Measurement uncertainty: historical perspective, present status and foreseeable future

In this paper I explore the very birth, due to Gauss, of today's views on measurement uncertainty and its quantitative expression and propagation. I also try to understand and explain the influence of Bridgman's operationalism on these views, and discuss the conflict between a certain misconception of his epistemology and the mathematical and probability tools necessary to treat measurement and measurement uncertainty quantitatively. I also give an overview of current trends in the field