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From NBS to NIST

Over the past century, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has had several different names. Founded as the National Bureau of Standards in 1901, it was renamed Bureau of Standards in 1903. In 1934, the word "national" was affixed again to its name. For more than 50 years it remained the National Bureau of Standards, or NBS. It became the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST, in 1988. To eliminate confusion, the name National Institute of Standards and Technology is used throughout this web site.

During its first 100 years, NIST was led by the following directors:

bulletSamuel W. Stratton, 1901-1922
bulletGeorge K. Burgess, 1923-1932
bulletLyman J. Briggs, 1932-1945
bulletEdward U. Condon, 1945-1951
bulletAllen V. Astin, 1951-1969
bulletLewis M. Branscomb, 1969-1972
bulletRichard W. Roberts, 1973-1975
bulletErnest Ambler, 1975-1989
bulletJohn W. Lyons, 1990-1993
bulletArati Prabhakar, 1993-1997
bulletRay Kammer, 1997-2000
bulletKaren Brown (Acting Director), 2000-2001
bulletArden L. Bement, Jr., 2001-2004
bullet Hratch Semerjian (Acting Director), 2004-2005
bullet William A. Jeffrey, 2005-2007
bullet James M. Turner (Deputy Director), 2007-Present

 

 

Date created: 11/1/2000
Last updated: 06/05/08
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov

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