National Institute of Standards and Technology

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Driving Innovation

From developing precise atomic clocks to creating encryption standards to supporting manufacturing, NIST plays a crucial role in advancing technology.

What we do

From nanoscale devices that power the most advanced microchips to earthquake-resistant skyscrapers, NIST’s measurements and research fuel innovation and improve the quality of life for all Americans. We provide support and resources to U.S. manufacturing, helping to grow our economy and ensure our national security.

Discover how our work makes America safer, healthier and more prosperous.

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What’s new

New Atomic Fountain Clock Joins Elite Group That Keeps the World on Time

Two researchers in safety glasses stand behind a table holding various electronic and laser devices. A metal structure in the foreground is part of the atomic clock.

Research-Based Practices Can Help Forensic Scientists Do Their Best Work

A researcher wearing a mask, safety glasses and gloves sits at a desk, looking at electronic devices and writing on a clipboard.

Quantum Advances: NIST and Industry Drive Powerful Computing and Clocks

Scott Davis poses smiling and holding a frequency comb console. Other similar electronic products are stacked on carts around him.

Bringing an Atomic Clock Back to Life

A man wearing latex gloves reaches out to adjust something on a cylindrical metal scientific device.

Privacy Framework wheel includes central Govern circle and four outer sections: Control, Communicate, Protect, Identify.

NIST Updates Privacy Framework, Tying It to Recent Cybersecurity Guidelines

April 14, 2025

Horizontal concrete slab is visible in a forest of scaffolding and equipment in a large indoor space.

Champlain Towers South Investigation Team Provides Update to Structural Engineers

April 11, 2025

When an ordinary beam of neutrons strikes the team’s silicon grating, the millions of scored lines on the grating convert the neutrons into an Airy beam, whose wavefront travels along a parabolic path. The triangular shapes on the detector match the predicted behavior of an Airy beam, offering evidence of the team’s success.

NIST’s Curved Neutron Beams Could Deliver Benefits Straight to Industry

April 17, 2025

A black and white image of the aluminum alloy under a microscope. Most of the image is light grey, but there are many small black spots that have lines extending out from them like cracks.

Rare Crystal Shape Found to Increase the Strength of 3D-Printed Metal

April 7, 2025

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America’s national measurement institute

Photograph of the NIST-4 Kibble watt balance in blue light.

NIST is the National Metrology Institute for the United States, also known as an NMI. Everything you use in your everyday life works because of measurements. Without precise measurements, your car wouldn’t run, your phone wouldn’t work, and hospitals couldn’t function. We maintain the measurements that make industry and society work. Learn more about our unique role in the national — and global — economy.