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Physical Measurement Laboratory

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Unit Pricing Changes to Benefit Customers and Retailers are Among the Issues at July Weights and Measures Conference

June 3, 1997

Proposed improvements in the standard that retailers must follow when they voluntarily offer unit pricing information for making value comparisons (between...

Another Leap Second is at Hand

May 27, 1997

Though your summer this year may seem all too short, it will actually be the longest one since 1994. There will be exactly one extra second, a little bonus...

NIST Fellow William D. Phillips Elected to National Academy of Science

May 13, 1997

William D. Phillips, a leading researcher in laser cooling of atoms at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, was elected to the National Academy...

New Technique Helps Scientists Chemically Image Biological and Synthetic Materials

May 5, 1997

Scientists have long relied on infrared spectroscopy as an analytical tool to identify the chemical components of an unknown sample. Likewise, they have used a...

Cornell Wins NSF Award

April 21, 1997

The National Science Foundation has announced that Eric A. Cornell, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, is the 1997 winner of the...

To Make a Fine Point, New NIST Instrument Analyzes Microscope Tips

March 18, 1997

A new research facility at the National Institute of Standards and Technology accepts tips six at a time, in fact. But the tips are not of the monetary variety...

Synthetic Auto Exhaust Helps Car Makers Go With The Flow

December 3, 1996

Why would an environmentally concerned federal agency synthesize auto exhaust? Scientists at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and...

New Breakthrough Cryogenic X-ray Microcalorimeter Improves Microanalysis Tenfold

December 3, 1996

The Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology has developed a revolutionary new X-ray micro- calorimeter that offers tremendous...

Accuracy of High-Altitude Sensing Instruments Gets Lift with New NIST Facility

July 23, 1996

A new calibration facility at the National Institute of Standards and Technology will boost the accuracy of remote sensing instruments used in global warming...

Physicists Mark One Year Anniversary of New Matter in CU-Boulder Lab

July 3, 1996

In the year since physicists at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced the creation of a...

Upgrade To Improve Time Signal's Coverage

July 2, 1996

The Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology has announced plans to upgrade its radio station WWVB, which broadcasts standard time...

Schroedinger's Cat in an Atomic Cage

May 23, 1996

They say, "You can't have your cake and eat it, too." They say, "You can't be in two places at one time." "They" may be wrong, however, since scientists...

Engine Fuels Law to be Changed to Protect Consumers from False Claims

April 19, 1996

Weights and measures officials in the National Conference on Weights and Measures are expected to adopt revisions to the Uniform Engine Fuels, Petroleum...

New NIST Facility Will Improve Accuracy of Radiation Measurements in Mammography

February 20, 1996

Women undergoing mammography exams at accredited U.S. facilities soon will have much improved assurance of receiving proper X-ray exposures thanks to a new...

Physicists Get Hot New Results With Cold Atoms

February 12, 1996

Using some of the coldest atoms in the universe, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have been able to observe exotic phenomena...

New Year to Arrive Late Again This Year: Leap Second to be Added on Dec. 31

December 13, 1995

As it has many times before, the new year will get off to a late start when it is delayed for exactly one second to allow the world's atomic clocks to be...

More Accurate Pricing 'In Store' For Consumers

October 30, 1995

The combined work of government and the private sector has resulted in a new examination procedure for price verification in the nation's marketplace, an effort...

First Database for Atomic Spectroscopy Available from NIST

October 6, 1995

A computerized database for atomic spectroscopy will give physicists, chemists, astronomers, geologists and industry researchers easy access to the most...

New Microlithography Method May Shrink Computer Chips Yet Again

August 31, 1995

A new form of microlithography that uses neutral atoms instead of light to write patterns on silicon has been demonstrated at the Commerce Department's National...

Images Reveal Tiny Flaws in Films for Solar Panels and Large Flat-Panel Displays

July 27, 1995

Using a specially constructed instrument system, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado at Boulder...

Physicists Create New State of Matter at Record Low Temperature

July 13, 1995

Physicists in Boulder, Colo., have achieved a temperature far lower than has ever been produced before and created an entirely new state of matter predicted...

IBM and NIST Launch Cooperative Effort to Develop Applications for Advanced Physics Research

March 15, 1995

SOMERS, N.Y.—IBM and the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Physics Laboratory today announced a three-year cooperative research and development...

Comparison Of UV Measurements Will Improve Forecasts

November 14, 1994

A recently completed Commerce Department field test will help environmental scientists worldwide more accurately measure ground-level changes in damaging...

Boeing Takes Measure Of NIST Quick-Test Method

September 29, 1994

Inspection and process-control improvements achievable with a testing tool developed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology recently prompted the...

NIST Physicists Measure Coldest Temperature Ever

August 15, 1994

GAITHERSBURG, Md.—If it's too hot outside, a visit to the National Institute of Standards and Technology might provide some relief. Physicists here recently...

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