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Taking Measure

Just a Standard Blog

Mark Esser

black and white photo of Mark Esser

Mark Esser has been a writer/editor in the NIST Public Affairs Office since October 2007. He has written internal and external news, video scripts,  speeches and other content on a wide variety of subjects. He helped to initiate and served as contributing and managing editor of the NIST Taking Measure blog from 2016 until 2021. He now works in NIST internal communications. 

NIST physicist Elizabeth Donley and Compact Atomic Clock

Keeping Time at NIST

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
Text reads "2019 top 7 visuals." Text is surrounded by pictures that appear in the article.

Top 7 NIST Visuals of 2019

Science, while important, is often thought of as, well, kind of dry in the ocular department. The visuals commonly associated with scientific endeavors are
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

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
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

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