Abstract: The International System of Units, SI, in use since 1946, was formally established in October 1960 by the eleventh Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, CGPM, with its resolution 12. In the past years, several changes have been made to the system. The 26th Conference, on 16th November 2018, adopted a revised SI, due to come into force on 20 May 2019. This revision was by far the most radical in the history of the SI. In this paper, I review the system from its origin to the present time, discuss the needs that suggested, and the conditions that allowed such an epochal change, and present the SI of the third millennium.