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Taking Measure Blog Posts

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Displaying 1 - 25 of 37
a collage including images of a radio tower, a handheld radio, a fire engine, and the word Connection

How 9/11 Changed Me and First Responder Communications

August 11, 2021
Dereck Orr
If you remember Sept. 11, 2001, that day is most likely imprinted on your mind like no other day. You remember what you were doing and who you were with. You may remember feeling confused and a sense of utter disbelief as you watched the results of the first plane’s impact on 1 World Trade Center
cartoon of a young woman at her desk speaking by webcam with another person.

The NIST Summer Undergraduate Fellowship Program Goes Virtual

January 27, 2021
Brandi Toliver
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) designed the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program to inspire undergraduate students to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) through a unique research experience that supports our mission
a collage of images. The number "2020" is surrounded by images of NIST staff George Gibson, Matt Staymates and Yamali Hernandez, a poster for the movie "The Last Artifact," an image of bikers racing up a hill, and a rifle bullet in a glass vial.

Need Some Good News? NIST’s 2020 Highlights

December 16, 2020
Mark Esser
2020 has been a challenging year, but we at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have worked as hard as we can to fulfill our mission for the American people: to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in
a collage of different graphical objects including representations of an ambulance, a police car, fire fighters, 911 call takers and various communications technologies like smartphones.

How NIST Is Helping First Responders Stay Connected

November 24, 2020
Shanée Dawkins
What do first responders do? It’s an easy question, and I used to think I knew the answer. Firefighters put out fires; police officers enforce the law; EMS workers treat injuries; 911 operators answer 911 calls and dispatch first responders to the scene. Simple, right? I am a computer scientist at
Jimmy Doolittle in an airplane cockpit

How NIST Helped Hero Pilot Jimmy Doolittle Fly

August 10, 2020
Laura Ost
As portrayed by movie star Spencer Tracy in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, pilot James (Jimmy) Doolittle led the 1942 air raid on Japan that lifted American spirits in early World War II, winning fame and the Medal of Honor. He eventually became a four-star general. Long before Doolittle became a legend
man on a television set in front of a painting of a lighthouse and a ship at sea

NIST’s Role in TV Throughout the Decades

July 22, 2020
Alex Boss
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences today announced nominations for the 2020 Primetime Emmy Awards, which recognize some of the best TV shows of the year. But before the Emmys could recognize the best actors, actresses and shows, television itself had to be invented. The National Institute of
NIST physicist Elizabeth Donley and Compact Atomic Clock

Keeping Time at NIST

June 18, 2020
Mark Esser
Einstein is reported to have once said that time is what a clock measures. Some say that what we experience as time is really our experience of the phenomenon of entropy, the second law of thermodynamics. Entropy, loosely explained, is the tendency for things to become disorganized. Hot coffee
Percival Lowell with his radio receiver and amplifier set

NIST’s Role in the Early Decades of Radio (1911-1933)

February 13, 2020
Alex Boss
Even if you weren’t able to watch the recent Super Bowl on TV, you could still listen to the play-by-play commentary on the radio. But radio does more than just broadcasting sporting events or playing music. It plays a major role in emergency response, navigation and science. ‘Radio’ vs. ‘Wireless’
graphic showing the number six with a radar dish, a quantum logic clock, arrows representing magnetic spins, a magnifying glass, a baggie of white powder, and a group of cubes in a hexagonal shape

Top 6 NIST News Stories of 2019

November 25, 2019
Mark Esser
Measurement is a subject that touches upon just about everything, from the food we eat and the medicines we take to our investigations of the fundamental phenomena of the universe, so naturally, the news from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is widely varied. That’s what
a graphic with a large 5 surrounded by objects from the post including mysterious museum objects, a blackboard with equations on it, a cellphone, and three vials. Additional text above the 5 reads "2019 Taking Measure."

Top 5 NIST Blog Posts of 2019

November 25, 2019
Mark Esser
It’s December, and that means it’s time for us to reflect on the past year, and what a year it was! This year tens of thousands of people tuned into the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Taking Measure blog to get their metrological fix, and we couldn’t be more pleased. Thank you
a woman sitting in front of a control panel that reads "WWV 2.5 MHz." In front of her is a table covered with hundreds of letters

NIST Radio Station WWV Celebrates a Century of Service

October 1, 2019
Laura Ost
What technological application has had musical, timekeeping, navigational, scientific, traffic-control, emergency-response, and telephone applications? Answer: WWV, one of the world’s oldest continuously operating radio stations. NIST received the call letters WWV a century ago, in 1919. Since then
firefighter holding a phone with an app pulled up on the screen

When Standardized Data Can Help Save Lives

July 26, 2019
Britta Voss
When you email a friend, you don’t have to worry about whether they use Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo or some other email provider. You just enter their email address, write your message and hit send. The reason this works is that there are layers of standardized protocols that all the email clients have
firefighter speaks into a handheld radio

Mission Critical Voice Communications: Your Life May Depend on It!

June 7, 2019
Tim Thompson
Just about everyone knows someone who works in public safety. For me, I have two close family members who are first responders. My brother-in-law is a firefighter in Fort Worth, Texas. His son, my nephew, is a paramedic. They both rely on mission critical voice communications to save lives every day
a gold chip with electrodes attached to either side inside a chamber lit with purple light

Quantum Information Science: A Q&A With NIST's Carl Williams

September 13, 2018
Quantum information science will contribute to one of the next revolutions in computing, but realizing that promise will stretch our scientific understanding and technological skills to their limits. We sat down with NIST Physical Measurement Laboratory Acting Director Carl Williams to get his take