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Gas lasers
are among the inventions influenced by NIST research on spectroscopy,
a technique for identifying and characterizing substances based
on the characteristics of the emitted light, which depend on the
energy levels of the atoms. Laser pioneers used Atomic Energy Levels,
three volumes published by NIST between 1949 and 1958, which are
still considered models of authenticated,
verified, consistent spectroscopic data.
From astrophysics
to medicine, many fields of science benefit from research using
synchrotrons— large, donut-shaped facilities that produce a
unique type of radiation. The first regular experiments using
synchrotron light were carried out in 1961 at NIST. Today, NIST’s
synchrotron facility supports work by space scientists and the microelectronics
industry.
If stranded
on a desert island, at least one prominent scientist wants to have
with him NIST’s Handbook of Mathematical Functions,
first published in 1964 and reprinted many times by government and
commercial publishers. So influential that it was cited every 1½
hours of each working day during the mid-1990s, the Handbook is
currently being updated in digital format.
One of the
space program’s longest-running experiments—laser
reflectors left on the lunar surface by astronauts on three Apollo
missions—was suggested and initially designed by a scientist
at JILA, a Boulder, Colo., research institute jointly operated by
NIST and the University of Colorado. The experiment defined the
distance between the Earth and moon to better than 2.5 cm (1 inch).
NIST’s
measurement expertise has a far-reaching impact on science. For
instance, NIST’s world-record measurement of the frequency
of laser light in 1972 led to a much more accurate value for
the speed of light, thus enabling scientists to better understand
the behavior of the universe. The new value for the speed of light
then led to a more stable definition of the meter.
A Nobel Prize
and a new state of matter are among the outcomes of NIST research
to develop and apply methods of cooling and trapping atoms with
laser light. NIST physicist William D. Phillips won the Nobel prize
in physics in 1997, and scientists at NIST and the University of
Colorado created the Bose-Einstein condensate, a new state of matter,
in 1995.
NIST research
on materials has many practical applications, such as a new explanation
for the sinking of the ocean liner Titanic in 1912. A NIST metallurgist’s
microscopic analysis of 48 wrought iron rivets recovered from the
ship’s hull have revealed flaws that made the rivets prone
to premature failure. The collision with the iceberg may have caused
the rivet heads to break off.
The forerunner
of the scanning tunneling microscope, a Nobel Prize-winning invention
used today in fields ranging from molecular biology to nanotechnology,
was developed by a NIST physicist in 1971. The Topografiner was
a novel microscope that surveyed surfaces in great detail,
nearly to the level of individual atoms. It is a highlight of many
NIST advances in surface science.
More than four
decades of scientific achievements—from his elegant theories
of how materials
transform from one phase to another, to contributions to the discovery
of quasicrystals—distinguish the work of NIST materials
scientist John W. Cahn, who won the 1998 National Medal of Science,
the nation’s highest scientific honor. Cahn was recognized
for his contributions to the fields of materials science, solid-state
physics, chemistry, and mathematics.
Date created:
2/9/01
Last updated: 2/9/01
Contact: inquiries@nist,gov
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