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Taking Measure

Just a Standard Blog

NIST General

from left to right, a a metal cylinder, a telescope, and a device with rubber bushings on a spindle

Unidentified Museum Objects V

In celebration of National Inventors Month 2019 (yes, it’s a thing) we’re highlighting some curious inventions currently cooling their heels in the NIST museum
smoke billows from the open doorway of a burning test storage room

Rescuing Our History from the Ashes

What strikes terror in the hearts of museum curators everywhere? Budget cuts, surely. But worse yet, the prospect of precious, irreplaceable relics being
a gearbox with multiple "legs" attached

Unidentified Museum Objects IV

The underground storage shelves of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Museum are filled with loads of charmingly weird objects accrued
A wood-framed round dial face with numbers running from 0 to 35, with the 25 gradation marked in red.

Unidentified Museum Objects, Vol. III

Much like your attic, garage or basement, the NIST archives are home to quite a number of arcane objects of unclear origin and purpose. We periodically collect
Pirate flag with grave

Pirates of the Caribbean (Metric Edition)

To save his own life, Joseph Dombey had an idea. As two pirate ships surrounded the ship he was on in the Caribbean Sea in 1794, Dombey scrambled below deck
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

In Unidentified Museum Objects I, we asked for help identifying some mysterious whatchamacallits in the collection of our very own NIST museum ... and you
Pigeon bomb pilot

The Saga of the Bird-Brained Bombers

During World War II, NIST was among those working intensely to develop guided weapons to help the Allies win the war. But before the advent of satellites and
Image of a napkin that has written on it the names of researchers involved in the project and their guesses for the value of Planck's Constant

A Massive Bet: The Planck Napkin

So, a bunch of metrologists walk into a bar. In late December 2013, a group of NIST researchers met at the local watering hole across the street from NIST’s
MS. Ampere at the movies

More Power to You, Wonder Woman!

First, let me say that I’m totally energized by the good press my dear acquaintance Wonder Woman has been receiving lately. It’s absolutely electrifying to see
mystery objects at NIST museum

Unidentified Museum Objects, Vol. I

Right now, the NIST museum in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is displaying a glass globe the size of a large beach ball. When visitors first come upon it, they’re not
Lily Chen at her whiteboard

Deciphering: The Thrill of a Lifetime

When I went to graduate school to pursue my master’s degree 35 years ago, I couldn’t have predicted where my study of mathematics would end up taking me. I
Photo of U.S. kilogram masses

7 Ways Measurements Help You Get Around

With International Firefighters’ Day behind us and World Turtle Day looming, you might not think you’ve got time for another international day in May. But don’t
Debbie Jin in her Lab

What Debbie Jin Meant to Me

NIST/JILA Fellow Debbie Jin died of cancer on Sept. 15, 2016, at the age of 47. One of the most prominent researchers at NIST, she won many science awards
Grote Reber's Sterling, Virginia, radio telescope installation

Grote Reber, Radio Astronomer

Dulles International Airport, in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., sits on land once owned by NIST. It was on this spot that NIST brought
Platinum/palladium print portrait of William Willis, Jr. (1841-1923)

Taking a Closer Look at Old Photos

My mom is a painter, so I grew up in a messy house full of brushes, twisted tubes of paint, pots of ink, plaster busts of various Romans, rolls of papers, and

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