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A Scientific Christmas Tale

December 5, 2023

’Twas the night before Christmas; NIST staff had gone home. Our director was left to reflect all alone. She thought about NIST and the breadth of its work, from AI to fire to even the quark.

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.

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

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.

Peter Trask sits at a lab table working on wiring for a scientific device.

My Lab Helps People Breathe Easier All Over the World

June 12, 2023

Peter Trask

My lab here in Gaithersburg, Maryland, helps agencies all over the world track their pollution levels by measuring them accurately.

Six men stand in front of an airplane in a hangar, with equipment displayed on carts in front of them.

From Waxlight to Moonlight: 21st Century Standard Candles at NIST

July 1, 2022

Steven Brown

Before I tell you about the high-altitude NASA aircraft we use and the lunar observatory we are building, let’s talk about the earliest standard for measuring light output: the humble candle.

flat map of world. Gray continents. Blue and green colors for oceans.

Monitoring the Oceans’ Color for Clues to Climate Change

April 13, 2021

B. Carol Johnson

It is February 1994 and I am on the research vessel R/V Moana Wave off the coast of Lanai, Hawaii, with the team of the Marine Optical BuoY (MOBY) project. The water is incredibly blue, and I can’t help but be awestruck by the enormous energy, momentum, power and depth of the ocean as I watch the

The Case for Building Beautiful Instruments

March 4, 2019

Stephan Schlamminger

I discovered my affinity for attractive instruments while working a job previous to my coming to NIST. My boss then had a love affair with the common hose clamp—the one with the worm gear. Whenever we had to fasten a component to an apparatus he said, “why don’t you use a hose clamp?” With every

group portrait of the NIST machine shop crew

NIST’s Invention Machine: Making the Perfect Parts

May 30, 2018

Alison Gillespie

On a recent morning, Rick Lake stopped in the middle of giving a tour of NIST’s Machine Shop to ponder a part sitting on a shelf. It was about 25 centimeters long and made of metal coated in a sheen of purple and blue. Along the top, gaskets, nuts and bolts stuck out like spines on a steampunk

geared mechanism with an electric plug. Attached to the plug's wire is a tag that reads "231." The device is geared to another smaller gear on a device with what looks like a flywheel coming from the front of it.

Unidentified Museum Objects, Vol. II

September 11, 2017

Fran Webber

In Unidentified Museum Objects I, we asked for help identifying some mysterious whatchamacallits in the collection of our very own NIST museum ... and you enthusiastically responded. The Twitterverse helped us close the case on item 0266, and NIST staff sent in a number of leads on some of the other

Going the Distance on National Tape Measure Day

July 14, 2016

Dan Sawyer

Whether they’re made of leather or metal, people have been using tape measures for a long time. The first spring-loaded metal tape measure was invented and patented in England in 1829. Alvin Fellows of New Haven, Conn., made improvements to that design, including the locking mechanism that stops the

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