Lagrange was involved in the development of the metric system of measurement in the 1790s. He was offered the presidency of the Commission for the reform of weights and measures ("la Commission des Poids et Mesures") when he was preparing to escape. After Lavoisier's death in 1794, it was largely Lagrange who influenced the choice of the metre and kilogram units with decimal subdivision, by the commission of 1799. Lagrange was also one of the founding members of the Bureau des Longitudes in 1795.