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NIST History

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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
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
Created March 1, 2021, Updated May 28, 2026
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