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NIST History

History Blogs

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mystery objects at NIST museum

Unidentified Museum Objects, Vol. I

Right now, the NIST museum in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is displaying a glass globe the size of a large beach ball. When visitors first come upon it, they’re not
Lily Chen at her whiteboard

Deciphering: The Thrill of a Lifetime

When I went to graduate school to pursue my master’s degree 35 years ago, I couldn’t have predicted where my study of mathematics would end up taking me. I
Grote Reber's Sterling, Virginia, radio telescope installation

Grote Reber, Radio Astronomer

Dulles International Airport, in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., sits on land once owned by NIST. It was on this spot that NIST brought
Steel casement containing Curie's last radium standard

Saving Marie Curie’s Last Radium Standard

Marie Curie is perhaps the most famous woman of 20th-century science. Major motion pictures and best-selling biographies have chronicled her discovery of the
Black and white photo of Amelia Earhart standing in front of her plane

An Amelia Earhart Mystery at NIST

Amelia Earhart continues to make headlines, mainly because of her mysterious disappearance. The famed aviatrix vanished on July 2, 1937, during her attempt to
John Cahn standing by blackboard smiling

My Memories of John Cahn

This article was written in response to the March 14, 2016, death of John Cahn, one of the world’s foremost materials scientists, who worked at NIST from 1977
Created March 1, 2021