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NIST History

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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
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
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
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
Created March 1, 2021