History of the metric system levels of the krypton 86 atom as the new standard for the metre. The standard metre artefact was retired. In 1960, Giorgi's proposals were adopted as the basis of the "Système International d'Unités" (International System of Units), the SI. This initial definition of the SI included six base units, the metre, kilogram, second, ampere, degree Kelvin and candela, and sixteen coherent derived units. The evolution of the SI after its publication in 1960 has seen the addition of a seventh base unit, the "mole", and six more derived units, the "pascal" for pressure, the "gray", "sievert" and "becquerel" for radiation,
SI base unit units are written in lowercase, except the symbols of those named after a person, which are written with an initial capital letter. For example, the "metre" (US English: "meter") has the symbol m, but the "kelvin" has symbol K, because it is named after Lord Kelvin and the "ampere" with symbol A is named after André-Marie Ampère. Several other units, such as the litre (US English: "liter"), are formally not part of the SI, but are accepted for use with SI. New definitions of the base units were approved on 16 November 2018, to take effect 20 May 2019. The