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NIST History

History Blogs

NIST’s Role in the Early Decades of Radio (1911-1933)

February 19, 2020

Even if you weren’t able to watch the recent Super Bowl on TV, you could still listen to the play-by-play commentary on the radio. But radio does more than just

Making Radioactive Lung and Liver Samples for Better Human Health

October 29, 2019

It was 1978, and the United States was embroiled in a Cold War. Nuclear weapons were being produced and numerous countries were carrying out atmospheric nuclear

The Vara: A Standard of Length With a Not-So-Standard History

October 11, 2019

By the 1850s, the United States had annexed nearly all of what are now its southwestern states from Mexico, and with the region, its peoples. Though the U.S

NIST Radio Station WWV Celebrates a Century of Service

October 1, 2019

What technological application has had musical, timekeeping, navigational, scientific, traffic-control, emergency-response, and telephone applications? Answer

The Curiously Colorful Wall of NIST's Radiation Physics Building

July 9, 2019

In what is currently a large construction zone in the center of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Gaithersburg, Maryland, campus, the

The 'Gang of Five' and the SI Revolution

May 20, 2019

Although I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, I was never a gang member there. My gang membership came much later and in an entirely unexpected way. No, more

Unidentified Museum Objects V

May 14, 2019

In celebration of National Inventors Month 2019 (yes, it’s a thing) we’re highlighting some curious inventions currently cooling their heels in the NIST museum

Chasing Paper: Adventures in Fiber Analysis

March 19, 2019

Growing up in New Orleans, Louisiana, I had no scientific aspirations as a child. I do remember being entertained by science, relishing public television

For All Times, For All Peoples: How Replacing the Kilogram Empowers Industry

November 27, 2018

Two unusual things happened on Nov. 16, 2018. Fifty-four nations from every continent (except Antarctica) agreed on something, and metrology, the science of

Rescuing Our History from the Ashes

November 6, 2018

What strikes terror in the hearts of museum curators everywhere? Budget cuts, surely. But worse yet, the prospect of precious, irreplaceable relics being

Created March 1, 2021