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| Name | Tenure at NBS/NIST | Background/Comments |
| Samuel W. Stratton | 1901-1922 | First Director of NBS. |
| George K. Burgess | 1923-1932 | Selected from NBS staff. |
| Lyman J. Briggs | 1932-1945 | Lent to NBS from Department of Agriculture. Selected while on staff at NBS. |
| Edward U. Condon | 1945-1951 | Selected as NBS Director from Westinghouse. |
| Allen V. Astin | 1951-1969 | Selected from NBS Staff. |
| Lewis M. Branscomb | 1969-1972 | Selected from NBS Staff. |
| Richard W. Roberts | 1973-1975 | Selected as NBS Director from General Electric. |
| Ernest Ambler | 1975-1989 | Selected from NBS staff. Presided over change from NBS to NIST in 1988. |
| John W. Lyons | 1990-1993 | Selected from NIST staff. |
| Arati Prabhakar | 1993-1997 | Selected as NIST director from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. First woman to become director. |
| Raymond G. Kammer | 1997-2000 | Selected from NIST staff. First non-scientist or engineer to become director. |
| Karen Brown (acting director) | 2000-2001 | NIST Deputy Director. Served as acting director following Kammer's retirement. |
| Arden L. Bement Jr. | 2001-2004 | Selected from professorship at Purdue University. Served as head of two NIST advisory committees and on Board of Overseers for Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. |
| Hratch Semerjian (acting director) | 2004-2005 |
NIST Deputy Director. Served as acting director following Bement's appointment as Director of the National Science Foundation. |
| William A. Jeffrey | July 2005-Aug. 2007 | Selected as NIST director from the Office of Science and Technology Policy within the Executive Office of the President. |
| James M. Turner (acting director and deputy director) |
September 2007-Present | NIST Deputy Director. Serving as acting director following Jeffrey's departure to take position at the Institute for Defense Analyses. |
Last updated:
06/05/08
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov