ISO 80000

ISO 80000
Name	ISO 80000
Caption	International standard for quantities and units
Issued	2009–2019
Issuer	International Organization for Standardization
Status	Published

ISO 80000 is an international set of standards specifying quantities, units, and symbols for use in science, engineering, industry, commerce, and education. The standard provides harmonized conventions that relate to measurement practice endorsed by bodies such as International Organization for Standardization, International Electrotechnical Commission, International Bureau of Weights and Measures, International Committee for Weights and Measures, and national metrology institutes including National Institute of Standards and Technology, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom), and Centre national de la recherche scientifique. It aligns with metrication efforts historically related to the Metre Convention, Système International d'Unités, and international agreements among organizations such as the European Commission, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, United Nations, and World Health Organization.

Overview

ISO 80000 codifies recommended quantities, unit names, symbols, and conventions to replace disparate national and sectoral notations used across projects involving NASA, European Space Agency, Airbus, Boeing, Siemens, General Electric, Toyota, Volkswagen, Samsung, Intel, IBM, Microsoft, Google, Apple Inc., Sony, Panasonic, LG Corporation, Hyundai Motor Company, Honda Motor Company, Ford Motor Company, Royal Dutch Shell, BP plc, TotalEnergies, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, European Space Agency (ESA), and multinational standards efforts like IEC 60027 and IEEE standards. The standard is intended for use in technical documentation, scientific publications, regulatory instruments, and international contracts involving institutions such as European Central Bank, Bank of England, Federal Reserve System, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and research entities like CERN, Fermilab, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Max Planck Society, Royal Society, Académie des sciences (France), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Indian Space Research Organisation, and Australian Academy of Science.

Structure and Parts

ISO 80000 is organized into numbered parts addressing specific domains and is coordinated with other standards such as ISO 31, IEC 60050, IUPAC recommendations, and guidance from International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. Parts include general considerations and domain-specific treatments used by organizations like American Physical Society, European Physical Society, Royal Astronomical Society, International Astronomical Union, American Chemical Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, Institution of Engineering and Technology, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Society of Automotive Engineers, International Federation of Robotics, and International Civil Aviation Organization. The modular format permits updates influenced by participants from Standards Australia, British Standards Institution, Deutsches Institut für Normung, Association française de normalisation, Japanese Industrial Standards Committee, Korean Agency for Technology and Standards, and Brazilian Association of Technical Standards.

Units and Symbols Covered

The standard lists base and derived units consistent with the Système International d'Unités and recognizes usage across sectors led by European Union, United States Department of Commerce, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (China), Russian Academy of Sciences, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Indian Institute of Technology. It addresses symbols used in fields represented by Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, American Mathematical Society, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Optical Society of America, Society of Petroleum Engineers, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, and International Union of Crystallography. Units and symbols are presented to be interoperable with computing standards from ISO/IEC JTC 1, programming environments such as MATLAB, Python (programming language), R (programming language), Fortran, C++, and modelling tools used by ANSYS, Dassault Systèmes, Autodesk, and Siemens PLM Software.

Development and Revision History

Development involved international technical committees and working groups including contributors from British Standards Institution, American National Standards Institute, Standards Council of Canada, Institut national de recherche en informatique et en automatique, Verein Deutscher Ingenieure, and delegations to ISO/TC 12 and related committees. Revisions responded to input from research centers such as Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Helmholtz Association, CNRS, and publishing bodies like Nature (journal), Science (journal), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Physical Review Letters, Journal of the American Chemical Society, and The Lancet. Historical influences include legacy standards like ISO 31 and coordination with international agreements tied to the Metre Convention and international conferences where delegates from G7, G20, BRICS nations and multilateral organizations debated terminology.

Adoption and Implementation

Adoption has been encouraged by regulators, industry consortia, and academic publishers, with implementation programs at institutions such as University of Oxford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Harvard University, California Institute of Technology, Imperial College London, ETH Zurich, University of Tokyo, Peking University, Tsinghua University, University of Melbourne, University of Toronto, and national laboratories. Professional societies like Institute of Physics, American Chemical Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, American Society of Civil Engineers, and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers recommend ISO 80000-compliant notation in standards, textbooks, and accreditation processes administered by bodies such as ABET and European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education.

Impact and Criticism

Proponents cite improved interoperability across projects involving CERN, European Space Agency, NASA, and multinational corporations including Siemens, General Electric, Boeing, and Airbus. Critics and commentators from editorial boards of Nature, Science, New Scientist, and conferences convened by Royal Society and American Association for the Advancement of Science have raised concerns about complexity, transitional costs for small enterprises, and the challenge of harmonizing with legacy practices in sectors influenced by Federal Aviation Administration, European Union Aviation Safety Agency, Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency, and national procurement agencies. Debates continue in forums hosted by ISO, IEC, ITU, and standards bodies from India, China, Russia, Brazil, and South Africa about scope, accessibility, and the balance between prescriptive rules and domain-specific flexibility.

Category:Standards