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Taking Measure

Just a Standard Blog

Sandy Ressler

Sandy Ressler has been at NIST for nearly 40 years. (Yes, he’s old.) Following a short few years at Bell Labs, during which it was broken up (not due to Sandy’s work), Sandy has been doing computer graphics of various sorts at NIST. He is involved with 3D standards for the web and a variety of virtual reality technologies. He’s the co-author of the now classic Life with UNIX and the virtually unknown Art of Electronic Publishing. He holds an M.F.A. in visual arts (computer graphics), which continues to confuse management. In his off time, he loves to chase his grandkids.

Header shows a drawing of Wilhelm Weber, an electricity transmission tower, and a magnet, and reads: What's in a Name? The Stories Behind the Names of Units of Measurement.

What’s in a Name? The Magnetic Weber 

Dr. Wilhelm Weber gets the distinction of having the unit of magnetic flux, the weber, named in his honor. Magnetic flux measures the total magnetic field that
White balls in a row

A Slice of Math Functions for Pi Day

Happy Pi Day! No, not pie day, Pi Day. That Greek character pi, π, that you’ve heard of but aren’t quite sure what the big deal is. Pi is the ratio of a circle