NIST Mechanisms for Disseminating Measurements

Published

January 1, 2001

Author(s)

T E. Gills, S Dittmann, Georgia L. Harris, C S. Brickenkamp, J R. Rumble, N M. Trahey

Abstract

The National Bureau of Standards, predecessor of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, began providing the Nation with measurement artifacts and instruments in 1901 when the Office of Weights and Measures became part of the fledgling institution. A Congressional mandate led the Bureau to begin providing special types of tests designed specifically to help U.S. industries achieve measurement uniformity. Today, NIST calibrations are leveraged thousands of times over for everything from watt-hour meters to radiation dosimeters. The first physical artifacts, NBS standard samples, were issued in 1906 for limestone and cast iron. Less than 100 years later, there are more than 1300 NIST Standard Reference Materials for composition properties and processes. The Bureau recognized early that technical data were essential components of the quest for scientific knowledge and in the 1920s led the world-wide effort to produce the first complete critically evaluated data ever compiled, thus assuring that reliable reference data would always be available to the Nation's scientific and technical communities. Today, the national responsibilities assigned to NBS early in the last century are still faithfully carried out by the four programs that comprise the NIST Office of Measurement Services.

Citation

Journal of Research (NIST JRES) -

Volume

106 No. 1

NIST Pub Series

Journal of Research (NIST JRES)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Keywords

calibrations, certified reference materials, commerce and trade, critically evaluated data, legal metrology, measurement systems, SRM, standard reference data, traceability

Citation

Gills, T. , Dittmann, S. , Harris, G. , Brickenkamp, C. , Rumble, J. and Trahey, N. (2001), NIST Mechanisms for Disseminating Measurements, Journal of Research (NIST JRES), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD (Accessed April 20, 2024)