens as 'The Mudfog Society for the Advancement of Everything' in The Mudfog Papers (1837–38).

APowell93 (talk) 18:40, 17 March 2019 (UTC)