NIST mechanisms for disseminating measurements

The national responsibilities assigned to the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) early in the last century for providing measurement assistance and se rvice are carried out today by the four programs that comprise the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Office of Measurement Service s (OMS). They are the Calibration Program (CP), the Standard Reference Mate rials Program (SRMP), the Standard Reference Data Program (SRDP), and the W eights and Measures Program (W&MP). Organized when the U.S. Congress change d the NBS name to NIST, the OMS facilitates access to the measurement and s tandards activities of NIST laboratories and programs through the dissemina tion of NIST products, data, and services. A brief historical introduction followed by a perspective of pivotal measurement developments from 1901 to the present and concluding with a look to the future of NIST measurement se rvices in the next decade of the new millennium are presented for each OMS program.