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Taking Measure

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white pi symbol on a grey field made up of the numbers of pi

The Life of (Buckingham) Pi

March 12, 2020
C.W. Clark
… at the agency that became the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Indeed, the Web of Science academic database records … simulation research … Physics … Atomic / molecular / quantum … Quantum information science … The Life of (Buckingham) Pi …
photo of a house. Solar panels on the roof.

That House on the Hill: Bringing Measurement Science Home

February 15, 2019
Bill Healy
When people ask NIST employees what they do, we often rely on the somewhat nebulous term “measurement science.” To many in the technical community, NIST’s role in measurement science is clear because they are often surrounded by instruments that bear some sort of NIST-traceable calibration
Mary Kombolias load a small blue piece of paper into a dielectric spectrometer.

Chasing Paper: Adventures in Fiber Analysis

March 7, 2019
Mary Kombolias
Growing up in New Orleans, Louisiana, I had no scientific aspirations as a child. I do remember being entertained by science, relishing public television programs such as Newton’s Apple, Bill Nye the Science Guy and Square One, but I never saw science as a career path. It was not for lack of
a stylized rendering of the periodic table

The Periodic Table: It's More than Just Chemistry and Physics

May 23, 2019
Ben P. Stein
… was discovered in the 1930s at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, then known as the National Bureau of Standards), … chemistry … Theoretical chemistry and modeling … Electronics … Information technology … Materials … Materials characterization … Composition and …
MS. Ampere at the movies

More Power to You, Wonder Woman!

June 16, 2017
Ms. Ampere
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 a strong woman get good publicity! And she has done some wonderful things, what with defending the world from evil-doers and all. Maybe with
Connected gray boxes with x's at each intersection of red and yellow and yellow arrow across the design

Revolution by Design: The Materials Genome Initiative

August 17, 2016
Jim Warren
… the rewards. Fortuitously, that year the Office of Science and Technology Policy put out a call to federal researchers to participate … Chuck Romine and I were selected to serve on the National Science and Technology Council committee that drafted the white paper (PDF) that … me, I need to go tinker with my tritanium recipe. … Electronics … Information technology … Data and informatics … Manufacturing … …
3-D printing with concrete

Printing with Concrete: How I Spent My Summer Vacation

August 15, 2017
Austin Thomas
… in preparing the cement and labeling every specimen with as much information as possible. Cement paste formulations are very sensitive … me to apply my existing knowledge of 3-D printing and manufacturing technology while gaining knowledge in materials characterization and …
man satisfied with his computing experience

Easy Ways to Build a Better P@$5w0rd

October 2, 2017
Mike Garcia
… it again: Turn on multi-factor authentication to protect your personal information! The future, which is already here Increasingly, we're … that Neptune, not Uranus, is the farthest planet from the Sun … Information technology … Cybersecurity … Identity and access management … Easy Ways …
NIST physicist Elizabeth Donley and Compact Atomic Clock

Keeping Time at NIST

June 18, 2020
Mark Esser
… accuracy and precision of the clock. The first clock to use this new technology, NIST-F1, called a fountain clock, was put into service in …