An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
What are these microscopic zebra-striped squares, and why did scientists painstakingly arrange more than 6 million of them on a silicon plate just half a
For 40 years, people have used space-based sensors to measure the amount of light coming from the Sun, which gives scientists insight into climate change on
Defective computer chips are the bane of the semiconductor industry. Even a seemingly minor flaw in a chip packed with billions of electrical connections might
Each year, hundreds of meteorites — rocky bodies left over from the formation of the solar system — bombard Earth, delivering minerals, metals and water to our
To reach this point, NIST postdoctoral researcher Maria Munoz journeyed across borders and seas. Take a trip with us as we trace her career path from elementary
Trapped in a microscopic cage made of strands of DNA, molecules of a life-saving drug course through the bloodstream of a cancer patient. Only when receptors on
A team of researchers at JILA has for the first time successfully combined two of the “spookiest” features of quantum mechanics to make a better quantum sensor.
Lights, camera, action! The vision to expand training capabilities within the Office of Weights and Measures (OWM) IACET accredited Training Program has become
In partnership with the NIST research library, the Office of Weights and Measures (OWM) has launched a new NIST Special Publication Series, SP 2200: Legal
This article was originally published in March 2005 and has been revamped and re-published here. As weights and measures jurisdictions grapple with finding the
Photonic thermometers – which measure temperature using light – have been around in optical fiber form for decades. These devices, called fiber Bragg gratings
Toni Litorja is a staff research chemist in the Sensor Science Division of the Physical Measurement Laboratory at NIST. She began her career at NIST in 1999 as
Now that we are attending meetings in-person again, this presents an opportunity for OWM staff to provide some of our training directly to our stakeholders
The Laboratory Metrology Program is wrapping up this year’s Regional Measurement Assurance Program (RMAP) training for the State Weights and Measures Laboratory
Mike joins OWM with a wealth of standards development experience and expertise in metrology he has gained during a NIST career that began in 2010. Initially a
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but for astronomers, simply recording images of stars and galaxies isn’t enough. To measure the true size and absolute
As mechanical objects, gears have been around for so long that people may take them for granted. But gears are sophisticated parts that play a vital role in
Cutting intricate patterns as small as several billionths of a meter deep and wide, the focused ion beam (FIB) is an essential tool for deconstructing and
Space-time ripples, exploding stars, colliding black holes …. and the National Institute of Standards and Technology? NIST doesn’t exactly come to mind when