Science: The Stapp

Aviation medicine has long felt the need for a new unit to express the force of one G (the acceleration of gravity) acting on a body for one second. At Holloman Air Development Center, New Mexico, where men are exposed to Gs for experimental purposes, the experimenters got in the habit of calling the needed unit a "jerk" or "jolt." A man who had taken four Gs for 20 seconds, for instance, was said to have taken 80 jolts.

The name was handy, but some men felt that they were neglecting a fine opportunity...