The first meeting was initiated by the French government, including official national representatives, leading scientists, and others.
[1] At the Congress, William Thomson (United Kingdom), Hermann von Helmholtz (Germany), and Gilbert Govi [it] (Italy) were elected as foreign vice-presidents.
[5] Notable participants included: Helmholtz, Clausius, Kirchhoff, Werner Siemens, Ernst Mach, Rayleigh, and Lenz, among others.
[4] The Congress resolved to endorse the 1873 British Association for the Advancement of Science proposal[7] for defining the ohm and the volt as practical units,[8] and also made resolutions to define ampere, coulomb and farad,[3] as units for current, quantity, and capacity respectively, to complete the practical system.
[8] It also resolved that an international committee should conduct new tests to determine the length of the column of mercury for measuring the ohm.
[26] There were 715 participants (473 from Germany and 243 from other countries, including Austria, United Kingdom, USA, and France).
[35] Internationale Konferenz über Elektrische Masseinheiten (International Conference on Electrical Units) Held 23–25 October at Physikalisch-Technischen Reichsanstalt at Charlottenburg.
The 1904 Congress recommended holding an international conference to address discrepancies in the electrical units and their interpretation.
[36] Additionally Mascart (France), Rayleigh (United Kingdom) and Carhart (USA) were invited because of their expertise and influence.
[38] Held 14–19 September, in connection with the L'exposition internationale des applications de l'électricité.