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Taking Measure Blog Posts

Physics

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Justyna Zwolak poses for a casual photo outdoors on the NIST campus.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie: A Legacy of Innovation and Empowerment for Women in Science

February 12, 2025

Justyna Zwolak

Growing up in a country where the first scientist to win a Nobel Prize was a woman helped inspire a NIST researcher to pursue her career in science.

A researcher wearing safety glasses reaches into a box of circuitry and other equipment, which emits a green glow.

5 Concepts Can Help You Understand Quantum Mechanics and Technology — Without Math!

January 28, 2025

Tara Fortier

Quantum is everywhere, and you can understand the basic quirks of life at the quantum level … no math required.

A rectangular box coated with reflective foil hangs from cables over a parking lot.

High-Flying Science: How and Why We Sent a Refrigerator Halfway to Space

January 23, 2025

Ephraim Gau

NIST-developed tools can study the remnants of the Big Bang and more, and now researchers are working to launch these tools high above the Earth’s atmosphere — in a scientific refrigerator.

Photos of everyday objects like an iron, a gas can and a laptop along with high-tech items like an atomic clock and a mass balance. Label reads: 10 Ways NIST Impacts Your Daily Life.

From Safer Skies to Fewer Fires: 10 Ways NIST Impacts Your Daily Life

December 10, 2024

Robin Materese

If you’ve ever had a medical test, flown on an airplane, or needed to check the time, NIST’s work affects your life every day.

Illustration shows a lottery ball machine: a clear plastic sphere on a stand, half-filled with colorful numbered balls.

Pirouetting Molecules Can Help Us Learn About the History of the Universe

November 22, 2024

Dietrich Leibfried

Our researchers are trapping tiny, fast-moving molecules — in hopes of learning more about the formation of our stars and universe.

Esther Baumann leans over a lab table, surrounded with wires and scientific equipment.

A Laser Could Offer a Peek Into the Insides of Our Muscles or Look Through Fire

October 25, 2024

Esther Baumann

A NIST-developed laser system might someday check your muscle health when you flex your arm. These lasers can also see how an object changes during heat exposure when it is in a fire.

Historical photo shows three men standing next to a refrigerator-sized piece of machinery with an analog clock attached to the top.

How Atomic Clocks Have Changed Our World

October 15, 2024

Gabriel Popkin

We spend our days immersed in time. But where does time come from? How do we track it? This has evolved along with technology in recent years.

Trey Diulus poses sitting in the lab with a large, complex scientific instrument in the foreground.

Curiosity to Career: Encouraging Students to Pursue STEM Education

September 6, 2024

J. Trey Diulus

A NIST researcher is volunteering to educate young students about life as a scientist — and encourage kids to envision a career for themselves in STEM.

Sun Park wears safety glasses as she adjusts wiring and equipment in the lab.

Unlocking Our World’s Earliest Secrets — One Tiny Electron at a Time

July 18, 2024

Sun Park

Why do we exist? It’s a big question — and one that some of NIST’s early universe detectives are getting closer to answering.

A researcher wearing a lab coat uses tongs to place a silvery sphere into a large scientific device as another researcher looks on.

One of the World’s Roundest Objects Is Helping to Build a Better Mass Measurement

July 3, 2024

Megan King

Different countries' approaches can lead to different definitions of the kilogram. But NIST is working with our international partners to see how we can close those tiny gaps.

Four people sitting outside on a green tarp wear eclipse glasses as they peer up into the sky.

NIST Researchers Measure Greenhouse Gases During the Solar Eclipse

May 9, 2024

Alex Boss

Check out some of the things happening at NIST during the past few months through the lens of social media.

Stephen Eckel wears dark safety glasses as he peers into the complex CAVS apparatus in a darkened lab.

How Low Can Temperature Go? Lord Kelvin and the Science of Absolute Zero

May 7, 2024

Stephen Eckel

On Lord Kelvin’s 200th birthday today, we’re remembering the scientist who brought us the metric (SI) unit for temperature.

NIST Physicist’s Once Obscure Work Is Now Helping Researchers Learn About the Origins of the Universe

April 17, 2024

Ron Cowen

A NIST researcher worked in obscurity for years — until his work was needed to help us understand the origins of our universe.

Demystifying Quantum: It’s Here, There and Everywhere

March 26, 2024

Tara Fortier

It’s time to celebrate World Quantum Day! But what is quantum, anyway? A NIST physicist answers your questions.

A spiral-bound calendar page is blurred at the edges.

Leap Day Is Here: It Doesn’t Have to Be Your Standard Weekday

February 16, 2024

Andrew Novick

We get an extra day this year, but why do we need a leap day every four years on Feb. 29? It all comes down to standards.

Samuel Márquez Gonzalez leans forward to look through a microscope in the lab.

From Pokémon to Physics: My Journey of Perseverance Into Research

January 23, 2024

Samuel Márquez González

A childhood love of video games led Samuel Márquez Gonzalez to a career in science and a NIST internship program for early career researchers.

Historical photo shows Henry Moseley sitting at a desk reading a thick book, with other open books on the desk.

Henry Moseley: A Patriotic Scientist Who Changed the Periodic Table — and Then Went Off to War

January 18, 2024

Miral Dizdaroglu

At a young age, physicist Henry Moseley changed the periodic table of the elements — before dying in a bloody World War I battle.

Melinda Kleczynski poses sitting at her desk, with a monitor showing data and graphs behind her.

From Diamonds in Your Computer to Safer Medications, NIST Researchers Look at What’s Next for 2024 and Beyond

December 18, 2023

Our up-and-coming researchers look ahead to 2024 and beyond — and tell us how their work will impact the world.

An antique clock showing a few minutes before 12 is topped with a party hat, and colorful streamers hang in the background.

Auld Lang ‘Time’: One of the Country’s Timekeepers Makes Sure We Ring in The New Year at Just the Right Second

November 27, 2023

Andrew Novick

As you prepare to watch the ball drop or pop champagne on New Year’s Eve, we’ll be keeping an eye on the clock — just as we always do.

Think You Know What a Second Is? It Will Likely Change in the Next Decade.

October 16, 2023

Tara Fortier

As the world has modernized and our pace of life has increased, our relationship to time has changed.

Isabelle Rivera poses smiling at a computer with two monitors, one showing a spreadsheet and the other multiple file icons.

Reaching for the Stars: My Summer Internship Learning About Spectroscopy in Space and on Earth

September 13, 2023

Isabelle Rivera

As a summer high school intern at NIST, I got to take a deep dive into one of the ways scientists study space — the absorption and emission of light by matter, known as spectroscopy.

Two people wearing coveralls in a "clean room" lab look up at a disk-shaped object that one of them is holding.

Agents of Contrast, Software Runaway Hit, Our Early Universe: A Sample of Stories on NIST Social Media

August 16, 2023

Riley Wilson

Curious? It’s time to get you caught up on a few of the summer happenings at NIST.

Grace Waters poses smiling in the lab, leaning against a desk with a computer monitor showing data and graphs.

A Summer of Science: NIST Interns’ Stories of Their Time in the Lab

July 20, 2023

From measuring UV light to working on virtual reality software, a summer at NIST is not your average internship.

Drawing of Nikola Tesla with his chin propped on his hand.

What’s in a Name? The Tesla

June 27, 2023

Sandy Ressler

Do you enjoy flipping on the light switch? Well, you can thank Nikola Tesla — born 167 years ago today.

Under the orange lights of a clean room, Katarina Cicak, wearing a coverall and safety glasses, displays tiny chips in a plastic box.

From Escaping a War to Becoming a Mom of 3 at Once, Science Has Always Been There for Me

June 14, 2023

Katarina Cicak

I learned as a young adult not to get attached to material things; they can be gone in an instant. But there were some things I knew no one could take — an education and my love of science.

Physics

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