From the Society: The 75 Year History of the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society

Measurement is as old as humankind. Civilization required trade, and trade required measurement. Realizing the need for consistency, authorities declared standards of length, area, volume, and weight. Techniques of measurement have been the subject of tales of science since Archimedes' famous technique for measuring the volume of the king's crown. He then used it to calculate the density (is it really gold?).