The Last Artifact. United States, 57 min, 2019. Montana PBS and Montana State University.

Synopsis

The Last Artifact documents the work behind-the-scenes effort to modernize the measurement system on which all of modern life depends. Since the French Revolution, the way we weigh the world has been based on a small metal cylinder the diameter of a golf ball, located on the outskirts of Paris inside a high-tech vault.
 

Encased inside three vacuum-sealed bells, it may not look like much, but it is one of the most important objects on the planet. It has a bearing on every aspect of our lives: from the moment we are born, to the food we eat, the cars we drive and the medicines we take. This object has helped send men to the moon and satellites into space. It is an object like no other, the last of its subject. It is a literal constant in an ever-changing world, and the weight by which all others are measured. In 2018, all this changed. This extraordinary object became history, the kilogram was redefined.

The Last Artifact tells the story of how this artifact was created, how its redefinition came about and what the future holds.