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NIST Research Library

News and Updates

Displaying 1 - 25 of 29
McKee-Beshers

Field of Dreams

A field off River Road, about 10 miles from NIST Gaithersburg campus, once held the world’s largest radio telescope and was the site of the discovery of
The images in the Camera for Photographing Eclipse Photographic Collection are in the public domain and are not subject to copyright in the United States. However, please pay special attention to the individual works to make sure there are no copyright re

Solar Eclipse 1936

NIST physicist Irvine C. Gardner designed a 4-meter long eclipse camera with a 23-centimeter astrographic lens to study a total solar eclipse in 1936. The data
Black and white photo of NIST’s first librarian, Dr. Aristide Fanti

QA to QC Thanks to Dr. Fanti

If you have ever discovered a useful library book in the QA to QC shelf number range (Mathematics, Astronomy, and Physics), you have NIST’s Aristide Fanti to
Merritt Birky in white shirt and tie leaning over and measuring laser rod distortion

Cool It, Hot Rod: Improving Early Lasers

In the first decade after the invention of the laser one challenge to improving laser quality was the distortion of a laser’s rod due to absorption of heat
Ralph Orwick bending over a tungsten electrode welder

Welding for Ultrahigh Vacuum

April is National Welding Month, a time dedicated to highlighting accomplishments in this important field. At NIST in the 1960s, Ralph Orwick of the NIST
NIST physicists Irwin Priest and Chauncey Peters, 1918

NIST Neutral as Butter War Spreads

In 1917, NIST physicists Irwin Priest and Chauncey Peters were drawn into the so-called Butter War, an early 20 th century commercial and political spat between
An image of Ernest Kent from NIST’s Industrial Systems Division is analyzed by the Pipelined Image Processing Engine (PIPE) in 1986.

Computer Vision 1986

An image of Ernest Kent from NIST’s Industrial Systems Division is analyzed by the Pipelined Image Processing Engine (PIPE) in 1986. PIPE was an image
Harry Keegan seated at mechanical calculator CIE color coordinates of standard sources, 1958

Calculating Color

Harry Keegan of NIST’s Photometry & Colorimetry Division using a mechanical calculator in 1958 to compute color coordinates for standard sources.
A 300,000-volt simulated lightning bolt produced in NIST’s high-voltage measurement laboratory in 1984.

Lightning in the Lab

A 300,000-volt simulated lightning bolt produced in NIST’s high-voltage measurement laboratory in 1984. NIST helped utilities and manufacturers determine what
Testing Stucco Panels at NIST

NIST Tests Home Construction

A giant Rubik’s Cube? An early modernist-style building? We weren’t sure what to make of this photo taken on the NIST campus in 1911. Turns out it was a two
NIST Postcards

Print Your Own NIST Postcards

Twelve postcards showcasing NIST historic photos are now available to download from the NIST Digital Archives. The postcards are in six PDF files. Each file
Vault Test 1920

NIST and the Federal Reserve Bank

In 1920 NIST built, then promptly destroyed, a series of reinforced concrete vaults for the Federal Reserve Board. The goal was to determine the thickness of
Railway Test Car

NIST at the World's Fair

The World’s Fair exhibitions are some of the most famous events in modern history, from the Exposition Universelle of 1889, whose front gate was the temporary
Stove

Hey, My Grandma Still Uses That Stove!

Under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975, the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) conducted household appliance efficiency testing to assist the