Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Taking Measure

Just a Standard Blog

Physics

Alexey Gorshkov poses at a whiteboard, holding a marker.

What’s So Great About Quantum Computing? A Q&A With NIST Theorist Alexey Gorshkov

June 1, 2022

The NIST theorist discusses his efforts toward designing quantum computers, revealing their possible capabilities, and showing why we all should be excited

Historical photo shows two rows of women working at long tables.

New Jersey’s ‘Radium Girls’ and the NIST-Trained Scientist Who Came to Their Aid

March 16, 2022

Radiation expert and historian Bert Coursey, who has worked at NIST for 50 years, writes extensively on the history of radium and radiation standards. He

A woman stands smiling in front of a large device with many metal parts and wires.

My First Semiconductor Standards Were a Bust … or Were They?

January 12, 2022

Silicon is the most important semiconductor in the world. It forms the chips that are used for memory and processors in high-end computers, everyday consumer

A white telescope dish is surrounded by wooded mountains in autumn colors.

In Case You Missed It From NIST: 2021 Edition

December 21, 2021

While the pandemic still grips the world, researchers at NIST continue their work on COVID-19 related research, as well as the wide range of other science and

Detecting the Flavors of Important Elements With Neutron Depth Profiling

November 17, 2021

The first five minutes of any presentation I give on neutron depth profiling are usually met with blank stares from my audience. This, I hope, is not something

$close up of a clear fractured glass like substance with some rainbow distortions$

Clear as Glass: Studying Drug-Delivery Materials as a NIST SURF Student

October 6, 2021

This summer was an interesting one, to say the least. I was in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program offered by the National Institute of

Working to Improve Small-Scale MRIs: My Summer as a SURF Student at NIST

September 29, 2021

I didn’t really know what to expect on the first day of my virtual Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program at the National Institute of

Making Measurements With a Fine-Toothed Comb

September 22, 2021

To many people, a measurement sounds mundane, like marking ticks on a ruler or reading the line on a thermometer. It’s a piece of data. And they tend to think

Analyzing the Aftermath of the Twin Towers Aircraft Impacts

August 27, 2021

I consider myself lucky to have been able to perform contract engineering research and consulting for my entire career. The work environment has been somewhere

50 Years of the ‘Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data’: A Q&A With Editors Allan Harvey and Don Burgess

June 16, 2021

Reference data’s connection to the public is indirect yet often very important. For example, a town’s electricity could come from a steam power plant in which

Passing Photons Through Chicken, VR for First Responders, and 3D-Printed Metal: A Sample of Stories on NIST Social Media

June 9, 2021

Sending “spooky” pairs of photons through biological materials, using virtual reality to test emergency communications technology, bolstering confidence in the

Fundamental Constants Are the Future of Measurement. Can They Replace Artifacts for Measuring Isotopes?

May 11, 2021

In an essay titled “ The end of artefacts, ” Nobel laureate and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) fellow William D. Phillips details how

3D Printing With Light: A Q&A With NIST's Callie Higgins

May 3, 2021

Callie Higgins is a materials research engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). She studies a special branch of additive

Everyday Time and Atomic Time: Part 5

April 28, 2021

This is part 5 in a series. Read part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4. The Leap Second Solution When atomic clocks were developed in the 1950s, scientists needed

Everyday Time and Atomic Time: Part 4

April 21, 2021

This is part 4 in a series. Read part 1, part 2 and part 3. Greenwich Mean Time In the previous essay I introduced mean solar time, which averaged the annual

Monitoring the Oceans’ Color for Clues to Climate Change

April 22, 2021

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

Everyday Time and Atomic Time: Part 3

April 14, 2021

This is part 3 in a series. Read part 1 and part 2. Oscillators and Clocks In the previous essay, I introduced the ideas that frequency and time interval are

Everyday Time and Atomic Time: Part 2

April 7, 2021

This is part 2 in a series. Read part 1. A short history of frequency Frequency was originally considered to be the province of musicians. The pitches or

Everyday Time and Atomic Time: Part 1

March 31, 2021

As a physicist in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Time and Frequency Division, I have worked in the general area of operating atomic

From 1901 to 2021: Measurements Then and Now

March 3, 2021

A lot has changed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the past 120 years. For one thing, we were known as the National Bureau of

A ‘Forever’ Stamp and a Discovery That Changed Physics Forever

March 10, 2021

With a new “forever” stamp honoring "First Lady of Physics" Chien-Shiung Wu, we have come very close to seeing a National Institute of Standards and Technology

NIST Radioactivity Measurements Get the Ball Rolling for New Cancer Therapies

February 18, 2021

From the earliest days of radioactivity research, radiation and cancer therapy have gone together like peas and carrots. But Zach Levine covered peas and

The NIST Summer Undergraduate Fellowship Program Goes Virtual

February 2, 2021

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) designed the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program to inspire undergraduate students

Is Your Qubit Better Than My Qubit?

February 10, 2021

I had been studying superconducting quantum computing for seven years before I was stumped by this seemingly simple question: How do I know if my qubit is

Atlantic Salmon Hormones, Trapping Molecular Ions, Lasers for Greenhouse Gas Measurements: Postdocs Share Their Stories on NIST Social Media

January 19, 2021

As the Feb. 1, 2021 deadline approaches for early-career researchers to join the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) National Research Council

Our Science in Your Inbox

Subscribe to our weekly emails.