Setting the Standard

Facade of the NIST Library. Photo credit:  NIST

For the uninitiated, a tour of NIST - the National Institute of Standards and Technology -  might sound like a dull prospect. However, I am happy to declare from experience that despite the dry-sounding name, nothing could be further from the truth. NIST is an absolutely fascinating place, and it was truly an honor to tour the library and some of the labs with a few other members of the American Institute of Physics staff in early June.

So what is NIST? A better question might be: what isn’t NIST? Founded in 1901 as the National Bureau of Standards (the name changed to National Institute of Standards and Technology in 1988), its task from the government was to provide standard weights and measures for the United States and to serve as our national physical laboratory. Part of the impetus in NIST’s creation was to increase the industrial competitiveness of the United States in comparison to our European economic rivals at the time, and it is now part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Though standards are at the core of what NIST does, the areas that NIST covers are vast. I could not hope to give even a taste of what NIST does without writing a hefty book, but here are some topics of research represented in a Word Cloud, gathered from NIST’s website:

With all of these areas of research, more than one building is necessary, and indeed some of NIST’s buildings are very special indeed. Here are some of the buildings, people, and sights we encountered at NIST’s main campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Human liver and human lung. Photo credit: Corinne Mona

First stop: Standard human lung and human liver examples are on display in the Building 101 lobby. These are known as Reference Materials; NIST has over 1200 Reference Materials. I can tell you that they are important for medical science, but to better understand Standard Reference Materials, why they are made, and how they are used, check out Tom Scott’s YouTube video: The US government will sell you freeze-dried urine.

Cigarette Ignition Strength Standard, Titanium Dioxide, Oyster Tissue, and Domestic Sludge. Photo credit: Corinne Mona

More Reference Materials: Standard domestic sludge on the far right, with standard oyster tissue next to it, were also spotted in the display cases of the lobby. Domestic sludge is matter from a wastewater treatment process that has been dried, ground, and homogenized into a powder. It’s used for identifying toxic elements within the sludge, which you could then compare to your own wastewater sludge. If you’d like an even more in-depth explanation of Reference Materials, here is a YouTube video from science educator Veritaserum: The world depends on a collection of strange items. They're not cheap.

The entrance to the NIST Museum and Research Library, which holds books and archival records, as well as museum items and a makerspace for NIST scientists. Photo credit: Leon Geršković

Being a librarian myself, I have to admit that I was enthralled by the library, archives, and museum, which was our next stop. In addition to preserving and making accessible NIST’s history, the NIST Research Library and Museum supports NIST’s information needs with access to print and electronic resources, data, and publishing support.

For an insider’s view of how research at archives can reveal a new historical perspective, check out NIST’s documentary video: Detective X: (Re) Discovering Wilmer Souder.

Wilmer Souder [was] a scientist who worked at the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) from 1911 to 1954. Souder was an early expert in the field of forensic science. His careful analysis of evidence and his expert testimony sent to prison countless murderers, bootleggers, gangsters, and thieves. The most famous case he worked on was the Lindbergh kidnapping case, and this video reveals that his involvement, in that case, was much greater than previously known. (synopsis from the description)

Let's see what else was in the library and museum!

Saccharimeter at NIST. Photo credit: Corinne Mona

Within the museum, I encountered the saccharimeter. As the holder of a major sweet tooth, I especially appreciated this instrument, which was developed in 1907 for better testing of sugar content in commercial products.

Left: Gutenberg. Right: Gutenberg and Corinne Mona.

In the archives stacks below the library, I had a jump-scare encounter with NIST's life-sized model of Johannes Gutenberg, of Gutenberg Bible and moveable type printing press fame. The model was used in a former museum display; now, he wears a safety vest and is used as a prop for events.

And for scaring visiting librarians, apparently! Well, I had to get a selfie anyway.

Old software on display in the National Software Reference Library, including Barbie Video Girl, Microsoft Windows, Flight Simulator, Sim City, among others. Photo credit: Corinne Mona

Recognize some of these?

After we left the library and museum area, we headed to another building to encounter the National Software Reference Library. We got to see the area where they keep many old software programs for reference in criminal investigations. They also collect new programs, which are mostly digital. The NSRL was created in part to aid law enforcement agencies with cybercrime by maintaining a database of hash software profiles that can be used by investigators to determine the make up of files on seized computers and identify known software, which helps determine whether certain files might be important as evidence.

Scientist Darine El Haddad explains the NIST-4 Kibble Balance to AIP tour guests, and tour guide Leon Geršković stands in the background. Photo credit: Trevor Owens

How do you measure something as accurately as physically possible? With equipment so sensitive that it needs to be built underground!

The next building on our tour took us by surprise. As we were walking between buildings, one of our tour guides, Riley Wilson, pointed out that the field next to us was not in fact a field, but a special underground building that NIST designed to minimize interference of noise and vibrations from the nearby highway. We later visited this building and learned about the NIST-4 Kibble Balance, which is an instrument to very precisely measure mass. It’s a pretty amazing machine. It was used to redefine the definition of the kilogram in 2019 and is so precise that you have to take into account the difference in gravity from one side of the room to the other! Its level of precision also means that anyone in the same room as the Balance must wear hairnets and shoe covers in order to minimize the risk of hairs and dust, which could affect its measurements.

LEGO model of the NIST-4 Kibble Balance. Photo Credit: Karina Cooper

Here's something you might not expect to see in a lab: LEGOs! To aid with outreach efforts for the Balance, NIST created a working LEGO model of the Kibble Balance complete with a computer program that allows you to measure mass down to 1% uncertainty. Yes, you can build it at home! You can find the link to the instructions here. For more information about the Kibble Balance and how it was used to redefine the kilogram, see this info page from NIST.

Josh Pomeroy, center, holding a silicon chip. AIP tour guest Susan White stands on the left. Photo credit: Trevor Owens

Next, we got to see a lab run by scientist Josh Pomeroy. In this lab, he and other researchers are creating semiconductor chips with the goal of testing their properties. For more about his work, see his NIST page.

NIST hosts some of AIP’s Society of Physics Students interns every year. We met SPS intern Brynn Schierenbeck during the tour, as she was part of Josh Pomeroy’s lab this summer. She got to work with soldering cryoelectronics: electronics that work at very low temperatures, with applications for electronics sent into space. Pretty cool! Here is her final presentation from the internship on YouTube.

Your average house, though you couldn't describe it as ordinary: the Net Zero House. Photo credit: NIST

Confession: we didn’t actually see this, but it’s too fascinating to not share. On the NIST campus, you can find this single-family two story house complete with a kitchen, living room, and bedrooms that simulates a four person family, known as the the Net-Zero Energy Residential Test Facility, or the Net Zero House for short. Though it looks and functions like a house, no one lives there. Described as both a laboratory and a house on NIST’s website, “It was designed and built to be approximately 60 percent more energy efficient than homes built to meet the requirements of the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code,” which it more than exceeded during its first year of operation. Tour guide Leon Geršković told us that it has also been used for indoor air quality research - very important in the era of COVID.

Members of AIP’s Research Team, including librarians, archivists, historians, and statisticians, pose in front of Newton’s apple tree at NIST. L-R: Corinne Mona, Will Thomas, Karina Cooper, Trevor Owens, Jon Phillips, Patrick Mulvey, Melanie Mueller, and Susan White. Credit: Trevor Owens

Finally, I have to include this image of the AIP gang by the offspring of Newton’s apple tree outside the library at NIST. Who knew those are still around!

Stay tuned for Part Two: An interview with one of our tour guides, Leon Geršković, Director of Video and Digital Media Production at NIST, on his film about a dramatic happening in NIST’s history.