EIio Passaglia 

NIST 

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In stitution 

The National Bureau 

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1950—1969 

Elio Passaglia 

with Karma A. Beal 

OF 

U.S. Department of Commerce 

William M. Daley, Secretary 

Technology Administration 

Gary R. Bachula, Acting Under Secretary for Technology 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Raymond G. Kammer, Director 
Cover design by Adele Passaglia Robey. 

End papers for hard-bound version: 

Front end paper—National Prototype Meter No. 27. 

Back end paper—orange-red spectral line of krypton 86, 

which replaced the meter bar as the International Standard 

of Length in 1960. 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 

DC 20402—9325 
FOREWORD 

The New York Times, in a front-page article in its September 17, 1997, issue 

declared that".. . Moore's Law, a long-standing axiom of the computer age, is no longer true"; concluding that "Powerful innovation in chip design could speed obsolescence of today's computers." That announcement heralded a new development which 

in effect altered the basic physics of computer chip design and which destroyed the 

basic premise of forecasting the certainty of the rate at which computer chips became 

obsolete. In 1965, as a research engineer at Fairchild Semiconductor, I made the observation that as the result of advancements in electrical engineering, materials science, 

and the evolution of computer chip design, the power of microchips would double 

every 18 months with proportionate cost decreases. That observation became known as Moore's Law; the fact that it has persevered for this time does not reflect on the 

challenges facing our research institutions, as well as the unsung contributions they 

have made to the advancement of science and society. 

The National Institute of Standards and Technology will be celebrating in March, 

2001 the centennial of its founding as the National Bureau of Standards. Through its 

leadership in accurate measurement and its ability to solve a myriad of technical 

problems, NBS/NIST has contributed to the evolution of a number of technological 

developments impacting the lives of all around the world. These have included such 

contributions as the automobile, the airplane, radio and television, computers and their 

functionality, and space flight. 

The first fifty years of the NBS are covered by Rexmond C. Cochrane's Measures 

for Progress, which was published in 1966 by the U.S. Department of Commerce. It is a book well worth reading, for it captures the masterful achievements through which 

NBS expertise permeated the technical advancements of our country during a period of 

revolutionary change in science and technology, in part driven by two world wars. The 

end of this period also coincided with the beginning of a new age, the Information 

Age, heralded by the invention of the transistor in 1947. 

The transistor is the basic unit of information storage on a computer chip. Today we can squeeze 32 million transistors on one microchip. Newly announced versions will 

have the capability of storing 64 million bits of data. The development of the transistor 

moved the computer from the special-purpose, large, climate-controlled rooms to the 

desktop. This computer revolution is best characterized not solely by the growth in 

computing power of the machine, but by the enhancement of the reach of the human 

spirit. Nearly every school child in America and, increasingly so, people in most of the 

other developed countries of the world have finger-tip electronic access to information 

compiled by libraries, governmental agencies, and private institutions and individuals. 

We drive automobiles that incorporate electronic circuits and computers for ignition 

control, and in some cases for braking and security. 

I understand that NIST has an average of two computers for each staff member. 

Many of these are used for conducting experimental research, theoretical modeling and 

simulation, as well as for accessing and manipulating the knowledge bases that are 

111 
needed to develop new knowledge. NIST has remained in the forefront of this new 

revolution, both through imaginative scientific work and by helping to create standards 

for the use and protection of this information exchange. As has been the case throughout its existence, NIST is home to chemists, physicists, metallurgists, mathematicians, 

engineers, and experts in many other technical disciplines. Some see themselves as individuals focusing on the arcane details of their chosen profession, while others 

engage in extensive interdisciplinary activities that cut across a variety of professions. 

They are driven to understand, to measure, and to communicate. They provide objective, precise information to be used by others throughout the fabric of America's 

workplace and home; assembled into teams, they help to make whole industries better 

competitors in the world marketplace. They operate within a world-renowned culture 

of scientific integrity, an integrity which has withstood the test of time and politics. 

This volume, A Unique Institution, records the challenges that have faced NBS/ 

NIST and the opportunities of which it availed itself to maintain a high level of excellence in discharging its mission as a national resource. It is a distinct pleasure and a great honor to commend this history to readers everywhere. 

Gordon E. Moore 

Chairman Emeritus 

Board of INTEL Corporation 

iv 
PREFACE 

Like its predecessor, Measures for Progress, this volume is intended for a variety of 

audiences. They range from the technical specialist with an active interest in the work of 

this institution to those among the more general public with an appreciation for how the 

threads of science, technology and society have intertwined during a critical period in our nation's history. 

It aspires to paint a picture, admittedly incomplete but clearly indicative, of an institution 

rich in tradition, with a wonderful reputation for both "academic" excellence and industrial 

relevance. The time span covered by this volume, 1950-1969, was a period of tremendous 

change for this nation. Those changes are reflected in the variety of assignments made 

to the National Bureau of Standards and the issues that faced NBS during these two 

decades. 

The success of the "Bureau"—as it is still fondly called by many of the agency's staff, 

alumni and friends—presaged and laid the foundation for the expanded role given to the 

agency when Congress changed the institution's name and transformed it into the National 

Institute of Standards and Technology in 1988. In large part, it was NBS' ability to 

creatively tackle new assignments while maintaining both its integrity and its industrial 

relevance which led Congress to establish NIST. 

A considerable amount of space—an entire chapter, in fact—is devoted to the so-called 

AD-X2 battery additive case. That is fitting, because the way in which NBS officials and 

staff handled themselves in the face of extreme outside pressure reflects the nature of the 

institution. This chapter speaks volumes about the importance of technical integrity for 

this agency. More than 40 years later, the AD-X2 example remains as a constant reminder, as a guidepost, for the institution's staff whenever they are faced with difficult situations. 

Maintaining our technical integrity was foremost when it came to the AD-X2, and it 

remains the defining characteristic and core value of NIST today. 

Measurements and standards always have been at the heart of this institution's mission, 

its premier raison d'etre, and this history spotlights key technical accomplishments that 

served to advance our technical infrastructure. It is appropriate that this summary features 

standards developments and issues, as well as the establishment of the National Standard 

Reference Data System. 

During the period covered by this volume, NBS expanded to its Boulder, Colorado, site 

and the agency's major laboratories and headquarters were relocated from their long-time 

home in downtown Washington, D.C. to the expanded, more capable and then-rural 

facilities in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Both moves are chronicled in this history, and they serve as an excellent frame of reference as we are beginning to make urgently needed major 

laboratory upgrades more than 30 years later. The similarities in both technical need and 

management challenges are instructive. 

As the role of technology in the economy and society continues to take on even greater 

importance, the mission and work of this agency is even more crucial today than it was 

earlier in the century. If the old adage is correct, and past is prologue, this volume should 

be required reading for the many individuals who are steering or observing this institution as it reaches its centennial and as we move into the next millennium. For it is, indeed, 

A Unique Institution. 

Raymond G. Kammer 

Director 

National Institute of Standards and Technology V 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Elio Passaglia wrote this book as the story of an institution that steadfastly holds to its 

principles of integrity in all of its endeavors. He introduces each chapter with an overview of what was happening in the United States—and the world—to set the stage 

for the policies and programs of the National Bureau of Standards and for the changes 

that would be made. In the last year of his life, he finished the manuscript and turned 

it over to others to bring to publication. Working with Elio, I learned more about the 

Bureau than I thought possible and I feel privileged to have been a participant in this 

process. It is my hope that I did not inadvertently introduce errors into the text. 

As with the previous history, Measures for Progress, not all the programs and projects 

could be covered, for the multitude of records generated during this nineteen-year 

period was staggering. Elio selected those he considered representative of the work of 

NBS. The annual reports provided a rich source of material as did the many conversations with the present and past scientists and managers that Elio consulted. Footnotes 

abound throughout the text to provide the necessary documentation, and to serve as guides to sources providing fuller explanations of the projects and programs covered, or even to opposing viewpoints. 

It should be noted that, for this history, EIio relied heavily on the language and terminology of the written materials that he was able to research in order to prepare this 

volume. In particular, the cited results are reported in the units current at the time 

when the research was conducted and reported, predating the Guide for the Use of the 

International System of Units (SI) by Barry N. Taylor, which states that "the SI shall 

be used in all NIST publications." Accordingly, units, uncertainties, and symbols do 

not always accord with modern practice and current NIST requirements. 

The writing of this history was aided and encouraged by many. Patricia W. Berger, 

David E. Edgerly, and Mary-Deirdre Coraggio guided the project from its inception to 

publication. The NIST community provided the necessary records and other available 

information, spent time explaining the finer points on what was given, and then 

critiqued the drafts. Past and present NBS/NIST staff who were particularly helpful 

include Karl E. Bell, John A. Bennett, Stanley Block, Lewis M. Branscomb, B. 

Stephen Carpenter, Russell C. Casella, Randall S. Caswell, E. Carroll Creitz, Mary E. 

DeWeese, Kenneth M. Evenson, James E. Faller, Everett G. Fuller, Thomas A. Gary, 

Jon Geist, Walter J. Hamer, Raymond W. Hayward, Joseph Hilsenrath, Robert D. 

Huntoon, James L. Jespersen, Freddy A. Khoury, H. William Koch, Chris E. Kuyatt, 

Stephen R. Leone (JILA/University of Colorado), Alvin C. Lewis, David R. Lide, John 

W. Lyons, Robert P. Madden, William C. Martin, Arthur 0. McCoubrey, Harry I. 

McHenry, John D. McKinley, Raymond D. Mountain, Gasper J. Piermarini, Robert C. 

Raybold, Joan R. Rosenblatt, J. Michael Rowe, Alvin H. Sher, Jack E. Snell, Wilbert 

F. Snyder, Joan M. Stanley, Bruce W. Steiner, Robert D. Stiehler, Robert L. Stern, 

Donald B. Sullivan, Lauriston S. Taylor, Robb M. Thomson, Robert S. Walleigh, 

Sheldon M. Wiederhorn, Richard N. Wright, and Simone L. Yaniv. They answered a host of questions, read many pages of text, and offered suggestions often with only a moment's notice. Suzanne C. Evans, Frederick J. Gera, Janet B. Miller, and 

vii 
Gregory C. Tassey checked budget numbers, tables, and graphs, and for their assistance I am truly grateful. Walter Leight, nitpicker extraordinaire, read the entire 

manuscript and offered his comments. To the many others that EIio consulted and 

whose names were not found in the project files, you may be unknown but your contributions to this project were just as important as the others. 

Joseph H. Condon was most helpful in reviewing and offering suggestions on the sec- tion about his father, Edward U. Condon. Shirley Cochrane, Elio's non-scientific writing colleague outside of the Bureau, provided stylistic review. 

A faithful History Resource Committee was part of the backbone of the writing process. I am deeply indebted to all of the members: Ernest Ambler, Elmer H. 

Eisenhower, Daniel Gross, John D. Hoffman, Emanuel Horowitz, Ralph P. Hudson, 

Robert A. Kamper, Lawrence M. Kushner, Hans Oser, H. Steffen Peiser, Jacob 

Rabinow, Shirley M. Radack, Robert Schaffer, James F. Schooley, Johanna Levelt 

Sengers, John A. Simpson, W. Reeves Tilley, and John B. Wachtman, Jr. They read 

and reread drafts, and also met regularly to discuss what was written or omitted. 

Unfortunately, William C. Cullen, Churchill Eisenhart, Karl G. Kessler, and Howard E. 

Sorrows, original members of the committee, did not live to see the publication of the 

book they helped to bring into existence. Their presence is missed by all. The committee's job is not yet finished as it continues as a group through the writing of the next 

volume of history. 

The Office of Information Services provided the glue to hold the editorial process together. Paul Vassallo gave his managerial support at critical junctures to keep the 

project moving. Diane Cunningham, Susan Makar, and Marietta Nelson ferreted out 

names, titles, dates, and elusive tidbits of infonnation needed to complete citations and 

reveal previously undetected errors. Gail Hixenbaugh, Donald Harris, and Julian Ives 

edited the manuscript at its various stages. Very special thanks go to Lisa Greenhouse 

and Ilse Putman. Lisa selected the photographs, edited early drafts of chapters four and 

five, and searched for information to resolve a great many unanswered questions that 

always seemed to pop out of nowhere. ilse produced the typeset copy, always with 

patience for the inevitable changes made in the manuscript. The pursuit of excellence as reflected by all those who participated from the initial conception of the idea to the 

published text is shown in the final product. 

The cover was given as a labor of love by Elio's daughter, Adele Passaglia Robey. 

She immediately accepted the invitation to design the cover around the NIST Newton 

apple tree. Adele was involved with "the book" from its inception. She followed her 

father's writing, read parts of it, and as an "educated layman" offered her thoughts. 

The tree on the cover is a symbol of what NBS/NIST is all about: the living traditions 

and frontiers of science. This history is a reflection of that tradition and those frontiers. 

KARMA A. BEAL 

Gaithersburg, MD 

July 1999 

vi" 
CONTENTS 

Page 

FOREWORD iii 

PREFACE v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii 

CHAPTER ONE: 

THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS AT MID-CENTURY 1 A NERVOUS NATION 1 THE STATE OF SCIENCE 6 

A UNIQUE INSTITUTION 14 

THE NATURE AND CHARACTER OF THE BUREAU 19. 

THE TECHNICAL WORK 34 

Length and Light: Natural Standards v. Artifacts 37 

Applied Mathematics and Computers 40 

The Isotope Effect in Superconductivity 44 

The Charters of Freedom 47 

Standards and Fundamental Constants 54 

The Bureau and X Rays: High Energies Come to the Bureau 56 

LWE AT ThE BUREAU 62 

CHAPTER TWO: 

TESTING CAN BE TROUBLESOME 71 

POLICIES ON COMMODiTY TESTING AND PUBLICATIONS 72 

THE AQUELLA INCIDENT S 74 

THE BATFERY ADDITIVE INCIDENT 79 

BATTERIES AND BATTERY ADDITIVES 80 

A SHORT TECHNICAL NOTE 84 

THE INCiDENT BEGINS 87 

THE INCIDENT DEVELOPS 89 

THE NATIONAL BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU 92 

THE MILITARY TESTS 93 

THE BUREAU TESTS AD-X2 AND THE PACE QUICKENS 94 

THE BUREAU GOES PUBLIC ON AD-X2 95 

RITCHIE GOES POLITICAL 101 

THE POST OFFICE ENTERS THE FRAY, AND THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

TAKES ANOThER LOOK 102 

THE SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS GETS INVOLVED 104 

ix 
Page 

CHAPTER TWO: (Continued) 

FINALLY A PUBLIC TEST 105 

MIT CONDUCTS TESTS Wrn-j SEEMINGLY STARTLING RESULTS 107 

THE Posi OFFICE DEPARTMENT TAKES ACTIoN 110 

THE BEGINNING OF THE RESOLUTION 111 

ASTIN IS FIRED AND WEEKS LEARNS THE WAYS OF WASHINGTON 114 

THE VISITING COMMITrEE 119 

THE SENATE HEARINGS 121 

THE INCIDENT WINDS DOWN 127 

THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT AND ThE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 128 

THE BUREAU 129 

THE COMMITrEES REPORT 130 

CONCLUSIONS 133 

CHAPTER THREE: 

DIVESTITURE AND REAFFIRMATION, 1950-1957 137 

A PLACID NATION 137 

SCIENCE GROWS EXPLOSIVELY 143 

DIVESTITURE AND REAFFIRMATION 148 

A NEW ORGANIC ACT 149 

LOYALTY, SECURITY, AND THE RESIGNATION OF A DIRECTOR 154 

ALLEN VARLEY ASTIN 171 

FULLFILLING A REPORT 173 

THE ACQUISITION OF THE BOULDER SITE, AND A NEW PROGRAM IN CRYOGENIC 

ENGINEERING 182 

POSTDOCS COME TO ThE BUREAU 188 

AN INSTRUMENTATION PROGRAM 191 

THE TECHNICAL WORK 193 

ELECTRICITY; OPTICS AND METROLOGY 193 

Project Tinkertoy 200 

HEAT AND POWER 203 

The Parity Experiment 207 

ATOMIC AND RADIATION PHYSICS 213 

CHEMISTRY 218 

MECHANICS 226 

x 
Page 

CHAPTER THREE: (Continued) 

MATERIALS RESEARCH 231 

Organic and Fibrous Materials 232 

Metallurgy 238 

Ship Failures 240 

Mineral Products 246 

BUILDING TECHNOLOGY 253 

APPLIED MAThEMATICS AND COMPUTERS 261 

CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY 269 

The Speed of Light 278 

TESTING 282 

SUMMARY 285 

CHAPTER FOUR: 

REORIENTATION AND RECONSTITUTION, 1958-1964 287 

THE BEGINNING OF A TIME OF TURMOIL 287 

Foreign Affairs 288 

National Affairs 291 

THE GLORY DAYS 294 

THE BUREAU 297 

Budget Matters 298 

An Evaluation and a Status Report 304 

An Organization Changes 312 

JILA, The Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics 322 

The National Standard Reference Data System 329 

Civilian Industrial Technology—The Bureau Gets a Small, 

Short Program 333 

A Bold Proposal Leads to a Major Reorganization 338 

THE TECHNICAL WORK 345 

STANDARDS MATI'ERS 345 

Length 345 

Temperatures High and Low 353 

High Pressures 355 

Large Forces 362 

Time and Frequency 367 

Frequency Standards 368 

The Definition of the Second 372 

Frequency and Time Dissemination 374 

xi 
CHAPTER FOUR: (Continued) 

Page 

Calibrations 377 

Standard Samples Become Standard Reference Materials 379 

The End of Product Testing 380 

Commodity Standards and a Reversal of Position 381 

Weights and Measures 382 

The International Yard and Pound; SI 385 

A TOUR OF THE DIVISIONS 387 

Optics and Metrology 387 

Mechanics 389 

The Electricity Division Stimulates Polymer Science 390 

Radio Standards 395 

Heat 398 

A Program on Free Radicals 399 

Atomic and Molecular Physics 402 

A New Light Source 405 

Molecular Spectroscopy 410 

Radiation Physics 411 

Two New Radiation Sources 413 

Chemistry 419 

Materials 421 

Applied Mathematics 430 

Data Processing 433 

Instrumentation 436 

Central Radio Propagation Laboratory 438 

The International Geophysical Year 439 

Cryogenics 445 

Building Research 449 

TURMOIL, 1964-1969 

CHAPTER FIVE: 

TECHNOLOGICAL TRIUMPH: SOCIAL 

THE VIETNAM AGONY 

A SPATE OF LEGISLATION 

TECHNOLOGICAL TRIUMPH AND DRAMA. 

THE RISE OF RELEVANCE 

xii 

453 

453 

456 

460 

460 
Page 

CHAPTER FIVE: (Continued) 

TOWARD A NEW LEADERSHIP 465 

BUDGET, PERSONNEL AND MANAGEMENT MA'ITERS 466 

THE PLANNING-PROGRAMMING-BUDGETING SYSTEM 472 

THE GAITHERSBURG RELOCATION 474 

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE SERVICES ADMINISTRATION 492 

A NUMBER OF NEW RESPONSIBILITIES 493 

Automobile Safety 494 

Automatic Data Processing (ADP) 500 

Fire Research and Safety 504 

SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND THE TECHNICAL ANALYSIS DIVISION 507 

THE NATIONAL MEASUREMENT SYSTEM 510 

THE CLEARINGHOUSE FOR FEDERAL SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL 

INFORMATION 513 

INVENTION AND INNOVATION 515 

ADIRECFOR RETIRES 518 

STANDARDS MATFERS 521 

LASERS AND NEW VISTAS IN METROLOGY 522 

Time Dissemination 529 

Mass and Measurement Assurance Programs 533 

The Josephson Effect and Maintenance of the Volt 537 

Temperature 541 

Radio Standards 542 

Toward a New Era in Radiometry 544 

Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) 550 

Standard Reference Data 553 

Weights and Measures for the States 555 

Federal Information Processing Standards 558 

THE GENERAL RESEARCH 560 

Superconducting Semiconductors 560 

Electron Scattering From Nuclei 563 

Making the Draft Lottery Impartial 565 

Research at the Reactor 567 

Critical Phenomena 569 

Fracture Mechanics Comes to the Bureau 573 

The Investigation of the Point Pleasant Bridge Collapse 576 

Xlii 
Page 

CHAPTER FIVE: (Continued) 

Atomic Weights and Isotopic Abundances 580 

A Program on Crystal Growth 582 

Silicon Resistivity 586 

Evaluation Nuclear Radiation Detectors 588 

Building Research and the Performance Concept 590 

Disaster Investigation 592 

Experiments in Fire and Smoke 595 

SUMMARY 598 

APPENDICES 

A. Tables 601 

B. Acronyms Dictionary 603 

C. Legislation Relating to the Organization, Functions, and Activities 

of the National Bureau of Standards 607 

D. The National Bureau of Standards in the Federal Administration.. 659 

E. Appropriations and Expenditures Charts 661 

F. Members of the Visiting Committee of the Secretary of 

Commerce to NBS and NIST 665 

G. NBS Authorized Personnel Chart 669 

H. NBS/NIST Publications 671 

I. Organizational Levels of the National Bureau of Standards 689 

J. Site Information and Maps: Gaithersburg and BouJder 777 

BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE AND REFERENCES 783 

INDEX 787 

xiv 
CHAPTER ONE 

THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS AT MID-CENTURY 

A NERVOUS NATION 

In the year that marked the midpoint of the 20th century, the National Bureau of 

Standards (NBS) looked forward to its fiftieth anniversary. Formed in 1901 to maintain 

custody of the national standards of measurement and to develop new ones as needed 

by the burgeoning industry of the country, the Bureau had done this and more. It also 

had become a national corporate laboratory in the physical sciences, concerned with 

the problems of the Nation that had a technical base, from the propagation of radio 

waves to the underground corrosion of gas pipelines, from the development of more 

accurate methods of measuring length to calibrating master clinical thermometers, from 

providing extremely accurate time signals for the whole Nation and its territories to 

developing more rapid methods of analyzing the composition of steel, and many more, 

tedious in recitation but rich in accomplishment. The Bureau had served its Nation 

well in two world wars and its greatest depression. And now, in its forty-ninth year, 

the Nation that it served was not well; it was a decidedly nervous Nation. 

Somewhat over four years earlier, the United States and its allies had won the 

largest war in history, although the feeling of the Nation had not been one of 

victory but of having completed an odious and bloody chore. And things—good and 

bad—had not turned out as expected. The dire depression that had been forecast by 

analogy with the period following the ending of the first world war had not materialized. The returning servicemen and servicewomen, and the home front workers 

flush with money saved during the war-year shortages, simply would not let a depression happen. Their demands, pent up for four stringent years, were too clamorous and 

pressing to permit a depression. Shortages—of housing, autos, appliances, meat—had 

occurred, and with them severe inflation despite price controls that were a relic of 

the war years, and which gradually were lifted. Strikes—some serious—had occurred 

when wage controls had not permitted wages to follow prices upward, but they had 

been settled, although not without some confrontation. But there was demanding 

work to be done. Families had to be started, educations completed, and the work of 

building an American civilization had to be continued. It was time to turn away from 

what was happening in foreign lands and concentrate on America, which, after all, was the main business of Americans. 

And the war had raised aspirations among servicemen and servicewomen, and those 

on the home front. Throughout the New Deal and war years, minorities—Jews, 

African Americans, children of first generation immigrants of Southern and Eastern 

European lineage—had begun to taste the sweet fruits of social equality. They, and the 

rest of the population on the lower levels of the economic and social order, would not 

go back to the old days. As quoted by Goldman: 
"Times have changed," Maurice O'Connell, of the ClO, notified a Los Angeles 

Chamber of Commerce meeting shortly after the Japanese surrender. "People 

have become accustomed to new conditions, new wage scales, new ways of 

being treated. .. . Rosie the Riveter.. . isn't going back to emptying slop jars." 

The Government stood ready to help with these aspirations. The GI bill of rights,2 which 

had become law in 1944, began to weave its economic and sociological magic. 

Young entrepreneurs could obtain Government guarantees for loans to start new 

businesses, home loans at what now seem absurdly low rates of interest were guaranteed 

for veterans by the Federal Government and, most importantly, the Government 

stood ready to pay for their education. Millions of ex-servicemen from workingclass families, who previously could not realistically dream beyond a blue-collar job, 

could now aspire to a BA, an MA, or even a doctorate degree. And millions of them 

took advantage of this with alacrity, swelling college enrollments to a then all-time 

high of 2 million in 1946. 

'Eric F. Goldman, The Crucial Decade—and After: America, 1945-1 960 (New York: Vintage Books, 1960):13. 

2 Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, U.S. Statutes at Large, 58 (1944): 284. 

2 

Paul L. Howard and Charles L. Faust of the Electrochemical Society presented a certificate of congratulations to Edward U. Condon on the Bureau's fiftieth anniversary in 1951. 
By 1950, times were good. New cars and household appliances, while not abundant, 

were more generally available, and the GI-bill homes were rapidly being filled with 

them. There was even a new toy, a new entertainment medium called television. While 

only 5000 homes had TV sets in 1945, their numbers rose rapidly. By 1948 there were 

1 million, and 10 million by 1952. The Nation could not get enough, and new manufacturing and entertainment industries were born. Now news events, sports, variety 

shows, westerns, movies, and any other feature a producer could dream up to attract an audience were brought into the American living room. American society—and 

American politics—would never be the same again. 

Yet despite these relatively good times, and the abundant feeling that they would. get 

the Nation was nervous. It found itself in an unusual and unaccustomed position: it was the most powerful nation on earth and was—indeed had to be—deeply 

involved in foreign affairs. No longer could the national psyche be turned inward, 

concerned solely with improving the state of American civilization. In all discussions, 

foreign relations intruded, and foreign relations were not good. International communism had to be dealt with, and hanging over everything was the unbottled genie of the 

atomic bomb, demanding international attention. Isolationism was gone forever. 

During the war there had been general support for the alliance with the Soviet Union 

among both liberals and conservatives, although the latter were always nervous about 

it, and concerned about what would happen after the war. Yet the Yalta agreement in 

February 1945 seemed to predict Allied unity, and promised self-determination for the 

nations of Eastern Europe. It was greeted by "almost unanimous praise."3 But soon, 

headlines revealing a secret Yalta agreement "deemed favorable to the Soviet" 

increased restiveness among conservatives, and it soon became clear that the principal 

aim of the Soviet Union was the extension: of her hegemony to all the nations of Eastern Europe. Goldman wrote: "The Russians made moves in flagrant violation of the 

Yalta provisions for free elections in the liberated countries of Eastern Europe," and 

treated the formation of the United Nations with disdain.4 In his inimitable way, 

Britain's Winston Churchill, no longer speaking as the Prime Minister after the defeat 

of his party by Labor shortly before the surrender of Japan, added a new phrase to the 

English lexicon when, speaking at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, he 

announced, "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has 

descended across the continent."5 The outlines of what was later to be named the 

"Cold War" by Bernard Baruch were laid out. 

And the problems of communism were not to be confined to the foreign theater. 

Canadian spy trials indicated that a systematic Soviet espionage effort, especially on atomic and military matters was, and had been for several years, in existence. In the 

United States, "American Communist leaders began deserting the Party.. . . The most 

publicized deserter, Louis Budenz, ex-editor of the Daily Worker, quit with a flat statement that Communist parties anywhere were. . . conspiracies which gave their loyalty 

Goldman, The Crucial Decade—and After: 10. 

4lbid., II. 

5lbid., 37. 

3 
first and last to the Soviet Union."6 Communism, in the public mind, had become not 

only an international menace, but an internal one as well. 

The Nation had made its own moves, defensive and offensive, in response to Soviet 

actions. When, in a blatant attempt to drive the Western Allies from Berlin, the Soviet 

Union had imposed a blockade on that divided city, the Allies, in a mood of controlled 

fury, had carried out an airlift of supplies for the eleven months the blockade lasted 

and then for an additional four months. And when Communist guerrillas were in 

danger of overthrowing the non-Communist (though hardly democratic) government 

of Greece, President Harry S. Truman asked for, and received from Congress, $400 

million for military aid to Greece. In doing so, he announced what would be called the 

Truman Doctrine: "[I]t must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples 

who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."7 

Thus was the Cold War fully born. 

But most important of all as a policy measure had been the Marshall Plan. Designed 

to halt the spread of communism in war-ravaged Europe, it promised to aid any nation 

"willing to assist in the task of recovery." The Soviets disrespectfully declined to join. 

The plan worked. France and Italy, which had been in danger of going Communist, 

were saved for the West, and aid was extended to Austria and China. And finally, the 

United States, Canada, and the nations of Western Europe created the North Atlantic 

Treaty Organization, which coordinated their military organizations and pledged mutual 

assistance in the event of an attack on any one of them. The adversaries in the Cold 

War had been defined. 

Almost coincidentally, George Kennan, writing as "X" in an article in Foreign 

Affairs analyzing Soviet conduct and U.S. response, used the word "containment."8 

Almost immediately this became the term used to describe the emerging Truman 

Administration policy toward communism. This pragmatic realism was disturbing. Was 

communism to be legitimized in large parts of the world? Was the struggle to contain 

it to continue indefinitely? Would the struggle erupt into a war? It was an unsettling 

prospect. 

Europe was not the only theater where communism needed to be contained. In the 

public mind, China was as important as Europe, and the policy of containment was not 

working there. Despite more than $2 billion in grants and aid, the corruption-riddled 

Chiang Kai-Shek regime had not been able to stem the southward spread of Mao 

communism. In January 1949, the Nationalist government fled to Formosa; China had 

fallen to the Reds. Communism had been contained in Europe; in China it had burst 

through any containment attempt. Now the combination of China and the Soviet Union 

ruled more than a quarter of the earth's surface and more than three-quarters of its 

people. The Nation, in early 1950, was shocked and fearful. 

And it was not clear that communism was being contained on the domestic scene. 

While the trials of Communist Party leaders had proceeded and Government investigators traversed the country, the most important case occupying the public mind was that 

6lbid., 35. 

'Ibid., 59-60. 

'G. Kennan, "The Sources of Soviet Contact," Foreign Affairs, July 1947. 

4 
of Alger Hiss, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a past 

employee of the State Department. symbol of urbane Eastern intellectualism, 

of Ivy League education and genteel upbringing, friend and darling of the intellectual 

establishment, was being accused of espionage by Whittaker Chambers, a brilliant 

but "uncouth" editor of Time, and an avowedly reformed Communist. If Hiss, the 

confidant of the Nation's leaders, could not be trusted, who could be? Was the 

Government riddled with Communist agents? 

But above all, what contributed to the Nation's nervousness was the bomb—or 

rather, Soviet possession of the bomb. When in September 1949 President Truman 

announced that the Soviets had exploded an atomic bomb, the Nation was dumbstruck. 

Despite the Smyth report9 which explained the basic physics of the bomb and gave 

an account of the U.S. effort to build it, despite the warnings of the atomic scientists 

that any dedicated industrial nation could build the bomb, despite the estimate of 

those same scientists that the Soviet Union could build one in about five years, many 

of the public (including the president) believed that the U.S.S.R. would not have the 

bomb for a long time, perhaps ten years. Now here was the intransigent Soviet Union, 

at least five years ahead of schedule, possessor of the most deadly weapon devised 

by man. The three blows of 1949—China, Hiss, and the bomb—had shocked the Nation. 

Goldman wrote: 

[They] loosed within American life a vast impatience, a turbulent bitterness, a rancor akin to revolt. It was a strange rebelliousness, quite without parallel 

in the history of the United States. It came not from any groups that could be 

called the left, not particularly from the poor or the disadvantaged. It brought 

into rococo coalition bankers and charwomen, urban priests and the Protestant farmlands of the Midwest, longtime New Deal voters and Senator Robert 

A. Taft.'° 

And 1950 was to prove no anodyne. In January, Hiss was found guilty of perjury and 

led off to jail. When Secretary of State Dean Acheson avowed that he would not turn 

his back on Hiss, the public remembered that Truman had called the Hiss, hearings a red herring. Was it really possible, as Congressman Richard Nixon averred, that 

"Traitors in high councils of our own government have made sure that the deck is 

stacked on the Soviet side.. . "?" The theme was picked up by an obscure junior sen- ator from Wisconsin. Looking for a cause, he made several speeches charging that 

"there were 57 card-carrying members of the Communist Party in the State Department."2 Soon a new word, "McCarthyism," was added to the English language. 

Henry D. Smyth, Atomic Energy for Military Purposes, the Official Report on the Development of the 

Atomic Bomb Under the Auspices of the United States Government, 1940-1945 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton 

University Press, 1945). 

'°Goldman, The Crucial Decade—and After: 113. 

"Ibid., 135. 

'2lbid., 143. 

5 
On January 31, 1950, shortly after the Hiss conviction, President Truman announced 

almost laconically that he had "directed the Atomic Energy Commission to continue its 

work on all forms of atomic weapons, including the so-called hydrogen or superbomb."3 A new and even deadlier arms race was under way, and scientists predicted 

that the Soviets would not be far behind. The specter of nuclear annihilation had 

become plainer. 

Finally, on Saturday, June 24, while most of the Nation's policy makers were away 

from Washington, North Korea mounted an all-out invasion of South Korea. The policy of containment was to receive its greatest military threat. Following three hectic 

days of conferences and meetings at the United Nations, President Truman announced 

that the U.S. Navy and Air Force would provide cover and air support below the 38th 

parallel for the South Korean forces. An electric feeling of cohesion gripped the Government. In three more days, having in the meantime secured the passage of a resolution committing other members of the UN to "furnish such additional assistance to the 

Republic of Korea as may be necessary to repel the armed attack and to restore international peace and security in the area,"4 and facing a worsening military situation, 

Truman announced on June 30 the commitment of U.S. troops in Korea. The Cold 

War had become hot. 

THE STATE OF SCIENCE 

It is tragically true that some persons, and some fields of endeavor, are beneficiaries 

of war. This was the case with science. It came out of the war bigger and more famous 

than ever before. The atomic bomb had focused the public's attention on science, and 

the Smyth report told that story with thriller-novel intensity. And the achievements of 

science went beyond the atomic bomb. Radar and sonar became household words. 

News of the proximity fuze, which enormously extended the effectiveness of bombs 

and artillery shells, became generally known and was considered by some to be a military development as important as the bomb. A whole new industry—synthetic rubber— 

had been built and was turned over to industry. Penicillin and DDT were viewed as boons to mankind. Advances in electronics helped to make TV and that new commercial rage, "hi-fi," better. The jet airplane, while having no decided effect during the 

war, was becoming of overriding military importance, and in 1952 the ill-starred 

Comet aircraft was to usher in the age of commercial jet air transportation. And atomic 

energy held the promise—or fantasy—of electricity so cheap that it would not need to 

be 

metered. Scientists—particularly physicists—were looked upon with awe. 

In keeping with its successes, the support of science—both Federal and private — had increased dramatically. From a total in 1940 of $250 million, national research 

expenditures had risen to $1.1 billion in 1945, and in 1950 were estimated to become 

$1.75 billion.'5 Whole new laboratories—denoted as National laboratories after the 

3 IbId., 135-136. 

'4Ibid., 160. 

b Eric A. Walker, "Effects of Government Support on Scientific Research," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 7(4) 

(1951): 119. See also graphs in Appendix E. 

6 
control of atomic energy was transferred to civilian hands with the creation of the 

Atomic Energy Commission in 1946—had been formed: Livermore; the famous 

Los Alamos, now a household name; Sandia, for weapons research; Argonne; 

Brookhaven; Idaho; Berkeley; Oak Ridge; Hanford; and, later, Fermilab for basic 

research in nuclear and particle physics and more general programs. The mix of 

spending had, of course, changed dramatically. While in 1940 the portion of research 

and development expenditures devoted to the military was approximately 6 percent, 

by 1945 the portion had inevitably risen to somewhat more than 50 percent, and the 

Korean War promised a new spurt of military research expenditures. The military had 

discovered science, found it useful (indeed essential in these Cold-War days) and a new symbiosis had arisen. The point of view of the military was succinctly and 

accurately expressed by Major General Curtis E. LeMay—no desk-bound general—in a letter to Edward Uhier Condon, director of the National Bureau of Standards, on January 4, 1946: 

I have no doubt that many a scientist has breathed a sigh of relief that they may 

now return to "normal" pursuits. But the Army Air Forces have learned to 

depend on you people, and realize that we cannot get along without your 

continued assistance. I most sincerely hope that the partnership developed 

during the war will be continued in the days to come.'6 

During the war, Government activities in science—and that amounted to essentially 

the whole national scientific effort—were guided by a set of interlocking committees in 

the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) and the Committee for Medical 

Research. These in turn reported to the Office of Scientific Research and Development 

(OSRD), essentially a holding company for all Federal research activities, and headed 

by Vannevar Bush. Two items in that structure were of critical importance. The system 

of interlocking committees was a collegial structure that scientists were accustomed to 

and comfortable with. This was a great inducement for scientists to come to work for 

the Government, although patriotism should not be discounted. Perhaps even more 

important, the OSRD was located in the Office of the President, and its director had 

direct access to the president. This gave Bush enormous clout when dealing "with the 

vast network of administrative relationships on which the success of a Government 

agency depends."7 

Even well before the end of the war, it was clear that this structure, devised for the 

emergency, could not be extended into the postwar period and, in 1944, President 

Roosevelt had written to Bush asking him to address four questions which can be 

paraphrased as follows: 

6 NARA; RG 167; Director's Files; Box 2; Folder D/IDP (Part 1). 

'7Don K. Price, Government and Science: Their Dynamic Relationship in American Democracy (New York: 

New York University Press, 1954): 45. 

7 
1. Consistent with national security, what can be done to make known to the 

world the contributions made to scientific knowledge during the war effort? 

2. What can be done for continuing into the future the war against disease? 

3. What can the Government do now and in the future to aid research activities 

by public and private institutions? 

4. Can. an effective program be proposed for discovering and developing scientific talent? 

After study by four committees, Bush submitted his report on July 15, 1945,18 to 

President Truman, Roosevelt having died in the interim. He proposed the creation of a National Research Foundation consisting of five divisions: Medical Research, Natural 

Sciences, National Defense, Scientific Personnel, and Publications and Scientific 

Collaboration. The emphasis was to be primarily on basic research,'9 and work was to 

be supported in research outside the Government, primarily in universities. In its scope, 

the proposal that the Government support basic research for the health and economic 

well-being of the Nation rivals the decisions of the mid to late nineteenth century for 

Government support of agricultural research. A major turning point in the conduct of 

science in the United States was at hand. 

Significantly, Bush's report proposed that the Foundation be headed by a board of 

members not otherwise connected with the Government, and that this board would 

choose its own executive director. This was recommended to assure "complete independence and freedom for the nature, scope, and methodology of research carried on in 

the institutions receiving public funds."2° In retrospect this appears a naive recommendation. It is difficult to believe that any president would work on policy matters with a 

person he did not appoint. Thus, when Truman received a bill in 1947 proposing the 

establishment of this organization (now called the National Science Foundation) that 

contained this provision, he promptly vetoed it. "They offered a national science bill 

which eliminated the President from the Government of the United States, and I 

wouldn't sign it," said Truman speaking of his favorite whipping boy, the Eightieth 

Congress, when addressing the American Association for the Advancement of Science 

(AAAS) on September 13, 1948.21 The veto was not unexpected. However, another bill 

giving the president power to appoint an executive director and a twenty-four-member 

board for the Foundation was passed by the Congress and signed into law in 1950. 

Vannevar Bush, Science, The Endless Frontier; a Report to the President on a Program for Postwar 

Scientific Research, July 1945 (Washington: National Science Foundaation, 1960 reprint). This report was 

commissioned almost a year before the fall of Germany, was submitted a full two months before the 

Japanese surrender, and only two months alter the surrender of Germany. Clearly Roosevelt had been 

concerned very early with the problems of the postwar Nation. a dissenting view, see Deborah Shapely and Rustum Roy, Lost at the Frontier (Philadelphia: ISI Press, 

1985). 20 Bush, Science, the Endless Frontier: 33. 2I "President Truman Speaks to the Scientists," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 4(10) (1948): 291-293. 

8 
This bill did not include provisions for military research since this clearly was being 

handled by other means, and the provisions for medical research were made redundant 

by the flourishing of the National Institutes of Health. However, the bill gave the 

Foundation two further responsibilities: the development of science policy, and the 

evaluation of research programs undertaken by agencies of the Federal Government. 

The Foundation could carry out the first of these, but only in basic research. The 

second was an unrealistic expectation and was carried out only tangentially.22 

The principal emphasis of the Bush report was basic research. In his introduction to 

the Bush report Alan Waterman wrote: 

Basic research leads to new knowledge. It provides scientific capital. It 

creates the fund from which the practical applications of knowledge must be 

drawn... . Today, it is truer than ever that basic research is the pacemaker of 

technological progress. . . . A nation which depends upon others for its new basic scientific knowledge will be slow in its industrial progress and weak in 

its competitive position in world trade, regardless of its mechanical skill.23 

And again, 

The distinction between applied and pure research is not a hard and fast 

one, and industrial scientists may tackle specific problems from broad 

fundamental viewpoints. But it is important to emphasize that there is a perverse law governing research: under the pressure for immediate results, 

and unless deliberate policies are set up to guard against this, applied 

research invariably drives out pure. 

This moral is clear: It is pure research which deserves and requires special 

protection and specially assured support.24 

That basic research was a principal concern arose from two important considerations, 

especially in nuclear physics. Under the pressure of building the atomic bomb, the 

basic knowledge gleaned in the research of the 1920s and 1930s had been used up and 

not replaced. The capital had been spent. In the words of Philip Morrison: "[Science] 

was mobilized with fierce single-mindedness for war. Not even a good seed crop was 

left in the schools."25 What was true in nuclear physics was also true in other branches 

of science. The storehouse of knowledge had been raided, and needed to be refilled. 

Moreover, the European universities, which had trained many leading American 

scientists, were a shambles. The great schools of physics on the continent were gone, 

their professors scattered to the winds, which fortunately had blown toward the United 

States. And basic research, again particularly in nuclear physics, had become more 

22 Alan T. Waterman, introduction to Science, the Endless Frontier; a Report to the President on a Program 

for Postwar Scientific Research, by Vannevar Bush, July 1945 (Washington: National Science Foundation, 

1960 reprint): xxiii. 23 Ibid., viii. In this day (1994) of enormous trade deficits with Japan. which has the reputation of doing very 

little basic research, these statements indicate that something was missing from the prescription. See Shapely 

and Roy, Lost at the Frontier, for a dissenting opinion. 24 Ibid., xxvi. 25 Philip Morrison, "The Laboratory Demobilizes Address at the Atomic Energy Session of the New 

York Herald-Tribune Forum, October 29, 1946, reprinted in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 2(9/10) (1946): 

5-6. 

9 
expensive,26 and was to continue to do so. In these days of cyclotrons, synchrotrons, 

betatrons, and nuclear reactors, facilities had become so costly that they had to be 

shared among research workers. This trend was to continue as new and more sophisticated laboratory equipment was developed. And in nuclear physics, research was 

carried out by large groups of investigators at large, expensive facilities. Basic research was essential to the economic and military future of the Nation and the Government 

was the only entity that had the resources and the necessary long-term view, went the 

argument. It had to support basic research. 

Yet in the years between 1946 and 1950, while the debates about the structure of the 

NSF went on, no mechanism was available to fund civilian basic research outside the 

realm of atomic energy, and most of that was directed toward weapons problems. Enter 

then the Office of Naval Research.27 In what must surely be one of the most enlightened research-support decisions ever made by a military agency, the Navy Department, 

reasoning that advances in basic science were essential to the future capabilities of the 

Navy, in 1946 formed the Office of Naval Research, setting it up on the same level as one of its statutory Bureaus. In the years between its founding and the establishment of 

the NSF in 1950 it had become the principal supporter of basic research in the Nation, 

and in those years did the work envisaged fot the NSF. Aside from its own work 

carried out in three Navy laboratories, in 1949 it had 1131 projects at more than 200 

institutions. This accounted for more than 40 percent of the Nation's total expenditures 

in basic science, and the total of $43 million amounted to more than the total national 

expenditure for basic research in 1941. Giving the contracting scientists a maximum 

degree of freedom, it received four times as many applications for projects as it could 

finance. Among many others, it financed projects in low-temperature physics, mathematics, investigations of cosmic rays, meteors, white dwarf stars, viruses, and the 

structure of proteins. It also supported work in the rapidly emerging field of computers, 

although it did this not as part of its support of basic research, but as part of its military-directed work. Its director was Alan T. Waterman, who, in 1950, became the first 

director of the NSF. 

Following World War II, science did not wait for the National Science Foundation 

to be formed to make progress. Indeed, the period between the end of the war and 

1950 showed notable advances in both basic science and technology. Some of these 

advances will be noted here. In basic physics, Willis Lamb of Columbia University 

reported at a conference at Shelter Island in 1947 that the 22S112 and 22P112 states of 

hydrogen differed in energy by a small amount, in stark contrast to the predictions of 

26 Lee A. DuBridge, "The Role of Large Laboratories in Nuclear Research." A speech given at the Bicentennial Celebration of Princeton University; reprinted in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 2(9/10) (1946): 

12-13. 27 E. Pfeiffer, "The Office of Naval Research," Scientific American 180(2) (1949): 11-15. 

10 
first-principle theory. This report—the third paper by Lamb on the topic—caused an immediate sensation. In the words of Abraham Pais, "it was clear to all that a new chapter in physics was upon us."28 Following this conference, Hans Bethe, Julian 

Schwinger, Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, and particularly Richard Feynman, all working independently, derived the so-called Lamb shift, and in the process created quantum 

electrodynamics, the most accurate physical theory ever developed. A year later, in a more technologically oriented physics area, John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain, and 

William Shockley produced the transistor,29 thereby laying the basis for a revolution 

in communications and computers, and in the process revolutionizing society. And 

computers themselves were showing great advances. John von Neumann began his 

seminal theoretical studies; J. Presper Eckert and John W. Mauchly in 1946 produced 

ENIAC, the first all-purpose electronic computer; the National Bureau of Standards in 

1949 produced SEAC, then the fastest general-purpose, automatically-sequenced, electronic computer. The computer "explosion" had begun. Partly helped by computers, 

and soon to be helped more, the elucidation of structures by x-ray diffraction made 

great strides. By the use of ingenious techniques, structures previously thought intractable were being handled in both organic and inorganic materials, and this would 

culminate in the determination of the structure of proteins with resolutions as small as atomic diameters. A far more basic understanding of the phenomena of life was in the 

offing. An enormous leap in this direction was soon to come. The molecular basis of 

genetics was being sought by many workers, and finally found in the DNA double 

helix by James D. Watson and Francis H. C. Crick in 1953. The science of microbiology was born, and genetic engineering, its manufacturing offspring, would follow. 

Other scientific and technological advances were to have profound effects such as: the 

publication in 1948 by Claude Shannon of his work in information theory; the development by Willard Libby in 1948 of the carbon-14 method of dating archeological artifacts; the development in the same year by the National Bureau of Standards of the 

atomic clock, a variant of which was in due course to replace our slightly wobbly earth as a timekeeper; the development in 1948 by George Gamow, Ralph Alpher, and 

Robert Herman of the "Big Bang" theory of the origin of the universe, which was to 

revolutionize cosmology and have profound effects on philosophy and religion; and the 

production of Orion by Dupont, thereby, with Nylon and Dacron, completing the triad 

of synthetic fibers that were designed to replace the natural triad of wool, silk, and 

cotton, and did so with considerable success. Many more examples could be added to 

this list. Clearly, basic and applied science were not static. 

28 Abraham Pais, Inward Bound; Of Matter and Forces in the Physical World (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 

1986): 451. Chapter 18 gives an excellent historical and technical account of the origins of quantum electrodynamics. 29 In 1965, Feynman, Schwinger, and Tomonaga shared the Nobel Prize in Physics "for their fundamental 

work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary 

particles," and in 1956 Bardeen, Brattain, and Schockley shared the Nobel Prize in Physics "for their investigations on semiconductors and the discovery of the transistor effect." 

11 
Harold Lyons observed the first 

atomic-beam clock developed in 

1948 by NBS. Really a molecular 

clock, the device was based on 

the microwave absorption line of 

ammonia. 

Those scientists who worked on atomic energy and military problems, however, 

faced new concerns: security and loyalty questions. The intense national anxiety with 

communism and subversion, and the vain attempt to maintain a military atomic 

monopoly, put a much greater demand on all those working in classified areas. Thus, 

when on August 1, 1946, the control of atomic energy passed from military to civilian 

hands with the formation of the Atomic Energy Commission, Section 10 of the act that 

formed the Commission contained the following paragraph: 

12 
Except as authorized by the Commission in case of emergency, no individual 

shall be employed by the Commission until the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall have made an investigation and report to the Commission on the 

character, associations and loyalty of such individual.30 

This immediately raised concerns about "guilt by association." The concerns were not 

eased when President Truman issued Executive Order 9835 on March 25, 1947. This 

order provided for the loyalty investigation of "every person entering the civilian 

employment of any department or agency of the executive branch of the Federal 

Government," and directed that "The head of each department and agency in the executive branch of the Government shall be personally responsible for an effective 

program to assure that disloyal civilian officers or employees are not retained in 

employment in his department or agency." Among the "activities. . . which may be 

considered in connection with the determination of disloyalty.. ." were the following: 

Membership in, affiliation with or sympathetic association with any foreign 

or domestic organization, association, movement, group or combination of 

persons, designated by the Attorney General as totalitarian, fascist, communist, or subversive, or as having adopted a policy of advocating or approving 

the commission of acts of force or violence to deny other persons their rights 

under the Constitution of the United States, or as seeking to alter the form of 

government of the United States by unconstitutional means.3' 

Again the question of guilt by association was raised and caused the publication of 

the famous "Attorney General's List" of subversive organizations. The rigors of this 

loyalty clearance and the occasional harassment that accompanied it kept some persons 

from seeking employment in the Government, and some employees to resign. The 

number of these persons is unknown, but there is little question that the Government 

lost some valuable people. 

While loyalty clearances were being carried out, the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities was also doing its work, travelling from coast to coast investigating avowed or suspected communists. National headlines were made when, without 

hearings and based solely on a report by a sub-committee headed by Rep. J. Parnell 

Thomas of New Jersey, who was also chairman of the full committee, the committee 

announced that Edward U. Condon, director of the National Bureau of Standards, was 

"one of the weakest links in our atomic security." The report contained no evidence to substantiate such a charge. This caused a spate of negative editorial 

30Atomic Energy Act of 1946, U.S. Statutes at Large, 60 (1946): 767. 

President, Executive Order 9835, Federal Register 12, no. 59 (25 March 1947): 1935-1939. 

13 
opinion, against Congressman Thomas and great indignation in the scientific community, particularly among scientists who worked on the atomic bomb, many of whom 

were close personal friends of Condon. The trauma produced by these loyalty 

investigations was not to be healed for almost ten years. By that time both Robert 

Oppenheimer and Condon would be stripped of their security clearances. 

A UNIQUE INSTITUTION 

In 1950, the headquarters of the National Bureau of Standards was located on sixtyeight gently hilly acres on the west side of Connecticut Avenue, overlooking the 

intersection with Van Ness Street in northwest Washington, District of Columbia, 

3.5 miles north of the White House. While most of the Bureau's work was carried out 

at this headquarters site, it also had work going on at twenty-three other locations. 

Four materials testing stations, primarily for the testing of cement purchased by the 

Government, were located in Allentown, Pennsylvania; Seattle, Washington; Denver, 

Colorado; and San Francisco, California. Two proving grounds for testing weapons 

and components under development, operated in LaPlata, Maryland, and Tuckerton, 

New Jersey. A railway-scale test car was based in Clearing, Illinois, and a lampinspecting station to certify Government purchases was located in Brookline, 

Massachusetts. Research in applied mathematics was carried out at the Institute for 

Numerical Analysis at UCLA as well as at the headquarters site. Radio wave propagation activities were conducted at nine field stations that pretty much spanned the 

Northern Hemisphere: Anchorage, Alaska; Point Barrow, Alaska; Guam; Honolulu; 

Puerto Rico; Trinidad; Fort Belvoir, Virginia; Las Cruces, New Mexico; and Sterling, 

Virginia. These stations provided data on the ionosphere, which formed the basis for 

monthly forecasts of radio propagation conditions. NBS operated two radio stations 

that broadcast standard time and frequency signals that were used as both time and 

frequency standards. These signals were the basis for setting clocks and were widely 

used for navigation, for setting the frequencies of broadcast stations, and any other 

uses in which accurate frequency control was important. One station, WWV, located in 

Beltsville, Maryland,32 covered the continental United States while another, WWVH, 

32 WWV locations have included the Bureau's Van Ness site (1923-1931), College Park, Maryland (1931- 

1932), Beltsville, Maryland (1932-1966. The location name of Beltsville was changed to Greenbelt in 1961.), 

and Fort Collins, Colorado (1966 to the present). Wilbert F. Snyder and Charles L. Bragaw, Achievement in 

Radio: Seventy Years of Radio Science, Technology, Standards, and Measurement at the National Bureau of 

Standards, NatI. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Special Publication 555; October 1986: 277, 282. 

14 
on Maui in the Hawaiian Islands, covered the Pacific Ocean. In addition, the Bureau 

was in the process of acquiring 200 acres in Boulder, Colorado, donated by the citizens 

of that city, and was making plans to construct a guided-missiles laboratory, which was in due course built in Corona, California. 

The total staff working in these locations was 3100, with a total budget of $20 

million, approximately 43 percent coming from direct congressional appropriation, the 

remainder being funds transferred from other agencies of the government, primarily the 

military.33 As did the rest of science, NBS had experienced explosive growth during 

The Bureau is authorized to carry out work on contract for other agencies of the Government. In the 

vernacular of the institution these are called "other agency." or simply OA, funds. 

15 

Aerial view of the Washington, D.C. laboratories of the National Bureau of Standards (1952). 
Field Station at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Anchorage, Alaska, one of several NBS field stations that 

gathered and disseminated data on the ionosphere. 

the war years. In 1941 it had a staff of 1032 and a budget of $3.37 million, 60 percent 

of which was directly appropriated and the remainder again transferred from other 

agencies. By 1945 the staff had risen to 2206 and the budget to $9.7 million, but only 

33 percent was appropriated.34 Throughout this whole period the Bureau was doing so much work for the military that it was in danger of losing its identity as the Nation's 

standards laboratory.35 And the situation was to get worse. Already in fiscal year 1950, 

its direct appropriations from the Congress dropped from $8.753 million for the previous year to $8.658 million, and the downward trend was to continue.36 In 1952, under 

NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 5; Folder Kelly Committee. 

For a complete accounting of the Bureau's military work during World War II, see MFP, chapter 7, and 

Lyman J. Briggs, NBS War Research, The National Bureau of Standards in World War II (Washington, 

D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce, 1949). 36 See graphs in Appendix E. 

16 
Exterior of NBS radio broadcasting station WWV, Greenbelt, Maryland. From this station, standard radio 

frequencies of 2.5, 5, tO, 15, 20, and 25 Mc were transmitted continuously. Two standard audio frequencies, 

600 and 400 cycles, were broadcast as modulations on each radio frequency. 

pressure of work related to the Korean War and other military research, a full 80 percent of the then $53 million budget was provided by the military, and the total staff 

had risen to 4450. The Bureau was in danger of becoming an appendage of the 

military establishment, its own legislatively mandated work lost in a sea of weapons 

research. 

Although its mode of operation was as much collegial as hierarchical, the Bureau's 

staff of 3100 persons was organized in the simplest of hierarchical structures that had 

not changed in the forty-nine years of its existence. Fourteen divisions, containing a total of 107 sections (the smallest operational unit), carried out all the technical work. 

These were supported by four support divisions: Budget and Management, Personnel, 

Plant, and Shops. All the division chiefs reported directly to the director; there were no 

intervening levels. The Director's Office contained two associate directors, two assistant directors, the Bureau library, and an Office of Scientific Publications, responsible 

for the mechanics of publication of scientific papers, reports, special publications, 

circulars, and the other publications that constituted the Bureau's most important 

output.37 A listing of the names of the divisions, with the number of their sections, 

illustrates the areas of work and gives some idea of the distribution of effort:38 

During its history, the Bureau has issued many types and series of publications. These are described 

in Appendix H. 

This listing is as of July 1, 1950. Before this date Optics was combined with Electricity in the Electricity and 

Optics Division; the Electronics Standards Laboratory, Ordnance Development Laboratory, and Guided Missile 

Branch were combined in the Electronics and Ordnance Division; and the Commodity Standards Division had 

not yet been transferred to the Office of Science and Technology in the Department of Commerce. 

17 
Personnel who directed the development of the BAT, the first fully automatic guided missile used in combat. 

In 1942, the National Defense Research Committee asked NBS to handle the aerodynamic and servo- mechanism aspects of the missile. Hugh Dryden (third from right) supervised the Bureau's effort. Other NBS 

personnel pictured are Harold K. Skramstad (left), W. Hunter A. Boyd (second from right), and Ralph A. 

Lamm (right). 

Electricity (5), Optics and Metrology (5), Heat and Power (6), Atomic and Radiation 

Physics (13 in two laboratories: Atomic Physics and Radiation Physics), Chemistry 

(11), Mechanics (7), Organic and Fibrous Materials (7), Metallurgy (4), Mineral 

Products (8), Building Technology (5), Applied Mathematics (4), Electronics (3), 

Ordnance Development (8), Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (7 in three laboratories: Ionospheric Research, Systems Research, Measurement Standards, plus 12 field 

stations), and Missile Development (5). 

The program was extremely broad, ranging from studies in superconductivity to 

atomic clocks, synthetic rubber, cement testing for Government purchases, atomic 

spectra, methods of measuring radioactivity, computers, and a great deal of work on 

military hardware, including proximity fuzes and guided missiles. 

18 
THE NATURE AND CHARACTER OF THE BUREAU 

The Bureau was not nearly so grand when it officially began operations on July 1, 

1901, the law (the "Organic Act") that established it having been enacted on March 3, 

1901. In that law the Congress, in carrying out its constitutional authority "to fix the 

standards of weights and measures"—the march of industrial development had nearly 

made this an obligation—had charged the new Bureau with: 

the custody of the standards [of measurement]; the comparison of the standards used in scientific investigations, engineering, manufacturing, commerce, and educational institutions with the standards adopted or recognized 

by the Government; the construction, when necessary, of standards, their 

multiples and subdivisions; the testing and calibration of standard measuring 

apparatus; the solution of problems which arise in connection with standards; 

the determination of physical constants and the properties of materials, 

when such data are of great importance to scientific or manufacturing interests and are not to be obtained of sufficient accuracy elsewhere. 

The law goes on to direct for whom the Bureau should work: 

the Bureau shall exercise its functions for the Government of the United 

States; for any State or municipal government within the United States; or for 

any scientific society, educational institution, firm, corporation, or individual 

within the United States engaged in manufacturing or other pursuits requiring 

the use of standards or standard measuring instruments. 

Clearly, the Bureau was to serve the whole society.39 

By this law, the Bureau became one of a number of national laboratories established 

by industrial nations at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the 

twentieth. Perhaps the foremost amongst them was the German Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt which, in some ways, Samuel Wesley Stratton, the Bureau's first 

director, used as a model for his institution.40 In the late nineteenth century, the inexorable march of the industrial revolution, the expansion of science, and the requirements of national and international trade made mandatory a worldwide system of 

units of measurements and their associated standards. Indeed, in 1875, the Convention 

du Metre, known in the United States as the Treaty of the Meter, was signed 

in Paris by the United States and seventeen other countries. By this treaty, the signatory nations adopted the meter and kilogram as legal units of length and mass. The 

international prototype standards for these units were to be maintained at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), located on extra-territorial land near 

Sèvres, France, and the United States was allotted copies Nos. 21 and 27 for the 

meter, and Nos. 4 and 20 for the kilogram. They were received in January 1890. The 

39An Act to establish the National Bureau of Standards, U.S. Statutes at Large, 31(1901): 1449. Full text in 

Appendix C. 

40The following statement appears in the director's annual report for 1902, the first in the Bureau's history: 

"The Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt of Germany is an illustrious example of how much can be 

accomplished where research and testing are combined in one institution." Annual Report of the Director, 

(1902): 5. 

19 
Samuel Wesley Stratton, first director 

of the National Bureau of Standards, was the primary force in the Bureau's 

creation and formative years. He 

established a solid basic research 

program and organized young scientists into cooperative efforts of 

applied science that shaped the 

Bureau to serve the Nation. 

customary units of the yard and the pound were defined as 3600/3937 meter and 

0.453 592 427 7 kg, respectively.4' Indeed, the Congress had authorized the legal and 

permissive use of the metric system in 1866, using standards obtained from France in 

1821. The secretary of the treasury, in whose department the Office of Weights and 

Measures was located, was directed to supply the states with sets of standard metric 

weights and measures. To this day, the customary units of the yard and the pound have 

not been legalized, which causes no problems since their relation to the legal standards 

is fixed.42 

Perhaps even more important, the burgeoning electrical industry showed that simple 

standards for mass, length, and time were no longer sufficient. Standards for quantities barely known to the layman, such as volts, amperes, farads, henries, and most 

Ralph W. Smith, The Federal Basis for Weights and Measures, Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Circular 593; June 

1958: 15. 42 For a full and excellent account of these matters, see Rexmond C. Cochrane, Measures for Progress: A History 

of the National Bureau of Standards, Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Miscellaneous Publication 275, 1966: Appendix 

B. Hereafter referred to as MFP. 

20 
important, kilowatt-hours, that being the unit by which electricity was sold, had to be 

developed and made uniform throughout the Nation and the world. X rays and radioactivity had only recently been discovered, and both units and standards for them had 

to be devised. All of these required research, in most cases basic research into new 

areas of physics and chemistry. The simple offices of weights and measures had to be 

replaced with more sophisticated institutions. 

Compared to the adult institution it would become in 1950, when the Bureau began 

operation as part of the Treasury Department it was only a tiny infant. It started in 

temporary quarters in three buildings just south and east of the Capitol: eight rooms 

formerly used by its predecessor, the Office of Weights and Measures, in the Coast 

and Geodetic Survey building; eight additional rooms in the adjacent Butler Building; 

and a remodeled residence down the Street from them. Its authorized staff, aside from 

its director, consisted of twenty-two people in three divisions: Scientific, Engineering, 

and Office. There was one physicist, two assistant physicists, five laboratory assistants, 

four laborers (one skilled), one engineer, one assistant engineer, two mechanics, one 

watchman, one secretary, two clerks, one storekeeper, and one messenger. Its total 

budget was about $67 000. 

Still in its fledgling stage, the work of the new Bureau was concerned with the 

central part of its basic mission: providing the standards of measurement and the comparison of the standards used in scientific investigations, engineering, manufacturing, 

and commerce with the national standards. In fact, in the first year of its operation, 

the Bureau carried out little more than its basic weights and measures functions. 

But it was making plans for the future, both with respect to facilities and with respect 

to the technical work. Thus, 7.5 acres (3 hectares) at the Connecticut Avenue site had 

been chosen, and plans for a physical laboratory building and a mechanical laboratory 

building were being drawn. The latter building was to contain the power plant as well as heavy items of research equipment, and specifications were being drawn for either 

the purchase or construction of necessary laboratory instruments. 

21 

The platinum-iridium cylinder (right) is the primary standard kilogram for all metric measurements of mass in this country. Known as Kilogram No. 20, it is a copy of the international prototype kilogram, which is 

preserved at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) at Sèvres, France. Kilogram No. 4 

(left, under double bell jar), a duplicate of No. 20, is used as a secondary standard. 
With respect to the technical work, a large number of standards for mass, length, 

and capacity (volume) were verified (i.e., compared to the national standards) for 

Federal and state governments and for private concerns. Considerable effort was 

devoted to improving the instruments used for this comparison in order to speed up 

this rather routine but essential activity. The need for higher accuracy of comparison was strongly felt. Three items were particularly troublesome. First was the calibration 

of chemical glassware for volume. This had to be done by the individual chemists, or the glassware purchased from Germany, whence it came certified by the PhysikalischTechnische Reichsanstalt (PTR). Second was "the design and construction of a model 

set of weights and measures that shall be adapted to the needs of State, county, and 

city sealers."43 Previous sets had been provided in 1836 and 1866, and were no longer 

adequate to meet new requirements. Finally, there was considerable confusion with re- spect to the calibration of hydrometers, and this had to be cleared up. These problems now seem almost quaint and charming, and are a vivid reminder of the state of technological development of the Nation at the turn of the century. 

The were even greater outside the realm of weights and measures. In 

thermometry, mercury-in-glass thermometers could be calibrated only over the temperature range from —20 °C to 50 °C, which was totally inadequate for the times. The 

Bureau was making plans to extend the calibration range to 1500 °C on the high end, 

and to —190 °C on the lower end, the latter made necessary by the recent large-scale 

liquefaction of air and other gases. 

While hardly well-equipped, the Bureau was making progress in electrical standards. 

It had purchased resistance standards from 0.0001 to 100 000 ohms. Comparison 

equipment (presumably bridges) had been purchased "so that the Bureau is already 

equipped for the measurement of resistance standards submitted for verification in 

terms of those belonging to the Bureau to the highest order of (Italics 

added.) But the need for a primary standard was sorely felt, and the construction of the 

mercury column of specified dimensions that had been defined by the International 

Electrical Congress of 1893 as the unit of resistance, and legalized by the Congress, was begun. The Nation was in the strange position of having legalized a standard for 

resistance that it did not own. 

The situation with the volt was in some ways similar. The Bureau had constructed 

several Clark electrolytic cells that constituted the legal definition of the volt, but re- search was already under way to find more reproducible and stable cells. Nevertheless, 

Annual Report, 1902: 10. Ibid., 12. It is not stated where the resistance standards were obtained. It is known that several I ohm 

resistors were obtained from Germany, and periodically checked against the PTR primary standard (MFP, 

p. 79). Presumably the other resistors also came from the PTR, but they could have been made by the 

Bureau. 

45An Act to Define and Establish the Units of Electrical Measure, U.S. Statutes at Large, 28 (1894): 101. Following their adoption by the International Electrical Congress in 1893, the U.S. Congress made legal the 

units adopted by that congress. The units so legalized were the ohm (resistance), the ampere (current), the 

volt (electromotive force), the coulomb (quantity), the farad (capacity), the joule (work), the watt (power), 

and the henry (inductance). These were called the "international units." Their relation to absolute units were a source of continuing research. 

22 
the Bureau could carry out calibrations with respect to the legal volt. Ammeters and 

voltmeters could, however, be calibrated only up to 50 amperes and 150 volts, but 

preparations were being made to extend this range to 1500 amperes and 2000 volts. 

But these were only direct current measurements. Alternating current was becoming 

more and more popular for the transmission of electricity, so the Bureau was 

establishing an alternating current laboratory. Along with that came the problems of 

the determination of capacitance and the calibration of standards of self and mutual 

inductance. 

Finally a photometry laboratory was established, and work in this difficult but essential field was begun. With the veritable explosion of incandescent lighting, there was 

considerable pressure for measurement standards for illumination. 

This was the organization that developed into the National Bureau of Standards of 

1950, with a site on which existed 138 structures (in fairness, some of them quite 

small) and with field stations spanning the Northern Hemisphere. It looked upon itself 

quite correctly as being far more than a simple office of weights and measures. In the 

opening words of its Annual Report for 1950 it describes itself as follows: 

The National Bureau of Standards is the principal agency of the Federal 

Government for basic and applied research in physics, mathematics, 

chemistry, and engineering. In addition to its general responsibility for basic 

research, the Bureau undertakes specific research and development programs, 

develops improved methods for testing materials and equipment, determines 

physical constants and properties of materials, tests and calibrates standard 

measuring apparatus and reference standards, develops specifications for 

Federal purchasing, and serves the Government and the scientific institutions 

of the Nation in an advisory capacity on matters relating to the physical 

sciences. The Bureau also has custody of the national standards of physical 

measurement, in terms of which all working standards in research laboratories and industry are calibrated, and carries on necessary research leading to 

improvement in such standards and measurement methods. 

The seeds of the growth and metamorphosis from a glorified office of weights and 

measures into a full-fledged, broad-based, internationally known and respected scientific laboratory were contained in the Organic Act. The Act contains the wonderfully 

ambiguous phrase that directs the Bureau to work on "the solution of problems which 

arise in connection with standards," and the less ambiguous but equally open-ended 

phrase authorizing the Bureau to engage in "the determination of physical constants 

and the properties of materials, when such data are of great importance to scientific or 

manufacturing interests and are not to be obtained of sufficient accuracy elsewhere." 

Placed in the law at the instigation of Stratton, both phrases are they can 

encompass an almost endless scope of work. 

This word to describe the Organic Act appears to have been first used by Robert D. Huntoon in an unpublished report to Edward L. Brady, June 1977, on the nature and character of the Bureau. A number of 

other ideas in that perceptive report stimulated some of the discussion which follows. 

23 
The resulting breadth of work was crucially important in determining the character of 

the Bureau. It had the permission, if not the obligation, to become the principal agency 

in the Federal Government for basic and applied research.47 

Equally important, although perhaps not so obvious at first blush, is that the Organic 

Act gave the Bureau no regulatory—policing—responsibility or authority. While it was charged with defining the unit of mass, for example, it had no authority to go to a 

manufacturer of scales to determine whether his scales were accurate—in accordance 

with the national units—or not. This is a crucial point that ultimately controls the 

nature of the institution that evolves from the central standards and measurement funclion. If called upon, it can be the final arbitrator in disputes relating to the validity of 

measurements, but it cannot be the instigator of disputes. This is left to other agencies 

of state and Federal Government. And the arbitration function is not that of listening to 

the testimony of plaintiff and defendant and then issuing a judgement. The function is 

rather that of determining scientific truth: what is the actual value of the quantity in 

question and what are the limits of uncertainty in the knowledge of that value? What is 

in fact known or can be known, and with what uncertainty? Its judgment is a scientific 

judgment, not a legal one, and the arena where scientific truth is sought is the laboratory, not the courtroom, for no scientific result is accepted as fact until it has been 

exhaustively confirmed. But this arena is not without its own appellate courts. These 

are the courts of public opinion, scientific scrutiny, and politics. An institution, if it is 

to function effectively in such an arena, must be, and must be perceived to be, objective, impartial, and totally unbiased. Moreover, if its pronouncements are to be accepted, its work must be technically impeccable. Technically slipshod work will 

quickly lose the institution its most precious attributes: integrity and technical 

The fact that its position with respect to disputes is limited only to aspects of 

measurement and the discovery of scientific truth does not, however, mean that the 

institution is powerless. Quite the contrary. The mere fact that it is custodian of the 

national standards and is a potential arbiter in disputes gives it ab initio enormous 

power. Its pronouncements and publications carry great weight and are scrutinized 

carefully and thoroughly. Again this puts great pressure on the institution to ensure the 

technical accuracy of its work, but some publications can nevertheless cause considerable consternation. There are various examples of this, from national safety codes 

An obverse and undesirable consequence of permissiveness is that it can lead to performance of unimportant and irrelevant work. For the Bureau, this is mitigated, if not precluded, by a number of oversight 

mechanisms. The Organic Act established a visiting committee that visits the Bureau at least yearly and 

reports to the secretary "upon the efficiency of its scientific work and the condition of its equipment." 

Further and continuing oversight is provided by the secretary, by the Congress, by other agencies for which 

the Bureau performs work on transferred funds and, beginning in 1953, Advisory Committees reporting to the Bureau director on each of the Bureau's major organizational units. And the wisdom of Bureau management cannot be discounted. 

Perhaps the best examples of the Bureau's work in this arena are provided by the analysis of the causes of 

failure of structures. 

24 
Although NBS had no regulatory duties or power to initiate investigations, if called 

upon it could serve as an impartial arbiter. Here, Charles H. Oakley lowers a 10 000 lb 

weight onto a railway-scale test-car in order to test the Union Pacific scale. In 1913, at 

the request of the Interstate Commerce Commission, NBS began testing railway scales. 

These scales were the source of continual complaints, and the railways, fearing for 

their reputations, were eager to rectify the situation. 

25 

- - - 
proposed early in the Bureau's history49 to the most famous case of all, the battery 

additive controversy. 

Given a permissive law, and the absence of regulatory responsibility, it was predictable that the work of the Bureau should lead it to become—or at least look upon 

itself as—the principal agency in the Federal Government for basic research in the 

physical sciences. But, in the absence of any regulatory responsibility, the Bureau 

might well have become what it did even without the permissive phrases. Once the 

Bureau became a laboratory doing research on improving the measurement methods on which new and more accurate standards are based, it is at least an arguable proposition 

that the growth and metamorphosis it underwent would have happened. All science, 

engineering, and industry are based on measurements whose accuracy is based on 

standards. Machine parts made in Cleveland must fit machines made in Detroit; a kilowatt-hour in Arkansas must be the same as one in Florida; a gallon of gasoline in 

California must have the same volume as one in Connecticut; the frequency of a radio 

station—not yet a consideration in 1901—must be accurately known lest it interfere 

with neighboring stations; a joule of energy in a cyclotron beam at Berkeley must be 

the same joule delivered by an electric generator in New Jersey, and both must have a 

constant and well-known relation to a calorie produced in a reaction in a research 

laboratory in Delaware; and on and on, throughout all of industry, commerce, and 

science. For, in the oft-quoted but always pertinent words of Lord Kelvin: 

I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about and 

express it in numbers you know something about it; but when you cannot 

measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind: it may be the beginning of knowledge, 

but you have scarcely, in your thoughts, advanced to the stage of science, 

whatever the matter may be.5° 

Thus, with this all-pervasive position of measurements in the scientific, commercial, 

and industrial life of the Nation, the institution whose principal purpose was to ensure 

the uniformity and accuracy of those measurements had to become conversant and 

expert, at the level of basic national standards, with all the measurements made in the 

country. And it had to provide measurement methods and the standards on which they are based so that all elements of the Nation might speak the same language. Equally 

important, it had to provide a system which would ensure that all the measurements 

made in the Nation were in accordance with—"traceable to," in the language of the 

MFP, 121. Presumably using its authority to work on "the solution of problems which arise in con- nection with standards" (Organic Act, Sec. 2), and that provided by special appropriations from Congress, in the 

early years of the century the Bureau became concerned with several safety problems. Among them were those 

associated with the generation, transmission and use of electricity. In 1914 it proposed a national electrical 

safety code. This met with strong resistance from public utilities for a number of years. However, faced with 

confusing regulations by state public utilities commissions, the utilities came to welcome the Bureau's scientific 

and rational approach. Note that the Bureau had no authority to impose the code. 5° William Thomson Kelvin, 1st Baron, Popular Lectures and Addresses, v. 1, Constitution of Matter, 2nd ed., 

(London: Macmillan, 1891): 80-143. "A Lecture delivered at the Institution of Civil Engineers on May 3, 1883; 

being one of a series of Six Lectures on 'The Practical Applications of Electricity.'" 

26 
trade—the national standards in its custody. The ubiquity of measurements and their 

increasing diversity in a technologically expanding economy made growth and metamorphosis inevitable. It is only natural that in the process of carrying out its central 

measurement mission, the Bureau developed technical and organizational capabilities 

that could be turned to the solution of other technical problems of the Government or 

of the Nation in general.5' In due course this was to lead the Bureau into a whole 

class of work that was not an inevitable consequence of its basic mission, but was an outgrowth of the mission having been defined broadly, and the institution being permitted to use its initiative to develop appropriate responses to these problems. The 

actual type of work carried out would change constantly as national goals and problems changed, and this work would envelop the basic mission in an ever-changing 

frame.52 In carrying out work in this "dynamic periphery," new knowledge would be 

obtained that fed back into the work and the capabilities of the basic mission, and 

conversely, so that the two types of work led to a dynamic symbiosis that greatly 

strengthened the institution, and brought its relations with industry and the rest of 

government into closer—but not always frictionless—contact. 

The first example of this dynamic periphery was the testing of Government purchases.53 The Federal Government is a large purchaser of supplies of enormous variety 

for its own use. The Bureau, from its very early years, got involved in testing these 

purchases to ensure compliance with specifications, and indeed the preparation of those 

specifications. Beginning in 1904 with the testing of incandescent lamps, it progressed 

rapidly to other commodities until by World War I all of its divisions were involved. 

This work brought the Bureau into direct contact with industry. Specifications could 

not be so tightly drawn that they could not be met, nor so loosely that they would be 

of little value in ensuring a useful item. Meetings and full-scale conferences involving 

all interested parties were held, and often new, non-existent, test methods had to be 

developed. As a result, this work expanded beyond simple testing to full-scale research 

programs in the commodity involved, and this was in part to spawn three new divisions: Metallurgy (from the testing of structural iron and steel),54 Mineral Products 

(from cement testing), and Organic and Fibrous Materials (from paper, textiles, leather 

goods, etc.). The results of all this work was to be of great benefit to the industry 

For a large part of its history, the Bureau was the only physical science laboratory concerned with civilian 

problems in the Federal Government. It was perhaps inevitable that its help would be sought when scientific 

or technical problems arose in the Government, or that the Bureau would unilaterally undertake such 

problems. 52 Robert D. Huntoon coined the apt term "dynamic periphery" for this work. 

For a full account of the origins of testing for government purchases see MFP, 124 -133. 

Metallurgy also had its origins in the study of the cooling curves of metals to provide fixed points on the 

temperature scale. Since impurities affect freezing points and the temperature constancy of the melting 

equilibrium, work in this area led on the one hand to the preparation of very pure materials and on the other 

to the study of the melting behavior of alloys, i.e., phase diagrams. 

27 
involved and ultimately to the whole Nation. And because of this testing and specifications work, the Bureau was drawn into working closely with, and indeed becoming a leader in, the voluntary standards system of the United States.55 Its staff held key 

positions in the societies that comprise that system, and the data presented by Bureau 

representatives to the working committees of experts of the societies were instrumental 

in helping develop the myriad specifications, test methods, design standards, recommended practices, and other publications that form the library of output of the voluntary standard system. In this manner, the Bureau contributed to industrial and commercial standards which are emulated throughout the world. 

Even more important was the Bureau's work on solutions to national technical problems, exclusive of work during times of war. There arise from time to time problems, 

usually concerned with public safety, that the Government needs to investigate and do 

something about. A recent example is environmental pollution for which a whole new 

agency was formed and for which the Bureau has provided considerable assistance. 

Two early examples will illustrate the Bureau's role in these problems. 

Very early in its history, the Bureau became involved in electrochemistry for two 

reasons. First, the international definition of the ampere was the amount of silver that was deposited in a given time by electrolysis, and the international definition of the 

volt was based on the voltage developed in a standard electrolytic cell. Research on both these areas was designed to make the measurements more reproducible and accurate, and this led the Bureau into research in electrochemistry. The talents developed in 

this work in the basic mission were to be turned to an unusual problem: underground 

corrosion caused by stray currents from Street railways.56 First begun in 1887, by 1917 

there were over 40000 miles of street railways.57 Power was supplied to the Street car 

by a trolley wire and, in theory, was to flow back to the generating plant through the 

rails. All conduction in these metallic items is electronic so that no problems of electrolysis arise. However, the Street railway tracks are not the only metallic structures in 

the ground. Particularly in cities, there are gas and water mains, lead-sheathed electrical cables, and other metallic structures. In favorable conditions of soil conductivity, 

these items can provide a lower resistance path for the return current, so that it can 

flow from the tracks through the soil into the structure, through the structure, and then 

back into the rail when conditions of proximity and soil conductivity are again favorable. The problem here is that conduction through the soil is ionic, not electronic. 

When current flows out of a metallic structure by ionic conduction, metal ions flow 

A discussion of the various usages of the word "standard" is found in Donald R. Mackay, ed., A Glossary 

of Standards-Related Terminology, NatI. Inst. Stand. Technol. (U.S.) NISTIR 89.4194; October 1989: 7. 

119-121. 

The system of street railways was very extensive, being inter-urban as well as intra-urban. E. L. Doctorow, 

in his well-known novel Ragtime (New York: Random House, 1974), gives a detailed account of a trip from 

New York to Boston by street railway at the turn of the century. The total cost was $2.40. 

28 
out of the structure into the soil, removing metal from the structure and degrading it. 

Corrosion takes place.58 

During excavations in Boston in 1902, badly corroded water mains were found, and 

similar conditions in other items were found elsewhere. Losses from this source of 

material degradation were estimated in millions of dollars, and considerations of public 

safety raised a cry of alarm. Taking the initiative, the Bureau asked for and received a three-year special appropriation to investigate the problem. Progress was slow in this 

very difficult area. While methods were rather quickly devised to pinpoint the places 

where this stray current corrosion was taking place, and possible solutions to the 

problem were devised, they were very expensive. It was not until almost two decades 

after the initiation of the investigation that the solution of using sacrificial anodes was 

devised. In this method, a piece of relatively active metal, such as zinc, is attached to 

the corroding structure. The active metal, rather than the structure, then conducts the 

current from the metal to the soil. The reactive anode is sacrificed to save the structure. By this time the Bureau's work had expanded to the corrosion of metals in the 

ground in the absence of stray currents, and the Bureau had formed a Corrosion 

Laboratory to study this national problem. 

A second early example of the Bureau's work on national problems is provided by 

failures of railroad equipment.59 Concerned about failures occurring in railroads, 

Congress in 1910 passed legislation requiring monthly reports of railroad accidents. 

Two years later, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) reported the alarming 

results that there had been almost 13 000 deaths and injuries from collisions and derailments alone in the previous year, and for the years 1902 to 1912 there had been a total 

of 41 578 derailments caused by broken wheels, rails, flanges and axles.6° At the 

urging of the secretary of commerce, the Bureau undertook to study this problem and 

received a special appropriation from Congress in 1912 for the work. Thus began a long study of railway materials in the newly-formed Metallurgy Division. Working 

with the steel companies, nothing less than a thorough analysis of the metallurgy of 

tracks and wheels, and the manufacturing processes by which they were made, had to 

be carried out. Even then progress was slow in coming. It was not until 1923, when 

the special appropriation ended and the Bureau carried out further work under its own 

appropriation, that progress began to be observed. By 1930, the accident rate from 

these two causes had fallen by two-thirds. Work on these rail and wheel problems 

dropped shortly thereafter, but started again in 1985 with funds provided by the 

Federal Railroad Administration of the Department of Transportation, which now has 

the responsibility of ensuring railway safety. 

In many cases, the current flow is localized at specific sites, leading to preferential metal removal from 

those sites and eventual puncture. This phenomenon is called "pitting corrosion." 

118-1 19. 

As a comparison, for the years 1982 to 1987, there was a yearly average of 3538 accidents and 762 fatal 

and non-fatal injuries. These data are from the Federal Railroad Administration Accident/Incident Bulletin, 

No. 156, 1987. 

29 
This work on the dynamic periphery had an important, indeed almost crucial, role in 

determining the nature and character of the Bureau. In the early examples noted above, 

no other agencies were responsible for the problems in question, and the Bureau either 

acted unilaterally or at the suggestion of another agency (e.g., the ICC in the matter of 

railroad failures). It carried out the work under special appropriations from the Congress. During World War I, the Bureau was called upon to carry out a great deal of 

work for various agencies of the military.6' Funds for part of this work came from 

special wartime appropriations from Congress, but part of them came from a wartime 

measure, the "Overman Act," passed on May 20, 1918.62 This law authorized the transfer of funds from one agency to another for the performance of work which the first 

agency needed but did not have the necessary staff or facilities to carry it out. The 

Bureau had received more than $500 000 from military agencies under this arrangement. By the end of the war, the Bureau's size had more than doubled, and it had a large number of uncompleted projects for the military. But with the end of the war, the 

"Overman Act" expired, and transfer of funds from the military was no longer authorized.63 Indeed, to get $100 000 transferred from the Quartermaster Corps to the Bureau, Stratton went directly to President Wilson. Reversing a course against transferred 

funds that he had previously set, Stratton, in his appropriation request for fiscal year 

1921, suggested that the following passage be included in the appropriations bill: 

[T]he head of any department or independent establishment of the Government having funds available for scientific investigations and requiring 

cooperative work by the Bureau of Standards. . . may, with the approval of 

the Secretary of Commerce, transfer to the Bureau of Standards such sums as may be necessary to carry out such 

This statement, or variants of it, was repeated in subsequent appropriations bills, and 

eventually became law. The Bureau had become a contract research organization 

within and for the Federal Government. The camel of "other agency" work, as it 

became known at the Bureau, had entered the tent and was never to leave. 

If all that a national standards laboratory did were to keep its prototype standards in a vault and only worked on increasing the accuracy of realizing those standards, it would 

not be a very useful institution. It also must ensure that the measurements made in the 

Nation are consistent with, and traceable to, those national standards. The Organic Act 

recognizes this function in two clauses, "the comparison of standards used in scientific 

61 See MFP, Chapter 4 for a thorough account of the Bureau's work in World War I. Also see War Work of 

the Bureau of Standards, Nat!. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Miscellaneous Publication 46; April 1921. 62 MFP, 213; An Act Authorizing the President to coordinate or consolidate executive bureaus, agencies, and 

offices, and for other purposes, in the interest of economy and the more efficient concentration of the Government, U.S. Statutes at Large, 40 (1918): 556. 63 Transfer of funds from one agency to another was practiced on a sort of unofficial basis before the Over- man Act. Why the Bureau and the military did not simply continue to transfer funds is not known. 

MFP, 214; An Act Making appropriations for the legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the 

Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1921, and for other purposes, U.S. Statutes at Large, 41 (1920): 683. 

30 
investigations, engineering, manufacturing, commerce and educational institutions with 

the standards adopted or recognized by the Government.. ." and "the testing and 

calibration of standard measuring apparatus." In effect, these two statements direct the 

standards institution to set up a system by which the Nation may be maintained on a common and consistent measurement basis.65 

Specifically recognized by these statements are direct calibration and testing, perhaps 

the most basic elements of the system; Clearly, the first step in ensuring that measurements are made in accord with the national standards is to compare to the standards 

the instruments by which the measurements are made. Thus the Bureau has always had a calibration service. Interested customers can send in instruments or components—sets 

of master weights, master gage blocks, thermometers, electrical meters and components 

of various kinds—and have them calibrated (or "verified," in the words of 1902) 

against the national 

The states, which have the responsibility for enforcing weights and measures under 

the state laws, are an important part of the measurement system. Throughout its 

history, the Bureau has issued—with some fanfare—sets of standards for mass, length, 

and capacity to the states, which have become the working legal standards for the 

Nation. It has also cooperated with the states more generally on other standards 

problems, such as ionizing radiation, and by such mechanisms as the National 

Conference on Weights and Measures and the National Conference of State Building 

Codes and Standards. 

Calibration is not, however, the only means of maintaining the National Measurement System, and sometimes is not even feasible, as in the measurement of composition. Another means is to distribute objects, or materials, one or more of whose properties are certified by the Bureau. Called "standard samples," they began to be sold by 

the Bureau in 1905 when it undertook to distribute and certify the composition of 

samples of various types of iron provided by the American Foundrymen's Association.67 In the ensuing year, at the request of the Association of American Steel 

Manufacturers, the Bureau began the preparation and certification of samples of seventeen types of steel, and thus was the Bureau's standard samples program born. 

In 1950, the Bureau had a whole catalogue of standard samples. Each of these 

samples had a property (e.g., composition) certified by the Bureau to have a specified 

value or to be within a specified range. The purchaser of such a standard sample could 

then use it to calibrate his measuring instruments or procedures. In a sense, the Bureau 

sent its standards to the purchaser, who then carried out the calibration procedure. By 

1951 there were 502 standard samples. A full 98 of these were samples of steel certified for the concentration of up to ten elements, and a total of 172 were samples 

The system by which the Nation keeps itself on a consistent measurement basis has been a subject of 

considerable scholarly analysis by R. D. Huntoon who called it the "National Measurement System." 

66These instruments and components are not compared directly with the national standards, but against 

working standards which are essentially replicas of the national standards and are periodically compared to them. The national standards are too precious for routine use. MFP, 93. 

31 
of other materials also certified for composition. The largest category was for hydrocarbons and organic sulfur compounds, with 224 samples, each certified for purity. 

Produced with the help of the American Petroleum Institute, these were used for 

research in the petroleum industry and for developing mass spectrographic methods for 

the analysis of product streams in petroleum refineries. Other samples are interesting 

for the property certified: Five pure metals—aluminum, copper, lead, tin, and zinc— were certified for melting points, which range from 1083.2 °C (copper) to 231.90 °C 

(tin), and are clearly for the calibration of thermocouples and pyrometers. Eight oils were certified for viscosity, ranging from 0.02 poise to 460 poise. Thirty-three samples 

were certified for radioactivity, including radon standards, radium gamma-ray standards, cobalt gamma-ray standards, and twelve rock and ore samples certified for 

radium content. But perhaps the most fascinating is a set of ten enameled iron placques 

[sic] of Standard Colors for Kitchen and Bathroom Accessories. The Nation's measurement system involved a lot more than mass, length, time, and volts. 

If calibrations and standard samples can be thought of as the "hardware" of the 

measurement system, then publications and conferences can be thought of as the 

"software." Aside from its many research publications, which are often concerned with 

methods of measurement, from time to time the Bureau published unabashedly tutorial 

documents on measurements and standardization problems. Three published near 1950 

illustrate the nature of these publications: Circular 470, Precision Resistors and Their 

Measurement, by James L. Thomas in 1948; Circular 476, Measurement of Radioactivity, by Leon F. Curtiss in 1949; and Circular 490, The Geiger-Mueller Counter, 

also by Curtiss in 1950. In character these publications ranged from introductory 

papers directed at new workers in a field to short monographs directed at advanced 

workers. This effort culminated in 1969 with the publication of the first of ten volumes 

entitled Precision Measurement and Calibrations. Published as NBS Special Publication 300, these ten volumes are a collection of previously published papers by Bureau 

staff members on measurement aspects of various topics, e.g., temperature, time and 

frequency, photometry and radiometry, and heat. 

From time to time, conferences on particular topics are held at the Bureau. But there 

is one yearly conference that deserves special mention. Beginning in 1905, after two 

years of trying, the Bureau convened a conference of state weights and measures officials. The object of the conference was the discussion of both the technical and administrative problems in administering the weights and measures programs of the various 

states. Only six states attended the first conference, but the idea caught on. Called the 

National Conference on Weights and Measures, meetings have been held yearly since 

1905, with the exception of war years and some depression years, so that the eightieth 

meeting took place in 1994. Each meeting has a published report. In 1950, 143 officials from 34 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico; 123 representatives of 

business and industry; and 24 persons from Federal agencies attended. These conferences, and others like them, such as the National Conference on State Building Codes 

and Standards, have done a great deal to ensure the uniformity of measurements—and 

of the administration and uniformity of weights and measures regulations—throughout 

the Nation. 

32 
The best way to transfer knowledge and skill from one person to another is for 

people to work together. Thus, since 1920 the Bureau has had a program by which, 

under specified conditions, technical, industrial, and commercial organizations can send a person or persons to work with a member of the Bureau staff, thus getting the benefit 

of the Bureau facilities and the knowledge of its staff. Such persons are called 

Research Associates. The conditions under which such an arrangement could be made 

were (and are) that the project be of value to both the supporting organization and the 

Federal Government, and the Nation at large. All results are published. By 1950, more 

than 175 organizations had supported Research Associates at the Bureau, and in that 

year, 13 groups supported 62 associates. Perhaps the best-known arrangement is with 

the American Dental Association, which has supported a group of Research Associates 

at the Bureau since 1924. These associates and their Bureau colleagues carry out the 

bulk of the Nation's research on dental materials. Other associates have worked on 

fuels, electron tubes, commercial adsorbents, electrodeposition, corn products, cement, 

concrete, standards for x-ray diffraction analysis, chinaware, porcelain enamel, and 

asphalt roofing. 

The National Bureau of Standards in 1950, then, was a many-faceted, multi-functional institution. It was a respected scientific laboratory with a broad program of 

studies. It performed work for other agencies of the Government, and carried out 

research in support of its own basic mission. Most important, and the function from 

which its nature and character derived, it was custodian of the national standards. The 

institution that has this function is a unique institution, and this made the Bureau 

unique, both in function and character. Usually invisible, it was present when any 

physical measurement was made, and since measurements pervade a modern industrial 

society, so also did its presence. And having no regulatory power, it could not force 

itself upon the Nation, but it was nevertheless the final arbiter in measurement 

questions, at least in principle. To function effectively in this position its work had to 

be thorough, scholarly, and technically impeccable, and as an institution it had to be 

perceived to be honest, objective, and totally apolitical. And this was how it was 

almost universally regarded. 

It functioned well in this basic measurement mission. The technical work needed to 

compare instruments with the basic standards, to increase the accuracy of realization of 

those standards, and to develop new standards for new or old quantities requires 

painstaking attention to detail, thorough scholarship, and study of all the factors that 

can affect the accuracy of the result. In its requirements of thoroughness and attention 

to detail, the work is as much scholarship as it is scientific research. It requires a persnickety mind. This philosophy of work rubs off onto the rest of the institution, so that it becomes objective, scholarly, and attentive to detail—just the qualities needed to 

function in the unique position it holds in the Nation. The character of the institution 

derives from its function. 

Its relative position in the Federal Government had, however, changed in the fortynine years of its history. No longer was it the only physical science laboratory in the 

Government, as it had been for a large part of its history. The National laboratories 

had been formed in the immediate postwar period. The military had formed its own 

laboratories, and would form more. But in one important aspect, the Bureau's position 

33 
had remained the same. These other Government laboratories had, and still have, 

specific—though often widening—missions, the National laboratories in atomic 

energy, and the military laboratories in the requirements of their specific branch of the 

military. These laboratories could not be expected to concern themselves with breaking 

train axles or rails. The Bureau, on the other hand, was quite different. While it had a very specific basic mission, the remainder of its enabling legislation was so broad that 

it could work in almost any area of science it could justify, and it was called upon to 

work on national problems as they arose. And it was allowed to perform work under 

contract for other agencies of the Government, so that in 1950 a full 57 percent of its 

work was carried out for other agencies. In a corporate analogy, the other laboratories 

of the Federal Government were, and are, divisional laboratories, doing research to foster their divisions (and hence, of course, the corporation). The Bureau, on the other 

hand, was (and is) the "corporate," or "central," laboratory, concerned with all of the 

problems of the corporation (Nation), and in the process carrying out contract research 

for the divisions (other agencies). 

THE TECHNICAL WORK 

After all is said and done, after all questions of function, character, policy, size and 

resources are answered, the products of the Bureau that really matter to the Nation are the accomplishments of its laboratories—the technical work of its scientists, engineers, 

assistants, technicians, craftsmen, and administrative personnel. In this, of course, it is no different from any other high-quality research laboratory. Only its unique position 

makes it special. 

What, then, did these 3100 people, working on their 68-odd acres in Washington 

and their 23 field stations, actually turn out? To give even a condensed accounting 

of what was done would mean reproducing the Annual Report for 1950, a clearly 

inappropriate course here. Rather than that, some examples will be given of the 

Bureau's work, first in the relatively routine area of calibration, testing, and standard 

samples, and then some from its research 

work a direct outgrowth of the Bureau's custody of the 

Nation's basic physical standards, as has been described. While the development of 

methods of test and calibration can involve considerable research, once these methods are established, the actual testing and calibration can be made rather routine, although 

great care and skill are still required. This is fortunate, for the volume of work is 

great. Thus, in 1950, over 250 000 tests and calibrations were performed for other 

Government agencies and for the general public, and 19 000 standard samples were 

distributed. This included sample-testing of 9 million barrels of cement, and 4 million 

light bulbs purchased by the Government. The latter involved the actual life testing of 

5000 bulbs, roughly one in 800. About 2300 raw sugar samples were assayed for the 

Customs Service to assist it in determining import duties. 

The description of the work in testing, calibration, and standard samples comes directly from the Annual 

Reports. The description of the research work is considerably expanded from what is found there. 

34 
Some interesting activities in this testing and calibration area were: • Over 2000 radium preparations were tested, principally for Government and 

private hospitals and clinics where they were used for radiation therapy. All such 

preparations sold in the United States were tested and certified by the Bureau, 

since no commercial laboratory was equipped to do this work. 

• Nearly 1100 radioactivity standard samples were sold. In 1941, the Surgeon 

General's office requested the Bureau to establish a program to protect the life 

and health of people working with radium. The Bureau began systematic measurements of the radon (a product of the radioactive decay of radium) content of 

the air in the areas where persons worked and, in 1950, 898 such determinations 

were made. 

• Over 14 000 items of electrical apparatus were tested for manufacturers, electric 

utilities, public utilities commissions, universities, private testing laboratories, and 

Federal agencies. 

• A total of 63 366 calibrations of measurement standards for such quantities as length, area, angle, mass, volume, and density were carried out. 

• A total of 15 318 thermometers, including 3078 liquid-in-glass laboratory 

thermometers, 132 resistance thermometers, 289 thermocouples, and 11 819 

clinical thermometers were tested or calibrated. 

• Five pursuit cars, 18 motor truck speed governors, and 615 automotive spark 

plugs were tested for Government agencies. 

• The Federal tax on beer in 1950 was $800 million. The Bureau tested 266 beer 

meters, whose accuracy is essential for the correct computation of the tax. A beer 

meter measures the total volume of beer produced by a brewery. 

• Road tests of tires were made in collaboration with the Post Office Department 

and the National Capital Parks Police. These showed a variation of almost two to one in the wear rate of tires made from different manufacturers. 

• Electron tubes for various purposes were tested for other Government agencies. 

• Instruments and devices of almost every conceivable type for radio were tested 

and calibrated. 

The diversity in the items in this list, ranging from the esoteric to the mundane, 

illustrate the enormous variety of the Bureau's work. But despite the impressive 

numbers in this recitation, these tests, calibrations, and standard samples do not represent the main output of the Bureau. Most of its work was research, both in its own 

mission and in work for other agencies of the Government. The bulk of this work was reported in the open scientific literature, although many reports—often classified— were prepared for the sponsoring agencies, which in 1950 were mainly military agencies and the Atomic Energy Commission. The development of devices like the 

magnetic clutch, and a currency counter developed for the Treasury Department, also 

formed part of the Bureau's output.69 Thus, in the fiscal year ending on June 30, 

1952, Bureau staff published 1500 papers and reports.7° Of these, 1000 were reports, 

The magnetic clutch is described in the Annual Report, 1948: 24, and the currency counter in the 

Annual Report, 1950: 273. 

70Annual Report, 1952. 

35 
This model auto bus, equipped with a magnetic fluid clutch and a magnetic fluid 

brake, was constructed at NBS to demonstrate the potential application of the magnetic 

fluid principle to automobile clutches. Jacob Rabinow, inventor of the clutch, operated 

the model. 

classified and unclassified, most of them for other agencies of the Government. 

Approximately 300 papers were published in the open scientific literature, 115 in the 

Bureau's own Journal of Research, and the remainder in professional society journals. 

In addition, 118 summary reports were published in the Bureau's Technical News Bulletin, and monthly data that permitted the choice of the best frequencies for long-range 

radio communication were published in Basic Radio Propagation Predictions, another 

publication of the Bureau. Finally, there were forty-three longer papers published in the 

Bureau's nonperiodical series: six in the Applied Mathematics series; five in the Handbook series; sixteen in the Circular series; six in the Building Materials and 

Structures series, and five in the Miscellaneous Publications series. 

Out of this wealth of output, six projects—chosen somewhat arbitrarily—offer 

examples of the Bureau's scientific work. All, along with many others, are found in the Annual Reports. While the treatment in three of the topics is somewhat 

36 
technical, the main intent is. to describe the reasons for the Bureau's involvement in 

this work. This usually involves some history. In these technical topics, the lay reader 

may simply accept the scientific assertions made and, it is hoped, still follow the 

story. Footnotes are used both for explanation and for greater exposition for the 

technical reader. 

Length and Light: Natural Standards v. Artifacts 

As long as the meter—the national standard of length—is the distance between two 

fine scribed lines on a beautifully made bar of platinum-iridium alloy, the only way 

for the whole Nation to be on a common length basis is to compare measuring 

instruments with this national standard. Calibration is, however, a time-consuming 

process for both the calibrating laboratory and the user of the calibration service. 

Moreover, calibration does not of itself ensure measurement accuracy. It is only one step in the measurement process. An error in any of the steps—something as mundane as having the laboratory at the wrong temperature during a calibration—can degrade 

measurement accuracy. The time spent in calibration could be more fruitfully spent in 

ensuring the integrity of the whole process. 

It would be much better if the platinum-iridium meter bar (called an "artifact" in the 

trade) were replaced with a natural phenomenon or constant that could be used as a standard. Such a "natural standard" would be available to anyone—or at least anyone 

with the requisite scientific expertise—for calibration purposes. The central length 

artifact would become redundant, and the national standards laboratories would be 

relieved of the calibration business—something all would very much desire.7' It is thus 

not surprising that quite early in the industrial revolution, natural standards as alternatives to artifacts for the measurement of length should have been sought. As 

early as 1827, Jacques Babinet suggested that "a wavelength of light would be an ideal 

unit of length."72 Then in 1892 Albert A. Michelson, of Michelson-Morley fame, compared the red line of cadmium with the international meter bar and obtained a value of 

6438.4696 A for the wavelength of the spectral line.73 This was adopted in 1907 as the primary standard definition of the angstrom, and was checked several times in the 

subsequent half-century.74 In 1889, Michelson and Edward W. Morley, in a paper 

entitled "On the Feasibility of Establishing a Light-Wave as the Ultimate Standard of 

Length," wrote, "The brilliant green [mercury] line. . . in all probability this will be the 

In practice, of course, this would not happen, partly because most people would not have the requisite 

skill, and partly because calibration by the national standards laboratory is a desired certification. Note, 

however, that such certification is not an assurance of measurement accuracy. Accuracy in the calibration 

laboratory does not ensure proper use, and hence accuracy, in the field. 72 W. F. Meggers, "What Use Is Spectroscopy?" Applied Spectroscopy 6(4) (1952): 4-10. 

The angstrom unit, denoted by the symbol A, is 10_b meters. 

Meggers, "What Use Is Spectroscopy?" It is a remarkable fact that the wavelength of light—of the order 

of 600 billionths of a meter—can be measured more precisely than the distance between the scribes on 

the meter bar. 

37 
wave to be used as the ultimate standard of length."75 The prediction was premature. In 

1892 Michelson discovered that "the green line of mercury is one of the most complex 

yet examined." 

No spectral line is perfectly sharp, i.e., consists of light of a single wavelength. All 

lines contain a distribution of wavelengths. The fewer these wavelengths—the 

"narrower" the line—the more it is suitable as a length standard. Now, a number of 

factors contribute to the width of the line. First, there is a natural width caused by 

inherent quantum mechanical characteristics of the line itself. Second is the temperature needed to excite the line. Third is the pressure, and fourth is the effects of electric 

and magnetic fields. But most important for the purpose here are so-called isotope 

shifts.76 The same line from different isotopes of the same element are slightly different in wavelength. Natural mercury is a mixture of seven different isotopes with mass numbers 196, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, and The brilliant green line that Michelson and Morley had proposed as the "ultimate standard of length" in fact consisted of 

seven very closely spaced lines. As a length standard, naturally occurring mercury was not very useful. 

However, as suggested by Jacob H. Wiens and Luis W. Alvarez, the advent of 

nuclear reactors made it possible to prepare pure mercury-198 by transmutation of 

gold, and to use the wavelength of the light from it as a length standard.78 Beginning 

in 1947, William F. Meggers and F. Oliver Westfall of the Bureau's Electricity and 

Optics Division undertook to have this isotope prepared and to study its spectrum to see if in fact it could be the ultimate standard. 

The preparation of the isotope is relatively easy. Gold, of atomic mass 197, when 

irradiated with neutrons gives the radioactive isotope gold-198, which, by emission of an electron, decays with a half life of 2.7 days to mercury-198. The mercury is easily 

recovered from the gold by distillation. Meggers and Westfall had gold irradiated in a nuclear reactor by the Atomic Energy Commission, and from this they recovered 

60 mg of mercury-198 of 99.9 percent purity.79 From this they made four lamps, each 

containing 5 mg of the mercury isotope and pure argon at a pressure of 5 mm Hg, 

and proceeded to study the spectral width of the green line, and other lines in the 

spectrum of mercury. All the experimental details that had to be worked out cannot 

be covered here. Suffice it to say that the items to be investigated were the type of 

lamp, the method of exciting the spectrum, the longevity of the lamp, and the myriad 

details of the measurement of the wavelength of the lines. This last was done relative 

A. A. Michelson and E. W. Morley, "On the Feasibility of Establishing a Light-Wave as the Ultimate 

Standard of Length," American Journal of Science, 3rd series, 38(225)(1889): 183-186. 76 Isotopes of an element are chemically identical but differ in their atomic mass. W. F. Meggers and F. 0. Westfall, "Lamps and Wavelengths of Mercury 198," Journal of Research of the 

National Bureau of Standards 44 (1950): 447-455. J. H. Wiens and L. W. Alvarez, "Spectroscopically Pure Mercury (198)," Physical Review, 58 (1940): 

1005; J. H. Wiens, "Production of Hg'98 as a Possible Source of an Improved Wave-Length Standard," Physical Review 70 (1946): 910-914. 

The mercury-198 used here was from the same batch as that used in the studies of the isotope effect in 

superconductivity. 

38 
William F. Meggers peered through an electrodeless mercury-198 lamp which was made available to science 

and industry as an ultimate standard of length in 1951. Length measurements based on the circular interference fringes of green light from the lamp (background) could be made with an accuracy of one part in 100 

million. 

to the wavelength of the cadmium red line by interference techniques, since the cadmium line had been adopted by spectroscopists as a secondary standard of length, and 

as the definition of the angstrom. Indeed, the lack of sharpness of the latter is what 

determined the precision of the measurements. Nine mercury lines were measured, with 

the value of 5460.7532 A obtained for Michelson's "ultimate standard of length" green 

line. The accuracy obtained was one part in 100 million, and preliminary results obtained at the National Physical Laboratory in England and at the International Bureau 

of Weights and Measures (BIPM) in France were in agreement with the NBS results. 

As frequently happens, this was not the last word. In due course an even more 

precise wavelength standard for length was to be adopted in 1960, and this replaced 

the old meter bar, which then became a historical relic. But the standard was not the 

green line of mercury- 198. It was the even narrower orange-red line of krypton-86, 

with the meter being defined as the length of 1 650 763.73 wavelengths. However, the 

mercury- 198 line has continued in use as a reliable and convenient working standard. 

39 
Relative sharpness of the mercury 

line compared to the cadmium line. 

The previous example of the Bureau's work was concerned with its unique measurement mission. As previously discussed, this was only a part of the Bureau's work. In 

particular, in 1950, a full 57 percent of the Bureau's work was performed for other 

agencies of the Government. Work in computers and applied mathematics illustrates 

the nature of one of these other agency activities. 

In 1950, the Bureau was no stranger to applied mathematics. Since 1938, it had been 

involved in the administration and sponsorship of the Mathematical Tables Project in 

New York. Begun as a Works Progress Administration project in 1938 to compute 

tables of mathematical functions, in 1943 the support of the project had been assumed 

by the Office of Scientific Research and Development. Subsequently, war problems 

40 

Applied Mathematics and Computers 
were undertaken by the Project. In the fall of 1946, OSRD support was withdrawn, but 

was replaced with support from what is now the Office of Naval Research. It had been a very successful project, 28 000 volumes of its tables having been sold to the general 

public between 1940 and 1946. 

Partly because of this background, and in large measure because of his personal 

experience, when Edward U. Condon became director of the Bureau in 1945, he began 

to set up a program in applied mathematics, and hired John Hamilton Curtiss, then a lieutenant commander in the Navy, and previously professor of mathematics at Cornell 

University. Curtiss became an assistant to the director with special instructions to be 

concerned with the statistics of measurements. But developments conspired to give him 

and the Bureau much greater responsibility. 

In 1945, computers were becoming a magic word. Everyone wanted one, but few 

could make them. Two who had proved themselves were J. Presper Eckert and John 

W. Mauchly of the University of Pennsylvania, who had produced the successful 

ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer). Thus, when they approached 

the Bureau of the Census in 1946 with a proposal to build a computer for that agency 

to help with analysis of the 1950 census results, Census paid attention. The Census 

Bureau turned to the National Bureau of Standards for help and advice. In April 1946, 

the Census Bureau transferred funds to NBS, which was to select and purchase an appropriate computer. Early in 1947, the Bureau contracted with Eckert and Mauchly 

for the Census computer, now to be called UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer). 

Soon the Bureau was swamped with computer money and obligations. The Army 

Ordnance Department transferred funds to the Bureau for research and development of 

computer components. Almost immediately, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) 

41 

John H. Curtiss, chief of the National 

Applied Mathematics Laboratories 

from 1946 to 1953, was responsible 

for the development of computers, 

statistical service to government and 

private industry, research aimed at extending the part played by applied 

mathematics in scientific research, 

and training scientists in the methods 

used in this field. 
transferred funds to the Bureau for the procurement of a computer. In due course, the 

Bureau contracted for this computer with the Raytheon Company in early 1947. 

Meanwhile, early in 1946, Admiral Harold G. Bowen of ONR approached Condon 

with the idea that ONR and NBS jointly set up a laboratory that would be equipped 

with high-speed computing machinery, lead in the development of such machinery, and 

serve as a central computation facility. Finally, in 1947, two more UNIVAC's were 

ordered: one for the Air Comptroller and one for the Army Map Service. 

A year of study on Admiral Bowen's proposal "revealed the need for a Federal 

center of applied mathematics. . . . Accordingly, the plans which finally emerged 

proposed that a facility with a mission considerably broader than that of a central 

computing laboratory should be established; further, that it should take the form of a new division of the National Bureau of Standards."8° Following this advice and to 

organize all the new responsibilities the Bureau had acquired, Condon, in 1947, 

established the National Applied Mathematics Laboratories as Division 11 of the 

Bureau, and appointed Curtiss as its chief. The new NAML consisted of four units: 

The Institute for Numerical Analysis at UCLA, a Computation Laboratory which was to be a development of the old Work Projects Administration (WPA) project, a Statistical Engineering Laboratory, and a Machine Development Laboratory. The last three were located at the Washington site. Thus, partly because of the desires of its director 

and partly because of the needs of the Navy—and using primarily military money—the 

Bureau had a new activity. 

By 1948, it became clear that none of the computers which had been ordered would 

be completed on schedule. In the meantime, the Bureau had made plans to build a small "interim" computer, partly because of the delay in delivery, and partly to gain 

experience in machine construction and This activity was supported by the 

Air Comptroller, and was soon expanded to construct a full computer rather than an interim device. 

The Bureau was in a good position to build a computer. During World War II it had 

gained great expertise in electronics and production of electronic components and 

devices.82 Its work on the proximity fuze and in guided missiles had led it to specialize 

in miniaturization of components, and into the development of the printed circuit. It was therefore undaunted at the prospect of building a computer—it was simply another 

electronic device, albeit more complicated. Indeed, under the previously mentioned 

contract with the Ordnance Department, the Bureau was developing basic computer 

components: memory organs, input-output equipment, specialized electron tubes for 

gating, switching, signal delay, interval timing, and pulse shaping.83 

Construction of the computer was begun in the fall of 1948 in the NBS Electronics 

Division by a group under Samuel N. Alexander, and with active collaboration by 

80j H. Curtiss, "A Federal Program in Applied Mathematics," Science 107 (1948): 259. 

Harry D. Huskey, "The SWAC, The National Bureau of Standards Western Automatic Computer" in A History of Computing in the Twentieth Century, ed. N. Metropolis, J. Howlett, and Gian-Carlo Rota 

(New York: Academic Press, 1980: 419-431. 82 MFP, 451-462. 83 "A History of NBS Computer Developments," Technical News Bulletin 51(1967): 168-172, 181. 

42 
members of the Machine Development Laboratory. By modem standards the specifications for the computer were modest enough: 512 forty-four-bit words of mercurydelay-line memory (later expanded with 512 words of electrostatic memory), a cycle 

time of one megahertz, and input and output by teletype punched paper tape (later 

replaced with magnetic wire and tape)—but they were the state of the art. An item of 

note and a harbinger of the future is that all the logical operations of the computer 

were carried out by germanium diodes; vacuum tubes were used only for amplification. 

Thus it was the first computer to use solid-state electronics extensively. It was dedicated on June 20, 1950, just twenty months after construction had begun. It was first 

named Standards Electronic Automatic Computer, but later re-named as Standards 

Eastern Automatic Computer (SEAC). The change was occasioned by the building of a companion computer at the Institute for Numerical Analysis at UCLA and naming it 

the Standards Western Automatic Computer (SWAC), dedicated on August 17, 1950. 

The latter computer was quite different in logical design and construction, being a parallel machine in which all the digits of a number in memory are changed simultaneously, had electrostatic memory rather than mercury-delay-line memory, and also 

used a magnetic drum memory. 

At the time SEAC was dedicated it was the only stored program machine in the 

United States, and the fastest such machine in the world. It was not, however, the first 

stored program machine internationally, having been preceded by the EDSAC at the 

43 

Among those who prepared SEAC 

for its pioneering role were Ralph J. 

Slutz, examining the paper tape 

punched with input data, and 

Samuel N. Alexander, examining the 

computer's printout. 
University of Cambridge, a machine at the University of Manchester, and probably the 

ACE machine at Cambridge.84 SEAC worked until April 1964, when it was retired, 

and its remains are at the Smithsonian Institution. From its initial operation it worked on numerous important problems. The first one was the tracing of skew rays through a compound lens. This was followed by many others: the solution of partial differential 

equations by Monte Carlo methods, the generation of optimum sampling plans for the 

Census Bureau, the calculation of transient stresses on aircraft structures, the development of accounting procedures for the Social Security Administration, problems in 

crystal structure and the relative abundance of the elements, the wave functions of 

atoms; and the designs of the synchrotron and of electric circuits. It was extensively 

used by the AEC for calculations on highly secret projects, believed by some of the 

Bureau staff to be associated with the hydrogen bomb. It was also used in what was 

probably the first automatically calculated Earth-Moon trajectory. 

The Isotope Effect in Superconductivity 

Superconductivity is a fascinating property exhibited by some materials. Below a well-defined temperature, the material loses all electrical resistance, and an electric 

current induced in a superconducting loop can in principle continue to flow indefinitely. The temperature at which the normal state transitions to the superconducting 

state occurs depends on the magnetic field; a sufficiently strong magnetic field will 

prevent superconductivity at all temperatures. But perhaps most important for the 

Bureau's purposes, it occurs at very low, but well-specified, temperature—only a few 

degrees above absolute zero, at least for the superconductors known in 1950. The 

reason for this importance lies in the nature of standards for temperature scales. 

Unlike standards such as those for mass, length, and electrical resistance, the unit of 

measurement of temperature—the degree, either Celsius, Fahrenheit, or kelvin—cannot 

be stored in a vault, to be removed periodically to standardize measuring instruments. 

What can be stored in a vault (but more likely in a laboratory rather than in a vault) is a device to measure temperature—a thermometer. But what establishes a temperature 

scale is not a thermometer, which does nothing but give an indication of some kind 

(e.g., the length of a fine column of liquid-in-glass capillary tube) when its temperature 

is changed. What establishes the scale is a series of "fixed points." Thus on the Celsius 

scale (previously called the "centigrade" scale), the temperature of ice in equilibrium 

with air-saturated water at a pressure of one atmosphere (the fixed point called the "ice 

point") is defined as zero degrees. And the temperature of boiling water, again at one 

atmosphere (the fixed point called the "steam point"), is defined as 100 degrees. 

The corresponding temperatures on the Fahrenheit scale are 32 and 212 degrees, 

respectively. Assigning temperatures to these two fixed points defines the size of the 

degree, and defines the temperature scale over this temperature range. Assigning other 

fixed points (usually boiling and melting points of pure substances) extends the scale 

beyond the ice and steam points, but no temperature can be lower than "absolute zero," 

84 Ralph J. Slutz, "Memories of the Bureau of Standards' SEAC" in A History of Computing in the 

Twentieth Century, ed. N. Metropolis, J. Howlett, and Gian-Carlo Rota (New York: Academic Press, 1980): 476. 

44 
which occurs at —273.15 °C on the Celsius scale—a value established with the gas 

thermometer, a precise first-principle instrument used in laboratories specializing in 

temperature measurement.85 But in any case, fixed points are natural phenomena and 

hence accessible to anyone with adequate equipment. Because of this accessibility 

they are in a sense superior as standards to stored artifacts. Anyone can use them to 

calibrate any kind of thermometer. 

Ever since Kamerlingh Onnes at the University of Leiden discovered in 1908 how to 

liquify helium, physics at very low temperatures became an active and fascinating field 

of research. Helium itself showed a very interesting and totally unexpected property. 

At a temperature of 2.18 K, 2.03 K below its boiling point, it showed a dramatic drop 

in its viscosity as the temperature was lowered.86 It became a "superfluid" and apparently remained so down to absolute zero. Equally striking, Onnes discovered in 1911 

that mercury, at a temperature of 4.15 K, lost all electrical resistance; it became a "superconductor." By 1950, twenty pure metals and a large number of alloys were 

known to be superconductors. 

Because of the intrinsic interest of their electrical properties, and because of their 

possible use as temperature fixed points at very low temperatures, it was natural that 

the Bureau should be interested in superconductors at a very early date. Thus it is not 

surprising that as early as 1918, Francis Silsbee, then an assistant physicist in the 

Electricity Division, should be concerned with superconductivity. He in fact enunciated 

what was to become known as the Silsbee effect.87 It was known that currents higher 

85 The temperature scale defined by fixed points, and the thermometers used in various ranges of temperature 

is called the International Practical Temperature Scale. The thermodynamic, or kelvin, scale uses only one fixed point, the triple point of water (i.e., ice in equilibrium liquid water under its own vapor pressure). This 

temperature is, by definition, 273.16 K. Because of the temperature difference between the triple point of 

water and that of ice and water in equilibrium in one atmosphere of air, the temperature of the triple point of 

water on the Celsius scale is 0.01 °C. Absolute zero on the Celsius scale is —273.15 °C and, of course, 0 K on the kelvin scale. However, the size of the degree on the kelvin scale (called simply a "kelvin") is identical to that of the degree on the Celsius scale. The International Practical Temperature Scale, determined by a number of fixed points, is maintained in a periodically updated agreement with the kelvin scale. 

In 1950, four fixed points besides the ice and steam points were defined by the International Bureau of 

Weights and Measures. These were the boiling point of oxygen at —182.970 °C; the boiling point of sulfur at 444.600 °C; the freezing point of silver at 960.8 °C; and the freezing point of gold at 1063.0 °C. Other 

fixed points are added periodically to define the scale further. Different thermometers are used in different 

temperature ranges. 86 temperature of the boiling point of helium was deduced from the platinum resistance thermometer. 

Below this point, temperatures were calculated from the vapor pressure of helium and its heat of vaporization using the Clausius-Clapeyron equation. 87 Francis B. Silsbee, "Note on Electrical Conduction in Metals at Low Temperatures," Bulletin of the 

Bureau of Standards 14(2) (1918): 301-306. The paper contains this perceptive passage at the end: "The 

theories thus far proposed to account for superconductivity.. . do not specifically indicate the existence of a critical magnetic field, and only the latter accounts for a threshold-current density. . . . If it is true . . . that the 

magnetic effect is the more fundamental, it would seem that this fact might afford a valuable clue leading 

toward a more satisfactory theory of the superconducting state In 1918 the Bureau had no facilities for 

the production of liquid helium and hence no experimental program in superconductivity. Since Walther 

Meissner and R. Ochsenfeld discovered in 1933 that the behavior of superconductors in a magnetic field is 

indeed crucial in understanding the nature of the superconducting state, one is led to wonder what might 

have happened if the Bureau had had an experimental program in superconductivity. 

45 
than a critical value destroyed superconductivity. Silsbee hypothesized that the value of 

this critical current was such that the magnetic field it caused at the surface of the 

current-carrying superconductor was just enough to destroy the superconductivity. This 

conjecture was justified experimentally several times.88 

Silsbee's conjecture was purely theoretical. Experimental work could not be done, 

for while the Bureau had had a program in low-temperature physics since 1904 when 

it purchased a hydrogen liquefier, it could not reach the temperatures of interest for 

superconductivity until 1948 when it purchased a helium liquefier.89 Results came 

quickly. That the superconducting transition temperature might depend on the atomic 

mass, and hence the isotopic composition, had been conjectured several times, and 

attempts to measure this effect had been made with isotopes of lead.9° No effect was 

found, probably because temperature control at the transition temperature of lead 

(7.26 K) is difficult. In 1950, with the development of atomic energy research, pure 

isotopes of several superconducting metals became available, so it became possible to 

look for the effect again. 

Working with a 98 percent pure sample of mercury-I 98, and natural mercury with an average atomic weight of 200.6, Emanuel Maxwell of the Heat and Power 

Division's Low Temperature Physics Section found a difference of 0.021 K in the 

superconducting transition temperatures. The lighter isotope had the higher transition 

temperature.9' At a transition temperature of approximately 4.15 K, a difference of 

0.02 1 K is substantial. At the same time (both papers were received by the editor of 

the Physical Review on March 24, 1950), Charles A. Reynolds, Bernard Serin, 

Wilbur H. Wright, and Lloyd B. Nesbitt of Rutgers University announced similar 

results for four different isotopic compisitions of mercury.92 In a further analysis of 

their results, the Rutgers group announced that the transition was approximately 

proportional to the inverse square root of the isotopic mass.93 

As these results were being obtained, and quite independently of them, Herbert 

Fröhlich, of the University of Liverpool, was developing a theory of superconductivity. 

While his paper was in proof, he learned of the experimental results and added a 

note pointing out that his theory predicted that the transition temperature should be 

88 Russell B. Scott, "Destruction of Superconductivity by Current," Journal of Research of the National 

Bureau of Standards 41 (1948): 58 1-588; and references therein. 89 MFP, 466. 9° E. Maxwell, "Superconductivity of the Isotopes of Tin," Physical Review 86 (1952): 235-242, gives 

references for these early attempts. 

E. Maxwell, "Isotope Effect in the Superconductivity of Mercury," Physical Review 78 (1950): 477. 

C. A. Reynolds, B. Serin, W. H. Wright, and L. B. Nesbitt, "Superconductivity of Isotopes of Mercury," 

Physical Review 78 (1950): 487. 

C. A. Reynolds, B. Serin, and L. B. Nesbitt, "Superconductivity of Isotopes of Mercury," Physical Review 

78 (1950): 813-814. 

46 
inversely proportional to the square root of the isotopic mass.94 Upon learning of the 

Fröhlich theory, both Maxwell and the Rutgers group carried out more extensive measurements. The Rutgers group, re-analyzing their previous data, which had some ambiguities, were first to show that the theoretical prediction was indeed correct.95 

Maxwell, working with isotopes of tin later, also confirmed the theoretical prediction.96 

A new scientific fact had been discovered. It is interesting to note that the work at both 

the Bureau and at Rutgers was supported by the Office of Naval Research. 

In its early attempts to explain the effect, the Bureau felt that "the nucleus must 

have an important effect on the superconducting properties of the metal."97 This is, of 

course, true, but is little more than a re-statement of the experimental results. Fröhlich, 

and in due course John Bardeen, Leon N. Cooper, and J. Robert Schrieffer, in their 

Nobel Prize theory of superconductivity, showed that the interaction of the electrons 

with the lattice vibrations is the crucial element in determining superconductivity. All 

else being equal (as in isotopes), the frequency of the lattice vibrations varies inversely 

with the square root of the isotopic mass, and this is the origin of the isotope effect. 

The use of superconductors to define temperature fixed points would have to be done 

with great care, and would involve using pure isolopes. 

The Charters of Freedom 

For a country that reveres the documents on which it is based—the Declaration of 

Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, aptly called the "Charters of 

Freedom" by the National Archives—the United States treated these documents rather 

cavalierly for about the first hundred years of their history. Indeed, Verner Clapp, 

former chief assistant librarian of the Library of Congress, wrote, "The Declaration of 

Independence is one of the most abused documents in the history of preservation of 

documents."98 Other authorities somewhat more charitably blame the lack of knowledge of conservation science for the condition of the documents. The Bureau's activities in the preservation of the Charters is an excellent illustration of how its abilities 

could be turned to unusual problems, and of its role as the Nation's corporate laboratory. 

H. FrOhlich, "Theory of the Superconducting State. I. The Ground State at the Absolute Zero of Temperature," Physical Review 79 (1950): 845-856. This paper was received on May 16, 1950. There is an interesting sideline to this story. FrOhlich learned of the experimental results when he was spending some time at Purdue University lecturing on his theory. At the beginning of one of the sessions he excitedly announced 

the experimental results, and that they showed that there was an isotope effect, as his theory predicted. In the 

audience was Ralph P. Hudson, who was shortly thereafter to join the Bureau and eventually become chief 

of the Low Temperature Physics Section and the Heat and Power Division. 

B. Serin, C. A. Reynolds, and L. B. Nesbitt, "Mass Dependence of the Superconducting Transition 

Temperature of Mercury," Physical Review 80 (1950): 761. 

E. Maxwell, "Superconductivity of S&24," Physical Review 79 (1950): 173. 

Annual Report, 1950: 33. 

V. Clapp, "The Declaration of Independence; A Case Study in Conservation," Special Libraries 62 (1971): 

503. 

47 
Of the three documents (a total of seven sheets of parchment), the Declaration is in 

far worse shape than the others. The ink is now so faded that it is practically illegible. 

The signatures of the delegates to the Continental Congress are in bad 

condition. The document suffered great tribulations. Following its 

signing of the parchment document took place on August 2, 1776, but not all the delegates signed at that time. During the Revolutionary War it followed the Continental 

Congress in all its moves. It was stored in a rolled-up configuration, from 

the top down. Periodically it was unrolled so that other delegates could sign it, and 

obliteration of the signatures presumably began)°° 

In July 1789, the Declaration and the other Charters were given into the custody of 

the Department of Foreign Affairs (renamed Department of State on September 15 of 

the same year), and they travelled from New York to Philadelphia, to Washington, 

thence to Leesburg for three weeks while the British occupied Washington in 1814, 

and finally back to Washington. 

Most importantly, in 1820 Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, apparently concerned about the legibility of the Declaration, commissioned an engraving from 

William J. Stone. Stone transferred an image from the parchment document onto a copper plate by what was probably a wet process, which further degraded the image of 

the original. But he did make an engraving from which reproductions could be made, 

and all present copies of the Declaration come from that engraving. Perhaps Secretary 

Adams acted wisely, despite the fact that the process degraded the original. The copper 

plate is now at the National Archives. 

The Patent Office was located administratively in the State Department and it had a nice, bright, white-painted room. In 1841 the Declaration was given to that office for 

display. It hung in the Patent Office for thirty-five years opposite a window and ex- posed to sunlight. Even in the absence of the body of knowledge about the preservation of documents then available, this action would appear to have been taken without a great deal of thought. The other documents were not on display, but were taken out 

of storage to show to important visitors. 

In 1876, the Declaration was exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, 

where its appearance elicited considerable concerned comment. This spurred Congress 

to appoint a commission "to have resort to such means as will most effectively restore 

the writing of the original manuscript.. . with the signatures appended thereto 

Nothing was done. In 1877, the Declaration was put on display in the new State, War, 

and Navy Building (now the Executive Office Building), but then in a room where 

smoking was permitted and in which there was a fireplace. Finally, following the recommendations of two committees of the National Academy of Sciences, all the 

Charters were carefully wrapped and stored in the dark in a steel case. Proper care of 

the documents was at last beginning to occur. To engross is to prepare the usually final handwritten or printed text of an official document. All of the 

"Charters of Freedom" were handwritten. 

'°° Elizabeth Hawthorn Buck, "The Declaration as a Document," Manuscripts 10(3) (1958): 6. 

'°' David C. Mearns, The Declaration of Independence: The Story of a Parchment (Library of 

Congress, 1950): 3. 

48 
In 1920, a third committee of preservation experts, formed this time by the secretary 

of state, wrote after examining the Declaration, "We see no reason why the original 

document should not be exhibited if the parchment be laid between two sheets of 

glass, hermetically sealed at the edges and exposed only to diffused light."102 

Nothing was done in the State Department because on September 29, 1921, President Warren G. Harding ordered that all the documents save the Bill of Rights be 

transferred to the Library of Congress.'°3 There the documents received great attention. 

A marble and bronze shrine was built for them on the west wall of the second-floor 

gallery where no direct sunlight could strike them. They were placed below two panes 

of glass between which there was an orange-yellow gelatin filter to further protect the 

documents from degradation by light. The documents were not, however, in hermetically sealed cases. 

Not everything was perfect even in this regal setting. A report came that a visitor 

had seen a silverfish on one of the documents.'°4 There were further reports that 

buffalo beetles were in the documents)°5 Moreover, the Library was not air-conditioned, so the documents were subjected to large changes in the relative humidity and, 

because of their location in the Library, to large changes in temperature. And science 

had shown that air pollutants could hasten degradation of documents, and in this 

setting the Charters were exposed to the ambient air. Thus, in 1940, Archibald 

McLeish, then Librarian of Congress, asked the National Bureau of Standards to look 

into the best method of displaying the documents. 

The Bureau was a good place to look into this matter. Because of its work in commodity testing, it had been concerned with the durability of organic materials—paper, 

textiles, leather, fur skins—since early in the century. Two of its staff members— 

Bourdon W. Scribner and Arthur E. Kimberly—were authorities on paper, and authors 

of an extensive review on the preservation of records, paying special attention to the 

effect of sulphur dioxide as an air pollutant.'°6 The Bureau quickly accepted McLeish's 

request and on March 16, 1940, Bureau Director Lyman J. Briggs sent to the Library a short report containing the following recommendations: 

It is recommended that both documents be inclosed within sealed receptacles, 

and that the air within these receptacles be replaced with a chemically inert 

gas, such as nitrogen, helium, or argon, the gas to contain approximately 

4 grains of moisture per cubic foot.. . . This would eliminate the danger of 

having excessive moisture in the documents at any time. Storing. . . in an inert gas will remove the possibility of deterioration from oxidation or from 

acid hydrolysis resulting from absorption of sulphur dioxide from the atmosphere. 107 

102 ibid., 7-8. 03 Bill of Rights was transferred to the National Archives in 1938. 104 Clapp, "The Declaration of Independence": 505. 05 Interview with E. Carroll Creitz, July 29, 1987: 3. (NIST Oral History File) 

'°6A. E. Kimberly and B. W. Scribner, Summary Report of Bureau of Standards on Preservation of Records, 

NatI. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Miscellaneous Publication 154; March 1937. 

"Inspection of the Original Copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United 

States," report from Lyman J. Briggs to Martin A. Roberts, Assistant Librarian of Congress, March 16, t940. 

49 
The Library of Congress delivered the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States 

to NBS. 

Letter, E. U. Condon to John D. Briggs, President of Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company, August 12, 

1947. The reference to the Bill of Rights appears to be an error, for that document was in the custody of the 

National Archives, and the Bureau was not asked to encase it until May 9, 1952, by Robert H. Bahmer, 

Acting Archivist of the United States. 

of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America, 

NatI. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Circular 505; July 1951. 

50 

Nothing was done on this matter during the war years, except that the documents 

were moved to Fort Knox. The subject was re-opened in 1946, and the Bureau was asked by the Librarian of Congress to "take any steps necessary to insure the preservation of. . . the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence."08 

As it had previously recommended, the Bureau decided to seal the documents in an inert atmosphere in glass cases, and a full-scale project was begun under the leadership 

of Gordon M. Kline, chief of the Plastics Section, and subsequently chief of the Division of Organic and Fibrous Materials.'09 There were a number of technical 

problems to be solved: 
1. The production of the enclosure and the sealing of the documents in it. 

2. The inert gas to be used. 

3. Control of the relative humidity in the enclosure. 

4. Detection of leaks. 

5. Provision of protection from harmful radiation. 

The first problem was easily solved. At that time, the Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass 

Company produced thermopane windows. These are essentially two parallel panes of 

glass with a hermetically sealed space between them. They were made by depositing a border of metal along the edge of a pane, soldering a dam of lead to this metal border, 

facing this dam with another pane with a deposited border, and then soldering that 

border to the lead dam. This gives a shallow box with glass front and back and lead 

sides. Placing the documents in the box prior to the final soldering step hermetically 

seals them in the box. Libbey-Owens-Ford was asked to participate in the project. 

They accepted, and in fact it was their craftsman, Louis Gilles, who constructed the 

glass enclosures and did the sealing of the documents in the cases. 

The selection of the inert gas was simple. Helium was the obvious choice because of 

its very high thermal conductivity, which permitted leak detection by an ingenious 

means. Cells for measuring the thermal conductivity of gases had been in use at the 

Bureau for a long time as a method of gas While such cells are now 

commercially available, in 1950 they were homemade. Essentially each cell is a helix 

of platinum wire through which a current is passed. The temperature, and therefore the 

electrical resistance, of the helix depends on the thermal conductivity of the surrounding atmosphere, and thus changes in its thermal conductivity are easily detected by 

measuring resistance. In the particular application for the Charters, four such cells were 

used. Two, outside the cases, were sealed in small copper tubes containing helium, and 

two, open to the ambient atmosphere, were sealed into the cases. These four sensors 

were then arranged in a bridge circuit so that a change in resistance of any one of 

them could easily be detected. Immediately after the final sealing of the cases, all cells 

were exposed to the same atmosphere of helium, and hence the bridge was in balance. 

If any air leaks into the cases, the thermal conductivity of the atmosphere inside the case drops and the bridge shows imbalance. The whole system was calibrated so that 

the amount of leakage could be determined. It was an ingenious way to detect leaks. 

Moisture control of the atmosphere inside the enclosure is essential to prevent 

degradation. Too low a humidity leads to dehydration and embrittlement of the parchment document, and experiment and experience showed that humidity higher than 

85 percent leads to a deterioration of parchment. High humidity also leads to the 

growth of micro-organisms. Experiments had shown that the ideal humidity was between 25 percent and 35 percent. The problem was how to stabilize the humidity, 

for without stabilization the humidity would rise as the temperature decreased, and fall 

as the temperature increased. 

"°Creitz, oral history: 9. 

51 
Copper tubing which led from a pure helium source was connected to the inlet tube of the 

test enclosure containing the Declaration of Independence in order to flush all air from the 

assembly. E. Carroll Creitz sealed the joint on the enclosure after the air had been completely 

removed. 

Stabilization was accomplished by placing sheets of pure cellulose paper within the 

enclosure as a backing to the documents. Because of the great affinity of cellulose for 

water, this paper acts as a stabilizing reservoir of moisture, releasing moisture when 

the humidity decreases, and absorbing moisture when the humidity increases. The paper must be pure cellulose lest impurities in it cause its degradation with possible re- lease of degradation products that could be injurious to the parchment documents. This 

paper was produced in the Bureau's own experimental paper mill. 

The radiation filter required some research. Experiments showed that the most 

harmful rays were those in the wavelength range from 3100 A to 4300 A (i.e., from the 

blue-violet to the ultra-violet), although some radiation occurs even at longer 

wavelengths. Filters—sheets of yellow-orange colored acetate film—that absorbed the 

harmful wavelength range were obtained from the Eastman Kodak Corporation. 

Calculations showed that these sheets reduced the radiation damage by 90 percent and 

98 percent respectively for incandescent lighting and filtered sunlight, while the 

viewing efficiency was reduced by only about 35 percent. Laminated glass with an interlayer of this material was produced for the project by the American Window Glass 

Company, and panes of this glass were positioned above the cases when they were 

finally placed in the shrine. 

52 
Having all the components ready, one final question remained to be answered. Could 

they all be assembled without damaging the documents—particularly from heat during 

the final critical soldering step? In June 1950, a trial sealing using a facsimile of the 

Declaration of Independence was carried out. Temperature measurements indicated 

that no damage would occur." All indications were that the Charters of Freedom 

could be successfully encased. 

During 1951, the five leaves of the Constitution and the single leaf of the Declaration of Independence were permanently sealed in their cases. The final steps were 

flushing with helium and final closure. Properly humidified helium was passed through 

the cases for several days, using fine copper inlet and outlet tubes specifically placed 

in the lead dam for this purpose. When the leak detectors showed that no air was left 

in the cases, "pinching off' the copper tubes and final sealing took place. 

In August 1951, new, brighter lighting was installed at the shrine, using the same 

filters on the lamps as was used in the laminated glass filter in front of the document 

cases. And in September 1951, amid much ceremony, the Constitution and the Declaration were re-installed in the shrine at the Library of Congress. It seemed that the 

Charters had found a permanent home. 

That was not to be the case. On April 30, 1952, the Congressional Joint Committee 

on the Library ordered the transfer of the Declaration and the Constitution from the 

Library to the National Archives."2 Immediately, on May 9, 1952, the Archives asked 

the Bureau to encase the Bill of Rights."3 The Bureau did so, and on December 15, 

1952—Bill of Rights Day—all the Charters were transferred to the National Archives. 

The Charters had finally found a permanent home. 

In 1988, records were found describing two leaks in the document cases."4 When 

the encased documents were put on display at the Library, the cases of the Declaration 

and leaf no. I of the Constitution showed leaks. The Constitution case was repaired, 

but the evidence for the repair of the Declaration case is ambiguous. Finally, in July 

1989, following tests by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory under contract to the National 

Archives, the status of the documents was reviewed by the Advisory Committee of the 

Archives. The documents appeared to be in the same condition as at the time of 

encasing."5 There is at present no conclusive evidence that the Declaration case has a leak. Further, in the opinion of the assembled experts, a small leak would cause no 

problems, since in the present storage conditions a small admixture of oxygen would 

cause no discernible degradation. Filling the cases with helium was probably gilding 

the lily. 

This trial case is part of the NIST Museum collection and is displayed at the entrance to the NIST Library. 112 Congressional Record, 82d Cong., 2d sess., I May 1952: D403. 

Letter from Robert H. Bahmer, Acting Archivist of the United States, to Allen V. Astin, May 9, 1952. 

"4 Memorandum from Delmar W. McClellan, Acting Keeper of the Collection, to Dr. Frederick H. Wagman, 

Director, Administrative Department. Subject, "Shrine Documents, Status of." October 29, 1952. 

Conversation with Leslie E. Smith, chief, Polymers Division, and member of the advisory committee for the 

Archives, August I, 1989. 

53 
Standards and Fundamental Constants 

There are various quantities in nature that modern scientists consider to be fundamental constants. These quantities are believed to be the same for all observers, 

wherever they are in the universe, and appear not to change with time. Scientists 

believe that they have the same value now as they had at the origin of the universe. 

One example of a fundamental constant is the speed of light. Despite many attempts to 

demonstrate the opposite, this shows no temporal change. And it is a fundamental tenet 

of the theory of relativity that its value is the same for all observers, no matter what 

their relative motion. But most fundamental constants involve atomic and sub-atomic 

quantities. All properties of given atoms and their constituent parts are expected to be 

identical under the same conditions, wherever they are found. Thus the rest mass of a hydrogen atom, and that of its constituent proton and electron, are the same for all 

hydrogen atoms, and are believed to be the same now as they have ever been."6 And 

this identity is not limited to mass. The magnetic moment and angular momentum of 

all protons are identical, and the same holds true for electrons. All atomic and subatomic particles are identical replicas of one another. 

It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the measurement of fundamental constants 

should be of interest to standards laboratories. If a fundamental constant can be 

measured more accurately than can a standard, then there exists the possibility that the 

constant can be used to replace the Equally important, it can be used to 

confirm the value of a standard. 

Specifically, the value of the international ampere, which was made the legal unit of 

electric current in 1894, was defined as "the unvarying current, which, when passed 

through a solution of nitrate of silver in water in accordance with standard specifications, deposits silver at the rate of one thousand one hundred and eighteen millionths 

of a gram [1118 micrograms] per second."8 The international coulomb—the unit of 

electric charge—was defined as the "quantity of electricity transferred by a current of 

1 international ampere in I second." These definitions are very closely related to—in 

fact, they derive from—the value of the fundamental constant known as the Faraday. 

This is defined as the charge carried by I gram mole of singly charged ions, or what is 

equivalent, the charge per 1 gram of singly charged ions of unit atomic weight. Indeed, 

from the legal definition of the ampere and coulomb, and the atomic weight of silver, 

one easily calculates the value of the Faraday as 95 621.9 coulomb/mole. Thus, a determination of the Faraday is equivalent to another determination of the standard for 

current or charge. 

116 Some modem theories (so-called "Grand Unified Theories") predict that the proton may decay radioactively, but with a very long lifetime. Experiments have shown that this lifetime is greater than 1032 years— 

about 10 billion trillion times the age of the universe. 

In 1983 the speed of light was used to replace the standard of length. The unit of length is no longer the 

distance between two scratches on a platinum-iridium bar, nor the length of I 650 763.73 wavelengths of 

the orange red line of Kr86 (itself a sort of fundamental constant). It is the distance light travels in 

1/299 792 458 of a second in a vacuum. 118 The 1894 law was superseded in 1950 when the absolute rather than the international ampere became the 

legal unit. 

54 
Prior to 1950, the determination of the Faraday constant had been carried out by 

electrochemical means."9 In 1949, John A. Hipple, Helmut Sommer, and Harold A. 

Thomas of the Bureau's Atomic Physics Division devised a method for determining 

the Faraday by purely physical means.'2° The instrument they devised was modelled 

after a cyclotron, in which charged particles move in circular orbits whose plane is 

normal to an applied magnetic field. The frequency of their rotation is called the cyclotron frequency, and is given by the product of the charge to mass ratio of the particles and the magnetic field strength. Periodically they are given an accelerating pulse 

which increases their kinetic energy, hence the radius of their orbit. Hipple, Sommer, 

and Thomas did the same thing, but the acceleration was not by pulses but by a sinusoidal electric field. When the frequency of the electric field was the same as the cyclotron frequency, i.e., the two were in resonance, the ions could be made to impinge 

upon a collector. In this way, the cyclotron frequency could be measured, and measured precisely, for the resonance could be made very sharp. Then, knowing the 

strength of the magnetic field, the charge to mass ratio of the ions could be determined 

very accurately.'2' This number, multiplied by the isotopic mass of the ion, yields the 

Faraday. Since the instrument measured the cyclotron frequency, it was called the 

"omegatron" for the Greek letter used to denote angular frequency. It was a small 

device, about 5 cm X 2.5 cm X 4 cm. After two years of experimentation, the group published its final result. The obtained 

value was 96 520 ± 3 coulombs/mole,'22 which agreed well with the value of 96 519.3 

± 2.6 coulombs/mole reported by D. Norman Craig of the Electricity Division and 

James I. Hoffman of the Chemistry Division for the electrochemical oxidation of 

sodium oxalate)23 Both results were slightly, but not significantly, different from the 

definitive results of Craig, et al., of 96 516.5 ± 2.4 coulombs/mole in 1960. It was 

reassuring to be able to determine the value of the Faraday, which is basic to the definition of the ampere, without having to carry out electrochemical experiments. 

"9 D. N. Craig, J. 1. Hoffman, C. A. Law, and W. J. Hamer, "Determination of the Value of the Faraday 

With a Silver-Perchloric Acid Coulometer," Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 64A 

(1960): 381-402. This paper illustrates the exquisite care that is taken in work relating standards and 

fundamental constants. See also D. N. Craig and J. I. Hoffman, "A New Method for Determining the Value 

of the Faraday," Physical Review 80 (1950): 487. 120 A. Hipple, H. Sommer, and H. A. Thomas, "A Precise Method of Determining the Faraday by Magnetic Resonance," Physical Review 76 (1949): 1877. 121 The magnetic field was determined by the proton precession frequency and known gyromagnetic ratio. 

Thus the only measurements made in the experiment were two frequencies. 122 H. Sommer, H. A. Thomas, and J. A. Hipple, "The Measurement of elM by Cyclotron Resonance," Physical Review 82 (1951): 697-702. 123 D. N. Craig and J. I. Hoffman, "A New Method for Determining the Value of the Faraday," Physical 

Review 80 (1950): 487. The electrochemical determination of the Faraday was conducted in the Electricity 

Division because the national standard for the volt was maintained by the Electrochemistry Section in the 

Electricity Division. The direct reference to the national volt was essential to the determination of a physical 

constant, in this case, the Faraday. 

55 
The Bureau and X Rays: High Energies Come to the Bureau 

This is the story of how the Bureau obtained its first high-energy accelerators and 

brought in nuclear and theoretical physics research. They came via the study of x-ray 

measurements. 

In its appropriation request for Fiscal Year 1947, the Bureau asked for—and 

received—$250 000 for the purchase of a betatron. Invented in 1940 by Donald W. 

Kerst at the University of Illinois and the General Electric Company, the betatron 

permitted the production of a very-high-energy electron beam—50 million volts for 

the instrument the Bureau requested—which could then be used for the production of 

very-high-energy x rays. And in its request for Fiscal Year 1948, the Bureau asked for, 

and again received, a further $565 000 for the completion of the building that was to 

house the betatron, and for the purchase of another betatron, this one for energies up to 

100 MeV.'24 

The Bureau's justification for these large requests (the appropriated funds for the 

Bureau in 1947 totalled $1.12 million exclusive of the betatron request) consisted of 

three parts. The first concerned the use of x rays for diagnostic purposes and for radiation therapy. The energy, hence the penetrating power of x rays used for therapy, had 

increased enormously in the postwar period, and standards and measurement methods 

were essential in this high-energy region so that radiologists could accurately 

deliver an exact dosage to the organ being treated. The second part concerned the 

industrial use of x rays. Highly penetrating x rays were being used more and more 

extensively for radiography. Rays from these new high-energy machines could penetrate 30.48 cm (12 in) thick steel castings to examine them for minute cracks and other 

flaws. And in both of these areas, the efficiency and adequacy of shielding materials 

had to be known in order to protect the radiologists and technicians working with this 

new, high-energy radiation. The final justification was for basic research. In the words 

of the justification: 

The equipment proposed presents a tool for research in a field that is relatively untouched. A very limited amount of work has been done by OSRD in 

the 10 to 20-million-volt range, the exact nature and volume of which is still 

secret. By this means it is possible to study nuclear transformations, the 

production of artificial radioactivity and radiation processes hitherto known 

only through a study of cosmic radiation.'25 

'24The abbreviation MeV stands for "Million electron Volts." This is the energy acquired by an electron 

falling through a potential difference of I million volts. 125 House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, Department of 

Commerce Appropriation Bill for 1947: Hearings before the Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, 79th Cong., 2d sess., National Bureau of Standards, 18 February 1946: 960. 

56 
There is no question that the principal justification for the Bureau's request was the 

medical use of x rays. Indeed, Launston S. Taylor, then chief of the X-Ray Section, 

tells the following anecdote about appearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee. He was prepared to go through a full presentation, and part way through it he 

passed to the chairman of the committee a copy of Radiology which contained colored 

photographs of people who had been seriously "burned" by x rays. The chairman 

glanced at the illustrations, then thumbed through the journal, finally coming upon a radiograph of a somewhat gnarled hand. He held up the journal and asked, "Doctor, is 

this a case of arthritis?" Even after looking at the title of the illustrations, Taylor was not sure. but said that he expected arthritis might look like that. The chairman continued, "My sister has the worst kind of arthritis you ever saw, she is in such misery Thereupon the chairman passed the journal to the other members of the 

committee, and it seemed that every one of the members had some relative 

suffering from arthritis. Taylor was quite nervous by this time, for his allotted time for 

making his presentation was rapidly disappearing. Suddenly the chairman turned to 

Taylor and said, "Doctor, I think this is one of the finest programs we have listened to 

in many years. I am sure that our committee will endorse this and we will give you all 

the funds you asked for." And they did—for the building and equipment. Thus did the 

Bureau enter the age of high-energy machines. 

The Bureau had been in x rays for a long time, having obtained its first x-ray generator in 1917, twenty-two years after Roentgen's discovery of x rays. By that time x rays had grown into a scientific discipline and an industry. With the development of 

the Coolidge tube in 1913, the production of x rays had become routine and reliable. 

And the dangers of exposure to ionizing radiation, either from radium or x rays, were 

recognized before World War I. But the war tragically dramatized these dangers, for 

the Coolidge tube made x rays common during the War and "literally hundreds of doctors and technicians were severely injured or died as a result of their exposures."26 It 

was clear that better ways of measuring and controlling the intensity of radiation were 

imperative. 

The methods used for the measurement of radiation in 1920 were largely empirical, 

based upon the ionization of air, the darkening of strips of photographic film, color 

pastilles, selenium cells, and chemical coloration. A measurement method based on more fundamental concepts was needed. This and the concern for the protection of 

people from radiation led to the convening of the first International Congress 

of Radiology in London in 1925. Despite the fact that in the early l920s the Bureau 

had been under considerable public pressure to begin an x-ray program, it sent no 

representative to this congress. However, when the Radiological Society of North 

America formed a Standardization Committee in 1925, Franklin L. Hunt, of the 

Atomic Physics, Radium, and X-Ray Section, and Noah Ernest Dorsey became 

126 L. S. Taylor, X-Ray Measurements and Protection, 1913-1964: The Role of the National Bureau of 

Standards and the National Radiological Organizations, Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Special Publication 625; 

December 1981: 3. 

57 
members of that committee.'27 Meeting in 1926, the committee concluded that the 

principal problems were the establishment of a standard x-ray unit, the variation in 

x-ray dosage as measured in this unit for different qualities of radiant energy, the 

devising of a system to transfer this unit "from a standardizing center. .. (preferably 

the United States Bureau of Standards) to different. . . institutions or private laboratories,"128 and the further study of the proposed physical x-ray unit in relation to its biological effect. Promises of cooperation between the Bureau and the Society were made. 

But it was not until 1927, with the arrival of Lauriston S. Taylor, a young physicist 

from Cornell, that the Bureau's program in x-ray measurements began.'29 The equipment he found was an old World War I diagnostic machine and totally unsuited for the 

task at hand. This was hauled away and replaced with other equipment designed and 

built by hand, and the program began to flourish under Taylor's vigorous leadership. 

The principal task was the development of a national standard for the measurement 

of x-radiation. In 1928, the Second International Congress of Radiology, meeting in 

Stockholm, had adopted the definition of the roentgen as the unit of measurement of 

ionizing radiation as "the quantity of X-radiation which .. . produced in one cubic 

centimeter of atmospheric air at 0 °C and 76 cm mercury pressure, such a degree of 

conductivity that one electrostatic unit of charge is measured at saturation 

A unit had been defined. The problem was now the realization of that unit. 

By 1929 Taylor had developed a free-air ionization chamber which would realize 

the unit and which could eventually become the national standard for the measurement 

of ionizing radiation.'3' By 1932 he had intercompared the American standard with 

those of England, Germany, and France. In order to do this he had to develop a portable free-air ionization chamber and calibrate it against the primary standard, which 

was far too heavy to transport. This became known as the "guarded-field ionization 

chamber." He then travelled to Europe and made measurements at the foreign 

standards laboratories, which had developed new standards at about the same time 

127 In 1913, N. E. Dorsey, then of the Electricity Division, began the Bureau's activities in the standardization of radium preparations. Like others in this field, he received bums to his fingers and hands from the 

handling of these preparations. 1-Ic resigned from the Bureau in 1920, becoming an independent consultant. 

and his hands healed. He re-joined the Bureau in 1928 and retired in 1943. (MFP, 147.) 28 Taylor, X-Ray Measurements and Protection, 1913-1964: 10. 29 It was in some ways an inauspicious beginning. Taylor had come to the Bureau to work with Hunt, only to find that Hunt would shortly leave to take a position at Western Electric. In addition, Paul D. Foote. chief 

of the section, was also in the process of leaving. To cap matters, Taylor had expected to work on x-ray 

spectroscopy, but instead was being asked to work on x-ray dosimetry. Somewhat embarrassed, Taylor went to see Clarence A. Skinner, the division chief, whom he told he would try it for a year. He stayed for 

thirty-seven. 

'30Taylor, X-Ray Measurements and Protection, 1913-1964: 281, 288. Note that this definition combines a definition of a quantity and the method of measurement. The definition was changed in 1937 to read, "The 

roentgen shall be the quantity of X- or gamma-radiation such that the associated corpuscular emission per 

0.001293 grams of air produces, in air, ions carrying I e.s.u. of quantity of electricity of either sign." 

131 L. S. Taylor, "The Precise Measurement of X-Ray Dosage," Bureau of Standards Journal of Research 2 (1929): 771-785. 

58 
as the Bureau. The final agreement among the U.S., British, and German standards was 

± 0.5 percent. (The French used a different unit.) The United States finally had a na- tional standard for x rays, with a known relationship to comparable standards in other 

countries. 

By the beginning of World War II, the Bureau program was flourishing. During the 

1930s it had continued its studies of x-ray protection, along with research on measure- ment methods, and issued a number of handbooks explaining various aspects of radiation protection and measurements. These supplemented the 1929 Circular 374, X-Ray 

and Radium Protection: Recommendations of the International Congress of Radiology, 

and several research papers. It had made notable contributions to equipment for the 

generation of x rays, and its x-ray production capabilities had regularly expanded, with a 600 kilovolt x-ray generator built in 1934, and a 1.4 million-volt generator in 1940. 

It had done innumerable calibrations, and was recognized throughout the world as a leader in x-ray measurements. 

The war caused a hiatus in this work. Many of the staff working on x rays and 

radioactivity went into war work. Taylor himself spent the war years working on the 

proximity fuze for bombs and rockets until 1943, and then organized operations 

research sections for the Eighth Fighter Command and the Ninth Air Force in Europe. 

Returning to the Bureau soon after the end of the war, he and the director, Lyman 

J. Briggs, made plans to expand the radiation programs, and to obtain the 50 MeV and 

100 MeV betatrons later requested from the Congress in 1947 and 1948. Briggs retired 

in October 1.945 and was replaced by Edward Uhler Condon, himself a theoretical 

physicist. Condon strongly supported the program, and it flourished. By 1950, the 

organizational unit that contained the work was called the Radiation Physics Laboratory and consisted of six sections. The work was described in six categories: Protection 

and Shielding Research (experimental and theoretical); Radiation Protection Recommendations and Codes; X-Ray, Gamma Ray and Radioisotope Standards; Measurements and Instruments; Theoretical Studies; General Atomic and Nuclear Physics 

Research; and X-Ray Equipment Research and Development.'32 

In 1950, the first of the betatrons—the one for 50 MeV—was delivered and installed 

in its own new and separate building. As described earlier, its main justification was in 

the medical use of high-energy x rays, and a great deal of work—both experimental 

and theoretical—on x-ray protection by various materials was indeed carried out. 

"Bread and butter work," Taylor called it.'33 But more and more the machine was used 

for research in nuclear physics, and when it was learned how to extract the electron 

beam from the 50 MeV betatron so that it could be used directly for nuclear studies, 

the machine was used exclusively for nuclear physics. A great deal of distinguished 

work on photonuclear reactions, largely supported by the AEC, was carried out. When 

the second betatron—which in the interim had been converted to a 180 MeV synchrotron—was installed, the Bureau had a full-fledged, high-energy laboratory and a program of research in nuclear physics. In due course, the Bureau would acquire a linear 

accelerator and a nuclear reactor. The little 50 MeV betatron had led the way. 

132 L. S. Taylor, X-Ray Measurements and Protection, 1913-1964: 307. 

'33Ibid., 312. 

59 
Lauriston S. Taylor, chief of the Atomic and Radiation Physics Division at NBS, pointed to x-ray protection 

standards on a chalk board with the 1.4 million volt x-ray generator and the neutron generator (black cylinder on right) behind him (1959). 

60 
NBS staff installed the "donut" of the Bureau's new 180 million-electron-volt synchrotron. The synchrotron 

facilitated research in the physics of radiations and electrons in the energy range from 5 MeV to 180 MeV. 

The donut was'an evacuated glass tube within which electrons were made to travel under the influence of 

magnetic and electric fields. The combined effects of the fields increased the electron energy by making the 

electron travel in a circular orbit at tremendous speeds. The heavy wires concentric to the "donut" augmented the magnetic field set up by the poles of a large magnet. The electric field was supplied by a high 

frequency generator and was injected into the electron path through the connectors in the wall of the tube. 

In 1946, an event of great significance to the whole Bureau occurred. Like the rest 

of the Bureau, the work of the x-ray section had been purely experimental, with the 

sole exception of a young theoretical physicist from Cornell, Warren W. Nicholas, who was hired in 1928 but stayed only four years and was partly an experimentalist. But in 

1946, a pure theoretical physicist, Ugo Fano, a former student of Enrico Fermi, was hired to work on x-ray problems, and did so brilliantly—on x rays and many other 

problems. As near as can be determined, this was the first time in its history that the 

Bureau had hired a pure theorist. He was not to be the last. For the Bureau, a new approach to the conduct of science had begun. 

61 
Ugo Fano, internationally known 

for his theoretical work in various 

branches of physics and in related 

sciences, had a profound influence on the field of atomic physics through 

his personal scientific creativity and 

his stimulation of many others at the 

Bureau. An important part of his 

work at NBS was consultation with 

experimental scientists on the theoretical aspects of their work. Fano 

showed a unique ability to explain the 

fundamental concepts of classical and 

modern physics in terms and analogies that scientists working in other 

fields such as biology and medicine 

could readily understand. 

In an interview held on September 22, 1981, Allen V. Astin, who in August 1951 

had succeeded Condon as director, was asked about life in the prewar Bureau)34 

WEINSTEIN: Sir, can you tell us a little about what the working environment was like under Dr. Briggs? 

AsTIN: Well, I thought it was excellent. It was the environment that made me 

satisfied to stay where I was.... 

HUNTOON: If you were asked to characterize Briggs' environment, how 

would you characterize it.... 

ASTIN: I'd say it was friendly, peaceful, cooperative. 

HUNTOON: And free? 

ASTIN: And free, very free. 

HUNTOON: Freedom to do what you want to do? 

ASTIN: Freedom to do what essentially you want to do. 

HUNTOON: How much accounting? 

ASTIN: Very little, very little accounting. It was an ideal atmosphere, I think, and 

I enjoyed it, and I'm sure my associates did as well. 

Interview with Allen V. Astin, September 22, 1981: 7-8. (NIST Oral History File) 

62 

LIFE AT THE BUREAU 
In a similar vein, Jacob Rabinow, prolific and scholarly inventor, talks about his 

coming to work at the Bureau in 1938: "It was. . . a job where people behaved as ladies and gentlemen. . . . I never worked in a place as genteel and polite as the Bureau 

of Standards in Washington."35 

While Astin's and Rabinow's comments pertain to the prewar Bureau, all indications 

are that this friendliness, this gentility and cooperativeness, this freedom in choice of 

work, characterized the postwar Bureau as well. These characteristics were part of the 

nature and traditions of the institution. Indeed, freedom in the postwar Bureau had 

returned to the freedom of access of the prewar years. Traditionally, the Bureau 

grounds are open to all comers during normal working hours, with no need to stop at a guard gate or other impediment. In fact, it was not until 1942 that the Bureau grounds 

were fenced. During the war, however, because of all the military work being carried 

out, entrance at all times was controlled by uniformed guards. Even Van Ness Street, 

the public thoroughfare through the Bureau grounds, was closed off.'36 Immediately 

upon the war's end, access returned to its traditional freedom, except for some restricted areas where classified work was being carried out. 

Indeed, in one characteristic, freedom had actually increased. In the prewar Bureau, 

and during the war years, hours of work were rigidly controlled. One had to be at 

work by 8:30 a.m. or lose a half-hour of annual leave.'37 Now, under Condon, who 

believed that creativity could not be channeled into a strict regime and permitted 

scientific staff the freedom to set their own work schedule (provided that the stipulated 

number of hours were worked in a week), even working hours were set more freely. 

More important than these rather mundane freedoms was the latitude in planning 

what work was to be done. At the upper levels of management, this question was decided rather simply: it was decided by the director in individual consultation with his 

division chiefs after consultation with associate directors, whose number varied from 

time to time, but was three in 1950. Their function was a mixture of staff and line, 

consulting with both the director and the division chiefs on program definition. The 

director set policy, and in individual consultation with the division chiefs set the 

program for individual divisions. In this program definition the division chiefs were 

given considerable latitude. They were, after all, generally Bureau people of long 

experience who knew well the mission, goals, and responsibilities of the institution. 

They were also highly competent technically, often world-renowned experts in their 

fields. They could be trusted to make sound decisions about what lines of work would 

carry out the institutional responsibilities, goals, and policies of the Bureau. And they 

had complete freedom to accept other-agency projects. 

Recollections of Jacob Rabinow, taped at his home on August 12, 1982. (NIST Oral History File) 

372. 

'37Ibid., 4. 

63 
Van Ness Street, NW., a public thoroughfare through the Bureau grounds, was closed in 1942 by order of 

the secretary of war. (Copyright Washington Post; reprinted by permission of District of Columbia Public 

Library.) 

At the section chief and scientist level, choice was quite a different matter. While 

the Bureau scientist was well aware of institutional responsibilities,'38 his goals were 

generally to follow scientific opportunities, and the section chief had much the same goals. The problem here was to follow the scientific opportunity while at the same 

time to carry out the policies of the director and the responsibilities of the institution. 

The amount of freedom section chiefs and individual scientists were given in resolving 

this problem varied with their immediate superiors and their own capabilities, but the 

tradition of the Bureau was to give as much as possible. Typically, an established 

scientist was encouraged to work on problems of his or her own choosing half the 

time, with the other half dedicated to problems specifically identified by the institution, 

although even in this, he or she was given wide latitude in how to accomplish the 

specified ends. Cases are known, however, of section chiefs who closely guided all the 

activities of the scientists beneath them; and other cases where scientists were given 

complete freedom, knowing, however, that their work would be in a specified field of 

importance to the Bureau and its mission. 

The counterpart of freedom is cooperativeness. Cooperation among scientists was encouraged, and it was a tradition of the institution that advice and consultation would 

To a new employee, one of the most striking aspects of informal gatherings of Bureau scientists is their 

degree of introspection. Almost endless discussions take place on the Bureau's mission and policies, and 

on what it should do with respect to various national and technical problems. 

64 
be freely given. Part of this ease of cooperation arose from the manner of accounting 

for costs. In essence, until 1951, there was no way of accounting for the costs of individual work projects. A division had funds to work in a given area, and all the work 

except other-agency work was charged to that area. Thus, without the necessity for 

detailed accounting, cooperation was easy. In 1951, largely in response to Congressional criticism about the Bureau's lax administrative methods, a project accounting 

system was put into operation, and individual scientists had to account for their time on various projects.'39 In 1951 there were 630 unclassified projects.'4° This permitted 

much tighter control of scientist's time allocation and, depending on the division and 

section chiefs, impediments to cooperation could be raised. When bringing up the 

possibility of cooperation with another scientist, there was always the possibility of the 

dreaded question, "What project do I charge it to?" This did not halt cooperative 

research, for the tradition was too strong, but there was an impediment. 

Unimpaired freedom of choice does not necessarily lead to good, creative work. 

Indeed, it can lead to continuation of old work in which the investigator feels comfortable and for which there is a ready, well-known audience, however small. Something 

of this kind had happened in the prewar Bureau. Robert D. Huntoon recounts an experience when he was a graduate student in physics at the University of Iowa.'4' 

His professor was Alexander Ellett, who was later to be in charge of the nonrotating 

projectiles proximity-fuze program for the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), with an office at the Bureau. Huntoon had visited the Bureau during a meeting of the American Physical Society in the late 1930s, at which time the Bureau was working on instrumentation for the detection of cosmic rays. He talked to Ellett 

about coming to work at the Bureau: "You know, I think I'd like to get in there and 

work on some of this cosmic ray stuff that I hear Diamond and Curtiss talking about." 

To which Ellett replied, "You don't want to go to that goddamn Bureau of Standards. 

All they do is sit around. They're a bunch of old fogies, dusting off the standards and 

trying to get another decimal point, and it's the most dreary place you could imagine 

working. How could you ever think about putting your career there?" And Huntoon 

continues, "[T]his was the university view of the Bureau of Standards. I've run into it 

at other places, in the prewar days, that it was a stultified, inactive, non-creative kind 

of a place.. . . So then I get into the old Bureau.. . I find this fantastic stuff that these 

old timers had done, [Edward] Rosa's work, and [Chester] Snow and the gravity guy, 

[Paul] Heyl. . . . These were very dedicated, capable guys of international reputations 

about whom nobody outside the favored circle ever seems to hear Recollections 

similar to Huntoon's were expressed by Irl Schoonover.'42 

House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, Department 

of Commerce Appropriations for 1951: Hearings before the Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations. 81st Cong., 2d sess., National Bureau of Standards, 23 February 1950: 2186. 

"°Annual Report, 1952: 1. 

'j" Interview with Robert D. Huntoon, October 27, 1980: 21. (NIST Oral History File) 142 Interview with In C. Schoonover, 3 June 1981. (NIST Oral History File). See also John Newhouse, War 

and Peace in the Nuclear Age (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989): 22, for related comments by I. I. Rabi 

and John Manley. 

65 
When Condon, himself a world-renowned theoretical physicist, became director of 

the Bureau in November 1945, he recognized that the traditional peacetime functions 

of the Bureau, which had languished during the war, had to be revitalized. Moreover, 

the expansion of science, and the anticipated flourishing of new technology, required 

that the Bureau's research programs be modernized and strengthened. And the work of 

the Bureau had to be communicated to the scientific community, partly for increased 

effectiveness, partly to overcome theprewar image and partly to make the scientific 

staff broaden its outlook. Above all else, he wanted the Bureau to be an aggressive, 

vibrant institution with a wide audience, not a passive, inward-looking one, writing 

papers of interest only to a few narrow specialists. This new look, and the natural 

extrovert Condon himself, were a shock to many of the quiet, genteel, old-line staff. 143 He brought in Hugh Odishaw, his assistant at Westinghouse, to begin an aggressive 

program of communication and dissemination of the Bureau's scientific accomplishments. Largely a program of dissemination of the Bureau's scientific work, this activity was looked down upon by many of the old-line staff who thought of it as public relations. But, most important, he changed the direction and style of the Bureau by hiring 

bright, young, recently trained, modern scientists, with the aim of bringing the institution's scientific research into line with modern physics. It was relatively easy for the 

Bureau to hire such people. Condon himself, with his scientific reputation and vigor, 

was the magnet that attracted them. In line with his own scientific field, he began a program in applied mathematics, organized a division which in 1950 became the 

Atomic and Radiation Physics Division, put some of his best scientific people in its 

management, and peopled it with this new talent. This had created considerable resentment among some of the old-line staff, although by 1950 this had calmed down to a considerable extent. the Bureau, while still a free, friendly, and cooperative place, 

had a new look, and the modernization of the research program was to continue for 

about ten years after Condon's departure. 

In the immediate postwar years the Bureau was not a homogeneous institution; it 

consisted of several cultures. The principal division was into those persons who 

worked on military and atomic energy problems and were supported on funds transferred from the armed forces and the Atomic Energy Commission, and the "Old 

Bureau" persons who worked on the Bureau's unique measurement mission and were 

supported by directly appropriated funds. The "Old Bureau" was the portion Condon 

set about to revitalize. These groups not only had different masters; they were geographically separated. The "military" were located in the guarded, fence-enclosed 

Harry Diamond Ordnance Laboratory on the northwest 12.5 acres (5 hectares) of the 

"a Condon was accustomed to walking around the Bureau, dropping in unannounced on scientists working in 

their laboratories, and engaging them in a conversation about their work. His scientific powers were so great 

that he usually left them with new insight into what they were doing—even in fields that were not his 

specialty. There is, however, a story (probably apocryphal, but illustrative) about his dropping in on the 

Bureau glassblower, a notably crusty individual, as were many of the rest of the Bureau's craftsmen. The 

glassblower was constructing a complicated piece of apparatus out of fused quartz, a difficult and demanding 

task, requiring a hydrogen-oxygen flame. As Condon entered the shop, he stepped on one of gas supply 

lines, and the glass-blowing torch went out with a loud pop. Whereupon the craftsman turned around, looked at Condon, and said, "You clumsy oaf, can't you watch where you put your feet?" Condon walked quietly 

out. (Story told by John D. Hoffman.) 

66 
Bureau site, with other contingents at the Institute for Numerical Analysis on the 

UCLA campus, and the guided-missile research laboratory at Corona, California. 

Somewhere between these two in function and philosophy was the Central Radio 

Propagation Laboratory (CRPL). Its Ionospheric Research Laboratory and Systems 

Research Laboratory—which carried out the "radio weather" prediction service—were 

closely aligned with military problems, while its Measurements Standards Laboratory was concerned with the Bureau's traditional measurement and standards function, and 

hence aligned with the "Old Bureau." A large portion of the work of the CRPL was carried out in field stations, and hence away from the main campus. And in the "Old 

Bureau" itself, there was a split between those who were doing scientific research into 

measurement problems (the "scientists"), and those concerned with the testing of 

Government purchases and the development of commodity standards (the "testers"). 

The aims and views of the Bureau's role and mission naturally differed from part to 

part. The "scientists" of the "Old Bureau" felt their role was to carry scientific research 

into new phenomena and areas which could be the source of new measurement 

methods and standards, while the "testers" were concerned with more empirical 

67 

Dedication of the Harry Diamond Ordnance Laboratory in 1949. 
test methods. The military people were concerned with carrying out the programs 

assigned to them by their supporters. The traditions of cooperation and freedom of 

work choice were not greatly different in the several parts, which was hardly surprising 

since all the management leaders came from the "Old Bureau." But the choice of work 

in the military part was more in the nature of devising ways to solve immediate 

technical problems than in formulating problems; they were engineers rather than 

scientists, doers rather than thinkers. And the two parts—except for their management—by and large kept to themselves. This was not surprising considering the strictures of geography and the requirements of secrecy. 

While work choice had considerable latitude, cooperation was encouraged, and personal relations were courteous when not friendly. A number of amenities were missing 

from life at the Bureau. Because of the enormous growth that had occurred during 

the war, and even the more forceful growth to occur during the Korean War, space 

was at a premium. Even allowing for the propensity of scientists to act collectively like a gas and occupy all available volume, the Bureau laboratories were crowded and 

administrative games to obtain more space were usually in progress. Janitorial services 

were not all that could be desired. Offices were allowed only for section chiefs and 

division chiefs; scientists and their assistants (if the latter were lucky) had desks in 

the laboratories. But what inconvenience this may have caused during periods of 

reflection, analysis, and writing was mitigated by the close—if forced—interaction with 

colleagues. 

Air-conditioning was not permitted for personal comfort, but was allowed if equipment requirements demanded it. Consequently there were a number of ingenious 

justifications for air conditioning because equipment suddenly became sensitive to the 

hot, humid Washington summers. But, like the rest of the Federal civil service force in 

Washington, workers were excused on particularly hot and humid days. 

For those below the level of section chief, luncheon dining was a problem. On the 

Bureau grounds there were only two places where lunches could be obtained—a 

cafeteria that seated 150 persons in the Industrial Building where hot lunches could be 

purchased, and "the Hut," a temporary, sheet-metal canteen near the West Building 

which had no seating facilities. Here only sandwiches and snacks were available, but 

coffee could be obtained during the day. A charitable description of the food at the 

cafeteria was that it sustained life. These facilities were soundly criticized by the 

Congress. 

But if the luncheon facilities on the Bureau grounds were inadequate, Connecticut 

Avenue more than compensated. Here a number of restaurants in a whole range of 

prices were available, and a significant number of the Bureau staff were regular 

customers. But the time allotted for lunch was 30 minutes, and it was impossible to 

have lunch on the avenue in this length of time. Again this brought criticism from the 

House Appropriations Committee.'45 To a Bureau management that permitted 

scientists to set their own working hours, this cannot have been a serious concern, and 

doubtless was also not a serious concern to the Committee. But it was a useful point 

for criticism. 

Appropriations Hearings for 1951: 2226. 

Ibid., 2227. 

68 
For division chiefs, section chiefs, and a few senior scientists, luncheon problems were mitigated. This group had formed a dining club, called the Senior Lunch Club, 

that met for lunch in a dining room on the fourth floor of the South Building. The 

South Building was the first Bureau building erected and, along with laboratories, 

housed the Bureau administrative offices. Membership in the club was by invitation, 

and a modest monthly fee covered the cost of meals. The meal was prepared by a caterer under contract to the club and served boarding-house style at a number of 

tables, each seating eight persons. It was an excellent place for these Bureau leaders to 

exchange ideas and discuss technical and administrative matters. One of the rules of 

the club was that seating was at random but this rule was not strictly obeyed. A 

number of members occupied the same places daily, and two of the tables were always 

occupied by the same persons. If a new, uninitiated member inadvertently occupied one of these "reserved" places, he or she would not be asked to move. This would be 

against the club rules, and moreover would be discourteous. The offended member, 

often in a surly mood, went to sit somewhere else, and cases are recalled when such a 

member stomped out of the club in a huff. A new initiate quickly learned the rules, 

and it was a good place to learn the power structure of the Bureau and what was going on. The food was not always in overabundance, leading to occasional caustically 

humorous comments about members with large appetites, but it was nourishing and 

often tasty. 

The NBS Senior Lunch Club provided an opportunity for NBS senior staff to meet and exchange ideas in an 

informal setting. 

69 
Despite the lack of these few amenities, the Bureau of 1950 was a good place to 

work. A scientist had considerable opportunity to follow his or her own ideas, there 

were expert colleagues with whom one could consult and possibly cooperate with on 

technical problems, and the director was a famous scientist who was revitalizing the 

organization. It was a good place to interact with the scientific community. The American Physical Society always held sessions in the auditorium in the East Building 

during its spring meeting when Washington was at its flowering best. There was a constant stream of foreign and domestic visitors, many of whom gave colloquia at 

division meetings, and every Friday morning there was a colloquium for the whole 

Bureau staff. This was sometimes presented by staff members who had done particularly meritorious work, and sometimes by invited distinguished visitors. And arrangements could be made with one of the local university professors for younger staff 

members to use their research work at the Bureau for a Ph.D. or master's thesis. It was an attractive place for the recent, well-trained graduate. 

But there were some problems. The loyalty investigations begun in 1947 had caused 

some members of the Bureau staff to resign, and others had passed some trying days 

of investigation. Some prospective employees, possibly because of previous injudicious 

or ideological associations, or possibly because of the rigors of investigation, were 

dissuaded from applying for positions. The director of the Bureau, in these early days 

of McCarthyism, was himself under a loyalty And, unknown to the prospective 

employee and even to most of the Bureau staff, a problem, concerning of all things a battery additive, was beginning to fester. This would cause the Bureau some of its 

most trying 

Along with sources identified in subsequent footnotes, much of this material comes from interviews with 

Churchill Eisenhart, Everett G. Fuller, Karl G.Kessler, John A. Simpson, and W. Reeves Tilley. 

70 
CHAPTER TWO 

TESTING CAN BE TROUBLESOME 

After World War II, testing commodities for conformance with specifications in 

Government purchases, and testing services for regulatory agencies were only a small 

part of the Bureau's activities. Thus, in 1952, the total expenditures for this type of 

work were about 1 percent of the total budget. Testing for agencies with regulatory 

responsibilities, principally the Federal Trade Commission (FTC, concerned with 

misleading advertising claims), and the Post Office Department (POD, concerned with 

mail fraud), was indeed a small amount of work, amounting to only a twentieth of 

1 percent, or $25 000.1 Nevertheless, this monetarily small effort contained within it 

the seeds of controversy and embarrassment. If the Bureau were publicly to identify a proprietary product that did not meet specifications or advertised claims, it could be 

accused of unfairly treating the product, and its results could be subject to questioning. 

If it gave public approval of a product, competing manufacturers could complain of 

unfair treatment. And if the Bureau condemned a class of materials without naming 

specific manufacturers, the latter could—and some did—claim that their product was different, hence the Bureau's results did not apply to it. 

In a number of cases in the Bureau's history it was led into controversy by this 

testing activity and subsequent publication of the results. The best-known incidents were the testing of Aquella, a waterproofing paint, and Battery AD-X2, a battery additive that, under some circumstances, allegedly revived old, "dead," lead-acid batteries. 

The Aquella incident was relatively minor, causing not a great deal more than embarrassment for the Bureau. The Battery AD-X2 controversy, on the other hand, was serious indeed. It caused the firing of the Bureau's director, followed eventually by full 

reinstatement; prompted the investigation of the Bureau by two high-level committees 

and brought about dramatic changes in its programs; provoked a furor in the whole 

scientific community and led a large number of the Bureau staff to threaten resignation; resulted in six days of hearings before a Senate select committee; made the 

Bureau and its director front-page news for months; brought about the resignation of an assistant secretary of commerce; and (in part) caused the transfer of 2000 persons 

from the Bureau to newly formed military laboratories. 

The stories of the two incidents are instructive in illustrating the kind of problems 

that can—and did—occur as a result of commodity testing. The common element that 

connects the two cases is the publication of the results in a form available to the 

general public. 

Senate Select Committee on Small Business. Battery AD-X2: Hearings Before the Select Committee on Small 

Business, United States Senate, Eighty-third Congress,first session, on Investigation of Battery Additive AD-X2, 

March 31, June 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26, 1953: 212. Hereafter this document will be referred to as "AD-X2 

Hearings." 

71 
POLICIES ON COMMODITY TESTING AND PUBLICATIONS 

The Bureau's policy on this testing and on the resulting publications is of crucial 

importance, and is made clear by testimony before the Senate Select Committee 

on Small Business in 1953, by Dr. Allen V. Astin, Bureau director from 1951 to 1969: 

Frequently, in the course of its testing work, the Bureau accumulates general 

information on classes of materials and products that is of interest and 

importance to the public. In many of these cases, publications are prepared 

for general distribution in which references to specific proprietary products is 

avoided. Occasionally there are publications, in which brand name products are identified, but this is done with the consent and cooperation of the 

manufacturers involved. A notable example is in the publication of data on the acoustical properties of materials. These data are determined at the joint 

request of building and manufacturing groups, and the results are of appreciable value to architects and construction engineers in their design problems. 

But even in this case no attempt is made to provide an overall evaluation or an approval of a particular item. Also in such cases the Bureau does not 

permit the use of its name by manufacturers for advertising or promotion 

purposes.2 

The Bureau's information was published in any of a number of publication series, 

but always in the form of booklets or pamphlets which could be purchased from 

the Government Printing Office for a few cents each.3 So extensive were these 

publications that in 1940 a special Letter Circular, LC 586, "List of Publications of 

Interest to the General Public," was published. In 1942 this was superseded by 

LC 696 which listed approximately 1200 publications, not all of them based on Bureau testing.4 A tabulation of a few of the titles gives an indication of the topics 

covered: 

2 A. V. Astin testimony, AD-X2 Hearings: 213. The publications in which proprietary names were used were a separate series, the Building Materials and Structures Reports, published from 1938 to 1959. These were part of a program begun by the Bureau in 1937 to provide technical information to all parties in the building 

industry on building construction materials for use in low-cost housing. This work was decidedly different 

from commodity testing. First, the materials for test did not come from another agency, but were voluntarily 

submitted by the manufacturer. Second, this was not testing to see if a material complied with a specification. In fact, no specifications existed, and part of the effort was to obtain enough information to write a specification. Until 1947, each publication contained the statement, "The National Bureau of Standards is a 

fact-finding organization; it does not 'approve' any particular material or method of construction. The 

technical findings in this series of reports are to be construed accordingly." 

The various publication series of the Bureau are described in Appendix H. 

Along with about 800 Federal Specifications (most of them for foodstuffs), LC 696 listed 45 Commercial 

Standards and 60 Simplified Practice Recommendations. Not all of these publications were based solely on Bureau work, but there were about 300 that were. Thus LC 696 cataloged 19 Circulars (C); 41 Research 

Papers (RP); 20 Miscellaneous Publications (M); 4 publications in the Building and Housing Series (BH); 3 Handbooks (H); 85 Letter Circulars (LC); 61 publications in the Technical Information on Building 

Materials Series (TISM); and 89 in the Building Materials and Structures Series (BMS). 

72 
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE BARRY I.. HOPKINS. NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS LYMAN 3. BRIGGS. CIRCULAR OF THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS C424 WASHING, CLEANING, AND POLISHING MATERIALS By F. W. Sndther 

lIs U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE R. P. LAMONT. BUREAU OF STANDARDS GEORGE K. BURGESS. % CIRCULAR OF THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS, No. 397 SAFETY FOR THE 

HOUSEHOLD 

GOVER14? Battery Additives 

Automotive 

Ant ifreezes 

by Dosold B. B,oobo ood Ro.o&d E. St,ooto NBS was not a regulatory agency. 

The Bureau never tested proprietary 

products unless requested to do so Na by another government agency with 

regulatory powers, such as the Federal 

Trade Commission or the Post Office F.o .oM by A Department, or by an agency inter 

ested in purchasing such products. of Stoodo,ds 474 Occasionally NBS published information that it .°°' 

had obtained on a class of products when that 

data was thought useful to the general public. 

References to specific brand names were avoided uonsosoo,Es SOVE000EN 015001010 3000100: 05 except with prior agreement by the interested 

parties. 

73 
• Safety for the Household, C 397 

• Washing, Cleaning, and Polishing Materials, C 424 

• Automotive Anti-Freezes, C 4745 

• Accelerated Weathering Tests of Mineral-Surfaced Asphalt Shingles, RP 1002' 

• Charts for Testing Lens Resolution, M 166 

• Care and Repair of the Home, BH 15 

• Sun Lamps, Health Lamps; Carbon and Mercury Lamps, LC 631 

• Automobile Engine Lubricating Oils, LC 613 

• Painting Steam and Hot Water Radiators, LC 445 

• Corrosion of Metals Used in Home Construction, TIBM 1. 

Practically oriented and simply written, some of these publications were very popular indeed. How to Own Your Own Home, BH 4, issued in 1923, sold 100000 copies 

in the first week of its publication, and 300000 by the end of the year. It was serialized in several newspapers and magazines.6 Care and Repair of the Home, BH 

15, first issued in 1931, sold more than 500 000 copies by 1940. But it raised a furor in the building-repair trades that was not lessened by the Bureau's aggressive 

advertising campaign and a Doubleday Doran hard-cover edition.7 

While these booklets contained information of value to the Nation, there were 

always potential problems for the Bureau inherent in their publication. The case of a 

water-repellant paint, "Aquella," illustrates some of the problems that could arise.8 

AQUELLA INCIDENT 

During May and June 1942, Leandro W. Tomarkin, a Swiss scientist, visited the 

Bureau several times. He told then Bureau Director Lyman J. Briggs about a waterproofing paint developed by a French paint manufacturer, Rene Hagenauer. Both 

circular, issued in 1948, so appealed to Director Condon that he wrote to Secretary of Commerce 

Sawyer requesting permission to send a copy to each member of the Cabinet. Whether such permission was granted and copies sent is not known. (NARA; RG 167; Records of the Director, Box 6; Folder DuG) 6 MFP, 251. 

'Ibid., 252-253. 8 Memorandum, from Douglas E. Parsons to Bureau Director Allen V. Astin, "The Aquella Case," April 15, 

1953. (NARA; RG 167; Astin tile; Box 2; Folder Controversies). This memorandum and associated documents are the main sources for the account given here. At the time the memorandum was written, Parsons 

was chief of the Building Technology Division. From 1930 to 1945 he was chief of the Masonry Construction Section in which the work to be described was performed. Another perspective is given by Cochrane in 

MFP, 482-483, 487. 

74 
Tomarkin and Hagenauer were immigrants living in New York.9 The paint had 

presumably been used to waterproof structures in the Maginot line. Tomarkin claimed no financial interest in the product and asked Briggs to test it. Concerned with the 

"need for a low-cost waterproofing [material] for the hastily built wartime structures, 

Briggs agreed that the NBS would examine a sample of the material which 

Tomarkin offered to supply."° 

The policy on carrying out tests for private individuals, as later enunciated by Allen 

V. Astin, was: in the commodity-testing activity similar services are frequently available in 

private testing laboratories; therefore, the Bureau's work in this area is con- fined to serving other Government agencies in connection with their purchasing or regulatory responsibilities. Occasionally a testing problem arises where 

the Bureau's facilities are unique or where its services are desired for referee 

purposes, and under such circumstances a commodity test might be performed for the general public." 

In agreeing to test Aquella, the Bureau was not conducting a referee test. Since the 

facilities for carrying out the test were rather routine and available from any wellequipped testing laboratory, so it can be surmised that Briggs was spurred by wartime 

pressures into carrying out a test for a private individual. As will be discussed later, 

however, there is some evidence that Briggs may also have had requests from other 

agencies for this testing. 

A small sample of the material was provided by Tomarkin and Hagenauer, and a chemical analysis was performed on it. This "indicated that it was a cement-water 

paint similar to some products made in the USA."2 

With larger samples of Aquella provided later, wall permeability tests were carried 

out on two brick and two concrete block walls during the summer of 1942. Tomarkin 

and Hagenauer helped in the tests. In response to a letter from Tomarkin of September 

2, 1942, on September 7 the Bureau wrote in reply, "Pending the issuing of a complete 

report.. . the performance of the wall was rated 'excellent.' Please be particular to 

bear in mind that this information is confidential and is not to be used for advertising, 

publication or sales 

On December 8, a report (hereafter referred to as the "early report") on the performance of the paint was written.'4 In it, Tomarkin was now identified as director, 

MFP, p. 482. 

'° Parsons, "Aquella Case." 

"A. V. Astin testimony, AD-X2 Hearings: 212-213. 12 Parsons, "Aquella Case." 

Letter, NBS to L. W. Tomarkin, September 7, 1942. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 2; Folder Controversies) 

'4Report of Water Permeability Tests on Coatings of "Aquella" Paint Applied to Masonry Walls, submitted by 

L. W. Tomarkin, Director, Center for Applied Scientific Research and Industrial Technology, New York, N.Y. 

(NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 2; Folder Controversies) 

75 
Center for Applied Scientific Research and Industrial Technology of New York City, 

and Hagenauer as the president of Special Paint Cie, which had manufactured and 

supplied the paint. In the report, the two walls treated on the exposed surface were rated as "excellent," and the two treated on the unexposed surfaces rated as "good" 

after a second coat. Despite the fact that such tests were normally carried over several 

years of exposure, and these results were only for tests conducted in July and August 

1942, the report is not labelled as preliminary, nor the results otherwise qualified. It 

does, however, contain the notice, "The contents of this report are confidential and are not to be used for advertising, publication or sales promotion." Copies of the report 

"were sent to a few representatives of other Government agencies, and one was given 

to Dr. Tomarkin."5 

Apparently influenced by the report, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asked for 

later results. Such a report, which included results from tests made in May 1943 (still 

representing only eight months of exposure), was issued on June 4, 1943. This will be 

referred to as the "later" or "final" report. There was a decided change in the results. 

Three of the four walls were now rated "good," and one was rated "poor." No longer 

were two walls rated "excellent." It is not known if this later report was sent to 

Tomarkin, but the bulk of the record indicates that it was not. Indeed, if the FTC had 

contracted for the extended work, it would have been against Bureau policy to send the 

report to anyone but the contracting agency. The Bureau's position was that the report 

became a property of the requesting agency, and any distribution was up to that 

agency. 

Six months later things began to get more complicated. Briggs received a letter 

dated January 7, 1944, from Harris H. Murdock, Chairman of the Board of Standards 

and Appeals (BSA) of New York City. Murdock wrote that he had seen a copy of the 

December 8, 1942, report, and was in accord with the paragraph warning of its confidentiality and against the use of the results for advertising, publication, and sales 

promotion. He asked, however, if the report could be referred to or quoted from "when we have occasion to approve for use. . . a material. . . on which you have reported and 

this Board's action might be based. . . on your findings."6 Briggs immediately wrote 

back that "it would not be in the public interest for you to publish quotations from the 

report He pointed out that there was no assurance that the product was the same as that which the Bureau had tested. Nevertheless he had "no objections to the use of 

our report in memoranda or reports from employees or officials of the City of New 

York addressed solely to other officials."7 Briggs' letter says nothing about the later 

report. 

The early report was to go much further. Indeed, on September 23, 1943, almost 

four months before the Murdock letter, but three months after the Bureau's later report, 

the Modern Waterproofing Paint Company, now manufacturing Aquella, had applied to 

Parsons, "Aquella Case." 6 Letter, H. H. Murdock to L. J. Briggs, January 7, 1944. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 2; Folder 

Controversies) 

" Letter, L. J. Briggs to H. H. Murdock, January 12, 1944. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 2; Folder 

Controversies) 

76 
the BSA to have its product approved. Tomarkin appeared before the Board for the 

applicant. On June 6, 1944, in the Bulletin of the Board of Standards and Appeals, an account of the petition was given, the December 8 report was published in full, and the use of Aquella was approved. No account of the Bureau's later tests was given. The 

Bureau's early results on a proprietary product were available to whomever would seek 

them, but the full testing results were not. 

In due course Briggs learned of the Bulletin announcement and received a copy of it 

from Murdock on May 31, 1945. Briggs wrote back, with copies to the paint manufacturers, pointing out the results of the later tests and the consequent misleading nature 

of the Bulletin account.'8 He also wrote about the origin of the tests. "The tests of 

'Aquella' were made to obtain technical information for Government agencies which 

had expressed an interest in the product, and for certain other special reasons." Briggs 

did not say that other agencies had commissioned the tests, and he does not say what 

the "other special reasons" were. He wrote further what was really the crux of the 

matter: 

With some justification, manufacturers of products which compete with 

"Aquella" might claim that the publication of excerpts of our report on "Aquella" is not fair to them unless similar reports on their products are 

issued and published. Obviously, this would be very difficult and.. . would 

be contrary to the policy of this Bureau. 

Nothing further happened on this front. 

On the legal front, however, things did happen. The FTC issued a complaint against 

the Modern Waterproofing Paint Company, specifically citing Tomarkin along with 

four other individuals.'9 The basis of the complaint was that the: 

respondents represent.. . that their said paint product is an effective waterproofing material or compound. . . . The foregoing statements and representations made by the respondents in connection with the promotion of sale and 

sale of their said product are false, misleading and deceptive. 

This action by the FTC continued until June 1, 1953, when the respondents were 

ordered to cease and desist from various representations of their product. 

But before this happened, there was another episode in the Aquella affair. The 

December 15, 1945, issue of Forbes contained an article by Kurt Steel entitled "Dry 

Cellars," and the January 1946 issue of Reader's Digest (which appeared on the newsstands before the Forbes issue) contained an abstract of the Forbes article by the same 

8 Letter, L. J. Briggs to H. H. Murdock, June 12, 1945. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 2; Folder Controversies) 

Federal Trade Commission Complaint, Docket No. 5364, "In the Matter of Ira A. Campbell, Leandro W. 

Tomarkin, Wanda Tomarkin, Zella Fay Campbell, and Zella Clarke, individually and trading as Modem 

Waterproofing Paint Company," August 10, 1945, paragraphs 4, 5. (NARA; RO 167; Astin file; Box 2; 

Folder Controversies) 

77 
author entitled, "Water, Stay Away From My Wall." Both articles were highly laudatory of Aquella, and "contained misstatements of fact about the Bureau's tests and 

data."2° Almost immediately, on December 29, 1945, Edward U. Condon, who had 

succeeded Briggs as director in November, wrote a letter to Forbes, with a copy to 

Reader's Digest, pointing out the inaccuracies in the published article, and containing 

the statement, "The coatings of Aquella. . . were found to be no more effective as waterproofings than coatings of other prOducts. ... [T]ests. . . for eight or more months 

indicated that the Aquella coatings had become less effective. . . than were some of the 

laboratory-mixed cement-paint coatings.. . . " He promised to send copies of the letter 

to "those who request information about Aquella." And more than 20 000 did so. They 

were sent copies of Condon's letter. This did not sit well with some people. Aquella was a hot item, and many persons were seeking distributorships. Thus, Georgia 

Governor Ellis Arnall, speaking on behalf of prospective distributors in his State, contacted Secretary of Commerce Henry A. Wallace about the problem.2' Wallace wrote 

to the manufacturers of Aquella recalling and retracting the Condon letter. The Bureau 

stopped sending it out in response to requests about Aquella, and instead sent a summary of the experimental results.22 Except for sending some of its staff as expert 

witnesses in the continuing FTC Hearings, the Bureau's effort in this incident ended. 

The Aquella incident was not a world-shaking event. The manufacturers of Aquella 

were ordered to "cease and desist" in their advertising claims, but the Bureau suffered 

no lasting harm from the experience. Certainly it suffered some embarrassment, particularly in having a letter of its director retracted by the secretary of commerce, but this 

was not a lasting injury. There are, however, some lessons to be learned from the 

affair. The Bureau's technical results were never questioned. The results of its work, in 

both reports, were accepted, but this illustrates that a great deal of trouble can be 

caused even if the technical work is correct. And the incident illustrated the great 

power of Bureau publications. One of its reports—whether misused or not—helped 

gain a manufacturer approval of its product for use by the New York City government, 

and caused thousands to write to the Bureau for information. 

But the most important lesson was the scrupulous care the Bureau needed to take 

with the results of testing of proprietary products. While the record is not clear on all 

aspects of the history of the incident, it well illustrated the problems inherent in carrying out tests for a manufacturer who is inevitably not a disinterested party. Such 

testing was against long-standing Bureau policy. While there is some evidence in 

20 Parsons, "Aquella Case." 

Letter, E. U. Condon to Forbes Publishing Co. and Reader's Digest, December 29, 1945. (NARA; RG 

167; Astin file; Box 2; Folder Controversies); MFP, 483. 22 Letter, H. A. Wallace to Milton F. Schreyer, President of Prima Products, Inc. (now the manufacturers of 

Aquella), June 3, 1946. The letter contains the statement, "The Bureau stands upon the complete report of 

water permeability tests on coatings of 'Aquella' paint as applied to Masonry walls dated December 8, 1942, on file in the office of the National Bureau of Standards." (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 2; Folder 

Controversies); Summary of "Water-Permeability Tests of Coatings of 'Aquella' Applied to Masonry Walls." 

August 9, 1946. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 2; Folder Controversies) 

78 
Briggs' June 12, 1945, letter to Murdock that there was some interest from unspecified 

other Government agencies, it is not clear that the tests were done at their request. If, 

in fact, another agency had contracted for the work, the Bureau would have sent its 

report only to that agency. It thus appears that the main instigator of the work was 

Tomarkin, and not another Government agency. He provided the material, assisted in 

the application along with Hagenauer, and received a copy of the report. Very likely 

only wartime necessity caused Briggs to go against the Bureau's policy. 

The incident also illustrates well the meticulous handling required of reports that 

name proprietary products. Certainly the fact that the 1942 report was not prominently 

labelled "preliminary" can only be described as an oversight. And, in this day of the 

Freedom of Information Act, the injunction against publication of the results, or their 

use for sales promotion, sounds ingenuous. But perhaps the most serious problem was 

the handling of the final report. It is not clear that Tomarkin was ever sent a copy, or 

that he was notified that the results of the earlier report were superseded. Thus, 

Tomarkin and his associates could have considered the first report as the final word 

and used it in a low-key sales promotion before the BSA. This led to the publication of 

the early report as gospel, and to the two feature articles, however inspired. In due 

course—and certainly after the June 12, 1945, letter from Briggs to Murdock—the 

manufacturers learned of the Bureau's final report, but apparently continued their advertising claims until the "cease and desist" order. Had the Bureau made sure that the 

manufacturers, and the BSA, received a copy of the final report, some of the events in 

the Aquella affair might have been precluded. 

THE BATFERY ADDITIVE INCIDENT 

While the Aquella affair caused the Bureau some embarrassment, it left no permanent scars, nor caused any changes in its programs. This was not the case with the 

similar, but far more serious, affair caused by the testing of a material—a "battery 

additive" marketed under the name "Battery AD-X2"—which, when added to a leadacid battery, allegedly improved its performance and, under some circumstances, could 

presumably revive a "dead" battery. This incident was to cause major changes in the 

Bureau's programs. Also, unlike the Aquella affair, in the battery additive incident the 

Bureau's technical results were severely questioned. At the heart of the matter was the 

fact that AD-X2 had many satisfied users, while the Bureau—mostly on the basis of its 

own laboratory results—steadfastly maintained that it was "not effective." The question 

was not that the product was harmful; had it been, there would have been no incident, 

for it would not have lasted on the market. Rather the question was, "Did the product 

do anything that could not have been obtained without using it?" The Bureau was 

caught in the uncomfortable position of having to prove a negative, for if a set of 

experiments showed the product to be ineffective, it could always be argued—and 

was—that a different set would show otherwise. 

The Battery AD-X2 affair began in 1948 and reached a climax in 1953, but the 

story properly begins with the Bureau's activities in battery research and testing. 

79 
Jess M. Ritchie's photograph appears to give credibility to the claims 

below it. The Bureau's analysis of 

AD-X2 showed that the material was 

primarily a simple mixture of sodium 

and magnesium sulfates with a number of trace elements usually 

found in battery additives. Results of 

tests showed that the effect of AD-X2 

in a battery electrolyte was no differ- ent from that of other mixtures of 

sodium and magnesium sulfates and 

that none had any measurable effect on the performance of a lead-acid 

storage battery. 

The Bureau, driven by the need for a stable and reproducible electrolytic cell as a standard for the volt, began research in electrochemistry in its earliest days. It did not, 

however, begin research on batteries until 1917, when it was driven to it by wartime 

necessity. The Annual Report for Fiscal Year 1918 announced: 

The need of the development of specifications and methods of testing for 

electric batteries has long been recognized; but facilities have not been available to undertake this work. The needs of the military departments have re- cently become so urgent that the study of batteries has been undertaken.23 

These studies were to continue for more than fifty years. Beginning with dry cells, the 

work rapidly expanded to include all types of batteries: automotive type batteries, aircraft batteries, truck batteries, railroad batteries, dry cells, lead-acid storage batteries, 

alkaline batteries, and reserve or "delayed-action" batteries. There was practical work 

on testing methods and a great deal of testing for other agencies, basic research on electrode reactions, the effect of impurities in the electrolyte and in the battery plates, 

and the study of various materials. At the request of the military, a small-scale batterymanufacturing plant was set up to make lead-acid battery plates for experimental purposes. There was hardly a phase of battery science and technology not known to the 

Bureau. 

23 Annual Report, 1918: 48. 

80 

BATFERIES AND BArFERY ADDITIVES 
Carried out in the Electrochemistry Section of the Electricity Division, the continuity 

of the battery work was rivaled only by the work on basic measurement standards. 

From 1918, when battery research began at the Bureau, until his retirement in 1950, 

George W. Vinal was chief of this section. He came to the Bureau in 1908, and had a stay of forty-three years, all of them devoted to various aspects of electrochemistry and 

batteries. In 1924 he published the definitive text, Storage Batteries, which went 

through four editions, the last in 1955.24 Upon his retirement, he was succeeded by 

Walter J. Hamer, another eminent electrochemist. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1932 

from Yale University for work on electrolytes and the ionization of water, Hamer spent 

three years doing post-doctoral work—two years working on the thermodynamics and 

physical chemistry of electrolytes and a third on non-electrolytes and electrolytes, including those used in lead-acid batteries. He joined the Bureau in 1935. By the time he 

succeeded Vinal, he was widely recognized for his investigations of electrolytes, storage batteries, dry cells, and the electrometric determination of acidity. He was to remain chief of the Electrochemistry Section until his retirement in 1970, at which time 

the section was disbanded. Thus, for fifty-two years all the work on batteries was under the direction of two distinguished scientists. Both were to play central roles in the 

AD-X2 affair. 

81 

George W. Vinal served as the chief 

of the Electrochemistry Section from 

its formation in 1918 until his 

retirement in 1950. He was internationally recognized for his research 

in the field of electrochemistry, 

particularly for his work in the 

development and perfection of the 

silver voltmeter and the standard 

cell which served as standards for the 

international ampere and volt. 

24G. W. Vinal, Storage Batteries (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1924). 
Walter J. Hamer was chief of the 

Electrochemistry Section from 1950 to 1970 where his main responsibility was the maintenance of the Nation's 

primary standard of electromotive 

force. He was recognized for his 

extensive research in standard cells, 

primary and secondary batteries, and 

electrolytic solutions, and later in 

work relating to the National Standard 

Reference Data System. 

Not only did the Bureau test batteries for other agencies, but it also tested battery 

additives. Introduced as early as 1915, these were proprietary chemical preparations of 

assorted kinds reputed to have beneficial effects on various aspects of battery performance. Some were solids to be added to the battery electrolyte, and some were liquids 

(usually sulfuric acid solutions) to replace the electrolyte. Testing of these products 

began in 1919 and continued until 1957,25 although the Bureau continued to provide 

expert witnesses until 1971. Never was an additive found that had a beneficial effect. 

Many of them were simple mixtures of magnesium and sodium sulfates (Epsom and 

Glauber's salts, respectively), and were uniformly found to be without merit, but not 

necessarily harmful.26 Indeed, the ineffectiveness of these compounds had been known 

since 1902.27 Others contained iron salts or halogen compounds and were actually 

harmful. 

"Table: Lists of Tests of Battery Additives." This table gives a tabulation of all the battery additives tested 

by the Bureau from April 1919 to March 1952. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 10; Folder Pioneers & 

Ritchie) 26 Strictly speaking, Epsom and Glauber's salts contain water of crystallization, the formulas being 

7H20 and lOH2O, respectively. Heating can partially or totally drive off the water. If all 

the water is driven off, the anhydrous salts are obtained. When dissolved in water or in storage battery 

electrolyte, the solutions obtained from any of these states of hydration are identical, provided only that 

allowance is made for the weight of water to obtain specified concentrations. 27 Vinal, Storage Batteries, 1955 ed.: 157. 

82 
It is important to note that one of the very first tests conducted was for the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World, an organization concerned with truth in advertising. Associated with this organization were Better Business Bureaus (BBB5). These 

business-supported agencies were organized to protect responsible business and con- sumer interests, and published periodicals on items of interest to the consumer. Of 

concern to the BBBs was truth in advertising, and they were to play a central role in 

the battery additive incident. 

As early as 1925, the Bureau published an article in its Technical News Bulletin 

entitled "Solutions Do Not Charge Storage Batteries." The article states: 

Comparison was made between batteries containing these solutions and 

similar batteries containing electrolyte of sulphuric acid of equivalent 

strength. No essential differences were shown in the charging, the voltage, 

the efficiency, or the temperature.28 

Work continued, and by 1931 the Bureau had tested more than a dozen additives, the 

majority of them for the FTC and the POD. More than 100 had been brought to its 

attention. Because of the large number of requests for information on these additives, 

in that year it issued Letter Circular (LC) 302, Battery Compounds and Solutions. This 

document was sent in response to those requests. Referring to the 1925 publication, the 

letter circular states, "The later tests confirm the Bureau's previous conclusions that 

these materials do not charge storage batteries nor do they materially improve the 

performance of the batteries." The last phrase clearly shows how the Bureau was in the 

position of having to prove a negative. 

In effect, LC 302 condemned all battery additives, but never named a proprietary 

product. In 1940, the National Better Business Bureau, which had been condemning 

battery additives since the 1920s, used the Letter Circular to prepare its own publication, Facts About Battery Dopes, further—and soundly—condemning battery additives. 

Using section titles such as "Useless or harmful—say manufacturers"; "Debunking' 

claims for battery 'dopes"; "No 'dopes' for Uncle Sam"; "Drugstore magic"; and 

"Trick tests and testimonials," it quotes a manufacturer: 

To date there has been nothing found which can be added to the electrolyte 

of a storage battery which will facilitate charging or increase the life of a storage battery. .. . battery dope[s] . . . are either harmful to the life of a storage battery or have no material effect either on the life or on the charge 

of a battery.29 

The document also quotes Lyman J. Briggs, then the director of the Bureau (which 

it calls "The highest impartial scientific authority in the United States on storage 

batteries") as follows: 

"Solutions Do Not Charge Storage Batteries," Technical News Bulletin, No. 94, (February 10, 1925): 1.2. 

National Better Business Bureau, Facts About Battery Dopes. (AD-X2 Hearings: 41) 

83 
It is, of course, possible that some material may eventually be found which 

would relieve the difficulties arising from abnormal operation of storage 

batteries, but none of the exploited materials which have been tested here 

have had any such merits. 

Carefully controlled tests are necessary in order to determine these 

points definitely and none of these materials which have been tested here 

have produced any beneficial effect when added to the regular electrolyte. 

Some are definitely harmful. 

The publication was a thorough condemnation of battery additives, and much of it was based on the Bureau's work. 

A SHORT TECHNICAL NOTE 

Unlike the Aquella incident, in the AD-X2 controversy the Bureau's technical results were questioned, and seriously so. To be able to understand the issues pro and con of 

the Bureau's results, it is well to review briefly some facts about lead-acid batteries 

and the methods for testing them. The uninterested reader may skip this section and 

continue with the main text. 

Figure 1 shows a cutaway view of a prototypical automotive lead-acid battery. The 

battery consists of a number of cells—three for a nominal 6-volt battery and six for a 

STRAP 

SPACE 

Figure 1. Cutaway view of a 1953 automotive lead-acid battery. 

84 

HARD RUBBER 

CONTAINER 
nominal 12-volt battery. Each cell consists of two electrodes—one positive and one 

negative—separated by a porous separator, often wood in the late 1940s and early 

1950s, or one of various porous plastic materials. Current flows from the positive to 

negative electrodes in the external circuit and from negative to positive in the cell. The 

cells are filled with an electrolyte of dilute sulfuric acid to which the separator is 

highly permeable. The electrodes are made of lead-alloy plates, and each is formed 

into a grid to increase its surface area. These plates are covered with a highly porous 

paste whose composition is different for the two electrodes. 

In a completely charged battery, the paste on the positive electrode consists of lead 

dioxide, while that on the negative electrode consists of spongy lead. These are called 

the "active materials." During discharge, the paste on both the positive and negative 

electrodes is converted to lead sulfate. This process is called "sulfation" and is 

completely normal, but the term has another, and more subtle, meaning as will be 

described below. The sulfate comes from reactions with the sulfuric acid and water in 

the electrolyte and, as discharge proceeds, the acid concentration in the electrolyte 

decreases, and hence the specific gravity also decreases. These reactions provide the 

electromotive force that moves current through the external circuit. In a discharged 

battery, the paste on both electrodes is essentially lead sulfate. No further reaction can 

take place, and the battery can provide no electrical energy. In charging the battery the 

reverse reactions occur, and the positive and negative electrodes are converted back 

to their original condition. This is normal operation, except that the battery is not 

normally completely discharged. 

So far, these are accepted facts, and there are no questions. The heart of the argument concerns the question of "sulfation," and to understand this, it is important to 

review the reason for having a paste on the electrodes at all, rather than, say, making 

the electrodes (of automotive batteries) out of solid plates of the respective materials. 

The paste of active materials on both electrodes consists of very fine particles. These 

have an extremely high surface area, and hence the material of which they are com- posed is easily accessible to the electrolyte on either charging or discharging, and the 

appropriate chemical reactions can readily take place. However, if a fully (or even 

partially) discharged battery is stored for a long period, the fine particles (really fine 

crystals) of lead sulfate in the paste on both electrodes grow in size. As they do, 

the material in them becomes less and less accessible to the electrolyte, for either 

charge or discharge. The soft paste is converted to a hard, compact mass only slightly 

permeable to the electrolyte. In the second, and more subtle meaning of the term, such a battery is also said to be "sulfated," even though not all of the active material is used 

up. Such a battery delivers little or no current, and is difficult to charge. Charging 

can, however, be carried out, and its efficiency is increased if it is done slowly and 

with cycling between charging and discharging steps. This is normal, and requires no additions to the battery, except possibly water if for some reason the battery has gone 

dry or the level of electrolyte is too low. 

The proponents of battery additives (particularly those composed of Epsom and 

Glauber's salts) claimed that if their additives were added to a new battery, such 

sulfation would be prevented, and if it were added to the electrolyte of a "sulfated" 

battery, the efficiency of charging would be increased. However, in their instructions 

85 
they did recommend that charging be done slowly, and in a series of charge-discharge 

steps. The central question was, therefore, "Do these additives really help, or can the 

same results be obtained without them?" 

A related issue is the question of "battery mud." During the course of time, some of 

the active material falls off the electrodes and settles to the bottom of the cell. This is 

called "shedding" and the sediment is called "battery mud." If this process continues, 

the mud will eventually impinge on the two electrodes, thus shorting out the cells. 

Once a cell is shorted out it becomes useless. The proponents of Battery AD-X2 

claimed that their additive would prevent battery mud or actually dissolve it. 

A number of tests must be carried out to determine if an additive is indeed effective, 

or if the same results can be produced without it. One of the tests carried out on a battery is for "capacity." The capacity is the total electrical energy delivered by the 

battery, usually denoted by "ampere-hours," which is the product of the number of 

amperes and the time over which they are drawn. This product is directly related to the 

energy delivered, but its measurement is not simple, because the ampere-hours delivered depend upon the rate of discharge. Discharge at a high rate will yield a lower 

value than discharge at a slow rate. The reason for this is diffusion in the battery 

plates. All motorists have had the experience of trying to start their car with a weak 

battery, only to have the starting motor begin to grunt and finally stop. Upon waiting, 

with another trial the motor will again turn over, but for a shorter time. What has 

happened is that in the initial attempt to start the car, the electrolyte in the active material is used up, but there is still active material on the plates. Upon waiting, more 

electrolyte diffuses into the paste, and the battery will deliver energy again, but for a shorter time. This is the phenomenon that was usually the basis for saying that 

additives would "charge" batteries. The demonstration of this phenomenon will obviously depend upon the degree of sulfation. If the process is continued for a battery in a 

low state of charge, all the active material in the plates will be essentially used up, and 

the battery is effectively dead, although it may be charged again. 

A related question is that of charging efficiency, which is the ratio of the amperehours delivered by the battery to the ampere-hours used in charging it. Again, this ratio 

depends on the rates of both charge and discharge. Most important, when comparing 

experiments with and without additives, the twelve batteries that are used must be in 

exactly the same condition. Since this is rarely possible, large numbers of batteries 

must be used for the two experiments, and then the problem becomes one of statistics 

in comparing the results. 

Other, somewhat less important, questions that need to be investigated are the temperature rise on charging, the amount of water lost in the process, and the amount of 

sediment produced. All of these various factors played a role in determining the 

efficacy of additives, and in validating the Bureau's work. 

These are all laboratory tests. Another way of assessing the value of battery additives is to carry out field tests. In such tests the additive is added to batteries in service 

and the results assessed. As in laboratory tests, comparison should be made with comparable batteries which have not received an additive but have otherwise received the same treatment (i.e., "controls"). But, and equally important, the batteries being compared should be used under the same service conditions, which is very hard to manage, 

86 
and is expensive. The ordinary testimonial is not based on these two crucial comparison factors, hence is scientifically invalid as a test of battery additives. The Bureau 

conducted no field tests; its results were based entirely on laboratory tests. The proponents of AD-X2 on, the other hand, relied almost exclusively on testimonials, although 

some tests (of little validity) were carried out on their behalf. 

THE INCIDENT BEGINS 

In 1948, the Electrochemistry Section under George W. Vinal was busily at work 

carrying out research for the military on a whole range of battery problems. On April 

23, Vinal received a letter from Merle Randall, professor emeritus of chemistry of the 

University of California and a consultant in Berkeley. The letter merited attention due 

to Randall's reputation. He had cooperated with G. N. Lewis on the definitive text, 

Thermodynamics and the Free Energy of Chemical Substances in 1923. He had 

authored a text on physical chemistry, was well known for his research work, and had 

taught many distinguished students. Some of his recent work was on electrolytic 

theory. He wrote on the subject of "Protecto-Charge."3° The letter reads in part: 

One of my clients has purchased the equities in a patent application (Donald 

E. Kiefer) covering "Protecto-Charge," an addition agent for storage batteries. 

Frankly, both his patent attorney .. . and I were suspicious of the claims 

made for this product. 

The "Protecto-Charge" process involves the addition of a powder mixture 

of anhydrous sodium sulfate and a slightly basic, nearly anhydrous, magnesium sulfate to the water while it is filled with standard sulfuric acid electrolyte. Curiously the result is quite different from that when equivalent 

amounts of sodium sulfate and Epsom salts are added. The active material 

remains "tight" to the grid and there is so little "shedding" of the active 

material that there is an apparent, possibly real, decrease in the amount of 

battery mud. 

The letter goes on to point out a large number of satisfied users, all commercial. It also 

encloses an advertising brochure with the following claims: 

1. Reduces harmful effects of "sulfation." 

2. Ordinarily increases the capacity of mechanically sound "sulfated" 

batteries. 

3. Helps prevent freezing. 

30 Letter, M. Randall to 0. w Vinal, April 23, 1948. (NARA; RO 167; Astin file; Box 10; Folder AD-X2 

1948, Randall-Vinal). This is the name by which AD-X2 was originally known. It was changed to Battery 

AD-X2 in June 1948 because of a trademark problem with the Atlas Distributing Company. The AD in 

the name stood for "additive," the X for some unknown ingredient or agent, and the 2 for the main two 

constituents. (J. M. Ritchie testimony, AD-X2 Hearings: 71). The name is usually abbreviated to simply 

"AD-X2" and this is the custom that will be followed here. In the text the original name will be used 

until relating events occurring after the name change. 

87 
4. Restores to active service, approximately 70 percent of discarded 

"sulfated" batteries. 

5. Lessens the chance of buckled plates and slowly decreases battery mud. 

6. Remember, "PROTECTO-CHARGE" will restore your DEAD battery, 

providing there is no mechanical defect.3' 

The brochure goes on to describe rather sensibly and accurately the various causes of 

battery failure, and sulfation and its effects. It describes how to treat a run-down battery, and this description is valuable whether "Protecto-Charge" is used or not. It was 

obviously written by someone who knew about lead-acid batteries. The claims had, in 

fact, been approved by Randall. "I believe they are conservative," he wrote. Compared 

to claims made for other additives, these were in fact mild. Vinal, having heard the 

same thing many times, and because of the press of other work, put the letter aside 

despite its distinguished author. 

The client Randall mentions at the beginning of his letter was an Oakland, California, company called Pioneers, Incorporated. Its president was Jess M. Ritchie, the main 

protagonist in the AD-X2 incident. He was an aggressive and charismatic entrepreneur 

with a varied background.32 Born in Arkansas in 1909, he was a self-educated engineer, having supplemented his sixth-grade education with correspondence courses. He 

worked as a certified bulldozer operator and a journeyman diesel engineer. After the 

end of World War II he served as a general superintendent of construction with 

headquarters in the Philippines for the Drake-Utah-Grove construction combine. "I am basically a bulldozer operator," he said of himself. "I was having trouble with batteries 

in the Philippines. I came back to Oakland, California, with an idea of doing something about it," he testified before the Senate. 

When I came back from the islands, I had never heard about a battery dope in my 

life. I had never heard anything about it. And I ran into this fellow [Donald E. 

Kiefer] on East 14th Street and bought a half interest in the business. And what I 

bought there was a tremendous amount of trouble. 

Business was poor, and the additive was harmful to batteries, but feeling he 'could 

develop a good product, he bought out his partner. He "ran into Merle Randall" and, 

after checking at the University of California and the Stanford Research Institute, hired 

him as a consultant. Together they began experimenting and ran more than 1600 

experiments. Then occurred a serendipitous accident in which an experimental batch 

was "left. .. in process by accident, and when it came out it looked something like 

melted glass, and I wanted to throw it away. Well, Dr. Randall insisted on using it. So we used it."33 Thus was Protecto-Charge born, according to Ritchie. His testimony is 

31 Pioneers, Inc., "6 Reasons Why You Should Use Battery 'Protecto-Charge," edited and approved by 

Dr. Merle Randall, 1946. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 10; Folder AD-X2 1948, Randall-Vinal) 32 Samuel A. Lawrence, The Battery Additive Controversy (University of Alabama Press, 1962); J. M. Ritchie 

testimony, AD-X2 Hearings: 1 1-209. 

J. M. Ritchie testimony, AD-X2 Hearings: 17-20. 

88 
unclear about whether anything other than sodium and magnesium sulfates was used, 

but he was later to imply that something was. Subsequent chemical analysis by the 

Bureau indicated that the material did not contain anything but sodium and magnesium 

sulfates, with other elements at the impurity level. 

Ritchie marketed his new product solely to commercial and industrial users. Sales 

began to pick up and by 1948 they were quite brisk. He decided not to patent the 

discovery, preferring to keep his process and formulation secret. However, the 

brochure for Protecto-Charge states "Patent Pending." 

Ritchie did not know about LC 302 or the NBBB publication Facts About Battery 

Dopes, but he quickly learned about them. He recalled: 

So I got going, and while I was talking to a fellow one day he said, "Have 

you seen Letter Circular 302?" 

I said, "No; what is Letter Circular 302?" 

"Well," he said, "something that was put out by the Bureau of Standards 

some years ago. A battery salesman was out yesterday and showed it to me." 

I said Dr. Randall had mentioned that he had found it in the literature, but 

it was 1931, and I didn't pay too much attention to him. 

Now Facts About Battery Dopes was a rehash of Letter Circular 302. 

Dr. Randall was concerned. I wasn't. We are talking about a document 

way back there in ancient history.34 

THE INCIDENT DEVELOPS 

Ritchie, in fact, became deeply concerned. He began a strategy to have the Bureau 

make an exception for his product. Irritated that the Bureau had not tested it and had 

lumped it for condemnation with all other additives, his main purpose was to have the 

Bureau test it, probably sincerely believing that the Bureau would find that it indeed 

had merit. He began a three-pronged effort: (1) with Randall corresponding with the 

Bureau, (2) using the Oakland Better Business Bureau, of which he was a member and 

with which he had friendly relations, and (3) on the political front. 

Thus, when Vinal did not reply to his letter of April 23, 1948, Randall wrote again 

on June 25. He enclosed a test which he considered severe. He had developed it for 

battery additives and told about favorable results (on a single battery) with ProtectoCharge as compared to Epsom and Glauber's salts. Hereafter this test will be referred 

to as the "Randall Test."35 

This time Vinal replied at some length. He repeated the Bureau's experience with 

additives of sodium and magnesium sulfates, and how, once in solution, there can be 

no difference between Epsom and Glauber's salts and their anhydrous variations. 

He told of new, unpublished experiments that confirmed this experience. He enclosed a copy of LC 302 with the statement, "I have no reason to change the statements 

contained in this pamphlet."36 Correspondence continued throughout the year, 

34J. M. Ritchie testimony, AD-X2 Hearings: 19. 

Letter, M. Randall toG. W. Vinal, June 25, 1948. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 10; Folder AD-X2 1948, 

Randall-Vinal) 

Letter G. W. Vinal to M. Randall, July 1, 1948. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 3; Folder AD-X2 (2)) 

89 - 
becoming rather testy toward the end, by which time both men had tacitly agreed to 

disagree.37 

Pressure on Vinal also came from the Oakland Better Business Bureau (OBBB). In 

fact, the general manager of the OBBB had been in correspondence with Ritchie. 

"The Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Oakland has never received complaints 

of any nature concerning your company," Jack A. Harris wrote to Ritchie on November 26, 1948. The letter continues: 

Information received.. . from the Bureau of Standards indicates that the 

Bureau of Standards has not tested your product and have [sic] categorically 

classified it as a battery dope. At the present time, we are endeavoring to 

obtain from the Bureau of Standards a full report on your product,. . . [W]e 

are sending the Bureau of Standards a sample of your product that they may 

make the necessary examination.38 

Thus, on December 1, 1948, Harris wrote to Vinal asking that a sample of AD-X2 be 

tested so that, "it will be possible for us to have the expert opinion of the Bureau of 

Standards and that we may then determine whether or not this product can justly be 

sold as a non-harmful product to aid in lengthening the life of storage batteries."39 

Vinal was caught. He could not agree to test the product or identify it in Bureau publications without going against long-standing Bureau policies. In his reply he stated that 

the reason the Bureau did not test AD-X2 was its long experience with additives 

consisting of sodium and magnesium sulfates and, according to Randall, this was the 

composition of the product. Moreover, three competent military laboratories were now 

testing it, and "in view of the above fact it does not seem desirable for a fourth 

Government agency. . . to spend the time urgently needed for Army and Navy work to 

make further tests of these materials." He then quoted the Bureau policy on tests, "This 

Bureau does not make commercial tests of batteries or battery materials and it is an 

established policy of the Bureau not to endorse commercial products or to permit the 

results of its tests to be used for advertising purposes."4° 

On the political front, Ritchie appealed to Senator William Knowland, a resident of 

Oakland. He wrote a long letter to the Senator on December 3, 1948, asking "the 

Senator for his assistance as regards the attitude of the National Bureau of Standards to our product AD-X2 Giving a short history and description of his product, 

pointing out his many satisfied users, and stating that the Bureau had not tested it, he 

Letter, E. U. Condon to M. Randall, September 12, 1949, in belated response to a letter of Randall to Condon, January 10, 1949. (NARA; RO 167; Astin file; Box 10; Folder AD-X2 1949) 38 Letter, J. A. Harris to J. W. Ritchie, November 26, 1948. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 3; Folder 

AD-X2 (2)) 

Letter, J. A. Harris to G. W. Vinal, December 1, 1948. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 3; Folder AD-X2 

(2)) 

(1 W. Vinal to 3. A. Harris, December 22, 1948. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 3; Folder 

AD-X2 (2)) 

90 
California Senator William F. 

Knowland from Oakland wrote to NBS Director Condon on December 

9, 1948, requesting that the Bureau test AD-X2. Knowland's letter on behalf of his constituent prompted the 

Bureau to make tests on the additive. 

First intended to be kept confidential, 

the test results were disclosed to the 

National Better Business Bureau, 

precipitating a major controversy. 

(AP-Wide World Photos) 

wrote, "until such time as they check our claims we feel that our product is being 

condemned without the benefit of trial, and has been for the past year and a half."4' 

On December 9, Knowland wrote a short letter to Condon enclosing the file Ritchie 

had sent him. The letter closes: 

I, of course, have no personal knowledge of the claims made for this particular product. However, reputable people are associated with the firm and well 

known business organizations have been making use of their product. If in 

line with the policy of the Bureau of Standards it would be appreciated if 

such a test could be made so that this product could stand on its own 

merits. 42 Condon, in turn, wrote to Knowland on December 20. After a short account of the 

Bureau's involvement with battery additives and AD-X2, he wrote, "In view of 

Dr. Randall's statement it is obvious that "AD-X2" does not differ significantly from 

" Letter, J. M. Ritchie to Senator W. F. Knowland, December 3, 1948. (NARA; RO 167; Astin file; Box 10; 

Folder Senator Knowland) 42 Letter, Senator W. F. Knowland to E. U. Condon, December 9, 1948. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 10; 

Folder Senator Knowland) 

91 
other materials tested. Hence it does not seem desirable for this Bureau to go into the 

matter further."43 Condon had refused to test AD-X2. And, of course, he was essentially constrained not to test it by Bureau policy. Knowland's letter, however, lay there 

like an unsatisfied demand, and was to prove instrumental in causing the Bureau to 

test AD-X2. 

Condon's letter to Knowland was sent on to Ritchie, and Randall tartly wrote to 

Condon about it: 

The objections properly raised by Dr. Vinal in Circular 302 with respect 

to the battery additives previously tested at the Bureau do not apply to 

"AD-X2," which should be specifically exempted from those implications. 

The reputation of the National Bureau of Standards is too precious to be 

dulled by an attitude based on preconceived notions. . . I wish to assure you 

that I too, value my reputation, and that if I had found anything to point to 

false claims by Pioneers, Inc., that I would not continue as a Consultant for 

the controversy was becoming clear. 

THE NATIONAL BETFER BUSINESS BUREAU 

As already mentioned, the Bureau was in correspondence with the National Better 

Business Bureau (NBBB) from the earliest days of its additive testing and since the 

NBBB publication of Facts About Battery Dopes. Now the NBBB became concerned 

about that publication. It was, after all, a document based on the Bureau's LC 302, 

which dated from 1931. Since that date many new additives had come on the market, 

and the postwar years had seen a veritable explosion of them. The Bureau itself had 

tested 26 between 1931 and the end of 1947. A full 18 of these were tested after 

1940, when Facts About Battery Dopes was published. The NBBB began to wonder 

if LC 302 should be brought up to date. Thus, quite independently of the AD-X2 

matter, Kenneth B. Willson, Operations Manager of the NBBB, wrote to Vinal 

about this on June 10, 1948. Vinal replied on June 25 before he had replied to 

Randall's initial letter. Perhaps with "Protecto-Charge" in mind, he wrote, "This is in 

reply to your letter. . . regarding battery compounds which seem to be becoming 

increasingly numerous and troublesome." He then wrote that at the present time he saw no reason to change the statements in LC 302, but that he "had it in mind for 

some time that we should issue a new letter circular to supersede the present 302, 

and.. . incorporate some of the data more recently obtained. . . . I shall be glad to have 

your opinion as to the desirability of issuing an up-to-date statement of the problem." 

Vinal's request for the advice of the NBBB was unfortunate, for it made it seem that 

the Bureau was in some sense an agent of a private institution. 

Letter, E. U. Condon to Senator W. F. Knowland, December 20, 1948. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 10; 

Folder Senator Knowland) 

Letter, M. Randall to E. U. Condon, January 10, 1949. (NARA; RO 167; Astin file; Box 10; Folder AD-X2 

1948, Randall-Vinal) 

° Letter, 0. W. Vinal to K. B. Willson, June 25, 1948. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 3; Folder AD-X2 (2)) 

92 
Vinal did prepare a revision of LC 302 in the fall of 1948, but in the process of 

pre-publication review, Bureau management decided that a completely new document 

was required. But the NBBB was anxious to revise its own pamphlet, and in lieu of a new report, the Bureau provided the NBBB with a statement from Director Condon. 

This statement reiterated the Bureau's position that battery additives were without 

merit, and specifically singled out Epsom and Glauber's salts—and "analogous materials"—for mention. The statement concluded with the paragraph: 

It is still evident that the best electrolyte for a storage battery is that presently 

used by the battery manufacturers since years of research and experience 

have shown no other materials superior to the customary sulfuric acid electrolyte of proper specific 

The NBBB used this statement to prepare its own publication, and issued a Service 

Bulletin, Battery Compounds and Solutions, published on March 16, 1949. Along with 

the Condon statement, this bulletin warns that manufacturers' guarantees are voided by 

the introduction of "battery dope" into their batteries. It was clear that the NBBB had 

split from the OBBB, which insisted that the Bureau test AD-X2. 

THE MILITARY TESTS 

While all these activities were going on, there was action in another area. The 

military, inheritors of thousands of war-surplus batteries, most in poor condition, was looking at ways to save them. Beginning as early as 1947, they began testing AD-X2, 

still called "Protecto-Charge." There were a total of eleven installations, but the main 

tests were carried out at six locations: The Squire Signal Corps Laboratory at Fort 

Monmouth, New Jersey; the New York Navy Shipyard; the Mare Island Navy Yard; 

the Detroit Arsenal; Benicia Arsenal, Benicia, California; and the Aberdeen Proving 

Grounds in Maryland. Two of these—Benicia and Aberdeen—returned positive results, 

while the others were negative. Vinal criticized the tests with positive results, as did 

the military itself for the Benicia results, stating, "Of course, they do not say the same 

batteries would have worked equally well had they been given a slow charge without 

the use of any compound."47 Perhaps influenced by negative results with all other 

additives, the military stopped purchases and testing of AD-X2. This left some 

unhappy battery technicians in the service, for they believed in the product. 

Letter, E. U. Condon to K. B. Willson, March 9, 1949. "Statement About Battery Compounds and Solutions" 

is attached. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 3; Folder AD-X2 (2)) 

Memorandum, G. W. Vinal to E. U. Condon, January 17, 1949; letter, 0. W. Vinal to K. B. Willson, June 10, 

1949. (NARA; RO 167; Astin file; Box 10; Folder AD-X2 1948, Randall-Vinal) 

93 
THE BUREAU TESTS AD-X2 AND THE PACE QUICKENS 

By early 1949, the outlines of the controversy and the positions of the contestants 

were essentially laid out. The Bureau was adamant that all battery additives based on sodium and magnesium sulfates were worthless, though not necessarily harmful. Led 

by Randall, Pioneers was equally adamant that AD-X2 was a valuable and useful 

product. The OBBB, based on the fact that there were no complaints about AD-X2, 

was solidly behind Pioneers. The NBBB was solidly behind the Bureau, and used its 

results in its own publications, but they were nervous because it—and all the other 

contestants—believed the Bureau had not tested AD-X2. 

The Bureau had, in fact, tested it. In January 1949, having tests to run for the FTC on another—but unrelated—additive, Vinal included AD-X2 in the tests because this 

could be done with little extra effort. The tests were done at his initiative and for his 

own edification, but Senator Knowland's letter was an added Using the 

samples of material furnished by the OBBB, AD-X2 was tested on two batteries, a new one and an old one.49 Vinal found no reason to change his position. He did not, of 

course, publish these results or make them known to anyone outside the Bureau since 

this would involve identification of a proprietary product which was against Bureau 

policy. In fact, in June 1949, Vinal was still not admitting to having tested AD-X2. On 

June 17, Willson of the NBBB wrote to Vinal asking him to test AD-X2, and on June 

22 Vinal replied, "It has been our policy not to make any tests on commercial products 

until requested to do so by some Government agency which is interested in the merits 

of the product. If this matter is turned over to FTC it is possible we may be requested 

to make tests."5° This last phrase was subsequently interpreted to be a subtle attempt 

by the Bureau to have the FTC investigate Pioneers. 

During 1949, Randall shifted his letter writing from Vinal to Condon, and became 

more assertive. In a series of letters through the whole of 1949, he extolled the virtues 

of AD-X2, repeated the field experience of numerous satisfied users, attacked the 

negative military results, and repeated his own successful experiments. Condon 

answered all the letters, his replies undoubtedly written by Vinal, pointing out that the 

field experience was flawed in that it did not show that the same results could have 

been achieved by a similar treatment without the additive, and also pointing out flaws 

in Randall's experiments and logical fallacies in his conclusions. Condon and Randall 

also tacitly agreed to disagree. 

Now a new and significant player—the Federal Trade Commission—entered the 

fray. The NBBB, armed with the Condon statement which they had published in their 

Bulletin, lodged a complaint with the FTC, asking it to investigate Pioneers for false 

advertising claims. Thereupon the FTC ordered its San Francisco office to look into 

the situation. 

A. V. Astin testimony, AD-X2 Hearings: 314. 

Lawrence, Battery Additive Controversy, p. 7. 5° Letter, 0. W. Vinal to K. B. Willson, June 22, 1949. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 3; Folder NBBB 

and Memo Sent to SSBC) 

94 
The investigators were nonpiussed. They found that AD-X2 had many satisfied 

customers in the Bay area—including some personnel at military installations—and 

was highly regarded. The OBBB was strongly supportive of AD-X2, and in fact Harris 

of the OBBB wrote to Willson of the NBBB on August 30, 1949: 

Here, Ken, is the issue as I see it. In my opinion neither you nor the National 

Better Business Bureau nor any other organization on God's green earth have 

the right to participate in preventing a man from carrying on free enterprise 

by direct or indirect means unless there is a reasonable basis for such an action.5t 

In view of this situation, the San Francisco FTC office recommended to Washington in 

February 1950 that they have the Bureau test AD-X2. 

In the meantime, Ritchie expanded his operations. He appointed dealers in various 

cities on the West Coast. Those dealers not only sold his product, but reconditioned 

old batteries and sold them at highly reduced prices with a one-year guarantee. This 

was of deep concern to battery manufacturers, and one of them, Keystone Batteries of 

San Francisco, expressed this concern to the American Association of Battery Manufacturers in a letter on February 2, 1950.52 Enclosing a copy of the Keystone letter, that 

organization then wrote to the FTC on March 10, "We believe the FTC should take some action in regard to the enclosed complaint in the interest of both battery manufacturers and battery consumers. Before doing so a careful analysis of this material 

should be made 

As a result of these two requests, on March 22, 1950, the FTC asked the Bureau to 

test AD-X2. The Bureau was asked to determine if six advertising claims "may 

properly be made" for the product.54 On May 11, 1950, the Bureau reported that a series of tests had failed to demonstrate any reduction in harmful sulfation.55 But 

events would conspire to force the Bureau to go public with its results even before it 

reported to the FTC. 

BUREAU GOES PUBLIC ON AD.X2 

After the issuance of the NBBB Bulletin Battery Compounds and Solutions containing the Condon statement, Ritchie's promotional literature claimed that statements 

made by the Bureau and the NBBB did not apply to AD-X2 because the Bureau had 

not tested it. As a result, the NBBB was swamped with requests for clarification. This 

Letter, J. A. Harris to K. B. Willson, August 30, 1949. (AD-X2 Hearings: 78-79) 52 Letter, W. Brizee, Secretary, Keystone Batteries, to V. L. Smithers, Commissioner, The Association of 

American Battery Manufacturers, February 2, 1950. (AD-X2 Hearings: 514-515) 

Letter, V. L. Smithers, Commissioner, The Association of American Battery Manufacturers, to the Federal 

Trade Commission, March 10, 1950. (AD-X2 Hearings: 515) 

Letter, I. Burton, Acting Chief Examiner, Federal Trade Commission, to National Bureau of Standards, March 

22, 1950. 

National Bureau of Standards, "Report of Test of 'AD-X2' Battery Material Submitted by Federal Trade 

Commission," George W. Vinal, Chief, Electrochemistry Section, May 11, 1950, 

95 
was bothersome enough, but the issue became more serious. On March 29, 1950, 

Willson of the NBBB wrote to Vinal: 

[W]e have considered sending a bulletin to battery manufacturers. . . because 

Pioneers, Inc., apparently has been pursuing a deliberate course of making 

inquiry of various manufacturers and their dealers in regard to the product— 

AD-X2. When they receive in reply a copy of our bulletin. . . they believe 

they have evidence to show that through the distribution of our bulletin we and the manufacturers distributing it are damaging their business. I do not 

know what they intend to do with this "evidence," but in view of certain 

threats which they have made about possible action against the manufacturers, we felt dutybound to put them on notice. 

However, Dr. Vinal, there would be no need for us to issue any statement 

to battery manufacturers, or to anyone else, on this subject if you would 

permit us to inform Pioneers, Inc., that you have now concluded a comprehensive test of AD-X2, and that you found that AD-X2 is not effective and 

therefore does not serve a useful purpose. . . . If we now can tell Pioneers, 

Inc., that you have tested their product and found it wanting, they may 

continue to dispute your findings and conclusions but they cannot claim that 

they are based upon theory and not an intimate knowledge of the product.56 

At the time Vinal received this letter, he had the results of the tests carried out on 

his own initiative in January 1949, but he had gone further. Approximately six months 

before, he had begun a series of tests designed to provide information for the revision 

of LC 302. For this purpose he had chosen five used batteries which were badly 

sulfated. Two of these were treated with commercial additives—one of them AD-X2— 

and the remainder with laboratory-prepared mixtures of sodium and magnesium sulfates of differing compositions. One cell of each battery was used as a control, i.e., had no additive added. He also had a chemical analysis of AD-X2 carried out as part of the 

FTC tests. These showed that the material was 46.6 percent magnesium sulfate and 

42.9 percent sodium sulfate, with the remainder water of hydration. Further analysis 

showed that the sodium sulfate was anhydrous, and that the water was attached to the 

magnesium sulfate, so that its composition was approximately MgSO4 1 .2H2O.57 

Armed with the results of these tests, on April 5, 1950, Vinal replied to Willson as follows: 

After talking the matter over with administrative officials and serveral of our 

Technical staff, I think it appropriate for you to transmit the following statement to Pioneers, Inc., if you wish to do so. 

56 Letter, K. B. Willson to G. W. Vinal, March 29, 1950. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 3; Folder AD-X2 

(2)) Lawrence, Battery Additive Controversy, p. 9, states that Wilison wrote to Vinal that he was afraid 

Pioneers would sue. There is no mention of a suit in this letter, although there is an implication of a possible one. National Bureau of Standards, "Report on Examination of Battery Additives Submitted by Federal Trade 

Commission thru Division I, Section 8," James I. Hoffman, Chief, Surface Chemistry Section, April 13, 

1950. 

96 
Automotive (front row) and aircraft (back row) batteries were studied by NBS to determine the effect of 

magnesium and sodium sulfate additives on their performance and useful life. In this photograph, Herbert J. 

Reed of the Electrochemistry Section measured specific gravity. The measurements showed no significant 

difference between treated and untreated cells. The results of these experiments were the basis for the 

Bureau's Circular 504, Battery Additives, by Paul L. Howard and George W. Vinal. 

At your request for information relative to this Bureau's work on battery 

additives and on one known as AD-X2 in particular, it may be stated that the 

Bureau, for its own information, has made extended experiments recently, the 

results of which confirm our previous conclusions that magnesium sulfate 

and sodium sulfate are not effective as alleged in restoring storage batteries or in prolonging their life. On the basis of these recent experiments we have no reason to modify statements previously made in our Letter Circular 302. 

These experiments were initiated to obtain data on several battery additives 

at present being sold to the public as well as on a wide range of compositions which the Bureau prepared. AD-X2 was therefore included in these 

tests. The samples of AD-X2 used in these tests were received from the 

Better Business Bureau of Oakland, Calif. In the preparation of the report the 

battery additives actually used are designated in code. The Bureau was fortunate in procuring a group of batteries in sound mechanical condition but 

97 
sulfated as a result of long standing. Tests of these extended over six months 

and it is now possible to say that the results show no benefit from the use of 

these additives, including AD-X2.58 

Ritchie had achieved his goal of having the Bureau test his product, but the results 

were not those he had hoped for. His battle with the Bureau would have to move to 

another arena. And Ritchie's problems would soon increase. The NBBB was not satisfied merely to 

transmit the Bureau's results to Pioneers; it wanted to make them public. Accordingly, 

it prepared a statement based on Vinal's letter to be issued along with its Bulletin 

Battery Compounds and Solutions. By letter from Willson to Vinal on July 19, 1950, 

it requested permission to use the statement. The Bureau, its position evidently 

hardening, went against its long-standing policy in a letter from Condon to Wilison on July 24, 1950, and authorized use of the statement in the NBBB Bulletin.59 The 

Bulletin was published in August 1950. 60 The key paragraph from the Bureau's 

statement reads: 

In view of the tests made here and in competent laboratories elsewhere it is 

our belief that AD-X2 is not essentially different from other preparations 

containing magnesium sulfate and sodium sulfate, and that as a class these 

materials are not beneficial. The results of recent tests are being prepared for 

issuance as a Bureau circular but in the meantime we see no reason to modify Letter Circular 302. 

The statement also makes clear that the Bureau had tested AD-X2: 

These experiments were initiated to obtain data on several battery additives at 

present being sold to the public as well as on a wide range of compositions 

which the Bureau prepared. AD-X2 was therefore included in these tests. 

A paragraph on work done elsewhere reads: 

We have also the results of tests made elsewhere on 200 batteries in actual 

service on automobiles which were treated with AD-X2. A sufficient number 

of cells in these batteries were kept in the untreated condition for comparison 

with the results of those treated. Here again the results show no evidence of 

beneficial effects of AD-X2. 

The NBBB did allow Pioneers to make a dissenting statement. It was short: 

In the correspondence between us it has been mentioned many times by both 

Dr. Randall and ourselves that it is difficult to make a really definitive 

Letter, G. W. Vinal to K. B. Willson, April 5, 1950. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 3; Folder AD-X2 

(2)) 

Letters, K. B. Wilison to 0. W. Vinal, July 19, 1950; E. U. Condon to K. B. Willson, July 24, 1950. 

(NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 3; Folder AD.X2 (2)) 

National Better Business Bureau, "Battery Compounds and Solutions," August 1950. 

98 
laboratory test of Battery AD-X2 and that the only practical means of determining the value of the product is through field test.6' 

As to the field test by the National Bureau of Standards we note that they 

have definitely stated. . . that such a test or tests was made on batteries in 

actual service. We are well aware of this but. . . these tests were not run in 

accordance with our specifications and therefore did not indicate the value to 

be derived from our product. 

The field tests referred to in the statement were not, in fact, the Bureau's tests but were carried out by the Ordnance Department of the Army. However, Ritchie's statement that these tests were not carried out "in accordance with [his] specifications" 

would be his rallying cry for the remainder of the incident. 

The NBBB distributed 50 000 copies of the Bulletin.62 Its publication and distribution had a totally unanticipated effect. Newsweek, sensing a dispute and quoting the 

experience of many satisfied users, published an article highly favorable to AD-X2. 

Other articles favorable to AD-X2 appeared in American City, Western Construction 

News, Western Industry, and Batteryman.63 It seemed as if a mighty Government 

agency was beating up on a small, helpless manufacturer. Ritchie's sales soared. 

This did not last long. Vinal had been working on the revision of LC 302, and on January 10, 1951, the Bureau published Circular 504, Battery Additives, a definitive 

statement of the Bureau's results—the same five tests it had used to allow the NBBB 

to identify AD-X2. In this publication, the additives were coded so that the Bureau did 

not name AD-X2.64 But the circular went beyond the laboratory results. It quoted the 

field tests carried out by the Army Ordnance Corps on 200 batteries in various conditions, including 100 new ones, half treated and half untreated. Both laboratory and 

field tests clearly showed that AD-X2 had no beneficial effect. As a result, the circular 

concluded, "there has been no improvement found in the use of a series of commercial 

and specially prepared additives composed of magnesium and sodium sulfates either 

hydrated, partially hydrated or anhydrous." In its new definitive publication, the 

Bureau upheld the conclusions of its old LC 302. The wording here is important. The 

Bureau did not find that AD-X2 and its analogues were harmful; it merely found that it 

provided no improvement. Would another set of different tests demonstrate improvement? A definitive "no" cannot be given as answer. A negative is difficult to prove. 

61 It is interesting to note that during the development of AD-X2, Ritchie and Randall relied only on laboratory tests to determine the value of their product. 62 Letter, K. B. Willson to Paul L. Howard (Vinal's assistant), October 31, 1950. (NARA; RG 167; Astin 

file; Box 3; Folder AD-X2 (2)) 63 M. Ritchie testimony. AD-X2 Hearings: 24. Some of these articles may have been stimulated by 

Ritchie. 

It should be noted that the Bureau never identified AD-X2 in its own publications until April 1953 in 

Report on Battery Additives by the National Bureau of Standards, National Bureau of Standards Report 

2447. This report was administratively restricted. It did permit the NBBB to identify AD-X2 in August 1951, 

but any interested reader can easily deduce that AD-X2 was "mixture C" in the tests prior to this time. 

99 
Circular 504 was followed by three publications designed to advertise its findings. 

A Commerce Department press release came shortly after its publication. This was followed in April 1951 by Technical Report 1537, which went to the technical and 

trade press, and was suitable as a basis for a technical article. And in May, an article 

describing the results and conclusions appeared in the Bureau's Technical News 

Bulletin. Ritchie called it "a perpetual news release."65 

These publications had a drastic effect on Ritchie's business. His sales fell from a high of $75 000 in the first quarter of 1951 to $40 000 in the final quarter, and continued to He encountered difficulties in getting his side of the story in the 

press and, under pressure of battery manufacturers, the press was loath to accept his 

advertising. 

Up to this time Ritchie had had little personal contact with the Bureau, leaving this 

to Randall. But Randall died on March 19, 1950, and a year later Ritchie—three 

months after the publication of Circular still trying to get the Bureau to 

make an exception for his product on the basis that the Bureau had not tested it, somehow still believing that the Bureau had not tested AD-X2. On May 29, 1951, and again on June 29, 1951, he wrote to the Bureau asking, "Has the National Bureau of 

Standards ever tested Battery AD-X2 Since George Vinal retired on June 30, 

1950, replies came from Walter J. Hamer, who had succeeded Vinal as chief of the 

Electrochemistry Section. He wrote: 

I felt that you were aware of our tests in view of the Bulletin of the National 

Better Business Bureau, and was somewhat puzzled by your question.... 

I find that the statements appearing in the issue of August 1950 of the 

National Better Business Bureau had the approval of our administrative 

officials. Your correspondence to us and to them requesting that an exception 

be made publicly to "Battery AD-X2" on the grounds that the National 

Bureau of Standards had not tested this material had a bearing on this 

decision.67 

Ritchie would not get the Bureau to change its position. This fight would have to be 

taken to yet another arena. 

65 Lawrence, Battery Additive Controversy: 10; U.S. Department of Commerce, National Bureau of 

Standards. "Battery Additives," Press release TRG-61 16; U.S. Department of Commerce, National Bureau of 

Standards. "Battery Additives," Technical Report 1537, April 1951; "An Investigation of Battery Additives," 

Technical News Bulletin 35. no. 5 (May 1951): 63-65. 

Lawrence, Battery Additive Controversy: 10. 67 Letters, J. M. Ritchie to W. J. Hamer, May 29, 1951; W. J. Hamer to J. M. Ritchie, June 5, 1951; J. M. 

Ritchie to W. J. Hamer, June 29, 1951; W. J. Hamer to J. M. Ritchie, July 9, 1951. (NARA; RG 167; Astin 

file; Box 3; Folder AD-X2 (3)) 

100 
RITCinE GOES POLITICAL 

Having developed a national network of "distributors, prospective distributors and 

interested parties," Ritchie used that network to bring political pressure on the Bureau. 

He wrote to them on August 21, 1951, of his intentions to bring about a Senate 

investigation of the Bureau. "The way we got action," he testified, "was the distributors wrote to the Senators, the Senators wrote to the Bureau of Standards, the Bureau 

of Standards wrote back to the Senators, and the Senators sent it back to their constituent, who was our distributor, and they sent it to us, and we could see how they 

were thinking. That is the way 24 Senators got tangled up in There were, in fact, 

twenty-eight senators and one congressman who wrote to the Bureau between July and 

December 1951, some more than once, so that there was a total of forty congressional 

letters. In addition, many of the distributors wrote directly to the Bureau with requests 

that an exception be made for AD-X2. The Bureau technical staff, already overloaded 

with more battery testing, were kept so busy answering the congressional and other 

letters that they wrote a document, "Memorandum on Battery Additives,"69 to be sent 

in response to inquiries. This memorandum "gives the position and policy of this Bureau on the testing of additives and gives some pertinent facts on the use of additives 

in storage batteries."70 

The senators' letters enclosed letters from their constituents, and ran to a pattern, 

described by the Bureau in a letter to Senator Herbert H. Lehman on August 31, 1951: 

During the past months 20 other Senators and one Congressman have been 

contacted by the distributors of "Battery AD-X2 a consistent pattern is 

evident in their approach. So far their letters fall into three groups: (1) the 

first stated that the National Bureau of Standards refused to test their 

material; (2) the second stated that their material was not field tested at this 

Bureau and stated or inferred that laboratory tests are insignificant; and (3) 

the third stated that laboratory tests are after all significant but that the 

laboratory tests of this Bureau are not. Most distributors or expounders of 

battery additives claim that their materials are not properly tested. They have 

made this claim for the past 25 years. However, their recommended methods 

of test change as each previous one is refuted.7' 

And in another letter to the same senator: 

It would appear that those interested in promoting Battery AD-X2 cannot be 

satisfied unless the National Bureau of Standards specifically exempts 

Battery AD-X2. . .. This cannot be done (1) because it would be contrary to 

the conclusive results of the carefully planned and conducted experiments 

J. M. Ritchie testimony, AD-X2 Hearings, p. 48. 

National Bureau of Standards, "Memorandum on Battery Additives," August 28, 1951. 

70Letter, E. U. Condon to Senator H. H. Lehman, signed by A. V. Astin, August 31, 1951. (NARA; RG 167; 

Astin file; Box 3; Folder AD-X2(4)) 

"Ibid. 

101 
reported in the circular and (2) because it would be contrary to the long-established policy of the National Bureau of Standards, which is to give neither 

public condemnation nor endorsement to any specific brand-named product.72 

The letter clearly showed the Bureau's view of the situation, and that the Bureau was 

not about to budge. 

As Ritchie's letter-writing campaign got under way, an important event occurred. On 

August 10, 1951, while the Bureau was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, Condon 

submitted his resignation as director of the Bureau effective September 30. Allen V. 

Astin, who had been at the Bureau since 1930, was appointed acting director.73 Astin 

was recognized for his administrative abilities, and as a distinguished scientist for his 

work on electrical standards and telemetry before World War II, and particularly for 

the proximity fuze during the War. He became the Bureau's main protagonist for the 

remainder of the AD-X2 incident. 

THE POST OFFICE ENTERS THE FRAY, AND THE FEDERAL TRADE C0MIIISSION TAKES 

ANOTHER LOOK 

While Ritchie's political campaign was moving along well in the Congress, 

unknown to him serious problems were about to arise for him in the Executive Branch. 

On September 6, 1951, while Ritchie's senator-writing campaign was in full swing, 

C. C. Garner, chief inspector of the Post Office Department, wrote to the director of 

the Bureau in regard to "Alleged violation of Section 130.52, P. L. and R., by 

Pioneers, Inc., Jess M. Ritchie; sale of battery charger - Eighty [sic] X-2," and enclosing "three envelopes containing.. . AD-X2." The POD was asking the Bureau for 

another test of AD-X2 to see if it met "all the claims made for it in the literature."74 

The Bureau submitted a report on December 12, 1951. Its chemical analysis showed 

the material to be a "mixture of partially hydrated sodium and magnesium sulfates." 

The electrical tests were conducted on two batteries, with two cells in each being 

treated and the remaining cell used as a control. The results were that "Battery 

AD-X2' . . . has no beneficial effects on the performance of lead-acid batteries."75 

72 Letter, A. V. Astin to Senator H. H. Lehman, October 17, 1951. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 3; 

Folder AD-X2(4)) ° A short biography of Astin is in MFP, and a longer one is by Elio Passaglia. Science: Evidence, Truth & 

Integrity. Short biographies of Astin and Condon are also given in Chapter 3. Letter, C. C. Gamer, Chief Post Office Inspector, to NBS director, September 6, 1951. (NARA; RG 167; 

Astin file; Box 11; Folder P.O. & F.T.C. re AD-X2) 

National Bureau of Standards, "Report on Examination of Battery Additive AD-X2 Submitted by Post 

Office Department thru Division 1, Section 8, Project No. 0199," James I. Hoffman, Chief, Surface 

Chemistry Section, December 10, 1951; National Bureau of Standards, "Report of Test of 'Battery AD-X2' 

Battery Additive Submitted by Post Office Department, Case No. 85372-F," Walter J. Hamer, Chief, 

Electrochemistry Section, December 12, 1951. In five separate chemical analyses of lots of AD-X2, the chemical composition was quite variable. The 

Bureau's results for magnesium sulfate, sodium sulfate, and water, respectively, were, in percent, (1) 46.9, 

42.9, 10.9; (2) 40.6, 38.9, 20.5; (3) 41.5, 37.2, 21.3; (4) 46.1, 43.0, 10.9; (5) 53.0, 35,8, 11.2. There was only a trace of magnesium oxide, and a number of other elements at the impurity level of composition. 

Significantly, the trace impurities were the same and of similar concentration as those found in commercial 

battery electrolyte and technical sulfuric acid. 

102 
On March 18, 1952, the POD formulated a complaint against Pioneers alleging that 

they were engaged in attempting to obtain money "through the United States 

mails by means of false and fraudulent pretenses. . . ." Ritchie was ordered to appear 

at a hearing in Washington on April 6, 1952, to discuss its issuance.76 

But the Bureau's report was ambiguous as to what samples of AD-X2 were used in 

the tests, and on March 13, 1952, the POD asked for further tests. The hearings for 

Ritchie were delayed four successive times to await the results. Six discarded and six new batteries were used in these tests and, aware that Ritchie and his supporters had 

stated that the Bureau had not tested AD-X2 by Pioneer's recommended procedure, the 

Bureau used the Randall Test. The results were by now predictable: "The electrical 

tests of 'Battery AD-X2' at this Bureau showed that the product has no beneficial 

effects on the performance of lead-acid storage batteries." The hearings were scheduled 

for October 13, 

The FTC also needed new tests. Those performed in early 1950 had not been made 

on the samples of AD-X2 provided by the FTC, and hence legal traceability was lost. 

Thus, on February 26, 1952, the FTC asked for further tests. Reported on July 21, 

1952, these were not ambiguous, and were by now an old story. Of the material 

provided, 99.7 percent was water soluble, consisting of 53.0 percent magnesium 

sulfate, 35.8 percent sodium sulfate, and 11.2 percent water of hydration. The remaining 0.3 percent was water insoluble, consisting mainly of barium sulfate with "traces of 

several elements which undoubtedly were impurities contained in the basic materials, 

sodium sulfate and magnesium sulfate." Any scientist looking at the results would say 

that Battery AD-X2 was a not very carefully prepared mixture of dehydrated Epsom 

and Glauber's salts. And the electrical tests, again using the Randall procedure, were again unambiguous. They were made on six discarded Exide XH-l52 batteries, as usual maintaining one or two cells in each battery as controls. The results were again 

predictable: "in view of the over-all tests made in this laboratory, the Bureau fails to 

find evidence that the use of this material would justify the claims made.. 

76TO the Chief Hearing Examiner of the Post Department. "In the Matter of the Complaints That Pio- neers. . . are engaged in conducting a scheme for obtaining money through the mails by means of false and 

fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises. . . . March 18, 1952. Roy C. Frank, Solicitor. 

Letter, C. C. Garner, Chief Post Office Inspector, to A. V. Astin, March 13, 1952. (NARA; RG 167; Astin 

file; Box 11; Folder P.O. & F.T.C. re AD-X2); "Standard Test for Additives for Storage Batteries," Merle 

Randall, May 20, 1948. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 3; Folder AD-X2 (2)); National Bureau of Standards, "Report on Examination of AD-X2 Battery Additive Submitted by Post Office Department thru Division 1, Section 8, Project No. 0199," James I. Hoffman, Chief, Surface Chemistry Section. July 8, 1952; 

National Bureau of Standards, "Report of Test of 'Battery AD-X2' Battery Additive Submitted by Post 

Office Department, Case No. 85372-F," Walter J. Hamer, Chief, Electrochemistry Section, July 17, 1952. 

During 1952 and the beginning of 1953 the Bureau was to be swamped with AD-X2 testing. From March 

19, 1952, to May 4, 1953, the Bureau tested AD-X2 on 102 old batteries and 24 new ones. This involved 

testing 378 cells. The tests also involved physical-chemical investigations and chemical analysis. Eleven staff 

members were involved, including the director for one set of tests. "Resumé of Tests of AD-X2 at the National Bureau of Standards" from Report on Battery Additives by the National Bureau of Standards, National 

Bureau of Standards Report 2447, April 16, 1953. 78 Letter, Joseph W. Powers, Federal Trade Commission, to John W. McBurney, February 26, 1952. (NARA; 

RG 167; Astin file; Box 11; Folder P.O. & F.T.C. re AD-X2); National Bureau of Standards, "Report on Examination of AD-X2 Battery Additive Submitted by Federal Trade Commission thru Division I, Section 

8, Project No. 0199," James I. Hoffman, Chief, Surface Chemistry Section, July 8, 1952; National Bureau of 

Standards, "Report of Test of 'AD-X2' Battery Additive Submitted by Federal Trade Commission," Walter J. Hamer, Chief, Electrochemistry Section, July 21, 1952. 

The barium sulfate was a new result. It is insoluble in battery electrolyte and is sometimes used in 

negative plates to prevent contraction and solidification of the spongy lead paste. Because of its insolubility 

it cannot be added via the electrolyte. 

103 
Along with the POD, the FTC was also in position to institute proceedings against 

Pioneers. 

THE SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS GETS INVOLVED 

Upon receiving a letter from the POD ordering him to appear in Washington on April, 26, 1952, to answer a charge of mail fraud before a complaint was issued, 

Ritchie temporarily moved to Washington, taking up residence on Connecticut Avenue, 

not far from Bureau headquarters. It was to be a pivotal year. 

His main intent was to continue the political campaign he had begun against the 

Bureau, but first he needed legal and scientific help. He hired a lawyer, and sought a consultant to replace Randall. He settled on Keith J. Laidler, assistant professor of 

chemistry at The Catholic University, a younger man but already well known in 

the field of chemistry for the outstanding text, The Theory of Rate Processes, which 

he had co-authored in 1941 with Samuel Glasstone and Henry Eyring while at 

Princeton.79 Then Ritchie went to Boston to talk to Professor Harold C. Weber of the 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Weber had some years previously written to 

Pioneers for information on AD-X2. More recently he had been contacted by Norman 

Goodwin, President of Guaranteed Batteries of Boston and a distributor for Ritchie. 

Weber had become interested in battery additives and, after being contacted by 

Goodwin, had, on his own initiative, run some tests on Battery AD-X2. He was not 

retained by Ritchie, but was to play a very important part in the incident. 

One of the first things Laidler did was to write a critique of Circular 504,80 He 

pointed out correctly that AD-X2 had numerous satisfied customers, many of whom were experienced battery technicians who were hard to fool, but nowhere mentions the 

questions of controls in these testimonials. He discounted the Bureau's tests because 

they "were carried out on batteries that in all probability were in a mechanically 

unsound condition," and "in view of this the tests described do not constitute a fair or 

objective trial Then he came to the conclusion that the Bureau had not really 

tested AD-X2 because it stated that the additives used were combinations of sodium 

and magnesium sulfates, whereas "AD-X2. .. is not a simple combination of these two 

sulfates." No data were appended to substantiate that statement. He also went into 

motivations. "It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the object of Circular No. 504 

was to discourage the average reader from using battery additives by the use of highly 

technical arguments which would be incomprehensible to him rather than to be 

informative, objective and educational." Finally he wrote, "It is suggested the Bureau 

withdraw Circular 504 in the public interest." Laidler's critique was not a document 

that would endear him to the Bureau staff. 

But Ritchie was in Washington primarily to bring political pressure on the Bureau, 

not solely to talk to scientists. He contacted both the House and Senate small business 

committees and got a favorable response from both, but the House committee bowed 

out after the Senate committee became involved. The House committee did, however, 

ask the Bureau to test AD-X2 on March 11, 1952,81 during the period when the Bureau 

was carrying out tests for the POD and the FTC. Events would conspire to make the 

request redundant. 

Samuel Glasstone, Keith J. Laidler, and Henry Eyring, The Theory of Rate Processes (New York: 

McGraw-Hill, 1941). 

Keith J. Laidler, "A Critique of the National Bureau of Standards Circular 504 on Battery Additives With 

Special Reference to 'Battery AD-X2," May 15, 1952. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 10; Folder Laidler) 

81 Letter, Victor P. Dalmas, Select Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives, to A. V. 

Astin, March II, 1952. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 10; Folder Senate Small Business Committee) 

104 
Ritchie's greatest support came from the Senate Select Committee on Small Business (SSCSB). Formed as a permanent body with no legislative jurisdiction, the 

SSCSB was run with little supervision by a professional staff of six that did not 

change with a change of majority party in the Senate. Ritchie was referred to Blake 

O'Connor, one of the staff. A Harvard graduate, he had been employed by several 

Government agencies, including the Department of Commerce, before becoming a committee staff member. He felt that AD-X2 did work because the battery manufacturers were opposed to it, and he saw in it a test case for the committee's effectiveness. 

Ritchie had found his champion, and Weber of MIT agreed to become an unpaid 

consultant for the committee.82 

O'Connor asked the Bureau to test AD-X2, and for several months worked "with the 

National Bureau of Standards in an effort to determine the merits of. . . AD-X2."83 

But most important, Weber had agreed to conduct some independent tests on AD-X2 if 

the MIT administration would agree. O'Connor thus wrote to Julius Stratton, Provost 

of MIT, requesting this testing. Stratton agreed to have Weber carry out such tests, but 

did not agree to have MIT comment on tests carried out in other institutions. One of 

the Nation's most highly respected scientific institutions had entered the 

argument. 84 FINALLY A PUBLIC TEST 

After Condon left the Bureau on September 30, 1951, Astin, while still only acting 

director (he was not confirmed until May 30, 1952), was in charge. He became personally involved in the AD-X2 affair, and had discussions with Secretary Charles W. 

Sawyer about it on his very first day. With what seemed like an endless series of 

requests for testing AD-X2 on his hands, Astin had to find some way to resolve the 

situation.85 He determined that if the Bureau were to conduct a test using a procedure 

agreed to by Ritchie, the latter would have to abide by the results. Not that he lacked 

confidence in the Bureau's procedures. "Although I had no reason for questioning the 

adequacy of the test procedures the Bureau had used previously, I had hoped that by 

using a procedure described by him [Ritchie], the matter could be settled decisively for 

all concerned," he testified before the Senate.86 It was to be a fond hope. 

Indeed, getting the test under way presented some problems. Whom was the Bureau 

to contact: Ritchie? The Department of Commerce? The SSCSB? Ritchie himself 

provided the answer by arriving unannounced at Hamer's office in the company of his 

wife, his lawyer, and Laidler, and asking that AD-X2 be tested by his procedure. 

Hamer did not have the authority to make such a decision, so a conference between 

82 Lawrence, Battery Additive Controversy: 12. 83 Letter, B. O'Connor to J. A. Stratton, MIT Provost, October 8, 1952. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 10; 

Folder Pioneers Ritchie) 

Letters, J. A. Stratton to B. O'Connor, October 9, 1952; M. 0. Kispert, Executive Assistant to J. A. 

Stratton, to B. O'Connor, November 6, 1952. (AD-X2 Hearings: 370) 

'° In early 1952, the Bureau had requests for tests from the POD, the FTC, the House Small Business 

Committee, the Senate Committee on Small Business, and Senator Richard M. Nixon, among others. 

"c' A.V. Astin testimony, AD-X2 Hearings: 222. 

105 - 
Ritchie and Astin was arranged. Astin agreed to a test if Ritchie would provide a procedure that would also be acceptable to the Bureau, and Ritchie did provide a procedure, called by him the "suicide test." At conferences between Ritchie and the Bureau 

staff, modifications to the test were agreed upon. These, and the method of conducting 

the tests, were sent to Ritchie by Astin on May 23, 1952, for Ritchie's concurrence.87 

Half of the batteries to be used in the test were to be treated with AD-X2 and the 

remainder left untreated. A feature of the test was that the batteries were numbered, 

but would be treated at random. Only Astin was to have the key as to which were 

treated and which were not; the scientists carrying out the laboratory work would not 

know which batteries were which. "Here I believe that it is important to point out that 

had we put AD-X2 in all of the batteries rather than in just half of them, we would 

have duplicated the experience reported by most of the proponents of AD-X2," Astin 

later testified.88 A further feature of the tests was that a panel of experts, including 

Ritchie's people, were to inspect plates removed from ten batteries—five untreated and 

five treated, chosen at random—after the tests, and rate their condition. Ritchie was also allowed to have an observer (not himself) during the tests. As might be expected, 

the panel of experts was unable to distinguish between treated and untreated plates. 

Astin's letter to Ritchie contains the statement, "If the tests do not establish 

definitely the usefulness of your product, I will expect you to concur that it has not 

been possible to demonstrate the value of your product. If the tests show conclusively 

that your product is of value, then the Bureau's position on battery additives will have 

to be modified." Whatever the results, Astin expected that they would have decisive 

effects. 

There was, however, one seemingly minor point that was to give Ritchie a loophole 

through which he could wriggle. This concerned a technical question on the addition of 

water during charging of the batteries. Ritchie required that if the specific gravity of 

the electrolyte rose above 1.280, acid was to be removed and replaced with water to 

bring the specific gravity down to 1.280. The Bureau opposed this for the following 

reason. The mere addition of AD-X2 to the electrolyte increased the specific gravity by a small but measurable amount. Thus, it is entirely possible that the specific gravity of 

the treated batteries would rise above 1.280 and so require that acid be removed and 

water added, while the untreated batteries would not. As a result the two sets of 

batteries would not have received the same treatment, and the scientific validity of the 

comparison would be compromised. Discussions went back and forth, and finally, just a few days before the test, a compromise was achieved—or at least so Astin thought. 

The limit would be raised to 1.325, and if a certain percentage of cells in a given 

87 Report on Battery Additives by the National Bureau of Standards, National Bureau of Standards Report 

2447, April 16, 1953; "Manufacturer's 'Procedure for Testing Battery AD-X2 (Suicide Test)," NBS Report 

2447, Appendix 1.1; letter, A. V. Astin to J. M. Ritchie, May 23, 1952. NBS Report 2447, Appendix 1.2; 

letter, J. M. Ritchie to A. V. Astin, May 26, 1952. NBS Report 2447, Appendix 1.3. 

A. V. Astin testimony, AD-X2 Hearings: 223. 

106 
charging line exceeded this value, acid would be removed and water added to all.89 It 

seemed a minor point and nothing was in writing, but Ritchie was to claim that his 

instructions were not followed, and this gave him an opportunity to dispute all the 

results. 

Under constant pressure from Ritchie to provide a report,9° the Bureau issued one on July 11, 1952. This was followed with a list of minor mathematical corrections on September 5. AD-X2 was still not named.9' The conclusions were predictable: "The 

results of the. . . investigation. . . indicate that the battery additive tested has no beneficial effect on the properties or performance of batteries." 

If the conclusions were predictable, so was Ritchie's reaction. He had not agreed on 

the specific gravity modification, and it "was not a minor deviation but was a ruinous 

deviation."92 Moreover, there were "nine other modifications of our original test 

procedure."93 Astin's hopes of resolving the situation with a public test were dashed. 

Four years after it began, the battery additive incident was no closer to a resolution 

than it had been at the start. 

MIT CONDUCTS TESTS WITH SEEMINGLY STARTLING RESULTS 

Ritchie was not alone in refusing to accept the results of the Bureau's open test. He was joined by his consultant Laidler and by O'Connor of the SSCSB. O'Connor and 

Laidler had meetings with Astin, at which Laidler criticized the Bureau's conduct of 

the tests and the conclusions drawn.94 At O'Connor's request, a large meeting was 

89 Ibid., 245. 9° Astin recounts an amusing story about Ritchie's persuasiveness. Speaking of the period during which the 

test was underway, he recalls, "Ritchie was in my office all the time the tests were being run and the results were being evaluated. He would sit out with Miss Kingsbury [Astin's secretary] in the outer office and chat 

with her. And when we finally got the results and Ritchie called me and I had to tell him that the results were not favorable to him, Miss Kingsbury said to me. 'I am sorry you had to tell him that. He is the nicest 

man.' He had her completely sold. He was a 'good guy." (Interview with A. V. Astin, July 12, 1983; NIST 

Oral History File) 

91 National Bureau of Standards, "Test of a Battery Additive," September 5, 1952. (NARA; RG 167; Astin 

file; Box 9; Folder Investigations of Battery Additives at NBS) J. M. Ritchie testimony, AD-X2 Hearings: 143. 

93lbid., 148. At a meeting on July 29, 1952, upon O'Connor's departure, Astin asked Laidler to stay on. Then, according to Laidler, Astin proceeded to berate him, stating that anyone who did not believe the evidence against 

AD-X2 was not using sound scientific judgment. Astin also allegedly threatened to speak to Professor F. 0. 

Rice, chairman of the Chemistry Department at Catholic University, where Laidler was an assistant profes- sor. (Letter, K. J. Laidler to J. M. Ritchie, August 5, 1952; AD-X2 Hearings: ISO) There clearly was a serious argument between the two men. Laidler's comments about Circular 504 could hardly have endeared 

him to Astin. Indeed, two days after the meeting, Archibald T. McPherson, associate director of the Bureau, 

wrote to Rice. His letter reads in part, "Mr. O'Connor of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and 

Dr. Laidler had a long discussion with Dr. Astin yesterday regarding the Bureau's recent investigation on battery additives. In the course of the conversation, Dr. Laidler said he had no objection to our acquainting 

you with his activities on this subject McPherson enclosed Laidler's critique of Circular 504, two other 

Laidler publications, and the Bureau's July II report on the public tests. He then continued, "I am bringing 

these documents to your attention because they point to a disagreement between a member of your University and this Bureau of so serious a nature that it is suggested that one of our publications should be withdrawn in the public interest." (Letter, A. T. McPherson to F. 0. Rice, July 31, 1952) 

This letter is a clear reminder that neither side in the controversy was playing softball. 

107 
convened at the Bureau on September 29, 1952. Present at the meeting were Ritchie, 

O'Connor, Laidler, Professor Weber of MIT, Astin, members of the Bureau staff, two 

representatives of the POD, and a representative of the Department of Justice. At this 

meeting Weber presented some preliminary tests that purported to show differences 

between untreated batteries and those treated with AD-X2. The Bureau agreed to try to 

check these results if a description of the testing procedures could be obtained. The 

Bureau made several attempts to obtain the procedures, but they were not made 

available until MIT had issued its own report in December on subsequent tests, by 

which time the situation had changed dramatically. Several weeks after the September 

29 meeting, the Bureau was informed by O'Connor that MIT was beginning a more 

complete series of tests to check on its preliminary results. At the request of O'Connor, 

this work was to be carried out by MIT as a public service. But MIT would not evaluate the work of other groups.95 The Bureau was invited to participate, but decided not 

to do so, believing that unfavorable results would be more acceptable to the proponents 

of AD-X2 if it did not participate. Considering what was to happen, this may have 

been an error. 

The results were not negative. Carried out at MIT by a team of distinguished faculty 

members led by Weber, the work was completed in early December. A report on the 

work was hand-carried from MIT to O'Connor on December 16, Two days 

later the SSCSB issued a long press release. Containing a summary of the MIT results, a long set of comments and a background statement by Laidler (now identified as a consultant to the Committee), and a supporting statement by the OBBB, the press 

release was bombshell. In Laidler's words from the release: 

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology test, carried out at the special 

request of the Senate Small Business Committee, constitute[s] by far the 

most thorough scientific tests of the effectiveness of Battery AD-X2. They 

demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that this material is in fact valuable, 

and give complete support to the claims of the manufacturer. They also show 

additional desirable effects nOt specifically claimed by the manufacturer.97 

Letter, M. 0. Kispert, Executive Assistant to J. A. Stratton, to B. O'Connor, November 6, 1952. (AD-X2 

Hearings: 370) 

Harold C. Weber, "Some Facts Concerning the Effect of Battery Additive AD-X2 on Lead-Acid Batteries," Cambridge, Mass., December 1, 1952. 

On the following day, Astin was asked by O'Connor if the Bureau would care to review the report that 

day in the Senate Office Building, whereupon Astin sent Hamer, accompanied by Archibald T. McPherson, 

associate director for chemistry, to review the report. When O'Connor asked the two men to meet with the 

press, they declined, stating that they would need more time for their review. The Bureau received an official 

copy a week later. 

Senate Small Business Committee press release SSB #109, December 18, 1952. 

108 
Laidler went on to castigate the Bureau in no uncertain terms. After listing alleged 

flaws in the NBS work, he continued, "We have seen what the technical objections to 

the Bureau's tests were; our present concern is how the Bureau could dare to make 

such grave errors." He came to the conclusion that because of their long history of 

work with batteries, and an implied association with battery manufacturers, "they were 

simply psychologically incapable of giving Battery AD-X2 a fair trial." Magnesium 

and sodium sulfates were ineffective? Why, of course, but could it not be that 

(unspecified) contaminants in AD-X2 might have had a catalytic effect? Failure to take 

this into account was "erroneous and reprehensible." In their stridency, Laidler's 

comments rivalled those he had made in his critique of Circular 

Widely reported in the press, the release left the public confused. Here were two of 

the Nation's most eminent laboratories arriving at diametrically opposed conclusions on such a seemingly simple thing as deciding whether a battery additive was good or 

bad. "NBS on the Spot," headlined Newsweek.99 How could this happen? 

The answer was not long in coming. Significantly, the press release omitted a comment in the MIT report by Professor James A. Beattie, a member of the MIT team. 

In the form of an evaluation of the results, he wrote, "In conclusion, I would say that 

the addition of AD-X2 certainly does have an effect on the behavior of a lead-acid 

battery. From my brief contact with the work, I cannot say that this effect is correlated 

with a beneficial action from the standpoint of the normal use of such a battery." In 

fact, the MIT report made no evaluation of the results. In his covering letter to the 

report, Stratton wrote, "I would point out.. . there are no recommendations 

included in the report, nor did our group arrive at any definitive conclusions with 

respect to the commercial value of the product."°° The Bureau was soon to quantify 

this matter. 

Immediately upon receiving the MIT report, the Bureau set out to check the MIT 

results, and reported its findings in a report, "Statement on Battery Additives" to the 

House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, which had jurisdiction over the 

Bureau.'°' It was immediately apparent that the MIT work dealt with very dilute acid 

solutions found only in discharged or nearly discharged batteries, and the Bureau could 

confirm only one finding out of eight: the so-called "bubble effect," in which treated 

cells formed much smaller bubbles on charging than untreated cells. Even this effect was noticeable only at such low acid concentration and slow charging rates that it was unimportant in normal operation, such as in automobiles. Contrary to the MIT results, 

Laidler was to claim that he did not write the portion of tke analysis beginning with the phrase, "our 

present concern is how the Bureau could thre to make such grave errors." (Lawrence, Battery Additive 

Controversy: 17) 

December 22, 1952: 53. 

'°°Letter, J. A. Stratton to B. O'Connor, December 16, 1952. 

U.S. Department of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards, "Statement on Battery Additives, prepared 

for the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, U.S. House of Representatives," February 10, 1953. 

109 
the Bureau did not find that batteries withIow acid concentrations operated at lower 

temperatures than untreated batteries, nor did they find that AD-X2 increased electrical 

capacity or charging efficiency. Moreover, mixtures of magnesium and sodium sulfates 

showed the same behavior as AD-X2, effectively demolishing Laidler's "catalytic impurity" hypothesis. Battery AD-X2 was still a not-very-well-controlled mixture of 

sodium and magnesium sulfates. By working with a very dilute electrolyte, MIT had 

uncovered one minor positive effect, but it was of academic interest only and had 

nothing to do with the normal operation of batteries such as operating a car.'°2 

THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT TAKES ACTION 

In the fall of 1952, its own tests at the Bureau being complete, and the results of the 

Bureau's public test now being available, the Post Office scheduled its oft-delayed 

fraud hearings for October 13 and 14.103 Allen Astin and seven Bureau scientists testified, but Ritchie did not.'04 

Ritchie had, in fact, returned to California shortly before the hearings were to begin. 

Oddly, he fired his lawyers, which caused him some problems, for he did not know the 

laws that governed hearings such as the one being held. He did not recognize, for example, that affidavits submitted on his behalf were not admissible as evidence unless 

the person giving the affidavit was present at the hearing to present it, although the 

hearing examiner could take it into account in arriving at a decision. In fact, W. C. 

O'Brien, assistant solicitor for the POD, pointed out some of the points of law to 

Ritchie. According to O'Brien's statement at the POD hearings, Ritchie had decided as early as October 1 to forego the hearings, figuring eventually to bring suit in court 

should they result in a judgment against him. O'Brien pointed out to him that he could 

not do this, for a court would require that he had exhausted his administrative remedies 

before taking the case to court, and this hearing was clearly such a remedy. 

Indeed, O'Brien offered to him the option of giving up his mail order business (which 

was less than 1 percent of Ritchie's business) whereupon the POD action against him 

would be dropped. Ritchie refused, and the hearings went on)°5 

02 The Bureau went beyond simply checking the MIT results. In tests designed to obtain further supplementary information, it was found that AD-X2 had a slightly detrimental effect in some tests. The tests showed 

that AD-X2 slightly retarded the charging of negative plates, it increased the resistivity of the electrolyte 

except for very dilute electrolytes outside the range of normal battery operation, and it increased the 

viscosity of the electrolyte. These detrimental effects, however, "are so small . . . that. . . they can be 

discarded or not considered. . . . [l]f it were on the helpful side rather than the hindering side we would not 

consider it even then of sufficient importance to be considered as beneficial." (A. V. Astin testimony, 

AD-X2 Hearings: 319) Further details are in NBS Report 2447. 103 "Before a Hearing Examiner for the Post Office Department, Holding a Fraud Order Hearing, In the Matter of Pioneers, Inc., at Oakland, California. Transcript of Proceedings, October 13, 14, 1952, Washington, 

D.C." A good account is also given in Lawrence, Battery Additive Controversy. 

scientists were Hymin J. Feinstein, James I. Hoffman, and Bourdon F. Scribner of the Chemistry 

Division; D. Norman Craig, Clarence L. Snyder, and Walter J. Hamer of the Electrochemistry Section; and 

Churchill Eisenhart of the Statistical Engineering Laboratory. 105 W. C. O'Brien testimony, POD Hearings: 4. S 110 
With only one side participating, the hearings were rather routine. The Bureau 

people explained their results and answered the questions of the solicitors and the 

examiner, sometimes in great detail. But two comments by Astin toward the end of the 

hearings were particularly interesting in that they illustrated the Bureau's feeling in the 

matter at this time. When asked about testimonials, Astin answered without equivocation: "Nobody else has run a controlled experiment. And in the absence of any 

controlled experiment showing the merit of the battery additive I find it difficult to 

give any weight to any of the testimonials."°6 His personal feelings are well illustrated 

by his comments about Weber's position at the September 29 meeting that preceded 

the MIT experiments. Astin testified, "During the course of this meeting, Dr. Weber 

seemed to give considerable more credence to the scientific conclusions which he 

attempted to draw from the experiences of battery service men than he did from the 

observation of our organization, and any man who does that, I would question his 

scientific conclusion."07 There was little doubt about where Astin, and hence the 

Bureau, stood on the AD-X2 matter. 

Early in 1953, Ritchie tried to get the POD to reopen his case.'°8 With the help of 

O'Brien and O'Connor of the SSCSB, he filed an "Application for Correction of 

Default." It was denied. Ritchie had defaulted deliberately, the examiner found, and the 

MIT tests and Laidler's comments, which Ritchie had quoted in his application, did not 

"go to establish the validity of the respondent's advertising claims." On February 24, 

1953, Ritchie's mail was stopped and returned to the sender marked "Fraudulent." If 

maintained, the order would be a great blow to his business. 

The order did not last long.'09 The political process was quick to restore Ritchie's 

standing. 

THE BEGINNING OF THE RESOLUTION 

By early 1953 it had become clear that the AD-X2 incident would never be resolved 

in the scientific arena. The proponents of the additive, led by Ritchie and with Laidler as point man on scientific questions, would not accept any result that did not show that 

their product was valuable and did all that they claimed. The Bureau, confident that its 

experiments had been designed and carried out by the world's foremost experts, was not about to change its conclusion that AD-X2 was ineffective. Nor was it about to 

carry out field tests. These were not called for, it believed, for the laboratory tests gave no reason to expect that field tests would suddenly prove AD-X2 to be meritorious. 

Moreover, field tests were expensive, and neither of the Bureau's clients—the FTC and 

the POD—had specifically asked for them. And, one presumes, there was the definite 

06 A. V. Astin testimony, POD Hearings: 92. 107 Ibid., 93. 08 Lawrence, Battery Additive Controversy: 19. Post Office Department Press Release No. 977, August 20, 1953. 

ill 
feeling that even if the field tests also showed the material to be without merit, the 

AD-X2 proponents would find yet other reasons not to accept the test results. It 

seemed that a complete impasse had been reached. 

In an unusual twist, the impasse was to be ended, if not resolved, from a most unexpected quarter: the change in administration that came with the 1952 presidential 

elections. And that the ending should occur in an almost bizarre way seems fitting for 

this strange, convoluted affair. 

Running on an anti-New Deal, pro-business, anti-corruption, anti-Communism platform, and featuring a pledge to end the Korean conflict, the Republican EisenhowerNixon ticket rode roughshod over the Stevenson-Sparkman Democrats, winning the 

White House as well as both houses of Congress. A changed philosophy of Government had been installed in Washington, one best exemplified by the nomination as secretary of defense of Charles ("Engine Charlie") Wilson, president of General 

Motors, whose statement, "What's good for the country is good for General Motors 

and vice versa," was added to the lexicon of the Nation's political history. 

Equally emblematic of the changed philosophy was the appointment of Sinclair 

Weeks as secretary of commerce. A Harvard graduate, banker, businessman, ex-president of the National Association of Manufacturers, and son of John W. Weeks, 

secretary of war in the Harding and Coolidge administrations, Weeks came into office 

promising "to create a 'business climate' in the nation's economy." In Goldman's 

words, he was to "the new order of things. . . in a form so extreme that it 

amounted to a As soon as he learned in December 1953 that Weeks had been appointed secretary 

of commerce, and hence overseer of the Bureau, Ritchie and his distributors began 

another writing campaign. Weeks' mail was filled with material about the merits ofAD-X2, and the difficulties the manufacturer and distributors were having with the 

Bureau. By sheer coincidence, one of the companies of which Weeks was a director 

had a battery that was presumably "used up," and had bought a replacement battery for 

$1300. But after being worked on by "these battery AD-X2 people" the old battery 

was revived, and was still working after thirteen months. The new battery was 

"standing in the corner."11' Lady Luck had smiled on Ritchie. 

When Weeks took office, he installed his own people at the assistant secretary level, 

and got rid of 1330 others as an economy measure."2 As assistant secretary for domestic affairs he appointed Craig R. Sheaffer, a former president of the Sheaffer Pen 

Company."3 Sheaffer's position gave him supervisory authority over the Bureau, and 

Weeks asked him to investigate the AD-X2 matter. Ritchie worked closely with 

Sheaffer in the investigation. 

"°Eric F. Goldman, The Crucial Decade—and After: America, 1945-1960 (New York: Vintage Books, 

1960): 241-242. 

'Secretary Sinclair Weeks testimony, AD-X2 Hearings: 4. 112 Lawrence, Battery Additive Controversy: 18. 

"3 Newspaper accounts alleged that Sheaffer was upset with the Government because of an FTC investigation of the Sheaffer "lifetime" pen, and with the Bureau for "high-handed" testing of a pen. (Lawrence, 

Battery Additive Controversy: 19) The Bureau never tested a Sheaffer pen. (Interview with A. V. Astin, July 

12, 1983; NIST Oral History File) 

112 
Astin tried to see Weeks, but his efforts were to prove fruitless. Indeed, recognizing 

that the Department did not, in Astin's words, have "confidence in the adequacy of 

the Bureau's work on battery additives," he urged Weeks in writing to enlist the 

assistance of the Bureau's Visiting Committee and the National Academy of Sciences 

to form two committees, one to study the Bureau's operations, and another to study the 

accuracy of the Bureau's scientific work. Astin never heard from Weeks, but his 

proposal was to be implemented in a manner he could hardly have expected. 

One of the first things that happened after Weeks took office was the rescinding of 

the POD fraud order. With a new leadership in Congress, the chairman of the Senate 

Small Business Committee was now Edward J. Thye of Minnesota, but the professional staff had not changed. Ritchie, with the help of O'Connor, persuaded Thye to 

help him on the POD fraud order, and Thye provided a supportive letter of transmittal 

for a petition Ritchie had written for delivery to Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield. Weeks, in turn, also provided a request that the fraud order be rescinded, and the 

documents were delivered to Summerfield at his home on Friday, February 27. 

Following a morning conference among Summerfield, Weeks, and Sheaffer and their 

top aides, Summerfield approved Ritchie's request and suspended—but did not 

repeal—the fraud order. It had lasted three days. Ritchie could receive mail again and was back in business. 

Sheaffer's investigation continued. Investigators from the Department of Commerce 

went meticulously through the Bureau files. The Bureau, following its normal course 

of operation, prepared the "Statement on Battery Additives"4 for the House Interstate 

and Foreign Commerce Committee and submitted it without notifying Sheaffer that it was doing so. Furious, Sheaffer ordered that further copies be impounded and, in 

response to an inquiry about AD-X2, wrote to a trade journal: 

The new administration officials of the Department of Commerce report that 

they have not had time to complete their study of the question of battery 

additives. Therefore, they have not yet made a final decision as to their 

attitude on previous opinions of the National Bureau of Standards on the 

value of such additives. 

In fact, on March 4, 1953, Sheaffer ordered that all dissemination of information on battery additives by the Bureau be halted. From then on a form letter containing the 

following statement was sent to anyone (except agencies of the Government) requesting information on battery additives, "The Department of Commerce is currently studying the battery additive matter and pending the completion of their study, the National 

Bureau of Standards is not disseminating any information on the subject."5 

National Bureau of Standards, "Statement on Battery Additives, Prepared for the Committee on Interstate 

and Foreign Commerce, U.S. House of Representatives," February 10, 1953. 

NARA; RO 167; Astin file; Box 6; Folder Battery Additive 1953. Indeed, within a few days of the 

Sheaffer order, Jesse L. Mathusa, who was in charge of Bureau publications, received a call from the 

Commerce publications chief. He was told to burn all copies of Circular 504, but they settled for impoundment. In addition, Raymond Davis, chief of the Bureau's Photographic Laboratory, made a photographic 

copy of the data on which Circular 504 was based to assure its retention. 

113 
Sheaffer was rapidly making up his mind. He became convinced that the Bureau had 

mishandled the AD-X2 affair. He was convinced by the testimOnials and the large 

number of satisfied users that AD-X2 was a worthwhile commodity and that Ritchie 

had been unfairly prevented from selling it. A massive Government had prevented a small businessman from making a living. This was just the type of unfair treatment 

that both Weeks and Sheaffer had come to Washington to prevent. Sheaffer recommended that Astin be fired."6 

ASTIN IS FIRED AND WEEKS LEARNS THE WAYS OF WASHINGTON 

Despite the fact that the director of the Bureau was a civil servant, he, and others 

like him in similar positions in the bureaucracy, served at the pleasure of the president. 

Civil service rules did not apply to these positions. Thus, it was not uncommon that 

the holder of such an office be asked to resign at a change of administration. But at the 

National Bureau of Standards this had never happened; the position of director was 

considered to be a professional, not political, position. Astin was the first Bureau 

director whose resignation was requested. 

After receiving the recommendation from Sheaffer, and discussing the whole case 

with the top-ranking officials in his administration (but not Astin), Weeks agreed with 

Sheaffer. It was, however, by no means a decision agreed to unanimously by Weeks' 

staff—Sheaffer was its main proponent."7 Nor is it clear that Weeks was aware of the 

nature of Astin's position. It seems, in fact, that Weeks considered the firing not much 

different from the type of house-cleaning he had carried out with the political staff, 

and Astin appears to have considered it in this light as well. Whatever the facts, the 

decision was made. On March 24, 1953, Astin was called into Sheaffer's office and 

told that the secretary desired his resignation "in order to study and make changes in 

the operations of the National Bureau of Standards."18 In his statement on resigning, 

Astin said, "When Mr. Sheaffer informed me that the Secretary desired my resignation, 

I felt I had no alternative to submitting it. Unless the Director of the National Bureau 

of Standards has the full support and cooperation of the Secretary of Commerce, the 

effectiveness of the important services which the National Bureau of Standards renders 

to science, industry, and government would be seriously impaired." On March 30, 

his short resignation letter was sent to the president, and two days later President 

Eisenhower accepted it, effective April 18. 

6 Lawrence, Battery Additive Controversy: p. 20. 

main supporter of Astin was Assistant Secretary for Administration James C. Worthy. He tried to stop Astin's firing but was unsuccessful. Only a few months later, Worthy was to replace Sheaffer as Astin's 

immediate superior. (Herman Wolkinson, "Memorandum of a Phone Conversation with James C. Worthy on November 25, 1959." NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 7; Folder untitled [legal size]. Wolkinson was a senior trial attorney for the Department of Justice) 

Statement on Resignation by Dr. A. V. Astin, Director, National Bureau of Standards, April 1, 1953, 5:30 

p.m. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 6; Folder 0/9.46 Battery Additives) 

114 
Again with almost miraculous coincidence, the SSCSB had scheduled hearings for 

Weeks alone on the afternoon of March 31, 1953. In that morning's Washington Post 

and 300 other newspapers throughout the country, a column by Drew Pearson entitled 

"Astin Ouster Laid to Influence" appeared. It read, in part: 

Dr. A. V. Astin, Director of the National Bureau of Standards. . . has been 

trying for several weeks to get an appointment with his chief, the new Secretary of Commerce, Sinclair Weeks. As the head of one of the nonpolitical, scientific bureaus of Government, he wanted to discuss future 

problems. 

Secretary Weeks, however, did not see him. But last week, Dr. Astin 

suddenly was summoned. . . by Assistant Secretary Craig Sheaffer, head of 

the fountain pen company, and was fired. He was asked to turn in his 

resignation within three days. 

He also was lectured regarding the Bureau of Standards' diagnosis of 

battery additives. . . . Sheaffer didn't like this diagnosis and told Dr. Astin the 

Bureau of Standards in the future was to be run on a businessman's basis. 

That very afternoon, Weeks, accompanied by Sheaffer, testified before the SSBC. 

The session lasted only thirty-five minutes, but, coupled with the Pearson column and 

the announcement of Astin's dismissal, it was to make a far longer-lasting impression 

on the Nation. In his prepared testimony, Weeks gave a short account of the history of 

the AD-X2 affair. As expected, it was quite sympathetic to Ritchie. Then Weeks quite 

accurately put his finger on the heart of the matter with respect to the Bureau's 

position on situations of this kind: 

The Bureau, which is supposed neither to approve nor condemn a product, 

has, by its very setup, the power to make the introduction of a new product 

on the market very difficult, to prevent a product's being advertised by the 

Federal Trade Commission action, and have people labeled "fraud" and 

denied the use of the mails. If this power is objectively and correctly used, it 

has great value to all the people of this Nation. However, if the Bureau's foot 

slips, a business starting in against all the normal competitive hazards, finds 

itself up against something with which it cannot cope, the vast power of the 

United States Government. Unless the small-business man knows a very 

great deal about Government, or has the finances to employ experts, he is 

obliged to quit. 

I cannot bring myself to believe that the people making AD-X2 have the 

intent to defraud—and without intent, I do not see how there can be fraud.'2° 

Despite the fact that Weeks rather clearly believed that the Bureau's "foot had 

slipped" in the AD-X2 matter, as an analysis of the Bureau's position and power in 

such matters the statement largely accurate. He made three promises: To "get the 

119 Drew Pearson, "Astin Ouster Laid to Influence," Washington Post, March 31, 1953. 20 Weeks testimony, AD-X2 Hearings: 3. 115 
best brains I can to examine into the functions and objectives of the Bureau of 

Standards;..." to re-test AD-X2, including field tests; and to withdraw "Circular 504 

and all other circulars and technical reports dealing with battery additives until such 

time as those tests are completed." He was to carry out the first and third of these 

promises. 121 Had he left the matter there, his testimony would have been important enough, but 

he included another statement which, coupled with the Astin dismissal, was to bring 

the wrath of the scientific community and a large portion of the press down on his 

shoulders: 

I am not a man of science, and I do not wish to enter into a technical discussion or be accused of overruling the findings of any laboratory. But as a practical man, I think that the National Bureau of Standards has not been 

sufficiently objective, because they discount entirely the play of the market 

place.... 122 Widely interpreted as meaning that science should come up with results that are politically acceptable, this comment, coupled with Astin's dismissal, unleashed a storm 

of criticism on Weeks. Editorials appeared almost immediately in the Washington Post, 

The Washington Times, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. Other 

papers followed. "The public has a right to know whether there is any plan to mix 

politics with the scientific objectives of the NBS," wrote the Post. "Now the new administration chops off the head of the top man in a bureau whose effectiveness 

depends on its freedom from accountability to any other standard than scientific 

integrity," wrote the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Political cartoonists had a field day. 

Congressional reaction was generally unfavorable. "If this is the only incident, it is a pretty stiff penalty," said Senator John Sparkman. Senator Wallace F. Bennett commented that the additive problem "has been handled in such a way as to injure [Astin] 

and the Commerce Department." Further criticism came from private citizens and other 

segments of the population, but the most serious was from scientists and scientific 

organizations. The Federation of American Scientists led the way with a statement 

issued by their Executive Committee on April 4. "Resentment and apprehension have 

been aroused not only by the injustice done a respected colleague, but by a shadow 

thrown on the working relationship between science and government."23 The 

121 Ibid, 4. On April 7, 1953, Sheaffer strengthened his ban on the distribution of publications on battery 

additives. The Bureau was directed to "withhold from issue and distribution Circular 504 and all other 

technical reports dealing with battery additives." (Washington Star, April 11, 1953). All such material was collected and stored in the attic of the South Building. As well as can be determined, this ban was never 

lifted. (W. R. Tilley, private communication.) 

In addition, the Department of Commerce issued an order requiring its review of "proposed new publications projects." The Bureau staff was notified by Wallace R. Brode, chairman of the Bureau's Editorial Committee, on April 8, 1953, that "each Division's program involving the preparation of manuscripts for issuance as NBS Circulars, Handbooks, Applied Mathematics Series, Building and Structure Reports, and Miscella- neous Publications must receive this advance approval." 22 lbid, 3. 123 Federation of American Scientists, Executive Committee, "Text of Statement on Dismissal of Dr. Astin," 

April 4, 1953. (NARA; RO 167; Astin file; Box 6; Folder 0/9.46 Battery Additives) 

116 
Sinclair Weeks, secretary of commerce from 1953 to 1958, 

accused NBS of not being 

"sufficiently objective" in the 

AD-X2 matter "because they 

discount entirely the play of the 

market place Weeks would 

eventually prove to be a great ally 

of the Bureau. (AP-Wide World 

Photos) 

prestigious American Physical Society followed on April 8 with a statement from its 

executive committee: "Rightly or wrongly, the impression has got abroad that the 

resignation was forced for political or arbitrary reasons. Such an impression, unless 

corrected, will greatly impair the morale of scientists now working for the government 

and will make it increasingly difficult to draw other scientists into careers in government service ...." "Astin Ouster Assailed in West," ran the headline on a story about 

the reaction of West-Coast scientists in the Christian Science Monitor, which was otherwise one of the few papers that did not criticize the Astin dismissal. Even the 

august Fortune published a two-page factual article on the dismissal. 

The Bureau staff itself was dumbfounded. While many had been aware of the 

AD-X2 problem before Astin's firing, and had been deeply concerned about it, after 

the dismissal the staff became a seething ferment. They could not believe that their 

gentle and highly respected director could have been summarily fired. As many as 400 

threatened to quit if the situation did not change, including, as usual, some of the 

brightest and best, for they had plenty of offers from other organizations. The situation 

was particularly acute in the ordnance divisions, prompting W. S. Hinman, Jr., associate director for ordnance, to write to Wallace R. Brode, acting director after Astin's 

firing. Hinman wrote: 

The dismissal of Dr. Astin and the AD-X2 controversy place the entire 

Ordnance Program of the National Bureau of Standards in extreme jeopardy. 

117 
"Cu Away, Boy — You Bother Me0 "Yes, I'm Getting Quite A Out Of It" 

COPYKICIEI 1953 BY IIERRLOCK IN THE WASIIINGTON POST 

COPYRIGHT 1953 TIlE WASHINGTON 1051 RORINTEI) WlTh PERMISSION COPYRIGHT 1953 ThE WASHINGTON POST REPRINTED WIG] PERMISSION 

The high profile of the AD-X2 affair kept the cartoonists in Washington, D.C. supplied with material for 

their graphical observations on the political events of the day. 

118 

— flu lkb.i. jS.. A# COPYRIGIIT 1953 BY HERRIJCK IN ThE WASHINGTON POST 

IIERCS MUD 

I#V '1 

Happy Days! New Batte'y Additiae 
In one area alone, any disturbance will set back the multi-billion dollar guided 

missile program of the Nation, and loss of personnel would be a major 

catastrophe.... 

Ever since the first news release on AD-X2, I, together with the Chiefs of 

the Ordnance Divisions, have paid close attention to the temper of the 

Ordnance Staff. We have concluded that unless the whole matter is resolved 

fairly and openly, the staff will accept the frequent very-high-salary offers of 

industry and the Ordnance Divisions will become completely impotent in less 

than a year.'24 

Suddenly, AD-X2 threatened to become linked to national security. 

Senator Thye promised to hold hearings before the Senate Small Business Comm ittee so that Astin could have his say. Hearings were eventually held on June 22-26, 

but Astin's dismissal was barely mentioned. 

THE VISITING COMMIrFEE 

Now the Bureau's Visiting Committee was drawn into the action. 25 As he had 

promised in his testimony, Weeks promptly set about to form a committee to "evaluate 

the present functions and operations of the Bureau of Standards in relation to the 

present national needs." He immediately had a two-hour conference with Detlev W. 

Bronk, president of the National Academy of Sciences, and Mervin J. Kelly, president 

of the Bell Telephone Laboratories.'26 Both men were members of the Visiting 

Committee. Following that conference, on April 3, 1953, just three days after testifying, Weeks sent a telegram to seven scientific societies asking each to nominate a person to serve on the proposed evaluation committee.'27 Bronk had nominated 

Kelly to serve as chairman of the new committee. In due course, the committee would 

be formed, but only after some considerable drama. 

Oddly enough, only Kelly had knowledge of Astin's ouster before reading about it 

in the public press. How much this affected subsequent events is not known, but it 

124 Memorandum, W. S. Hinman to W. R. Brode, April 13, 1953. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 6; Folder 

Battery Dopes, Decoy Letters??) 25 Provided for in the Bureau's enabling legislation, the Visiting Committee reviews the Bureau yearly, and 

reports to the secretary on "the efficiency of its scientific work and the condition of its equipment." (Act of 

22 July 1950, U.S. Statutes at Large, 64 (1950): 371) The Committee is formed of distinguished scientists 

and scientist-administrators. In April 1953 the members were: Robert F. MehI, Carnegie Institute of Technology, chairman; Detlev W. Bronk, president of The Johns Hopkins University and president of the National 

Academy of Sciences; Mervin J. Kelly, president, Bell Telephone Laboratories; Donald H. Menzel, Harvard 

Observatory; and J. H. Van Vleck, Harvard University. 26 Federation of American Scientists, FAS Newsletter, April 4, 1953, quoting the New York Times, April 4, 

1953. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 6; Folder 0/9.46 Battery Additive) 27 The societies were: the American Institute of Physics, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Ameri- can Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Institute of Mining 

and Metallurgical Engineers, American Chemical Society, and Institute of Radio Engineers. Physics Today 6, no. 5 (May 1953): 21. 

119 
is bound to have had some effect. Whether the members of the Visiting Committee 

notified Astin about the developments is also not known, but it seems likely that 

ordinary courtesy would have led a member of the Visiting Committee to inform Astin 

of the turn of events. 

So far Weeks had not met with the full Visiting Committee, and a meeting was scheduled for April 14, just four days before Astin's resignation would become effective. The committee was unhappy with the turn of events. Indeed, on that morning, 

"Weeks received a stiff letter from Dr. Bronk in which, for the first time, it was 

suggested that Weeks countermand the dismissal of Astin 'at least' until the issues 

could be fully studied. . . . '[T]he integrity of scientific effort and the national interest' 

demanded that Astin's departure be postponed."28 And Weeks also wanted the 

Academy to form another committee to study how the Bureau had dealt with AD-X2. 

Bronk, president of the National Academy, refused to accept this responsibility unless 

Astin were retained on a temporary basis. 

With the two committees hanging in the balance, Weeks could do little except 

accede to Bronk's and the Visiting Committee's request. On April 17, one day before 

Astin's resignation was to become effective, Weeks announced that Astin would 

remain as director until the matter was cleared up. Weeks pointed out clearly that 

Astin was not rehired. "No question is involved of Dr. Astin's permanent retention," 

he emphasized. Astin's was to be essentially a resignation, but without an effective 

date. Stating that his difference with Astin arose from a "conflict with respect to 

administrative viewpoint and procedure," he said that his actions were not intended to 

"cast reflection on the integrity of the Bureau or on the professional competence or 

integrity of Dr. Astin." Weeks' announcement was further softened by his promise that 

Astin would be offered a job at his present grade in the Government "where his 

abilities. . . may be utilized in the national interest." Astin, in turn, accepted his position "regardless of my personal opinions or wishes," despite the fact that he could not 

act officially as director.'29 A lull had been brought into the turbulent situation. 

Reported nationwide, the announcement was viewed as a notable retreat for Weeks, 

and as a great victory for the scientific establishment. The scientific community was, 

however, more restrained. For them, the matter was not closed. Astin was still in an ill-defined situation, and the position of science in the Government needed to be 

clarified. "More is needed to undo the harm that has been done," stated the Council 

of the American Physical Society, and David Hill, chairman of the Federation of 

American Scientists, announced in a press release, "Until it is made clear. . . that... 

[subordination of scientific activities to non-scientific pressures] is not operative. . . the 

damage resulting from the Astin affair will continue to 

28 Lawrence, Battery Additive Controversy: 24. 129 Federation of American Scientists, "Statement by Secretary of Commerce Sinclair Weeks, April 17, 

1953," FAS Newsletter, April 17, 1953; Federation of American Scientists, "Statement by Dr. A. V. Astin, 

April 17, 1953," FAS Newsletter, April 17, 1953. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 6; Folder 0/946 Battery 

Additives) 

David L. Hill, "Statement on Postponement of Astin Dismissal." Federation of American Scientists, press 

release, Saturday, April 18, 1953. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 6; Folder 0/9.46 Battery Additives) 

120 
TIlE SENATE HEARINGS 

On Monday, June 22, 1953, the Senate Select Committee on Small Business re- commenced the hearings that had been held in abeyance during the public uproar 

following the appearance of Weeks and Sheaffer on March 31. They were to last 

through June 26. The principal testifiers were Ritchie, Astin, and Weber, but twelve 

other witnesses—six of whom were from military installations, and all but one of 

whom were proponents of AD-X2—testified. In his opening statement on the second 

day of the hearings, Senator Thye stated the purpose of the hearings: 

The issue which we are trying to resolve in the interest of the business, the 

Government, and the economy of our Nation can be simply stated. That issue 

is whether or not agencies of the Government have been fair and just in the 

treatment of Mr. Ritchie and his product, Battery AD-X2.... 

[W]e sincerely hope that a complete presentation of the facts.. . will assist 

the public, the agencies of the Government, and this committee to solve the 

issues as I have stated them.'3' 

No such solution was ever to be achieved by the committee. Thye went on to point out 

that there was a suspended fraud order against Ritchie, and "[t]his order in fairness to 

all parties, should not be allowed to be held in abeyance indefinitely." 

The first witness to testify was Ritchie. A voluble, somewhat rambling witness, he 

testified for more than five hours, running into Tuesday afternoon. Before a generally 

friendly committee, he gave his account of the history of the incident, and particularly 

his problems with the Bureau: how he got into the battery additive business; his 

discovery with Randall of AD-X2; how he had slowly built up his business; the large 

numbers of satisfied customers; the effect of Letter Circular 302, Circular 504, and the 

bulletins of the NBBB based on Bureau statements; his difficulty in getting the Bureau 

to test his product while all the time lumping it with all others for condemnation; the 

blunders the Bureau made when it did test it; and the disastrous effect Bureau publications had on his business. With a great deal of participation from many of the senators, 

it was effective testimony. 

Not every senator, however, was completely friendly. In particular, Hubert 

Humphrey of Minnesota, who was trained as a pharmacist and hence knew chemistry, 

caused Ritchie some problems when discussing the composition of AD-X2 and its 

progenitor, Protecto-Charge. An almost humorous exchange Occurred near the beginning of the testimony:'32 

SENATOR HUMPHREY: (ostensibly quoting from the original Randall letter to 

Vinal) "Its [Protecto Charge] composition is a mixture of anhydrous sodium 

sulfate, commonly known as glauber salt, and slightly basic, nearly anhydrous magnesium sulfate, epsom salt."33 

AD-X2 Hearings: 9. 132 M. Ritchie testimony, AD-X2 Hearings: 2 1-27. 

This sentence does not appear in the Randall letter. 

121 
On June 22, 1953, Jess M. Ritchie 

demonstrated AD-X2 before the 

Senate Select Committee on Small 

Business. (AP-Wide World Photos) 

MR. RITCHIE: You are quoting Dr. Randall? 

SENATOR HUMPHREY: I surely am. And, after two more questions: 

MR. RITCHIE: Senator, Dr. Randall never wrote "epsom salt" and "glauber 

salt" in any letter to anyone, I am sure. SENATOR HUMPHREY: He wrote "anhydrous sodium sulfate" and "anhydrous 

magnesium sulfate." Anybody who has had the first year of college 

chemistry knows that one of those is glauber salt and one is epsom salt. One 

of them you give to horses and one to people; that is right, is it not?" 

MR. RITCHIE: I am not a veterinarian. 

SENATOR HUMPHREY: I have taken chemistry. I am a pharmacist. Now, I happen to know that you give glauber salt to animals and epsom salt to 

people. One is magnesium sulfate and one is sodium sulfate. Everybody 

knows that. 

The exchange continued and developed into a question of impurities, trace elements, 

and secret ingredients in AD-X2. 

122 
MR. RITCHIE: The salts in this material do not appear as epsom salt or glauber 

salt. 

SENATOR HUMPHREY: It is anhydrous sodium sulfate. 

MR. RITCHIE: Slightly basic. 

SENATOR HUMPHREY: That means that it has slight traces of impurities. 

MR. RITCHIE: That is the key to the thing. 

And a little later: 

MR. RITCHIE: Now these impurities, these trace elements that are in battery 

AD-X2— 

SENATOR HUMPHREY: What do you mean by "trace elements" that are supposed to have some peculiarities of bringing back electrical or new powers to a battery? What are these trace elements? 

MR. RITCHIE: There are a number of things. There is silver, some that are 

added— 

SENATOR HUMPHREY: Do you have a list of the trace elements? 

MR. RITCHIE: I would rather not disclose them, Senator, because I believe 

that no man has a right to give away a secret formula. 

And despite intense further questioning by Humphrey, who pointed out that any skilled 

chemist could identify all the trace elements, Ritchie would disclose no more on the 

topic of secret ingredients. Ritchie had portrayed himself as the backyard inventor who 

had discovered a miracle formula and was not about to divulge it. It was a skillful 

performance. 

Ritchie was followed by Astin on the witness stand.'34 His appearance, lasting about 

eight hours, began with a long prepared statement that occupied almost twenty pages 

in the hearings transcript. In it Astin laid out the functions and activities of the Bureau 

and how they arose from its enabling legislation. He described how small the part 

commodity testing was in the whole program, and how the enabling legislation 

authorized the publication of material of interest to the general public. He then 

described the Bureau's testing program and the development of test methods, the 

essential role of controls when determining the effect of "some modification in the 

treatment or handling process on the behavior characteristics of the material or device 

under investigation." He went into field tests in the development of new ordnance 

devices (where the Bureau, and Astin personally, had great experience), pointing out 

that "the field test.. . is not resorted to until some improvement or effect is developed 

in the laboratory which would. . . make the field tests worthwhile." He then recounted 

the Bureau's version of the AD-X2 affair, from the receipt of Randall's first letter 

through the MIT tests and the Bureau's rationalization of those results. With respect 

to the Bureau's permission to have the NBBB publish Bureau statements making 

specific reference to AD-X2, Astin testified, "This deviation from the usual practice 

was at the request of the National Better Business Bureau in order to reply to 

statements made by the proponents of AD-X2 that the generalization made in prior 

134 A. V. Astin testimony, AD-X2 Hearings: 214-221. 

123 
bulletins did not apply to that product and that it had not been tested by the Bureau," 

and a little later, "every action which the Bureau has taken with respect to the testing 

of AD-X2 and the dissemination of information with respect thereto has been brought 

about as a direct consequence of the representations and pressures of the proponents 

of AD-X2." 

In his prepared testimony, Astin addressed the question of the publication of 

scientific results: 

A laboratory study on the properties of aluminum under a particular set of 

environmental conditions might disclose characteristics for aluminum 

superior to those of steel under the same set of environmental conditions. 

The publication of such data would not be considered as prejudicial to those 

interested in promoting the use of steel; rather the withholding of such data 

would be considered prejudicial to the interests of the general public and 

those interested in promoting the use of aluminum. In science and technology a specific, reproducible observation is a fact that knows no favorites. 

The statement appears to be a reply to Weeks' "play of the marketplace" before the 

committee. Clearly, Astin saw the function of science as the discovery and dissemination of scientific truth, with no regard for political or other consequences. Science 

did not make policy; that was left to others, which might include scientists. But 

scientific truth was inviolate. In the AD-X2 affair, one of the first times that the paths 

of science and public policy crossed, things seemed relatively simple. In later years 

and in other settings, the discovery of scientific truth would not seem so easy. 

Astin did not lack for cross-examination.'35 He was grilled about the letters to the 

NBBB which seemed to ask the NBBB's advice on what to publish, and perhaps even 

suggesting that the FTC be brought into the AD-X2 matter; about the Bureau's 

relations with industry; and about the Bureau furnishing information, in which the 

name of AD-X2 was used, to the NBBB and permitting them to make the information 

public. But foremost was the topic that concerned the whole Committee—how there 

could be so many satisfied users of AD-X2 and the Bureau not find merit in it. 

Chairman Thye returned to it several times. A typical exchange went as follows: 

CHAIRMAN THYE: But the simple truth of the question is that if a good, hardfisted businessman has used the product in a fleet of motors and in the 

batteries serving those motors over a number of years and is fool enough to 

come up and place orders month after month, what is the matter with him? 

Or otherwise, what is the matter with the Bureau of Standards test? 

Now, that is the question, sir. 

DR. ASTIN: The man with his fleet of cars might have some real data to debate on if over a rather long period of time he put the material in half the 

batteries of his fleet and took pains to make sure that each half of the fleet 

had roughly the same use conditions, and then checked them monthly. On 

that basis, it would mean something. 

135 Ibid., 227-332. 

124 
Many such exchanges occurred with Thye and other senators, with Astin always iterating that results without controls meant nothing, scientifically speaking, but it was not 

clear that he convinced any of the skeptical senators. The gulf separating the scientific 

and political arenas was not easily bridged. 

One of the most interesting exchanges occurred with Senator Homer Ferguson on the question of the Bureau's acting as a regulatory agency. Ferguson grilled Astin 

deeply on many points, particularly on the question of the Bureau having done testing 

for the NBBB, but then he came to a question about the Bureau acting tacitly as a regulatory agency: 

SENATOR FERGUSON: I am concerned with the possibility that the National Bureau 

of Standards may become—may be used as a regulatory body of 

proprietary products. Do you think that is possible with what has happened in this 

case? 

DR. ASTIN: Well, first, we do not have any regulatory authority or responsibility, 

but we do— 

SENATOR FERGUSON: Well, you can regulate pretty well through the Post 

Office fraud order, can you not? 

DR. ASTIN: That is not our initiative, sir. All we try to do is to assist them on a technical problem. 

SENATOR FERGUSON: I say you can, though—you can have cooperation 

between the Post Office and your Department or the Federal Trade, and you can 

do pretty well on regulation, can you not? 

DR. A5TIN: I don't know how we could take any responsibility for the regulation 

when that belongs to them. We try to give them technical information to help 

them, but they are doing the regulating, not us. SENATOR FERGUSON: Then, you would say that you do not think it ought to be 

denominated a regulatory body? 

DR. ASTIN: We don't want to be a regulatory body; we are a fact finding organization. 

Later Senator Ferguson returned to the topic: 

SENATOR FERGUSON: Do you think the National Bureau of Standards by 

following its policy of disseminating technical data, when not specifically 

directed toward scientific or technological progress, at the professional and production level, is broadening gratuitously and, perhaps inadvertently, into a regulatory activity? 

DR. ASTIN: Indirectly it might be so construed, but— 

SENATOR FERGUSON: Would it not be, as a matter of fact, a regulatory 

activity? Isn't that what this has amounted to? 

DR. ASTIN: Well, one can extend that and say that, similarly, all progress in science and technology is regulatory. The invention of the incandescent lamp bulb 

made obsolete gas lights and so on, so that if you carry this too far, then you 

would never disseminate any scientific information because it might have some 

effect on curtailing the marketing of some products that it is related to. 

125 
Astin's analogy was not an exact one, but the question was not pursued. It was clear, however, that no one wanted the Bureau to act like a regulatory agency—with or without authority. 

In spite of all the reservations on the committee, it is quite clear that the members 

were ready to think well of the Bureau as well as Astin, whom they admired at least as a solid professional in the Civil Service, and who had stood up well under his current 

difficulties. Thus, near the end of his testimony the following exchange occurred: 

SENATOR SMATHERS: Now, just one last question, prompted by my good 

friend, the Senator from Kansas, about the relative worth of the product as- pirin as compared to the relative worth of AD-X2, in your offhand opinion 

do you think that the value of aspirin had been proved and established more so than the value of AD-X2? 

DR. ASTIN: I buy aspirin. 

SENATOR SMATHERS: No further questions. 

SENATOR SPARKMAN: In considerable quantity? 

SENATOR HUNT: Lately? 

THE CHAIRMAN: Doctor, I hope we weren't the cause of you buying any. 

DR. ASTIN: I have got a great big 85-grain tablet that I keep in my desk. It is 

National Bureau of Standards size.'36 

Weber, the third of the principal witnesses, testified on the morning of July 25, 

1953. His testimony was relatively short, perhaps caused by the fact that he was unwilling to make any evaluation of AD-X2. His prepared statement was: It is the position of the MIT group that no conclusions can definitely be 

drawn as to the commercial utility of AD-X2 or lack of it, based on the MIT 

experiments, and that the drawing of definite conclusions based on limited 

laboratory experiments as to the commercial utility of AD-X2 is not justified.'37 

Under questioning from Senator Sparkman, he also agreed with the statement of 

Beattie about the lack of correlation of the MIT results with the "normal use of such a battery." 

Finally, concerning Laidler's analysis of the MIT results in the SSBC press release, 

the exchange went as follows: 

SENATOR SPARKMAN: Dr. Laidler's statement was made an appendix to [the 

press release]. 

DR. WEBER: Yes, I have read that part. 

SENATOR SPARKMAN: All right. Was that, in your opinion, or was it not a fair 

interpretation? 

DR. WEBER: It was not my opinion. He expressed an opinion of his own.'38 

136 A. V. Astin testimony, AD-X2 Hearings: 330-331. Eighty-five grains is 5000 milligrams. The normal 

aspirin tablet is 325 milligrams. The tablet (there are actually two) and a Lucite-encased box of AD-X2 were traditionally handed down from director to director. They are now in the NIST Museum collection. 

H. C. Weber testimony, AD-X2 Hearings: 372. 38 Ibid., 393. 

126 
Weber's testimony effectively ended consideration of the MIT tests, at least in the 

political arena. The staff of the SSCSB had suffered a great loss of face. 

Of the remaining twelve witnesses, only one—James C. Beene of the Kelly Air 

Force Base in San Antonio—testified against AD-X2, saying he would not buy any 

for his own use. The others—with various degrees of enthusiasm—testified to its 

effectiveness, prompting the committee to request that the Department of Defense and 

the Navy "resume testing it for use in submarine batteries."39 

The hearings concluded abruptly at midday on June 26. Other witnesses, including 

Laidler, were to have been called, but they were not. 

THE INCIDENT WINDS DOWN 

It was clear with the end of the hearings that the denouement of the AD-X2 incident 

had passed. On the political front, nothing happened. Aside from the already 

mentioned recommendation about the investigation of AD-X2 for use in submarine 

batteries, and a letter to the Post Office Department recommending the removal of the 

suspended fraud order against Ritchie, the committee did nothing, although it did issue an annual report of its activities, part of which covered the AD-X2 hearings. Despite 

pertinent questions it had raised during the hearings about the Bureau's possible tacit 

and inadvertent behavior as a regulatory agency; about the Bureau's relations to 

industry and the National Better Business Bureau; about the possibility that a businessman who gave the impression of being honest and dedicated had all but been 

forced out of business by the Government; and other questions and issues, the 

committee did not initiate nor recommend any legislative action. Perhaps this came 

about because it was a select committee that had no legislative authority. And, 

possibly because of the hurried adjournment, it did not even have a closing 

statement. Perhaps the issues raised and discussed were too ill-defined, too vague to 

permit a resolution.'4° Whatever the reason, the AD-X2 incident was over on the 

political front, and the only further contact between Ritchie and the Bureau was to 

come across the table at FTC hearings. 

But if the climax had passed, there were still events that had to transpire before the 

incident, let alone its aftermath, can be said to have ended. In particular, the two 

regulatory agencies—the POD and the FTC—still had unfinished business to transact, 

and the Bureau had two committees investigating it. And it had a director who was in 

some kind of limbo from which he had to be released. For both the Bureau and 

Ritchie, important events were still to take place. 

Lawrence, Battery Additive Controversy: 26. 

'4° Library of Congress, Legislative Reference Service, "AD-X2: The Difficulty in Proving a Negative," 

chapter 3 in Technical Information for Congress: Report to the Subcommittee on Science, Research, and 

Development of the Comn,ittee on Science and Astronautics, U. S. House of Representatives, 91st Cong., 

1st sess., 25 April, 1969. 

127 
Posi OFFICE DEPARTMENT AND THE FEDERAL 

At the close of the hearings, the POD fraud order on Pioneers was still in effect, 

albeit suspended. But the postmaster general was quick to act. On August 20, 1953, 

somewhat less than two months after the hearings, he cancelled the fraud order.'4' 

The release reads: 

Since the original hearings conflicting scientific testimony of competent 

authorities and the statements of satisfied users have been presented to the 

Senate Committee on Small Business. 

A scientific evaluation is now being conducted under the auspices of the 

Department of Commerce. 

In view of these circumstances the fraud order is cancelled. 

In more detail,. the release explains that the postmaster general had considered the 

original letters by Thye and Weeks, the transcript of the hearings before the SSBC, 

and a letter on July 15 from Weeks. On the basis of this evidence, the POD reached 

the conclusions that: 

(A) There is a substantial disagreement as to the relative benefits of AD-X2. 

(B) That the Department of Commerce has authorized further study and investigation of the merits of battery additives. 

(C) That based upon all of the evidence, that is to say, the evidence introduced in the original proceeding, together with the evidence introduced 

subsequent thereto in support of respondents' motion, there is insufficient 

proof of an actual intent by Ritchie to deceive which is required to warrant 

and maintain a fraud order. 

Matters before the FTC were not so quickly resolved.'42 It had not acted since 

original investigation in 1951 and, despite some pressure from the press, did not aèt 

until 1954, when, on March 11, it charged that Pioneers used "false, misleading and 

deceptive claims, statements, and representations." Hearings began in Washington on July 26 and ended for the Bureau with rebuttal testimony on September 22. Then, in 

order to obtain user testimony, hearings were held in thirteen different cities throughout the country. The hearings dragged on through 103 sessions until November 9, 

1955, when the hearing examiner ruled in favor of Ritchie. The examiner found that 

the user testimony counterbalanced the scientific evidence, and the commission's 

lawyers had not met the burden of proof.'43 

The decision was appealed by the commission attorneys as well as Ritchie, who felt 

that the examiner's decision was in part favorable to the Bureau. Finally, on May 16, 

'j" Post Office Department, Release No. 977, August 20, 1953. 42 Lawrence, Battery Additive Controversy: 29-3 1, gives a detailed discussion of the hearings before the 

F1'C. The first part of the account presented here is a shortened version of that discussion. 

United States of America Before Federal Trade Commission, In the Matter of Pioneers, Inc., and Jess M. 

Ritchie, Initial Decision, by William L. Pack, Hearing Examiner, November 9, 1955, Docket No. 6190. 

128 
1956—more than eight years after Randall's initial letter to Vinal—the full commission 

dismissed the complaint against It was a great victory for him. 

But Ritchie tried to go further. He began advertising that his product had been 

approved by the FTC and had been Government tested and approved, whereupon the 

FTC brought another complaint against Ritchie. This time he lost. On September 7, 

1960, he was ordered to cease and desist.'45 

And Ritchie had other dealings with the Government. On July 20, 1956, Congressman John J. Allen, Jr., of California introduced a bill to pay Pioneers an unspecified sum of money "in full settlement of all claims. . . for compensation for losses. . . This bill was not passed, but a following Congressional Resolution permitted Ritchie 

to sue the Government.'47 He did so—for $2.4 million. When he saw the defendant's 

(i.e., the Department of Justice's) case at a pretrial conference, Ritchie asked for dismissal. In December, 1961, the case was dismissed with prejudice; Ritchie could not 

reopen it. Astin commented, "I am advised that this is the first time that a suit referred 

to the U.S. Court of Claims by the Congress has been dismissed with 

This action may be termed the last event in the AD-X2 incident.'49 

THE BUREAU 

Of the various institutions involved in the AD-X2 incident, the Bureau was the most 

affected. The first event to occur after the hearings was a pleasant one. On August 22, 

1953—just two days after the POD order—the AD-X2 affair, which had become a running story in the press ever since Astin's dismissal, erupted once again into headlines. "Astin Keeps Job—Weeks," shouted a Washington Times-Herald headline. It and 

newspapers throughout the Nation were reporting a six-page news release from the 

Department of Commerce on the previous day announcing that Weeks had decided to 

reinstate Astin.'5° The release said that Weeks was taking Astin back as "a member of 

my team" for the "best interests of the Bureau and the public." 

Federal Trade Commission, In the Matter of Pioneers, Inc., and Jess M. Ritchie, Opinion of the Commission, by Anderson, Commissioner, May 16, 1956, Docket No. 6190. 45 Federal Trade Commission, In the Matter of Pioneers, Inc., and Jess M. Ritchie, Decision of the Commission and Order to File Report of Compliance, Initial Decision, by Walter R. Johnson, Hearing Examiner, 

September 7, 1960, Docket No. 7844. 

Congress, House, A Bill for the Relief of Pioneers, Incorporated, a corporation, and Jess M. Ritchie, 

individually, and as an officer of said corporation, 84th Cong., 2d sess., HR 12333. 41 Congress, House, Resolution Providing for Sending the Bill H.R. 3875 and Accompany Papers to the 

United States Court of Claims, 85th Cong., 2d sess., H. Res. 167. 

U.S. Department of Commerce, "Statement by A. V. Astin, Director, National Bureau of Standards," 

December 15, 1961, National Bureau of Standards TRG-6277. 

49"AD-X2: The Case of the Mysterious Battery Additive Comes to an End," Science 134 (1961): 2086. 

U.S. Department of Commerce, "Statement of Secretary of Commerce Sinclair Weeks," Saturday, August 

22, 1953. 0-394-A. 

129 
What seemed like a sudden decision had not been made so hastily. Weeks had asked 

the Bureau's Visiting Committee to suggest a list of candidates for the position of 

director, and the committee unanimously urged the retention of Astin.'5' The press 

release went on to quote Weeks that the AD-X2 incident "obscured the real problem." 

His major concerns were: 1. Serious lack of balance in the programs of the Bureau. 

2. Imperfections in the system of evaluating commercial products. 

3. Inadequacies of organization and administrative control. 

Rather than a vindication, Astin said he would prefer to term Weeks' action as "a 

sincere change of mind on the part of the Secretary of Commerce."52 In fact, Astin's 

scrupulously correct behavior toward his superiors, his willingness to follow orders, 

his understanding of the reason behind his dismissal, and most of all his lack of rancor, 

were probably instrumental in changing Weeks' mind. The release went on to quote 

heavily from the as-yet unreleased report of the evaluation committee under 

Dr. Mervin Kelly which agreed with his analysis and detailed it. 

Of significance for the Bureau was the announcement in the press release that it 

was to be removed from the jurisdiction of Sheaffer and placed under Assistant 

Secretary for Administration James C. Worthy, who had strongly opposed Astin's 

dismissal. On September 15, Sheaffer resigned. And, in a result that could hardly have 

been anticipated after his actions upon taking office, Weeks went on to become a strong supporter of Astin and the Bureau. 

The lives of the Bureau scientists working directly in the AD-X2 affair were not 

made materially easier by the winding down of the incident. While there was no longer a direct confrontation with Ritchie on thescientific front, there was a remaining battle 

on the legal front. Many of them had to testify at the FTC hearings and were vigorously—even brutally in the memory of some of the participants—cross-examined by 

Ritchie's lawyers.'53 The lives of some of them were irrevocably changed by the 

experience. All the battery scientists were also kept busy supplying information, both 

oral and in writing, to the two committees studying the Bureau and the AD-X2 

incident. And they kept going the comparison experiments that were the basis of the 

"public test." The experiments were finally shut down in the fall of 1953. They gave 

no reason for the Bureau to change its mind. 

THE COMMITTEES REPORT 

Even as the hearings were taking place, the two committees—one to evaluate 

the functions and operations of the Bureau and the other to evaluate its work on AD-X2— 

formed at Weeks' request by the Bureau's Visiting Committee and the National 

Academy of Sciences, were doing their work. 

Ibid. 5. 52 "Weeks Puts Back As Director of Bureau," Washington Post, August 22, 1953: 1. The Bureau participants in the FTC hearings were Allen V. Astin, Bruce B. Bendigo, Robert L. Cottington, 

D. Norman Craig, Paul C. Donnelly, Churchill Eisenhart, Walter J. Hamer, Cyrus G. Malmberg, Bourdon F. 

Scnbner, and Clarence L. Snyder. 

130 
The first of these, commonly called the Kelly Committee after its chairman, was the 

first to report.'54 Indeed, it reported orally to Weeks continually as it was doing its 

work, and Weeks acted on those verbal recommendations before receiving a final 

report. In fact, his press release reinstating Astin was largely based on the committee's 

recommendation. 

It can be fairly said that no other single report has had as great an effect on the 

history of the Bureau as the "Kelly Committee Report," as it is commonly known. It 

can be said that its influence came about as much from its philosophy of the Bureau's 

nature and role as from the specific recommendations it made. With respect to philosophy, the words were welcome to the Bureau: 

It is the Committee's considered judgment that our highly industrialized 

society requires a Bureau of Standards that is the finest that can be created. 

To the extent that the Bureau is weak or inadequate, our technologic society 

is handicapping itself. By the very nature of its functions the Bureau's work 

must not be "reasonably good," it must be superior. It is not sufficient to 

have fairly good standards of measurement; fairly good methods of testing 

materials, mechanisms or structures; or reasonably good determination of 

important physical constants. The standards, the measurements, the test 

procedures must be the very best, the most accurate, the most reliable that 

can possibly be achieved at any given time, limited only by the state of the 

art at the time. It is thus more than a play on words to say that the 

"standards" by which the Bureau is judged must be the very highest and 

best. 

With respect to recommendations, the committee found "the volume of weaponry 

work has become large in comparison with all other activities of the Bureau. Its 

relative size and its effect on the other Bureau programs make its transfer from the 

Bureau desirable." Hence it recommended the "transfer of weaponry projects to the 

Department of Defense," but recommended "continued use of the Bureau by Department of Defense and Atomic Energy Commission for non-weaponry science and 

technical aid." Following these recommendations, on September 27, 1953, four 

ordnance divisions, totaling 2000 persons—I 600 in three divisions at the Harry 

Diamond Ordnance Laboratory in Washington, and 400 at the Missile Development 

'54A Report to The Secretary of Commerce by the Ad Hoc Committee Jbr the Evaluation of the Present 

Functions of the National Bureau of Standards: A Report on the Present Functions and Operations of the 

National Bureau of Standards With Their Evaluation in Relation to Present National Needs and Recominendations for the Improvement and Strengthening of the Bureau, October 15, 1953. The members of the 

committee were: Mervin J. Kelly, Chairman, President, Bell Telephone Laboratories; Lee A. DuBridge. 

President, California Institute of Technology; William L. Everitt, Dean of Engineering, University of Illinois; 

James W. Parker. President, Detroit Edison; Kenneth S. Pitzer, Dean, College of Chemistry, University of 

California; J. Barkley Rosser, Professor, Cornell University; Guy Suits, Vice President and Director of 

Research, General Electric; Clyde Williams, President, Battelle Memorial Institute; and Abel Wolman, 

Professor, Sanitary Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University. 

Ibid., 4. 

131 
Division in Corona, California—were transferred to Army Ordnance and Naval 

Ordnance respectively, although all operations remained at their respective sites. The 

transferred operations were the total of the Bureau programs in proximity fuzes and 

guided missiles. Eventually, in 1973, the ordnance work carried out at the Van Ness 

site was moved to newly constructed ordnance facilities in Adeiphi, MD.'56 

Another recommendation that was quickly adopted was that of having advisory 

committees, each appointed by a specific scientific or engineering society, review each 

operating unit of the Bureau yearly and report their findings to the director. This 

recommendation was quickly implemented, and the life of a middle-manager at the 

Bureau would never again be the same. 

A fourth recommendation was meant to insulate the Bureau from political pressures 

and have it work only in the scientific arena, where its competence lay. The committee 

recommended "Division of primary responsibility for policy and procedures on commercial product tests between the Secretary of Commerce and the director of the 

Bureau." The Bureau would eventually give up its commercial product testing. But 

perhaps the most important recommendation it made was based on the finding: 

Since the close of the war the technology of the Nation has shot rapidly 

forward. The Bureau's basic programs expanded until 1950 but at a rate 

beneath that justified by the needs. Since 1950 the decrease in basic 

programs must be considered as tragic. The ground lost since 1950 should be 

regained in the next two fiscal years and the programs then expanded as detailed studies by the Director and his advisory committees find necessary. 

This led to the starkly simple recommendation of "higher level of activity in the basic 

programs." These recommendations, and five others the committee made, were to 

provide a course of action for at least the near-term future of the Bureau, and an 

agenda for Director Astin. 

The second committee, with Zay Jeffries as its chairman, was formed to evaluate the 

Bureau's work on battery additives. The Jeffries Committee Report, while not as causative of change at the Bureau as was that of the Kelly Committee, was perhaps 

even more welcome to the Bureau battery scientists and all others who had been involved in the technical aspects of the AD-X2 affair.'57 They were kept busy providing 

MFP, 497. The Harry Diamond Ordnance Laboratory was comprised of the Ordnance Electronics, 

Electromechanical, and Ordnance Development Divisions. Named in 1949 for the guiding force in the 

Bureau's ordnance research, it was renamed the Diamond Ordnance Fuze Laboratories upon its transfer in 

1953 to the Army. Missile development became the Naval Ordnance Laboratories (Corona) upon its transfer to the Navy. 

National Academy of Sciences, Report of the Committee on Battery Additives of the National Academy of 

Sciences, October 30, 1953. The members of the committee were: Zay Jeffries, Chairman, Vice President 

(Retired), General Electric Company; Elmer K. Bolton, Director of Chemical Department (Retired), 

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.; William G. Cochran, Professor of Biostatistics, The Johns Hopkins 

University; J. P. Fugassi, Professor of Physical Chemistry, Carnegie Institute of Technology; John G. 

Kirkwood, Professor of Chemistry, Yale University; Victor K. LaMer; Professor of Chemistry, Columbia 

University; Lewis G. Longsworth, Member, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research; Joseph E. Mayer, 

Professor of Physical Chemistry, University of Chicago; Fred E. Terman, Dean, School of Engineering, 

Stanford University; and Samuel S. Wilkes, Professor of Mathematical Statistics, Princeton University. 

132 
In July 1953, at the request of the 

Jeffnes Committee, six lead-acid 

batteries used as part of the d-c power 

supply at NBS were randomly 

selected for inclusion in a test of a battery additive (top). Three of the 

cells were treated with additive, three were not, and all six were placed 

back in routine service. After 10.5 

years the treated cells (second, third, 

and sixth, left to right bottom) 

showed more deposit and their 

averaged electrical capacity was but 

3.5 percent of the untreated cells.'58 

the committee with written reports and oral briefing, but the result was gratifying. 

After examining "the statements made by the Bureau relating to AD-X2," judging "the 

quality of the Bureau's work in the field of lead acid storage battery testing," and 

studying "the claims made for Battery AD-X2 and the scientific evidence developed to 

date in support of those claims," the committee came to its conclusions. It found: 

I. that the quality of the work of the National Bureau of Standards in the 

field of lead acid storage battery testing is excellent, and 

2. that while Pioneers, Inc., claims that AD-X2 has substantial merit, the 

relevant data now available to the Committee on the effects of AD-X2 are adequate to support the position of the Bureau of Standards that 

the material is without merit. 

The committee made a single recommendation to the Bureau: "The Committee recommends that no additional tests on the merit of AD-X2 be undertaken by it [the Bureau] 

or under its supervision." The Bureau's work had been vindicated by the Nation's 

highest scientific authority. While the staff could not forget AD-X2, they could at least 

go on to work on something else. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Comparison of the Aquella and AD-X2 incidents shows similarities and differences 

with respect to adherence to Bureau policy and the resulting effects. In the Aquella 

case, there were possible oversights that caused a Bureau report naming a proprietary 

product to become public, something that policy was designed to prevent. This led to 

embarrassment for the Bureau, and a temporary period in which the proponents of 

Aquella were able to use the Bureau's results in advertising purposes. In the AD-X2 

incident, the Bureau did everything in accordance with its policy, yet the result was far 

58 "Battery Additive—Findings of an In-House Field Experiment," Technical News Bulletin 54 (April 1970): 81. 

133 
greater—if not permanent—trauma for the Bureau. There was evidently an Achilles' 

heel in publishing the results of commodity testing, and this weakness was exploited 

brilliantly by an aggressive, persistent, and politically astute entrepreneur. As a result, a period of extensive change for the Bureau was initiated. That this change might very 

well have happened even without the AD-X2 incident is immaterial; the incident was the catalyst of change. 

The weakness surfaced with the testing of a class of materials that met two rather 

stringent conditions. First, a large number of proprietary products had to fit in the 

class, and the Bureau needed to have tested many. Irrespective of the test results, the 

Bureau, following its policy as enunciated by Astin that "withholding. . . such data 

would be considered prejudicial to the interests of the general public,"59 had reason to 

issue a publication notifying the general public of its findings on the class of materials, 

not on specific products. Second, the materials—sodium and magnesium sulfates in 

the case of AD-X2-—had to prove to be neither beneficial nor detrimental, but 

"ineffective." In publishing this statement, however, it put itself in the awkward, if not 

impossible, scientific position of having to prove a negative. A manufacturer could 

claim that his product differed from the general class, as Ritchie did, and refuting those 

claims was difficult. Finally, there had to be something about the product or the mode 

of selling that led to satisfaction among many users, so that testimonials could be 

provided. Under these conditions, the Bureau's position was untenable, and Ritchie 

exploited it. 

Inevitably one seeks to find winners and losers in incidents of this type. In the 

Aquella incident, there were no clear-cut winners, and both sides were clear-cut losers. 

The proponents of Aquella, victorious for a while, were eventually found at fault by 

the FTC, while the Bureau suffered serious embarrassment. Deciding on winnings and 

losses in the AD-X2 incident is much more difficult. Both sides suffered considerable 

trauma during the height of the incident. Some persons—O'Connor, Sheaffer, and 

Laidler—had damage done to their careers. Ritchie claimed that the whole incident 

cost him more than $2 million, and the time and effort spent by the Bureau has never 

been calculated, but was many man-ears. 

But in another sense, both sides were winners. At the end of the incident, Ritchie 

still had his business, and was in a stronger position than at the beginning. His advertising had been cleared by the FTC and the POD, and he could rightfully claim that he 

had taken on the whole Government and won. In fact, he liked the whole political 

game so well that he ran for Congress, but he lost. 

The Bureau was also stronger at the end of the affair, and in this sense was a clear-cut winner. In the person of Astin, it was looked upon by the scientific community as a heroic champion in the preservation of scientific freedom and integrity against 

attempts at Governmental control. Astin himself was in a formidable position, stronger 

than any director before or after him. And the Bureau had been investigated by two 

high-level committees, one which found its work impeccable while the other gave it a 

welcome agenda for the future. Perhaps the results made the trauma of the whole 

episode worthwhile. 

A. V. Astin testimony, AD-X2 Hearings: 214. 

134 
Larger segments of the Nation are more difficult to analyze. In politics nothing 

happened; no legislation was passed. But another segment of society was clearly 

affected. The whole Nation had learned that the scientific community was a force to 

contend with, and in this sense science was a winner. But in the legal arena, it is not 

clear that science won. Indeed, it could be argued that in this arena science was a loser. At both the FTC and the POD, its results were weighed against testimonials that 

had no scientific basis, and the two were found to be of equal weight. 

The first instruction on the back of each AD-X2 package, to clean the top of the 

battery and posts, is good battery maintenance procedure. Perhaps it was the reason for 

the satisfied users of AD-X2. 

135 
A question that was never answered by the Bureau, or anyone else, was how AD-X2 

could have had so many satisfied users. Perhaps what should have been considered 

was not only the effect of the chemicals found in an envelope. Pioneers, after all, sold a total package, and this consisted of a chemical powder and a set of instructions. No 

one ever said that the instructions were poor. In fact, they were good, and it is entirely 

possible that under pressure of the money paid for the package, a consumer would 

follow the instructions carefully, achieving good results, and never realize that the 

same results could have been obtained by following the directions and forgetting about 

the white powder. Perhaps this strange, non-ending, convoluted affair was decided 

correctly in the legal arena after all. 

136 
CHAPTER THREE 

DIVESTITURE AND REAFFIRMATION, 1950-1957 

The early years of the decade of the fifties were turbulent years for the Bureau. 

By the time the decade was one-third over, one director, under attack from the House 

Un-American Activities Committee and distressed by the rising wave of McCarthyism, 

had resigned; the trauma of the battery additive incident had occurred with the firing 

and eventual re-hiring of the following director; the Korean War, which had increased 

the Bureau's size to the largest in its history, almost caused it to lose its identity as the 

Nation's measurement standards laboratory; and the Bureau had to rebuild its basic 

program while its base appropriation was declining disastrously. It was, at one and the same time, rich in money for work for other agencies, while poor in funds to carry out 

the work it was legally mandated to do at a time when the explosive postwar growth 

of science called upon it to do more. Yet it was able to surmount these problems, and 

by the last quarter of the decade it was on the road to some of the happiest and most 

productive years in its history. In many ways its history in this decade mirrored the 

history of the Nation. 

A PLACID NATION 

The general view of the decade of the 1950s is of a time of public obsession with 

suburban homes, barbecues in the back yard, tail-finned automotive behemoths, TV, 

rock music, and babies. In the words of columnist Robert J. Samuelson: 

You know the rap against the fifties. Nothing happened. Ike golfed, Elvis 

sang, cars sprouted tail fins, and students belonged to the "silent generation." 

Dullsville.' 

But the view observed depends on the viewpoint. Historian Elaine Tyler May writes: 

Diplomatic historians paint one picture of a world torn by strife and a standoff between two superpowers who seemed to hold the fate of the globe in 

their hands. Sociologists and demographers provide a different picture of a private world of affluence, suburban sprawl, and the baby boom.2 

Whatever the viewpoint, the beginning of the decade was anything but placid. On 

Saturday, June 24, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea in force and immediately 

began to push back the South Korean forces. Events unfolded at breakneck speed. 

Robert J. Samuelson, "The Deceptive Decade," Washington Post, February 28, 1990. 

2 Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era (New York: Basic Books, 1988): 10. 137 
Five tons of supplies for an isolated U.S. Air Force radio station in Korea drifted toward the target after 

being dropped by a c-I 19 Flying Boxcar of the 3 15th Air Division. In FY 1952, during the Korean War, 

80 percent of the Bureau's budget came from the military. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force) 

On Sunday the United Nations passed a resolution accusing North Korea of armed 

invasion and called for a cease-fire. On Tuesday President Harry S. Truman announced 

that American arms would be used to uphold the UN resolution and defend South 

Korea, and he received a supportive response from the Government and the Nation. 

Finally, the Security Council, at a meeting inexplicably not attended by the Soviet 

Union, passed a resolution proposed by the United States that all members provide 

assistance to South Korea in repelling the armed attack. What could have been a war 

between the United States and North Korea became instead a UN action. 

But this did not reverse the course of the battle. The news was bad. The South 

Korean forces were being pushed steadily back and the U.S. presence escalated 

rapidly. General Douglas MacArthur was first authorized by Washington to use U.S. 

air power in support of the South Korean forces, and U.S. ships to supply them. And on June 30, just six days after the North Korean attack, MacArthur was authorized to 

commit U.S. ground forces. 

138 
It was a close call. The North Koreans overran South Korea until finally stopped at a defensive perimeter around the port of Pusan on the south coast. Then followed the 

well-known, tactically brilliant, U.S. landing at Inchon, completely outfianking the 

North Korean forces and allowing a break-out from the Pusan perimeter. After a costly 

but successful fight for the city of Seoul, the North Korean army was chased back to 

the 38th parallel that divided North and South Korea. 

Now perhaps the most fateful decision of the war was taken. Despite a peace feeler 

started by India—strongly supported by State Department analysts George Kennan and 

Paul Nitze—that the original status quo in Korea be restored conditional on China 

being admitted to the UN, and veiled warnings from China that it would enter the war 

if the allied forces crossed the 38th parallel, Washington accepted MacArthur's assurance that the possibility of China entering the war was minuscule and ordered pursuit 

of the North Korean forces into their home country.3 On November 24, 1950, with 

his forces near the Yalu River border with China, and promising that the war would 

be over by Christmas, MacArthur ordered a final offensive designed to crush all 

remaining resistance. 

It did nothing of the kind. Instead, contrary to MacArthur's assurances, the Chinese 

attacked in force across the Yalu, and in an agonizing retreat the UN forces were 

forced south and across the 38th parallel where a stalemate developed in the positions 

the two armies had occupied before the start of hostilities a year before. On July 8, 

1951, negotiations for a cease-fire began and lasted for two years. The war was hardly a placid beginning to what was to become known as a dull, placid decade. 

The decade did not begin placidly on the domestic front either. On February 9, 

1950, a little-known Republican senator from Wisconsin made a speech alleging that 

some large number of Communists infested the State Department. In succeeding days 

he polished his speech, and the number of alleged Communists settled down to fiftyseven. He wired President Truman to do something about the situation in the State 

Department and the press began to pay attention. Joseph McCarthy was becoming a national figure. 

The Senate also paid attention. The McCarthy allegations needed investigating, and a subcommittee of the Foreign Relations Committee, under respected conservative 

Democratic Senator Millard Tydings, was formed to look into the allegations. The 

committee found no basis for McCarthy's charges, but McCarthy was not cowed. He 

counterattacked. He named a certain Owen Lattimore as "the top Russian agent" in the 

United States and alleged that he had been one of the top State Department advisors on Far Eastern policy. Nothing came of the charge, but the country began to listen. 

McCarthy had struck a responsive chord, and with this came an increase in power. 

Some powerful conservative Republican senators backed him, and Herbert Block, 

acid-penned cartoonist of the Washington Post, coined the word "McCarthyism." An era of U.S. history had been given a name. 

As his support increased, McCarthy's accusations became ever broader and wilder, 

going so far as to charge in June 1951 that General George C. Marshall was part of "a 

William L. O'Ncill, American High: The Years of Confidence, /945-1 960 (New York: The Free Press, 1986): 

120. 

139 
conspiracy so immense, an infamy so black, as to dwarf any in the history of man." 

And with the increase in recklessness came ever wider acceptance. A furor gripped the 

Nation. The frustration in 1949 of the concession of China to the Communists, the 

Soviet atom bomb, and the Alger Hiss case, expressed itself in a sweeping tide of 

anti-communism. Liberties that had been taken for granted were in danger of being 

lost. Loyalty investigations in the Government increased in intensity. The names of 

innocent men were being tainted and the services of "invaluable specialists" were 

being lost to the Government.4 

After the 1952 elections, McCarthy became even stronger. He was given chairmanship of the powerful Committee on Government Operations, as well as of the permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The Eisenhower administration did little or nothing to counteract him, for the president believed strongly in the separation of powers, 

and McCarthy's rampage continued. Two of McCarthy's staff members, Roy Cohn and 

G. David Schine, went on a quick tour of State Department installations in Europe and 

ostensibly found an "appalling infiltration," whereupon the department banned from its 

information activities all "books, music, paintings, and the like. . . of any Communists, 

fellow travelers, et cetera ." Books were removed from library shelves. Some were 

stored; some were burned.5 

At long last, things began to change. When President Dwight Eisenhower, at an extemporaneous speech at commencement exercises at Dartmouth University, decried the 

book ban, a loud cheer went up from the population. Many citizens by now were 

getting fed up with McCarthyism. 

In early 1954 when McCarthy began an investigation of the U.S. Army, his end was 

near although he did not know it. His investigation led to an army dentist alleged to be a Communist sympathizer. The army counterattacked with the accusation that 

McCarthy, Cohn, and Francis Carr, the subcommittee staff director, had all conspired 

to obtain favorable treatment for Schine, who had been inducted into the army. 

McCarthy countered with his own charges that the army had tried to halt the exposure 

of alleged Communists at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. The Subcommittee on Investigations ordered an investigation, but this time McCarthy was not in charge; his charges 

were being investigated. Even more important, he met his match in the chief army 

counsel, Boston lawyer Joseph Welch. 

For thirty-six days the televised hearings went on with the Nation in rapt attention. 

The deft and skillful Welch showed McCarthy for what he was: an overbearing bully. 

At the climax of a highly emotional exchange, in which McCarthy attacked as a Communist sympathizer a young associate of Welch who was not even involved in the 

hearings, Welch asked of McCarthy, "Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. 

You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency, Sir, at long last? Have you left 

no sense of decency?"6 McCarthy, finally silenced, did not really understand what had 

happened. After a few seconds the hearing room—including the members of the press 

Eric F. Goldman, The Crucial Decade—and After: America, 1945-1960 (New York: Vintage Books, 1960): 

213.214. 

Ibid., 252. 

278. 

140 
Senator Joseph McCarthy (right) blocked an attempt by Army Counsel Joseph Welch (left) to obtain names of his office staff during hearings by a special investigative committee of the Senate in 1954. The ArmyMcCarthy hearings, chaired by Senator Karl Mundt of South Dakota, began on April 22 and lasted through 

June l7. (Harris & Ewing photo, courtesy of D.C. Public Library) 

—burst into loud applause. McCarthy was finished as a political force. That the Senate 

went on to censure him was almost redundant; the public had had enough. 

Even before the demise of McCarthy as a power in the Senate, international communism had turned a somewhat more benign visage toward the world. On March 3, 1953, 

less than two months after the Eisenhower administration took office, Joseph Stalin 

died and things changed. Georgi M. Malenkov, speaking for the triumvirate of himself, 

Vyacheslav M. Molotov, and Nikita S. Khruschev, offered that international conflicts 

could be "settled peacefully by mutual agreements of the interested parties." In a few 

short months, in July 1953, the Korean War ended. Despite some early truculence by 

Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, the use of Soviet armor to put down uprisings in 

East Germany, and Khruschev replacing the triumvirate, tensions between East and 

West did ease. On July 18, 1955, Eisenhower joined with Khruschev and the leaders 

of Great Britain and France for a Big Four conference in Geneva. Eisenhower, whose 

policy toward communism had changed from "containment" to "coexistence," 

proposed, as a start toward disarmament, a mutual exchange of blueprints of military 

establishments and mutual aerial photography—the "open skies" proposal. The 

proposal was not to be implemented until much later in the days of reconnaissance 

satellites, but a new "spirit of Geneva" had entered U.S.-Soviet relationships. It would, 

in later years, be called "detente." 

141 
For a generation that had been raised during the depression years of the thirties, it is 

perhaps not surprising that even at the height of the Cold War and McCarthyism, the 

view of the American public had been turned inward, concerned with family, home, 

jobs, and material possessions. Now, with East-West tensions seeming to relax, with 

H-bombs that dramatically displayed their power in 1954 appearing to be guarantors of 

peace rather than instruments of global destruction, and with the president's middle-ofthe-road policies, a feeling of equilibrium, of stability, had been achieved. Since the 

end of the war the Nation had met foreign and domestic issues and had solved them— or at least had learned to live with them. 

And for those who lived them, these were times of boundless optimism. Economically the gross national product rose from $284.8 billion in 1950 to $483.7 billion in 

1959, and more importantly, over the same period weekly spendable personal income 

in the manufacturing industries rose from $57.21 to $8036—a rise of 41 percent.7 

How to spend this extra income? Why on suburban houses, tail-finned cars, TV sets, 

and babies—all the things that this depression-war generation had lacked. If it was a time to be decried by intellectuals for its shallowness, if the tail-finned cars were "hunks of Detroit iron," it was also a time when more and more people could aspire to a more abundant life. 

An African American could also aspire to a more abundant life, but would have 

trouble achieving it. Although African Americans—still called "Negroes" in the 

fifties—had made some progress during the Truman New Deal period, and military 

units had been successfully integrated during the Korean War, racism remained, in the 

words of O'Neill, "the greatest moral issue facing America in the I There were slow changes. In September 1950, Linda Brown, the daughter of 

Oliver Brown, was refused admission to their neighborhood school in Topeka, Kansas. 

She was refused admission because, under Kansas law, African Americans could attend 

only segregated schools. This meant a half-hour, cross-town bus ride, and with help 

from the NAACP, Mr. Brown brought suit against the Board of Education. The case 

worked its way up to the Supreme Court, and on May 17, 1954, in what would always 

be known subsequently as Brown vs. Board of Education, the Court unanimously ruled 

that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." A year later it "instructed 

Federal district courts to require the compliance of local school systems [with Brown vs. Board of Education] with 'all deliberate speed.' The civil rights era had begun, 

and was to continue a year later in Montgomery, Alabama, with boycotts against 

segregated seating on buses. The boycotts were under the leadership of a black 

preacher who counseled non-violent protest. Martin Luther King, Jr., had become the 

leader of the civil rights revolution. 

Now that life was becoming more abundant, Americans slowly began to become 

concerned with its quality, and the word "ecology" began to be used more frequently. 

Not that the Nation had not been previously concerned with nature. There were, after 

John Patrick Diggins, The Proud Decades: America in War and Peace, 1941-1 960 (New York: W. W. Norton, 

1988): 180. 

'O'Neill, American High: 253. 

Ibid., 248-249. 

142 

In October 1957, Muscovites gathered around a huge globe at the Moscow Planetarium to hear lecturers 

describe the sputniks' course around the Earth. In the United States, the sputniks spurred a space race and 

eventually resulted in an increase of direct appropriations to the Bureau. (AP-Wide World Photos) 

the gross national product rose, in current dollars, from $364.4 billion to $503.7 billion, which gives a substantial, average annual growth of 5.45 percent—substantial 

even if the average inflation rate of about 2 percent for the period is taken into 

account. Total national expenditures for R&D, however, increased from $5.12 billion 

to $13.52 billion, a total of 164 percent, implying an annual average growth of 23.42 

percent. Even more impressive was the growth in Federal Government R&D expenditures. Over the same period they increased by 217 percent, or an annual growth rate of 

31.1 percent, which gives a doubling time of slightly over 2.5 years. The bulk of this 

went, of course, for development projects for the military and the Atomic Energy 

Commission (AEC), but even the annual growth rate in in-house Government R&D 

expenditures was substantial. As we shall see, however, the Bureau's appropriated 

funds did not share in this increase. 

This large increase in R&D expenditures caused dislocations. Throughout the whole 

period of the fifties the Nation suffered a shortage of scientific manpower. In 1952, the 

American Association for the Advancement of Science and the discipline-oriented 

scientific societies formed a manpower commission to act as a consultant to Federal 

agencies that dealt with manpower shortages.'3 Studies showed that industry added 

Editorial. Dael Woifle, "Scientific Manpower Commission," Science 122 (23 December 1955): 1213. 

144 
5000 to 7000 new scientists to its payroll yearly, yet failed to get all the scientists it 

needed in 1953 and 1954. Numerous other studies documented the problem, which was 

exacerbated by the fact that the pool of young scientists decreased in the early fifties 

partly due to military service needed for the Korean War.'4 

In the long term, education of scientists was the only answer to the problem, and the 

National Science Foundation (NSF), which spent only $7200 on education in 1952 

(not surprising since the Foundation was only two years old at that time), budgeted $14 

million for this activity in But all domestic remedies had a long time lag. The 

only recourse was foreign recruitment, and industry, whose R&D expenditures rose 

101 percent in the 1953-1960 period, actively recruited in Europe, particularly in Great 

Britain because there was no language barrier. The efforts were not looked upon 

favorably by the European countries, which called their loss of scientific personnel a "brain drain." 

This immense increase in research and development—particularly in the Federal 

Government—required attention at the highest levels, but in the early 1950s there was no functioning apparatus at those levels. In December 1947 the Office of Scientific 

Research and Development which, under Vannevar Bush, had guided the Government's scientific activities during the war, was disbanded. On the same day, President 

Truman formed the Interdepartmental Committee on Scientific Research and Development. Composed of high-level science executives from all Government departments 

carrying out scientific research, it was hardly a replacement for the OSRD. Bush had 

had direct access to the president, while the new committee reported up through the 

departments. The NSF had been formed in 1950 and, with a very limited budget, was 

just getting organized. Moreover, it was primarily concerned with basic research and 

was not located in the Executive Office of the President. Research was being carried 

out throughout the Government, but without a disinterested advisory mechanism at the 

highest levels. What mechanism there was consisted mainly of the military and the 

Atomic Energy Commission, each obviously concerned with its own problems. This 

situation could not continue for long. The war had demonstrated to the Nation—and 

to presidents—the value of scientific research, particularly in military matters. Objective advisory assistance and help in policy matters at the presidential level was needed. 

In the fall of 1950, under pressure of the Korean War, President Truman commissioned William T. Golden to "review the ways scientific research could be organized 

at the highest levels in support of military activity."6 In his report Golden recommended the appointment of a science advisor to the president, and identified Mervin J. 

Kelly, who was later to head two committees that investigated the Bureau, as the best 

candidate. But the Bell Telephone Laboratories did not want to lose Kelly, and offered 

Kelly's superior, Oliver Buckley. Possibly because Buckley was beginning to suffer 

'' "Science and News: Scientific Manpower Commission," Science 121 (27 May 1955): 759. 

Dael Woifle, "National Science Foundation, The First Six Years," Science 126 (23 August 1957): 336. 

James Everett Katz, Presidential Politics and Science Policy (New York: Praeger, 1978): 26. 

145 
from Parkinson's disease, and partly due to opposition of General Lucius D. Clay, 

then head of the Office of Defense Mobilization (0DM), the advisory apparatus 

became a committee reporting through 0DM. The post of science advisor to the 

president was effectively cancelled, replaced instead with a science advisory 

committee. 

In the early Eisenhower years the committee was not without effect. Individual 

members of the committee, particularly I. I. Rabi, whom Eisenhower had met while 

president of Columbia University, Lee A. DuBridge, president of the California 

Institute of Technology, and James R. Killian, Jr., president of the Massachusetts 

Institute of Technology, served President Eisenhower directly. These men produced or 

caused to be produced important reports, one of which was influential in developing 

the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft and the Polaris submarine, and the Gaither Report on "the potential consequences of a Soviet preemptive nuclear first strike, and. 

recommendations.. . for the protection of U.S. retaliatory forces."7 

These reports fulfilled the intended special purposes, but were produced outside the 

science advisory committee using only the influence of the highly placed committee 

members. After the launching of the sputniks, Eisenhower acted to make the structure 

more formal. Following a meeting with the committee at which Rabi, then its 

chairman, recommended the appointment of a president's science advisor, the 

president, on November 7, 1957, announced his plans in a nationwide address. James 

R. Killian, Jr. would become the first special assistant to the president for science and 

technology. The science advisory committee was upgraded to the President's Science 

Advisory Committee (PSAC), with the special assistant as its chairman. A science 

advisory apparatus in the Executive Office of the President was in place. Then, in 1959 

by Executive Order, the president formed the Federal Council for Science and 

Technology, an organization similar to Truman's Interdepartmental Committee for 

Scientific Research and Development. This completed the advisory apparatus in the 

Executive Office of the President. It was to last until President Nixon abolished it in 

1973. 

Accompanying this enormous growth in scientific research and development was an outpouring of scientific and technological advances from the Nation's and the 

world's university, government, and industrial laboratories. New scientific advances 

came at a quickening pace, followed by a myriad of new products. 

The transistor, invented in 1948 at the Bell Telephone Laboratories, began the electronic revolution with its first commercial use in trunk dialing apparatus in 1951. 

Sony, a new name that was soon to become a household word, started Japan on its 

road to worldwide leadership in consumer electronics by producing the first pocketsized transistor radio in 1952, following it seven years later with the first transistorized 

TV set. Computers also began their explosive growth with UNIVAC from Remington 

Rand in 1951, and IBM with its first scientific computer, the 701, in 1952, and the 

7090, a fully transistorized model, in 1959. But one of the greatest spurs to the use of 

computers was the development in 1956 of FORTRAN, the first of the high-level 

languages that were to remove some of the tedium from computer programming. 

7iohn Walsh, "The Eisenhower Era: Transition Years for Science," Science 164(4 April 1969): 51. 

146 
Progress was not limited to solid-state electronics. Indeed, in a stupendous advance 

for all humanity, Jonas Salk produced a vaccine for polio, holding the promise of 

removing that scourge from the face of the earth. And in aeronautical engineering, the 

Comet jet aircraft began passenger service in 1952. That it was to be beset by fatigue 

failure problems and lose its leadership to the Boeing 707 did not prevent the jet 

airplane from beginning to supplant the passenger train—at least in the United States. 

Nor was every new development for mankind's benefit. In 1952 the first thermonuclear device was exploded in the Pacific, followed two years later by deliverable 

hydrogen bombs. The process added a new and frightening phrase—radioactive 

fallout—to the language. When the U.S.S.R. exploded its own hydrogen bomb, an even 

more ominous phrase—Mutually Assured Destruction—was added. 

Not only were advances made in the application of science; they were made in 

fundamental science itself. Physics, chemistry, mathematics, astronomy, and molecular 

biochemistry all saw new and basic discoveries. In physics, the long-held concept of 

parity invariance—namely that atomic and nuclear phenomena should not change upon 

mirror reflection of the world—was predicted theoretically not to hold in weak interactions by Tsing Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang in 1957, and the prediction was confirmed experimentally at the Bureau by Chien Shiung Wu, Ernest Ambler, 

Raymond W. Hayward, Dale D. Hoppes, and Ralph P. Hudson. Also in physics, in 

1955 James P. Gordon, Herbert J. Zeiger, and Charles H. Townes of Columbia 

University published a paper entitled, "The Maser—New Type of Microwave Amplifier, Frequency Standard, and This was a paper of surpassing importance for precision measurements, for it planted the seed for the laser. 

In chemistry, Giulio Natta, of the Milan Polytechnic, developing ideas of Karl 

Ziegler, found ways of producing versions of the common vinyl polymers like 

polystyrene and polymethylmethacrylate that are geometrically regular on the molecular scale and hence can crystallize, unlike their more common siblings, which are polymeric glasses. A new and commercially important class of strong, tough materials 

had been discovered. 

Also in chemistry, Willard Libby, using the idea that the atmosphere contains a constant and known concentration of radioactive C'4, and therefore so do plants, 

devised an ingenious and important means for determining the age of artifacts such as textiles or wooden articles. Once the living plant dies, the concentration of C'4 begins 

to decrease by natural radioactive decay, and thus the measurement of its concentration, along with the known half-life of C 14, provides a convenient and accurate means of calculating the age of the artifact. 

Other notable advances helped change science and life in general. The first photocopying machine came on the market in 1950, and in the same year commercial 

color television began. Particle accelerators achieved higher and higher energies and 

helped in the discovery of the anti-proton and anti-neutron. In 1955 Severo Ochoa 

found a way of essentially synthesizing RNA, and a year later Arthur Kornberg 

18 J. P. Gordon, H. J. Zeiger, and C. H. Townes, "The Maser—New Type of Microwave Amplifier, 

Frequency Standard, and Spectrometer," Physical Review 99 (1955): 1264-1274. 

147 
Arthur Godfrey told the merits of a sponsor's product during the inaugural color television program by 

Columbia Broadcasting System in 1951. (AP-Wide World Photos) 

did the same with DNA. John Bardeen, Leon N. Cooper, and John R. Schrieffer produced a definitive theory of superconductivity, and a peculiar celestial star-like body of 

enormous energy was discovered and named "quasar" for "quasi-stellar object." It was 

neither a placid nor a static decade for science. 

DIVESTITURE AND REAFFIRMATION 

As the decade of the fifties began, the Bureau, beginning to be embroiled in the 

AD-X2 ordeal, also began its own period of explosive, but short-lived and peculiar, 

growth. The Korean War was to bring to the Bureau an immense increase in funds and 

in size, but for military work, not the measurement standards work which was its 

unique reason for existence. In the early years of the decade it lost a director to the 

Nation's obsession with Communists, and almost lost another due to the AD-X2 affair. 

Most important, it almost lost its identity. It had to divest itself of the war work 

acquired during World War II and the Korean War—important as that work was—and 

re-discover itself and its principal function. Almost providentially, it began the decade 

by restating its reasons for existence. 

148 
A NEW ORGANIC Aci 

On October 31, 1945, Gano Dunn, president of the J. G. White Engineering Company and chairman of the Bureau's Visiting Committee, was chagrined. The committee had been asked by Secretary of Commerce Henry A. Wallace to submit nominations for director of the Bureau to replace Lyman J. Briggs, who had submitted his 

resignation on July 22, 1945, but the committee had been dilatory in its response. 

Wallace proceeded on his own and selected Edward Uhler Condon as his choice to 

replace Briggs. Condon was in due course confirmed on November 2. Now Dunn 

wrote to the. other members of the committee and explained that he had met with 

Wallace who had cordially accepted Dunn's explanation of the delay.2° 

The committee was also asked to comment on another matter. The secretary had 

asked Briggs to prepare a revision of the Bureau's 1901 Organic Act according to 

Wallace's instructions, and Briggs had personally done so. Wallace was now in the 

process of recommending new legislation to the Senate and House. Dunn wrote to the 

committee, "the principal part of the amendment is for the purpose of transferring to 

the Organic Act certain authorizations, definitions of scope and activities of the Bureau 

that in the past have been covered by supplementary legislation, executive orders and 

customary procedure." He now asked the committee to comment on the proposed 

legislation. 

While a revision of the Organic Act had not previously been proposed, the role of 

the Bureau in the post-World War II years had been discussed since the early years of 

the war.2' In particular, the enlargement of the Bureau's mission to include basic 

research came under active contemplation. Now, Wallace's proposed amendment 

specifically took up this issue. In his draft letter of transmittal of the proposed legislation to the president of the Senate, Wallace wrote:22 

Section 2(a) of the Organic Act of the National Bureau of Standards has 

been extended to include 'the prosecution of basic research in physics, 

chemistry and engineering to promote the development of science, industry 

and commerce.' 

In addition to this important phrase, two other substantive ones were mentioned by the 

secretary: 

Section 2(a) also carries the phrase, 'the collection and dissemination of 

information on electrical conditions in the atmosphere affecting radio com- munication.' 

19 The circumstances surrounding Wallace's selection of Condon are well detailed in MFP, 435. 20 Letter, Gano Dunn to the Visiting Committee, October 31, 1945. (NARA; RG 167; Records of the 

Director, 1923-63, Director's Correspondence file; Box 15; Folder Dunn/APV). The other members of the 

committee were Vannevar Bush, Karl T. Compton, William D. Coolidge, and Frank B. Jewett. 

21 MFP, 432-434. 22 Draft letter, Henry A. Wallace to the President of the Senate (attached to the letter from Gano Dunn to the 

Visiting Committee, October 31, 1945). (NARA; RG 167; Records of the Director, 1923-63, Director's 

Correspondence file; Box IS; Folder Dunn/APV). It is not known whether these three items were at Wallace's instigation, or whether Briggs introduced them. Considering their specificity it is highly likely that 

the latter was the case. 149 
and 

In Section 2(b), a clause has been added authorizing the Secretary of 

Commerce, with the approval of the Civil Service Commission, to appoint 

outstanding scientists without reference to the provisions of the Classification 

Act.... 

The second item was a recognition of the fact that the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory, formed during the war to provide radio weather forecasts for the 

armed services, had in fact become a continuing responsibility of the Bureau, and was 

useful to the civilian sector as well as the military. The third item was justified as follows: 

Men of the type we have in mind are now able to command salaries in 

universities higher than is authorized by the Classification Act. The appointment of a very limited number of such men from time to time would be of 

great value to the Bureau in conducting its work, and it is believed that the 

authority to do so is adequately safe-guarded by providing for the approval of 

the Civil Service Commission. 

Besides these, a number of relatively minor items related to such things as the title of 

equipment bought with transferred funds and the disposition of surplus equipment, and a long listing of specific research activities the Bureau was already conducting. 

Of all these items, the one relating to basic research was the most critical. Its adoption would doubtless have changed the character of the Bureau dramatically. The 

Bureau would have gone from the Nation's measurement standards laboratory, with all 

its basic research deriving from that function, to a laboratory carrying out basic 

research to "promote the development of science, industry and commerce," whether the 

research was concerned with measurement or not. 

This did not sit well with Vannevar Bush, the most influential member of the 

committee, who at this time had recently published his report, Science, the Endless 

Frontier, and had quite different ideas of how the Government should support basic 

research in the Nation. On November 21, 1945, he wrote to Dunn, who two days later 

transmitted his comments to Wallace: 

[T]he Bureau of Standards is the only body which has both the responsibility 

and authority to perform the exceedingly important function of establishing 

standards of all kinds, and in the future the Bureau is going to be subjected to a heavy and increasing burden in this regard as a result of the rapid 

progress of science. . Hence, while I believe that it [the legislation] is important to the effective 

organization of the Bureau and to its ability to conduct basic research. 

it should be unmistakably clear that the major emphasis should remain on its 

unique assignment in the field of standards.23 

23 MFP, 433-434: letter, Vannevar Bush to Gano Dunn, November 21, 1945 (attached to letter, Dunn, 

November 23). 

150 
The revision was not passed in its original form. Indeed, it was not passed until July 

22, 1950, by which time its instigators, Wallace and Briggs had long since left the 

Federal Government. It was submitted to the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce by the then Secretary of Commerce Charles W. Sawyer on June 17, 

1949, with the justification: 

This legislation is considered necessary in order that basic authority for the 

functions of the Bureau will include a more specific outline of the scientific 

research and testing now carried on by the Bureau. This is particularly 

desirable in view of the advances which have been made in certain fields of 

science. 24 Except for one important change, the new law was a much more moderate revision 

than originally proposed. The major change occurs at the very beginning. Whereas the 

original act, and that written by Briggs and proposed by Sawyer, simply state, "The 

functions of the Bureau shall consist...," the new law states, "The Secretary of 

Commerce.. . is authorized to undertake the following functions Authority for 

the functions of the Bureau is now vested in the secretary, rather than in the Bureau 

director. Similarly, all other specific references in the law to functions of the Bureau are changed to functions of the secretary. The law specifies, however, that the director 

is appointed by the president. 

This change was made by the House committee, but it was not done as a result of 

any prejudice toward the Bureau. Rather, it was "to make this bill conform to the 

provisions of Reorganization Plan No. 5 of 1950, which transferred to the Secretary of 

Commerce all functions of all other officers of the Department of Commerce and all 

functions of all agencies and employees of such Department."25 

The functions that the secretary is authorized to carry out are spelled out in six 

paragraphs, rather than in a single one as in the old law. However, with the one exception discussed below, the first two paragraphs essentially re-state the first of the 

original act. The added four are merely statements of what the Bureau was already 

doing. Following this statement of authorized functions, there follows a listing of 

nineteen activities which, along with "similar ones," the secretary is allowed to undertake. Some were obvious, others less so. None of the three new functions listed by Wallace in the covering letter to his original proposed revision is specifically mentioned. In fact, with respect to avoiding the 

Classification Act of l949, and referring to Sec. 4 of the original act—in which 

salaries were specified—the law reads, "Sec. 4 (Salaries of officers and employees. 

This section superseded by Classification Act.)" Briggs' hope of getting special treatment for scientific personnel was effectively dashed. The "radio weather" function is 

not mentioned, doubtless because it was clear that the Bureau was able to carry out 

this function without specific authorization. In fact, this function was a line item in the 

Bureau's budget between 1950 and 1956, when the Bureau's budget request was 

24 House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Bureau of Standards Functions, 81st Cong., 2d 

sess., 1950, H. Rept. 2349: 3. Ibid., 2. 

151 
changed. And, with respect to the most important new function in the proposed 

ammendment by Wallace and Briggs, that of carrying out "basic research.. . to 

promote science, industry and commerce," it was simply not included. It is well to 

remember that the National Science Foundation was established in 1950 with the 

specific aim of funding basic research throughout the Nation. Authorizing this function 

for the Bureau would have meant that two agencies of the Government would share 

the same function, a clearly undesirable situation. The Bureau was not, however, ex- cluded from carrying out basic research. Authorized activity number 18 reads, "the 

prosecution of such research in engineering, mathematics, and the physical sciences as may be necessary to obtain basic data pertinent to the functions specified herein." The 

Bureau could do basic research, but within circumscribed boundaries, which is what 

Vannevar Bush suggested in his letter to Dunn. 

A comparison of the authorized functions in the old and new Organic Acts is instructive in illustrating how the Bureau had grown since its inception. In the 1901 law, 

all the functions are contained in one paragraph: 

Sec. 2. That the functions of the bureau shall consist in the custody of the 

standards; the comparison of the standards used in scientific investigations, 

engineering, manufacturing, commerce, and educational institutions with the 

standards adopted or recognized by the government; the construction, when 

necessary, of standards, their multiples and subdivisions; the testing and 

calibration of standard measuring apparatus; the solution of problems which 

arise in connection with standards; the determination of physical constants 

and the properties of materials, when such data are of great importance to 

scientific or manufacturing interests and are not to be obtained of sufficient 

accuracy elsewhere. 

In the 1950 law, the first paragraph of the 1901 act—with one significant change—is 

essentially repeated in the first two paragraphs, and four others are added. 

(a) The custody, maintenance, and development of the national standards of 

measurement, and the provision of means and methods for making measurements consistent with those standards, including the comparison of standards 

used in scientific investigations, engineering, manufacturing, commerce, and 

educational institutions with the standards adopted or recognized by the 

Government. 

(b) The determination of physical constants and properties of materials when 

such data are of great importance to scientific or manufacturing interests and 

are not to be obtained of sufficient accuracy elsewhere. 

(c) The development of methods for testing materials, mechanisms, and 

structures, and the testing of materials, supplies, and equipment, including 

items purchased for use of Government departments and independent 

establishments. 

152 
(d) Cooperation with other governmental agencies and with private organizations in the establishment of standard practices, incorporated in codes and 

specifications. 

(e) Advisory service to Government agencies on scientific and technical 

problems. 

(f) Invention and development of devices to serve special needs of the 

Government. 

The significant change is the lack of Stratton's marvelous catchall phrase, "the 

solution of problems which arise in connection with standards."26 Due to the tradition 

it had fostered, its lack would not hamper the Bureau. The new functions (c) to 

(0 were no more than statements of functions the Bureau had developed in its history. 

Item (c) was not in the original act, and was the one that led to the AD-X2 incident, 

although in the vast majority of cases a valuable service was performed for the 

Government. Item (d) covered the Bureau's interaction with the organizations of the 

voluntary standards system of the Nation. Item (e) referred to work for other agencies 

of the Government, and item (f) referred primarily to work carried out during the two 

world wars, which had led to such developments as the proximity fuze and computers. 

With the exception of vesting in the secretary of commerce the authority to carry out 

all the functions of the Bureau, which was in any case necessitated by law, there was no significant change in the Bureau's Organic Act. The Bureau was not prevented 

from continuing to do what it had been doing. The revision seems rather to have been 

designed to answer those members of Congress who could not understand how the 

Bureau could do all the things it did on the basis of "a two-page law," and to list a number of examples of activities the Bureau carried out, and clearly felt it needed to 

continue to carry out. The new law did not noticeably change the Bureau's mode of 

operation. 

On March 2, 1951, the year after the passage of the new Organic Act, the Bureau 

turned fifty years of age. It was a time of commemoration and of celebration. After 

some pondering about what kind of celebration to have, Condon decided to schedule 

twelve symposia on technical issues of importance to the Bureau and the Department 

of Defense, which helped financially with the symposia. With speakers from throughout the scientific community, the topics were low-temperature physics, influence of 

low temperatures on the mechanical properties of metals, gravity waves,27 solution of 

simultaneous equations and determination of eigenvalues, mass spectrometry, energy 

transfer in hot gases, electrochemical constants, polymer degradation mechanisms, 

evaluation of optical imagery, electron physics, characteristics and application of 

resistance strain gages, and electrodeposition research. In addition, more than thirty 

technical societies and associations held meetings in Washington to commemorate the 

26 A Bureau wag likened this phrase to a "license to steal." 27 These were waves, such as water waves, in which gravity was one of the causative factors, not the yet-to-beobserved waves predicted by general relativity in the cosmological gravitational field. 

153 
Bureau's semicentennial. These were happy occasions and many societies and associations provided commemorative anniversary scrolls.28 

Not quite so happy for the junior staff, who had to spruce up the laboratories, was the open house held in February 1955. Suggested by Sinclair Weeks to make people 

more aware of the nature and importance of the Bureau's work, the open house featured presentation ceremonies by Director Astin, followed by laboratory tours and 

demonstrations. It was a successful event, attended by some 600 scientists from the 

Nation's laboratories. The open house was followed in April by a more informal Guest 

Week for the general public.29 In more ways than one, the Bureau was emerging from 

its wartime cocoon. 

The NI3S Open House was attended by several hundred leaders in the fields of science, industry, government. and education. It stressed the significance of physical measurement standards to scientific and 

industrial progress. Ralph Hudson demonstrated equipment for visitors in the low temperature lab. 

SECURITY, AND THE RESIGNATION OF A DIRECTOR 

When Edward Uhler Condon joined the Bureau as its director on November 7, 1945, 

he was already a world-famous theoretical physicist and scientist-administrator, on first-name terms with all the leading figures in science. Personally, he was a Annual Report, 1951: 100. See also Technical News Bulletin, 1951 and 1952. for details of the symposia 

and the society meetings. 

Report, 1955: II. 

154 
gregarious, enthusiastic, friendly man who did not suffer fools gladly, was impatient 

with sloppy thinking, had "an ever ready and exuberant sense of humor, and a gift of 

repartee, but he could be wittily caustic when provoked."30 He was vigorous and 

aggressive with myriads of new ideas, and was not afraid to push them. 

When he came to the Bureau he found a capable institution, even though the 

scientific ideas of many of its leaders were rooted in the past, not the modem physics 

which he had helped foster. Given his background and personality, it was only natural 

that Condon should set about to remake the Bureau and lead it—with some kicking 

and screaming—into modern science. How he did this, and the areas he led it into are well described in Measures for Progress and will not be emphasized here.3' Rather, 

Condon's relations with the loyalty and security apparatus of the Nation in the 

post-World War II years will be discussed, beginning with a short biography and 

emphasizing some aspects that were important in influencing those relations. 

Edward Uhier Condon was born March 2, 1902, in Alamogordo, New Mexico, 

where forty-three years later man's first nuclear explosion would take place. His family 

was mobile, and he went to various grammar schools throughout the West. He attended 

high school in Oakland, California, graduating at the ripe age of sixteen. During his 

last two years in high school, he went into newspaper reporting, first for the high 

school paper, and later, in the summer of 1918, for the "regular newspapers" of 

Oakland. 

Two events which shaped his future thinking happened in Condon's short newspaper 

career. First, in October 1918, he recalls: 

[A] regiment of Oakland boys was put into the front-line trenches in France in 

the final battles of the war. . . . In the final days of the war, these boys were 

being killed at the rate of about five a day. My steady assignment as a 16-yearold reporter was to go out each day to interview the mothers of the boys on that 

day's casualty list, and to steal photos or letters whenever possible. .. . I was often the first one to convey the news to the mother that her son was dead. 

Such experiences left a deep-seated scar on me and an urgent need to do what 

discouragingly little I can toward bringing about peace and disarmament.... 

The second occurred on November 9, 1919. He was 

the only reporter from a conservative newspaper to cover the organization 

meeting of the Communist Labor Party of California, as it was called then. I 

wrote lurid and sensational stories about this small group of one or two hundred 

persons, which resulted in indictments against them, and which required that I 

had to testify against them, in trial after trial, over the next several years. In 

this connection I became aware of open boasting by a police detective of his 

having framed some of the defendants in a matter where I knew the facts to be 

otherwise. 

Churchill Eisenhart, "Dr. E. U. Condon (1902-1974), Renovator of the NBS." Dimensions 58 (1974): 150-151, 

166. 

" MFP, 434-446. 

155 
Edward Uhler Condon. world renowned 

theoretical physicist, became the fourth 

director of the National Bureau of 

Standards and the first to be appointed 

from outside the Bureau's ranks. He 

reorganized the Bureau in the postwar 

years, brought in bright young people. 

and instilled in the staff a great desire to do basic research in physics, 

chemistry, and on methods which 

provide the basis for measurements. 

The effect of this involvement on me was to wipe out any desire to be even an educated newspaperman; so I entered the university and went into 

physical science largely as a means of escape from the corruption of the 

world, in addition to the fact that I was genuinely interested in physical 

science. 32 Entering the University of California at Berkeley in 1921, he flirted with chemistry 

and engineering before finally choosing physics as his profession. By 1926, at 

twenty-four, he had a wife, having married Emilie Honzik in 1922, and a Ph.D. in 

physics, having developed in his thesis the basis for what was to become known as the 

Franck-Condon principle. He then spent a year at GOttingen and Munich learning 

quantum mechanics from the European masters. Upon returning to the United States, 

he spent a year at Columbia, one at Princeton, and another at the University of 

Minnesota where, at the age of twenty-seven, he was a full professor of theoretical 

physics. In 1930 he returned to Princeton, where he remained until 1937 when he left 

academia and joined the Westinghouse Research Laboratory as associate director of 

research. He stayed there until he joined the Bureau as director in 1945. 

As expected for a scientist of his caliber, he was very active in war research.33 The 

following is a listing of his positions: 

• In the fall of 1940, he was among the first dozen staff attached to the Radiation 

Laboratory at MIT. Under sponsorship from the National Defense Research 

Committee (NDRC), this laboratory had responsibility for all secret microwave 

and radar developments for the military agencies. 

32 E. U. Condon, "Reminiscences of a Life in and out of Quantum Mechanics," Proceedings of the International 

Symposium on Atomic, Molecular and Solid-State Theory and Quantum Biology, ed. Per-Olav LOwdin, International Journal of Quantum Chemistry, Symposium no. 7. (New York: Wiley. 1973): 9. 

This list of activities is taken from a letter from Condon to the Army-Navy Personnel Security Board, 

February 7. 1953. (American Physical Society; Condon File; Security, Box 3: Folder Security Investigations, 

1953. No. 3. Used with the permission of the American Philosophical Society.) 

156 
• Subsequently, he was chairman of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation's 

committee on radar, which brought him into close association with secret radar 

matters at the Naval Research Laboratory. This association allowed him to 

receive information on highly classified radar developments from the military 

departments on the manufacture of radar equipment. 

• In 1941 he served on an NDRC committee which considered and recommended 

the development at the California Institute of Technology of a large secret 

rocket program. 

• In the summer of 1941, he was appointed a member of the highly secret S-i 

Committee under Lyman J. Briggs. This was the committee established by 

President Franklin D. Roosevelt upon receipt of the famous Einstein letter, and 

led to the eventual formation of the Manhattan Project. 

• During 1942 he was actively engaged in secret radar research work in the laboratories and plants of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. 

• In April and May 1943, he served for a short time as associate director of the 

newly established Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. While there he wrote a manual from the notes that he took during a series of five lectures given by 

Robert Serber. Called The Los A/amos Primer, the report was so secret that, 

after Condon left Los Alamos, he did not see a copy of it until it was 

declassified. 

• In the early fall of 1943, he was assigned by Westinghouse to work at the 

Radiation Laboratory of the University of California at Berkeley. The work 

was highly secret and concerned entirely with the atomic bomb. In late 

1945, upon successful completion of his phase of the work, Condon returned 

to Pittsburgh and resumed his radar work. 

There needs to be added to this account the fact that when Condon became director of 

the Bureau, Senator Brien McMahon, chairman of the Special Senate Committee on Atomic Energy, was holding hearings on a bill to remove atomic energy from the military and place it under civilian control—something that was supported by President 

Truman but opposed by the military. When Condon arrived in Washington he was asked by the McMahon committee to serve it as a scientific advisor, whereupon he 

was detailed from the Bureau to do so. From late 1945 until mid-1946, Condon gave 

lectures to senators, explaining to them the fundamentals of atomic energy. When the 

law was passed on August 1, 1946, and the Atomic Energy Commission was formed, 

Condon returned to being director of the Bureau full time. 

Letter, Glenn T. Seaborg to E. U. Condon, February 26, 1963. (Copy in NIST History File). Condon wrote to Seaborg who was then Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and requested a copy of the now declassified Primer for his files. Seaborg complied with Condon's request and noted "its historical signifi- cance and the fact that it was apparently the first report issued by the Los Alamos Laboratory." The Primer was later annotated by Robert Serber and published in 1992 as the The Los Alanios Primer: The First 

Lectures on How to Build an Atomic Bomb, University of California Press. 

157 
Photographed while conferring on military control of atomic energy development were (left to right: Harlow 

Shapley of Harvard University, Representative Chet Holifield, Democrat of California, and Harold Urey and 

Thorfin R. Ilogness of the University of Chicago. A bill that would transfer atomic control from the military 

to a civilian agency was under consideration in 1946. Holifield would later come to Condon's defense when 

his service in the capacity of scientific advisor to the Senate on this question resulted in accusations of 

disloyalty. (AP-Wide World Photos) 

But he even had to take some time off from his advisory activities, for the president 

asked him to become one of a number of scientific observers at Operation Crossroads, 

the testing of atomic bombs at Bikini Atoll in the spring of 1946. At this operation he 

met and became friendly with Congressman Chet Holifield of California, an event that 

was to stand him in good stead in the following years. 

Thus, in 1946 the Bureau had as its director a vigorous, driving man who was one 

of the scientific leaders of the world, had participated in some of the most important 

and secret work of the Nation during the war, and had undertaken many special assignments. Not a retiring man, he was an outspoken liberal and a fervent anti-isolationist. 

What was perhaps not as obvious, the new director was a pious man who was a Quaker by upbringing, and from his experiences was passionately against war and 

devoted to peace and cooperation among nations. wife and I," he wrote and had 

published in the Congressional Record,35 "have fervently hoped that the wartime 

House. Extension of Remarks of Hon. W. Sterling Cole of New York in the House of Representatives, 

Congressional Record, March 24, 1952, 98:A1827. 

158 
cooperation which existed between Russia and the United States would develop into a peacetime friendship like that between England and the United States. For this reason we have always tried to be friendly to people from the Slavic countries whom we met 

in official diplomatic contacts at Washington." 

As a result of his newspaper experience he also had developed a healthy skepticism 

about the actions and utterances of public officials, and a dislike bordering on loathing 

for the cynicism of some of them. 

* * * 

On March 1, 1948, New Jersey Congressman J. Parnell Thomas, chairman of the 

House Committee on Un-American Activities, lay ill in bed at Walter Reed Hospital, 

suffering from an attack of gastrointestinal hemorrhages. Nevertheless, he reportedly 

found time to meet with Congressmen Richard 13. Vail and John S. Wood, the other 

two members of the Subcommittee on National Security, to decide whether to release a "Report to the Full Committee." The report carried out one of the functions of the 

committee, and the decision was made to release it. The function promised, in ungrammatical fashion, "those groups and movements who are trying to dissipate our atomic 

bomb 'know-how' for the benefit of a foreign power will have the undivided attention 

of our committee agents, as well as those who are seeking to weaken other aspects of 

our national security." 

Described as "preliminary," and of an investigation that was not yet complete, the 

report dealt with only one topic: Edward U. Condon, director of the National Bureau 

of Standards. In a "matter which is of such importance that it demands immediate 

attention," the report stated at the very beginning, "from the evidence at hand, it 

appears that Dr. Condon is one of the weakest links in our atomic security. In substantiation of this statement the subcommittee respectfully submits the following information." Six pages of text purported to provide the substantiation.36 

Newspaper headlines flashed the news around the country to a dumbfounded Nation, 

but it was not the first time Condon had run afoul of the committee, or at least of one of its members. During 1947, five articles originating from the committee or from 

Representative Thomas appeared, three in the Washington Times-Herald, a newspaper 

"which has always had close and friendly relations with the Un-American Activities 

Committee and which has often been used by the committee to send up trial 

balloons."37 These articles attacked Condon and promised that he would be investigated. In June, Thomas wrote two signed articles, one in American magazine, and one 

in Liberty. These articles attacked Condon because of his association with the 

American-Soviet Science Society. 

Several times Condon tried to be heard by the committee; his requests were ignored. 

The attacks were so blatant that Representative Holifield was impelled to bring them 

36 House Committee on Un-American Activities, Subcommittee on National Security, Report to the Full 

Comnuttee of the Special Subcommittee on National Security of the Co,n,nittee on Un-American Activities, 

80th Cong., 2d sess., March 1, 1948. 

Robert K. Carr, The House Comnzittee on Un-American Activities (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 

1952): 132. 

'59 
up on the floor of the House. On July 22, 1947, he delivered a scathing denunciation, 

answering the attacks point by point and showing them to be false or misleading.38 

He came to the conclusion that Condon was attacked because of his activities as advisor to the Senate Select Committee on Atomic Energy, and that those who did not 

want to see civilian control of atomic energy were behind the attacks. 

But the later charges in the subcommittee's report were more serious. This was a formal attack on Condon made by a subcommittee of the United States Congress, 

without the accused having been given an opportunity to answer the charges. The 

document was filled with errors, inaccuracies, and innuendo. Eight days later, Holifield 

delivered a piercing evaluation of it. His analysis was complete and thorough, and his 

main points are summarized here.39 

The subcommittee's report suffered from sloppy staff work and writing. In the 

first two paragraphs there are seven inaccuracies, mostly unimportant and one even 

amusing, but nevertheless indicative of the lack of care taken in the writing of the 

report. For example, the maiden name of Mrs. Condon was given as Emilie Honzek 

rather than Honzik; Condon's position at Princeton was given as "associate director of 

the physics department," a nonexistent post; Condon was associate professor. The 

amusing one read as follows: "Condon is principally regarded as a theoretical physicist 

which involves radar, nuclear physics, radioactive tracers, mass spectroscopy, and the 

elastic properties of metals." When giving the background of Mrs. Condon, she is 

gratuitously identified as "an American-born woman of Czechoslovakian descent." 

The reason for this remark arose at the end of the report, where the following passage 

occurs: "In this country they [the communists] haven't gotten as far as they have in 

Czechoslovakia, but they got pretty far, because they got a man [Henry Wallace] as Vice President of the United States, and he is now their candidate for President, and he 

is the same man who recommended Dr. Condon as Director of the Bureau of 

Standards." By innuendo, Mrs. Condon's ancestry served to imply that, at a minimum, 

the Condons were friendly toward communism. 

Two questions concerning Condon's early days at the Bureau attracted the committee's attention. One was security clearance. Condon had, of course, been completely 

cleared for his atomic energy work at Los Alamos and Berkeley, and for all the other 

areas he worked in. He retained those clearances when he came to the Bureau. However, upon the formation of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), that agency set up 

its own clearance procedures and had not yet completed them on Condon at the time 

the matter was investigated by the subcommittee. Under the AEC's "need to know 

rules," he was still excluded from certain areas, such as atomic weapons. Hence his 

clearance was marked "pending," but this was no more than bureaucratic inertia. 

Representative Chet Holifield, speech, Smearing the Scientists: Attempt To Discredit Civilian Atomic-Energy Control, reprinted from Congressional Record, July 22, 1947, vol. 93. 

Representative Chet Holifield, speech, Sabotage of American Science: The Full Meaning of Attacks on Dr. Condon, reprinted from Congressional Record, March 9, 1948, vol 94. Holifield analyzed the whole 

report of the Committee on Un-American Activities in this speech that contained the full text of the 

subcommittee's report. 

160 

The files of the Bureau [FBI] reflect that Dr. Edward U. Condon has been in 

contact as late as 1947 with an individual alleged by a self-confessed 

Soviet espionage agent to have engaged in espionage activities with the 

Russians in Washington, D.C., from 1941 to 

The report did not detail what the nature of the contact was, but this was clarified three 

days later when, on March 4, an enterprising reporter from the Washington Post 

supplied a missing sentence of the letter that, according to its chairman, the subcommittee had "inadvertently" left out. The sentence read: 

There is no evidence to show that contacts between this individual and 

Dr. Condon were related to this individual's espionage 

Holifield commented on this omission: 

What does this deletion or omission mean in terms of a full and careful 

presentation of evidence? What is this if not deliberate character assassination, without regard to truth, justice, the democratic processes, honesty, 

integrity, or fair play? 

The origin of the letter is not completely known. What is known is that in April 1947, 

after the subcommittee's attacks Condon, Secretary Harriman was asked by Condon to 

investigate him. Harriman did this and "subsequently assured Dr. Condon that he was entirely satisfied."45 

Other associations, some with persons from Eastern European diplomatic circles, 

were mentioned in the letter, which at this point mentioned Condon's wife Emilie as well. The Condons had never met some of the persons with whom they were alleged to 

have had associations, and the others were met in the normal course of Washington 

diplomatic life. There is no evidence presented to show that these associations were 

any more than that. 

The report went on to detail that there were many foreign visitors to the Bureau, 

many from Eastern European countries; that Condon had appointed an assistant, 

Dmitri I. Vinogradoff, a Russian-born American citizen with whom he had worked at 

Westinghouse, to act as liaison for these visitors; and that discussions were held with 

Soviet representatives on the exchange of scientific Nowhere was it 

Holifield, Sabotage of American Science: 10. Alfred Friendly, "Condon Associated With Alleged Spies, Anti-Red Unit Charges." The Washington Post, 

March 3, 1948: Al. 

Holifield, Sabotage of American Science: 11. Ibid., 16. The Bureau had an established policy of exchange of scientific publications with the Soviet 

Union and had a mailing list of about seventy Russian institutes to which Bureau publications were routinely 

sent. Condon was anxious to get as much Russian scientific information as possible, but after the war the 

flow of such information from the Soviets had slowed down. Condon asked Vinogradoff to look into the matter. The Soviet Embassy explained that the slowdown was because of the destruction caused by the war; however, rumor persisted that the Soviets had adopted a policy of not sending material. Vinogradoff con- sulted with the State Department and, in cooperation with State, Condon wrote to the Russian institutes that 

"in view of the uncertainties the Bureau could no longer send our material to them." Rather than Condon 

increasing the flow of material to the Soviet Union, he decreased it. 

162 
stated that there was any discussion other than of published material freely available in 

the scientific press was discussed. Yet the implication was left that something shady 

was taking place. 

Finally the report brings up the American-Soviet Science Society (ASSS). This small 

society, numbering about 400 members, was formed to stimulate scientific cooperation 

between the Soviet and American scientists. It had originally been formed as the 

science committee of an organization called the National Council of American-Soviet 

Friendship (NCASF). The latter group was formed in late 1943 when the United States 

and the Soviet Union were allies, and was sponsored by many distinguished 

Americans, among them Karl T. Compton, Albert Einstein, and Senators Elbert 

Thomas of Utah, Arthur Capper of Kansas, and Leverett Saltonstall of Massachusetts.47 

At one time Mrs. Condon was the corresponding secretary of what was essentially the 

Pittsburgh branch of that group. However, the ASSS disassociated itself from the 

NCASF, and in 1946 was a separate while in 1947, the NCASF was on 

the Attorney General's list of subversive organizations. The ASSS, on the other hand, was a tax-exempt organization with a grant of $25 000 from the Rockefeller Foundation. It had also done some consultation for the Army and Navy, and carried out 

translation of scientific work, which was its principal objective.49 

Condon was accused of proselytizing the staff of the Bureau for membership 

because he lent his name to a letter from Samuel Gelfin of the membership committee 

of the ASSS to the Bureau staff asking them to consider joining. To Condon this was a perfectly routine matter, and he put no pressure on anyone to join. 

The report closed with the unequivocal recommendation: 

It is the unanimous opinion of this subcommittee that Dr. Condon should 

either be removed or a statement should be forthcoming from the Secretary 

of Commerce, setting forth the reasons why he has retained Dr. Condon, in 

view of the derogatory information which he has had before him. 

Holifield remarked, "With regard to the conclusions and recommendations, it is my 

opinion that no evidence has been adduced in this report or any other which merits a breath of support to the conclusion that he [Condon] should be removed." 

In a manner similar to the events that would take place after Allen V. Astin's 

dismissal as Bureau director during the battery additive episode, the report caused a national sensation. Condon was front-page news in the Nation's leading newspapers for 

more than a week, with the bulk of the reaction against the report and the subcommittee. The scientific community rose up in arms in support of Condon, who was then 

president of the American Physical Society. He received so many letters of support 

that he wrote a form letter to answer them.5° A testimonial dinner, attended by 

47lbid., 17. House Committee on Un-American Activities, Testimony of Dr. Edward U. Condon: Hearing Befbre the 

Committee on Un-American Activities, 82nd Cong., 2d Sess., September 5, 1952: 3883. Hereafter this 

hearing will be referenced as "Condon Hearing." 

Holifield, Sabotage of American Science: 17. 5° American Philosophical Society; Condon file; Security box 2; Folder Security Investigations, 1948, Public 

Reaction to Rep. J. RThomas' Attack #1. 

163 
150 leading American scientists, including eight Nobel Laureates, was held in New 

York on April Cartoonists had a field day. Condon did not remain silent. He 

issued a statement which included the sentence, "If it is true I am one of the weakest 

links in atomic security that is very gratifying and the country can feel absolutely safe 

for I am completely loyal, conscientious and devoted to the interests of my country, 

as my whole career and life clearly reveal."52 He also renewed his request for a public 

hearing. 

The continual conflict kept the story on the front page.53 Thus, within a few hours 

of the release of the subcommittee's report, the Department of Commerce issued a statement that Condon had been given a loyalty clearance six days before. "No reasonable grounds exist for believing that Dr. Condon is disloyal to the Government of the 

United States," the statement declared.54 The next day, Rep. Thomas issued a subpoena 

for the Hoover letter to Harriman and other parts of the FBI file on Condon. The 

J. Parnell Thomas. chairman of the 

House Committee on Un-American 

Activities, posed for an Associated 

Press photographer with a copy of a resolution passed by the House on 

April 22, 1948. The resolution directed 

Secretary of Commerce Harriman to 

turn over a letter from the FBI that 

detailed Condon's association with an alleged spy. CAP-Wide World Photos) 

American Philosophical Society; Condon file; Teller box: Folder Testimonial dinner. April 1948. 32 New York Times, March 2. 1948. 

A good chronology of newspaper stories between March 1 and October I. 1948, is given by Joseph T. 

Klapper and Charles Y. Glock in "Trial by Newspaper," Scientific American 180(2) (1949): 16-21. The list, 

which is not exhaustive, contains 32 entries. 

Carr, The House Committee: 149. 

164 
following day Harriman refused. The same day, the Washington Post reported on the 

missing sentence. Late in March, the House had announced that it would hold a public 

hearing on April 21. On April 14, the hearing was postponed. It was not to be held 

until 1952, by which time the cast of characters had changed. Finally, on July 15, 

1948, the AEC reached its conclusions on the Condon case: 

On the basis of the voluminous record before it, the members of the 

Commission are fully satisfied that, in the terms of the statute [Atomic 

Energy Act], Dr. Condon's continued clearance for the purposes stated above 

"will not adversely affect the common defense and security" of the United 

States. The Commission considers that his continued clearance is in the best 

interests of the atomic energy program.55 

By 1949 the story had run its course and things had quieted down somewhat, but 

Condon still had the cloud of the report hanging over him. And like sporadic sniper 

fire, occasional shots would be fired by either side, but it was not until June 10, 1949, 

that a major outbreak occurred again from an unexpected quarter. The espionage trial 

of Judith Coplon was being held, and it was alleged that a number of notes referencing 

FBI files were found in her handbag. These files were made public at the trial. One of 

them alleged that Mrs. Condon was contacted by a certain Morton E. Kent, who was 

interested in selling inexpensive printing machines in Europe. Mrs. Condon allegedly 

gave him the name of a Bulgarian accused by the FBI as an espionage agent, implying 

that she knew him quite well. What made the whole incident news was that on June 11 

Kent had committed suicide. The Condons' version of the story was that Mrs. Condon 

attended a church meeting called to raise funds for aid to devastated European schools. 

Dimitrov Sotirov, the Bulgarian in the files, spoke at the meeting. He was an employee 

of the United Nations, and this was the only time Mrs. Condon met him. All that 

happened was that Mrs. Condon told Kent, whom she met at a social gathering, how to 

reach Sotirov by telephone.56 Because the material in the FBI files was, as usual with 

raw FBI files, "unevaluated" yet nevertheless released, Condon called for a public 

apology from FBI Director Hoover, and also wrote a personal letter to him. Hoover did 

not apologize, but he did write Condon a personal letter saying he had sent Condon's 

letter to the attorney general since the situation that prompted the letter was a judicial 

proceeding. 

Whatever the case, the Condons were again in the newspaper linked to Eastern 

European nationals and alleged espionage agents. There seemed no way to get a hearing to clear their names.57 And the matter was not kept closed. In early 1951, 

Letter and memorandum of decision approved by the Atomic Energy Commission, David E. Lilienthal to 

Charles Sawyer, 15 July 1948. (NARA; RG 40; General Correspondence file; Box 1080; Folder 104462- 

104482 (104475)) 56 Draft statement by Mrs. Emilie Condon. (American Philosophical Society; Condon file; Security box 2; 

Folder Security Investigations, 1949, #2) 

Condon Hearing. 3871-3872. Actually, in June 1949, the House Committee on Un-American Activities, 

now reconstituted after the 1948 elections, invited Condon through the medium of a press release to appear 

if he would like to. Condon wrote a letter to the committee, apparently accepting the invitation, but never 

mailed it. When asked about this when the hearings were finally held, Condon stated, "It has been my policy 

all along not to come except under subpoena." He felt that invitations via the newspapers were too informal. 

165 
President Dwight D. Eisenhower met at the Summer White House in 1954 with Attorney General Herbert 

Brownell, Jr. (left) and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover (right) to discuss an accelerated drive to "utterly 

destroy" the Communist Party. Hoover's anti-communist credentials had been established as far back as the 

Roosevelt Administration, and his red hunting gained momentum during the Truman and Eisenhower 

presidencies. (AP-Wide World Photos) 

Representatives Richard B. Vail and Harold H. Velde attacked Condon on the floor of 

the House, recounting the by-now stale accusations and adding some new ones. 

Throughout this whole time Condon received the support of the staff. Some believed 

that he and his wife were perhaps indiscreet in their associations, but certainly no one believed they were in any way disloyal. But, by 1951 McCarthyism was reaching its 

peak. Investigations for security clearances from the Department of Commerce became 

more stringent, and some staff members were fired. Lauriston Taylor, who was the 

AEC coordinator for the Bureau, and through whose office went all AEC contracts, 

classified papers and security matters, recalls having to fire three persons.58 One of 

them was quite a tragic case. His wife was a writer and had belonged to a book club, 

"and it turned out to be one of those Communist cells," Taylor remembered. 

I don't recall now whether he knew that or not, but I'll tell you, of anybody I ever knew in my life that was anti-Communist, he was it. He just got plain 

fired. This crushed him to the point where it broke his health. He went to a sanitarium and had a recurrence of some earlier lung problems and died. 

His wife committed suicide. That's the story. It all tied into that security 

question. 

Conversation with Lauriston Taylor. April 10. 1990. 

166 
Taylor recalled two other cases of very able people who had to be fired, and in neither 

case were there any problems with the AEC. They had AEC clearance, but could not 

pass Commerce scrutiny. Similar accounts of two other persons are given by Jacob 

Rabinow.59 One was another sad case. A patent attorney at the Bureau was reported to 

have said during the war that the Russians "were putting up a good fight." A hearing 

was held on his case, where Rabinow was a witness, and where, after some education 

of the committee by Rabinow on communism and what it was all about, the attorney 

was cleared. Nevertheless, the secretary of commerce immediately fired the attorney. 

He was devastated, but went into private practice and did quite well. 

Equally troublesome was the problem of hiring. Because some potential applicants 

may have had some youthful peccadillos in their background, or perhaps simply 

because of the rigors of a loyalty and security investigation, many prospective candidates for positions would not even apply. Taylor recalls, "There were numerous cases 

of when you talked to people, just initial discussions about coming to the Bureau, and 

the security question would come up almost immediately. I've no way to document it, 

but I recall there were a number of cases where as soon as you got into the question, 

they sort of shrugged, 'Why get into this?' "60 

This situation preyed on Condon. By the summer of 1951, his status with the UnAmerican Activities Committee looked as if it would never be resolved. McCarthyism was running rampant. On August 6, 1951, he wrote a four-page memorandum on loyalty and security procedures to President Harry S. Truman, with whom he had 

friendly relations.6' The first page of the memo reads: 

Actual operation of loyalty and security programs within the government, in 

the atmosphere of suspicion and hate engendered by some members of 

Congress, is producing bad results: 

(1) Nervous strain, legal expense and virtual blacklisting of individuals on trivial and silly charges which ought never to be given serious consideration. 

(2) Especially in science, the bad name which the Government is getting as an employer, is intensifying the problem of recruiting men to work on urgent 

problems. We have a critical shortage of scientists anyway which is made 

worse by these abuses. 

(3) The Administration is harming itself politically by admitting by its official actions that these individuals deserved removal, regrettably [sic] some actions taken may have been necessary, but many have not been necessary 

by any reasonable standards, and yet each such removal can also be attacked as an instance of earlier carelessness in hiring such people. 

Memorandum, Jacob Rabinow to Elio Passaglia, "Some Recollections on the Security Problems of the 

Early '50s," November 17, 1989. 

Taylor conversation. 

61 Memorandum to The President from E. U. Condon, director, National Bureau of Standards, August 6, 

1951. (American Philosophical Society; Condon file; Teller box; Folder Truman #3. Used with the permission of the American Philosophical Society.) It appears that this memorandum was never sent. The copy in 

the files is an original rather than a copy, and it has typographical errors that would not be present in a final 

version. 

167 
The memo then goes on to document five cases supporting the statements he made. 

The most interesting thing about the memo is its existence. Apparently Condon felt 

deeply enough about these questions of loyalty and security, and surely about his own 

problems, that he wrote about them to the highest official in the land. That the memo was almost certainly never sent does not lessen its air of desperation. Condon appears 

to have reached a turning point. 

Two days later he wrote a letter to the president, and this one was sent.62 The first 

paragraph of the letter reads, "I hereby submit my resignation as Director of the 

National Bureau of Standards, the position to which you appointed me in November, 

1945. I would like to suggest that this resignation be made effective on September 30, 

1951." The letter goes on to give his reason for resigning: "My own reason for leaving 

the Federal service is one that is all too familiar to you: I can no longer afford to 

accept the severe financial sacrifice involved." The letter also points out the importance of scientific work in the Government, and warmly thanks the president for his 

support. Two days later President Truman accepted Condon's resignation effective 

September 30, and the deed was done. Condon had resigned from the Bureau. He 

became director of research of the Corning Glass Works, Corning, NY. 

It is interesting to consider Condon's reasons for leaving the Bureau. The reason of 

finances is often one used by a person leaving the Federal service, yet it is only very 

rarely the only one. In Condon's case, the juxtaposition of his memo to President 

Truman and his letter of resignation could be viewed as evidence that his personal 

problems with the House Committee on Un-American Activities, added to the wave of 

McCarthyism sweeping the country about Communists in Government, led him to 

conclude that it would be better for the future of the Bureau if he were to leave. This 

is the belief of many staff members at the time, although very few have any firm 

evidence. One of those is Lauriston Taylor. Taylor's father and Condon were good 

friends, and the families were fairly close at times. Taylor remembers a discussion in 

which one of Condon's big concerns near the end of his directorship was security 

and loyalty. Taylor remembers him saying "How much longer can I continue to fight 

this thing and drag the Bureau around in it, and see the reputations of other people 

hurt?" "He was almost asking, 'How long can I do this?" Taylor added.63 Considering 

aH the evidence, it appears that Condon's problems with the HUAC were major 

factors in his decision to leave the Bureau. 

Condon was always certain that the reason he was attacked by the Thomas subcommittee was that he served as scientific advisor to the McMahon committee during the 

formation of the AEC. On January 3, 1953, he wrote to Dean George B. Pegram at 

Columbia University:64 

62 Letter, E. U. Condon to President Truman, August 8, 1951. (American Philosophical Society; Condon file; 

Teller box; Folder Truman #3. Used with the permission of the American Philosophical Society.) 63 Taylor conversation. Churchill Eisenhart recalled similar statements in an oral communication in 1990. 

Letter. E. U. Condon to George B. Pegram, January 3, 1953. (American Philosophical Society; Condon file; 

Security box 3; Folder Security Investigations, 1953, #2. Used with the permission of the American Philosophical Society.) 

168 
You know of course that the root of all my difficulty originates with active 

disagreement with General Groves and others about the nature of the legislation on atomic energy. I was fully cleared during the war for a wide variety 

of projects and remained in that status throughout my service in Washington 

despite the heavy and continuing political attacks on me with Groves' 

co-operation by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. 

Lt. Gen. Leslie R. Groves, wartime head of the Army's atomic bomb project, was greeted by J. Pamell Thomas, chairman of the House Committee on Un-American 

Activities (HUAC), when he arrived to testify in a closed session in September 1948. 

Condon believed that his troubles with I-IUAC resulted from his disagreement with 

Groves and other members of the military about the proposed transfer of atomic energy to civilian control. (copyright Washington Post; reprinted by permission of D.C. Public 

Library) 

169 
Thus it appears that the battle over civilian control of atomic energy coupled with the 

Communist hunting frenzy of the postwar years, cost the Bureau its fourth director. 

* * * 

Condon's security problems by no means disappeared upon his leaving the Bureau. 

In September 1952, the hearings he had long wanted were held. In six grueling hours 

he was questioned about all aspects of his background as it pertained to security, and 

particularly with his left-wing associations. The same old stories were brought up, but 

there were new ones as well, some dating back to his wartime days at Berkeley. It was an arduous experience. He denied—and the committee did not prove—that he was ever a Communist, had ever consciously known one, or had ever violated security matters. 

He was not totally believed by some members of the committee. Condon felt positive 

about the outcome. "This could have been cleared up if it was done four years ago— 

but better late than never."65 In the committee's annual report, Condon was declared 

to be unqualified for any position owing to his "propensity for associating with 

persons disloyal or of questionable loyalty and his contempt for necessary security 

Then, on November 28, 1952, the Army-Navy Personnel Security Board tentatively 

denied him clearance for his work at Coming. He was given the opportunity to submit 

written material in support of himself, and on February 7, 1953, Condon submitted a twenty-one page document in his defense.67 His security clearance was denied on 

February 16, 1953, but he appealed and his clearance was re-instated in July 1954. 

Three months later, in October 1954, the secretary of the navy suspended the decision 

and his clearance was again removed. The New York Times reported that Vice President Richard M. Nixon took credit for reversing the and in December the 

secretary of the navy denied that the vice president had anything to do with his 

actions. Now feeling that he was a liability to Coming, Condon resigned to accept a position as visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1956 he was appointed head of the physics department at Washington University in St. Louis. 

From Washington University he went to the University of Colorado where, in May 

1966, after some fourteen years of fighting, his clearance was finally approved at the 

secret level so that he could carry out a project at the Joint Institute for Laboratory 

Astrophysics, a scientific partnership between the Bureau and the University of 

Colorado. It was an ironic ending to Condon's sad saga.69 

"Dr. Condon Declares He 'Cleared' Himself Before Red Probers," The Washington Star, September 6, 

1952: A-2. 

Walter Goodman, The Co,nmittee: The Extraordinary Career of the House Co,nmittee on Un-American 

Activities (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1968): 252. 

Letter, Col. Harry W. Gorman to E. U. Condon, November 28, 1952. (American Philosophical Society; 

Condon file; Security box 3; Folder Security Investigations, 1953, #1); letter, E. U. Condon to Army-NavyAir Force Personnel Security Board, February 7, 1953. (American Philosophical Society; Condon file; 

Security box 3; Folder Security Investigations, 1953, #3) 

Letter from E. U. Condon to Wayne Thornton, October 28, 1954. (American Philosophical Society; 

Condon tile; Teller box; Folder Wayne H. Thornton) 

Some of this chronology comes from a letter Condon sent to C. P. Ives, Associate Editor of the Baltimore 

Sun, September 9, 1956. (American Philosophical Society; Condon file; Security box 3; Folder Security 

Investigations) 

170 
ALLEN VARLEY ASTIN 

Upon Condon's departure from the Bureau on September 30, 1951, Allen V. Astin, 

who was then an associate director, was appointed acting director. The National 

Academy of Sciences, acting on a request from Secretary of Commerce Charles W. 

Sawyer, recommended three persons, two from outside the Bureau and Astin from 

within, as possible replacements for Condon.7° Sawyer selected Astin and sent his 

name to President Truman who appointed him on May 20, 1952. Upon Senate 

confirmation, Astin became the Bureau's fifth director on June 12—his forty-eighth 

birthday. 

Astin was a decidedly different man from Condon, in background, personality, 

training, and experience. Unlike Condon, he was not a newcomer, having been at the 

Bureau since 1930. He had not had an easy life. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, 

As the fifth director of the National 

Bureau of Standards, Allen Varley 

Astin's primary goal was to make the 

Bureau an attractive place for scientists to work. Committed to excellence, he 

developed a sense of mission and 

defined a mission, reduced the dependence of the Bureau on transferred 

funds, and made the Bureau's own appropriation the primary source of 

financing at a sufficient level to carry 

out that mission. 

70 House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, 

Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce Appropriations for 1955: Hearings before the Subcommittee of 

the Committee on Appropriations, 83d Cong., 2d sess., National Bureau of Standards, 11 January 1954: 76. 

Testimony of Dr. Mervin J. Kelly. 

171 
on June 12, 1904. His father, John Andrew Astin, a school teacher, died when Allen 

was four, leaving behind a poor family of one son and two younger daughters, and 

their mother Catherine. The mother had to work to support the family, and Allen 

helped out. Beginning at the early age of eight he consistently held odd jobs—carrying 

newspapers, working on berry farms, digging ditches, and similar tasks. Totally disciplined, he was able to save enough money to enter the University of Utah, where he 

studied physics. He was a campus leader, edited the school newspaper, and met and 

fell in love with Margaret L. Mackenzie, a student one year behind him and a talented 

writer. An excellent student, he won a scholarship at New York University (NYU) and, 

upon receiving his B.S. degree, left for New York in 1925. After receiving an M.S. 

degree, he returned to Salt Lake City and married Margaret. The young couple 

returned to NYU, where Margaret also became a student, studying journalism. Upon 

finishing his Ph.D. in 1928, Astin was awarded a National Research Council Fellowship at The Johns Hopkins University, and the young couple moved to Baltimore 

where, in 1930, their first son, John Allen, was born. 

When his postdoctoral appointment came to an end in that same year, Astin had a thesis and postdoctoral work on the dielectric constant of electrolytes, a wife and child, 

but no job, and jobs were not easy to find in that early Great Depression year. After an interview at the Bureau, he was offered a position as a research associate of the 

National Research Council with funds provided by the Utilities Research Commission 

of Illinois. For two years he studied the dielectric behavior of pure materials, picking 

up considerable experience in electronics and becoming well-liked by the Bureau staff. 

But in 1932 the commission money ran out and Astin faced the prospect of being 

without a job, a situation that was made more tense by the birth of his second son, 

Alexander William. He was offered a position at the Bureau studying aircraft ignition on a Navy project, and in 1932 he became a full-fledged civil servant. In the almost 

ten years before the onset of World War II, Astin worked in the fiscally stringent but 

congenial and relaxed atmosphere of Lyman J. Briggs' 1930s Bureau. During this 

period he made significant contributions to the science of telemetry, applying these 

techniques to weather balloons used for cosmic ray studies; made important studies in 

the precision measurement of capacitance; and became an expert in electronics. During 

the war he was asked to turn his attention to the proximity fuze, and he became totally 

immersed in the effort throughout the whole war period. In 1944 he was made assistant chief of the Ordnance Development Division under Harry Diamond, the Bureau's 

inventive genius and good friend of Astin. When Diamond died suddenly and unexpectedly in 1948, Astin was made chief of the division, now renamed the Electronics 

and Ordnance Division. In 1951 he was made associate director of the Bureau, in 

charge of coordinating transferred funds programs in the Electronics, Ordnance Development, and Missile Development Divisions, as well as the program of the new Office 

of Basic Instrumentation. This was the position he held when Condon retired, and from 

which he became acting director, and then director. 

Condon and Astin were as different in personality as they were in upbringing. Astin 

was not trained in the new physics as was Condon, and would be the first to admit 

that he was not the scientist that Condon was, although he could do things in the 

laboratory that Condon could not. Nor did he have the gregarious, assertive personality 

172 
of Condon. He was a friendly man, but low-key and rather reserved. He liked people, 

and people liked him because he listened and respected the opinions of others. A 

slender man with warm, friendly eyes, he never evinced anger, gave all questions seri- ous consideration, and always appeared to be under the control of reason rather than 

emotion.7' As a result his opinions were respected. Faced with an obstacle, his first 

reaction was not, like Condon's, to beat it down. He would try to finesse around it or 

wear it down, for one of his principal characteristics was tenacity. And while he may 

not have been on first-name terms with the world's leading scientists, he knew well the 

important actors on the Washington scientific scene, and understood the soft points of 

the bureaucracy. Outwardly calm and methodical, he did not lose sight of his goals and 

constantly worked toward them. Perhaps it can be said that Condon in his short six 

years got the Bureau started in the direction of modem science, and Astin took it there. 

FULFILLING A REPORT 

When Astin became acting director, the Bureau was embroiled in the battery additive episode. Although while this area had been outside his jurisdiction while he was 

associate director, he now took personal charge of it. As a result of that episode, in late 

1953 the Bureau had a report—the Kelly Committee Report—which provided Astin 

with an agenda for his immediate and future actions as director.72 Formed as an "Ad 

Hoc Committee for the Evaluation of the Present Functions and Operations of The 

National Bureau of Standards," the committee, chaired by Mervin J. Kelly, president of 

the Bell Telephone Laboratories, exhaustively investigated the Bureau and found an institution that was basically sound and of vital importance to the Nation. It had a "splendid record and tradition," was "staffed with professional men of competence, integrity and loyalty," and was needed more than ever as society became more technologically complex. But there were some significant problems. 

First, the committee found that the Bureau's basic programs—the programs carried 

out with appropriated funds, rather than transferred funds—were in serious difficulty. 

The committee wrote: 

Since the close of the war the technology of the nation has shot rapidly 

forward. The Bureau's basic programs expanded until 1950 but at a rate 

beneath that justified by the needs. Since 1950 the decrease in basic 

programs must be considered as tragic. The ground lost since 1950 should 

be regained in the next two fiscal years and the programs then expanded as detailed studies by the Director and his advisory committees find 

necessary."73 

Not that Astin could not get angry. His meeting with Laidler on July 29, 1952, should be recalled. Also, 

Astin had a whimsical side to his personality. Mrs. Astin tells the story of his having the children collect a jar full of live fireflies one summer evening. He then took the family to the local movie house, and during 

the performance released the fireflies. It made for an interesting audience reaction. 72A Report to the Secretary of Commerce by the Ad Hoc Committee for the Evaluation of the Present Functions of the National Bureau of Standards: A Report on the Present Functions and Operations of the National Bureau of Standards With Their Evaluation in Relation to Present National Needs and Recommendations for the Improvement and Strengthening of the Bureau, October 15, 1953. Mervin J. Kelly, chairman. 

Hereafter referred to as the Kelly Committee Report. 

Ibid., 20. 

173 
In the midst of the AD-X2 affair, 

Mervin J. Kelly. president of Bell Labs 

and a member of the NBS 

Visiting Committee, chaired the Ad 

Hoc Committee for the Evaluation of 

the Present Functions of the National 

Bureau of Standards. The report of the 

Kelly Committee had a profound 

impact on subsequent programs at the 

Bureau. 

Not that the Bureau was poor. Indeed, it was the richest it had been in its history, 

but the problem was that most of the funds were transferred from the military agencies 

and the Atomic Energy Commission. Thus, in FY 1953, the year preceding the 

committee report, the Bureau received $7.4 million in appropriated funds, and $40.1 

million in transferred funds, with $38.8 million, or 97 percent, of the transferred funds 

coming from the AEC and the military. Of the total expenditures of $47.5 million by 

the Bureau, 83 percent were for work carried out for the AEC and the military. For the 

whole postwar period transferred funds had exceeded the base appropriation, and had 

shot up dramatically since the start of the Korean War. At the same time the appropriated funds had decreased, dropping (in current dollars) from $8.7 million in 1950 to 

$7.4 million in 1953, while transferred funds rose from $ 11.3 million to $47.5 million. 

The large amount and nature of the work with transferred funds had some deleterious effects on the Bureau's basic programs. The sheer magnitude of the effort was harmful in that it caused great crowding.74 Moreover, the requirements for security 

In FY 1953, the Bureau had an authorized staff of 4781, by far the highest in its history. 

174 
engendered a large administrative organization, and "brought about secrecy, limited 

freedom of movement and other restrictions and has created an environment that is not 

best suited to the basic programs."75 Moreover, the rapid expansion of the military 

work increased the rate of advancement in the military programs as compared to the 

basic programs, so that personnel were actually siphoned from the latter. The Bureau 

had become an appendage of the military, and it was a time of penury amid plenty. 

The committee also found that the AEC work and some of the military work was 

different in character from the rest of the military work. The AEC work—$3 million in 

FY 1953—while often highly classified, was nevertheless laboratory work similar to 

the Bureau's work on its basic programs and often added to its capabilities; some of 

the military work fell into the same classification. This work was desirable and the 

committee felt that it should be continued. But the major bulk of the military work was 

concerned with the proximity fuze and guided missiles, and amounted to $20 million 

in FY 1953, almost three times the Bureau's base appropriation. This work was pure 

weaponry development, and the committee felt that, except in time of war, it was not 

appropriate for the Bureau. 

As a result of its study, the committee made ten recommendations:76 

1. Higher level of activity in the basic programs.77 

2. Modernization of facilities and increased space for basic programs. 

3. Improvement of organization at the associate director level. 

4. Transfer of weaponry projects to the Department of Defense. 

5. Continued use of the Bureau by Department of Defense and Atomic Energy 

Commission for non-weaponry science and technical aid. 

6. Continued and increased use of the Bureau by other agencies of Government in 

indicated areas of science and technology. 

7. Decrease in repetitive test operations at the Bureau. 

8. Division of primary responsibility for policy and procedure on commercial 

product tests between the secretary of commerce and the director of the Bureau. 

9. Increased support of standard samples program. 

10. Advisory groups to the director selected from membership in eight scientific 

and technical societies. 

The first of these recommendations was the most difficult to carry out, and discussion of it will be delayed. The second was also difficult and, while it was partly alleviated by the acquisition and occupation of a site in Boulder, Colorado, it was not to be 

carried out until the move of the Bureau to new facilities in Gaithersburg, Maryland, in 

the mid-sixties. 

Kelly Committee Report: 10. 76lbid., 19. " The word "basic" here is not used in the sense of basic (as distinct from "applied") research. Rather it 

refers to the basic functions of the Bureau as given in the Organic Act. Increases or decreases in the 

Bureau's appropriation add to or subtract from the Bureau's base appropriation which is the starting point for 

the yearly budget negotiations. 

175 
With respect to the third, the Bureau had four positions at the associate director 

level. There were associate directors for research, testing, ordnance development, 

and administration. The committee felt that, in the situation at the time the associate 

directors for the technical divisions functioned too much like "programmatic aides to 

the Director." This "ties the Director too closely to division supervision and places an unnecessary limit on the full use of the Associate Directors." Moreover, the position 

of associate director for research was too much for one person. It therefore recommended that the associate directors be given line responsibility. "to the maximum extent 

possible," and that one more associate director be appointed. This was done immediately, and there were again four associate directors, in the areas of chemistry (Wallace 

R. Brode), physics (Robert D. Huntoon), testing (Archibald T. McPherson) and administration (Nicholas Golovin). Astin's old position of associate director for ordnance 

development was made unnecessary by the divestiture of the weapons work. However, 

removing the director from the direct administration of the divisions did not actually 

take place until the first complete reorganization of the Bureau in 1964, at which time 

the recommendation of the committee became moot.78 

The fourth recommendation was accomplished in September 1953 with the transfer 

to the military of the three ordnance divisions and the missile development division, 

totalling 2000 persons. However, the amount of "other agency" work was so great that 

even in the fiscal year after this transfer, 76.6 percent of the Bureau's work was carried out on transferred funds. In that year the transfer of the military work was completed with the transfer of the Numerical Analysis Division in the Applied 

Mathematics Division to the University of California at Los Angeles. Known as the 

Institute for Numerical Analysis and located on the campus of UCLA, this division 

was totally supported by the navy and the air force. Nevertheless, the basic work 

would not exceed the transferred funds work until FY 1959. 

Recommendations five and six are relatively obvious. The reasoning behind five has 

already been discussed, and six was because the committee felt that the Bureau did 

not do enough for agencies other than the military and the AEC. 

While the Bureau performed an important and valuable service in developing 

methods of testing for various products, its talents were not well used in repetitive 

testing for purchase acceptance. The Bureau, following recommendation seven, did 

slowly decrease the amount of this work, but it would not be until the move to 

Gaithersburg that it would be discontinued. And the related recommendation eight was 

to give responsibility for the political aspects of product tests to the secretary of 

commerce, with the director retaining responsibility for the technical aspects. Clearly, 

this was meant to preclude recurrence of episodes like the battery additive controversy. 

Recommendation nine was welcome, if routine, but number ten was a new departure. Under it, the scientific and engineering societies would appoint advisory committees in given areas such as metallurgy, chemistry, and mathematics. The committees 

would then visit the Bureau yearly, investigate the organizational units—usually a Kelly Committee Report: 5-6. Huntoon had been director of the Corona Missiles Laboratory and was brought 

back to Washington upon the divestiture of the weapons work. 

176 
division—responsible for that area, and advise the director on their findings about the 

program and its conduct.79 This recommendation was adopted almost immediately, and 

from then on each division chief had to look forward to a yearly meeting with his 

peers who would report on his operation to his superior. It was designed to keep 

managers in touch with what was happening on the outside, and served a useful 

function. Gone, however, were the lax days of the old Bureau in which a division chief was essentially a lord in his fiefdom. This method of organizing advisory committees 

lasted until 1959 when the administration of the committees was taken over by the 

National Research Council. 

But of all the recommendations, the first was the most important, and the hardest to 

carry out. It required that the appropriations from Congress be increased, and this 

was not happening. In fact, appropriations were decreasing.8° In his first appearance 

before the House Appropriations Subcommittee in the spring of 1946—appropriations 

hearings for FY 1947—Condon won an increase from $3.6 million to $5.5 

This continued for the next two years, so that by FY 1949 the Bureau appropriation 

had increased to $8.7 million. Then began an accelerating decrease, so that by FY 

1952, Condon's last year, the appropriation had dropped to $7.8 million. The next 

year—spring 1952—was Astin's first appearance before the committee as director. He 

tried a new approach. He tried to link the demands on the Bureau to the total number 

of scientists in the country, using the membership in scientific societies as an index, 

and arguing that this had grown much more rapidly than the Bureau's appropriation. 

The appropriation should rise at a comparable rate, he argued, and asked for a modest 

increase of $0.9 million. To say that the committee was unimpressed would be 

euphemistic. In fact, they were shocked. Chairman John Rooney of New York, with 

whom Astin was to cross swords for many years, looked upon the Bureau's position as a statement that the Bureau should hire a constant fraction of the scientists in the 

Nation. Rooney was emphatic: 

Dr. Astin, as far as I am concerned, you are just wasting your time and 

somebody has wasted a good deal of time in trying to put over an argument 

such as this, as to why personnel of the National Bureau of Standards 

should be increased. . . . As far as I am concerned, I am not going to appropriate any of the taxpayers' money based upon an argument such as this. Not 

one cent of it. 

The organizations represented were the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the Institute of Radio 

Engineers, the American Institute of Physics, the Policy Committee for Mathematics, the American Institute 

of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, the American Chemical Society, the American Ceramic Society. the 

American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the National Conference on Weights and Measures. Later 

the American Standards Association and the American Society for Testing and Materials were added. 

A graph of the Bureau's appropriation over time is given in Appendix E. 

When appropriation figures are cited here, the appropriations for Plant and Construction are not included. 

These are one-time actions and do not add to the Bureau's base. 

177 
But Rooney closed the hearings on a somewhat conciliatory note: 

In your first appearance before this committee.. . you started off with what 

might be called an unfortunate detail. However, now that you have con- cluded, I believe we all feel you have made a very interesting and fair 

presentation of the problems of the National Bureau of Standards."82 

The Bureau received a cut of $380 000. The following year (FY 1954, hearings in 

spring 1953) was the first Republican Congress that accompanied the Eisenhower 

victory, and it was a budgetary disaster. The Bureau's appropriation dropped a full 

$1.7 million (23 percent) to $5.7 million, its lowest point since 1947. 

But the next year things began to change. The AD-X2 episode had now passed, and 

Astin was in a strong position. The Kelly Committee Report had been received, the 

transfer of weapons work had been made, and the Department of Commerce strongly 

supported the report and the Bureau's request for increases to strengthen its basic 

work. Secretary Sinclair Weeks used the Kelly Committee Report in his overall justification, Under Secretary Walter Williams presented and supported a 26 percent increase 

in the Bureau's appropriation, and perhaps most important, Mervin Kelly himself 

appeared before the committee and made a very strong impression.83 There was, in the 

end, an increase of only 6 percent, but at least the string of decreases had been halted. 

Astin did not give up. He patiently but doggedly explained that the Bureau's appropriation should be increased because it could not now provide the services asked of it by 

science, industry, and commerce. The next year the increase was more substantial, 

amounting to 22 percent, and by 1957 the appropriation was $8.4 million, almost as much as in 1949 and 1950. 

Moreover, in 1956 an important change was made in the method of financing 

the Bureau. Before this, when the Bureau sold standard samples, or charged for 

calibrations or reimbursable administrative services, it did not receive the proceeds. 

Instead, these were sent to the Treasury. Thus the Bureau spent a part of its appropriation to perform these reimbursable services, but received none of the proceeds. In 

theory, funds for these functions were provided in the base appropriation, but it was not easy to coordinate income and outgo. In November 1956 a change embodied in 

Public Law 84-940, was made so that the Bureau was permitted to receive the income 

from its sales and services.84 

It was not a small matter. In 1957 the receipts amounted to $2.8 million, and part of 

the substantial increase in funds between 1956 and 1957 was due to this financing 

change. Indeed, the Appropriation Committee increased the appropriation by only 

$2 House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Departments of State, Justice, Commerce, and the 

Judiciary, Departments of State, Justice, commerce, and the Judiciary Appropriations for 1953: Hearings 

Before the Subcom,nittee of the Committee on Appropriations, 82d Cong., 2d sess., National Bureau of 

Standards, 38 January 1952: 432, 464. 

Appropriations Hearings for 1955: 5-6, 7 1-72, 75-82. 

Annual Report, 1956: 108; AN ACT To amend the Act of March 3, 190/ (31 Stat. 1449) as amended, to incorporate in the Organic Act of the National Bureau of Standards the authority to use the Working Capital 

Fund, and to permit certain improvements in fiscal practices, U.S. Statutes at Large, 70 (1956): 959. 

178 
$1 million, but the funds actually available to the Bureau increased by $3.8 million. It 

is highly doubtful that the committee would have provided this increase without the 

accounting change. In FY 1958, the year of the sputniks, the total available was $12 million, an increase of 112 percent over 1954, Astin's worst year, but a much 

more modest 38 percent over its 1949 appropriation.85 While the Bureau's total available funds—including transferred funds—had more than kept up with the national 

expansion in scientific research and development, its base appropriation, with which it 

maintained the leadership required in its unique position as the Nation's measurement 

standards laboratory, had fallen far short of requirements. 

It is tempting to speculate on the reasons for the Bureau's steep drop in appropriations in the early years of the 1950s.86 The economy-minded Eisenhower administration can be blamed 'for part of this, but the decline had started before the 1952 elections. At least a part of this must be laid to the inordinate amounts of transferred funds 

for weapons development the Korean War brought to the Bureau, as well as work re- quired by the infant AEC. From the point of view of a Congressman, the Bureau was 

not a poor institution. It was, in fact, rich, if not fat. If it could not get money from the 

Congress it presumably could always contact one of its friends in the military. Representative Prince H. Preston of Georgia put it succinctly: 

If we were to try to apply some economies.. . there would be nothing in the 

world to prevent the Bureau of Standards from doing a little staff negotiation with Navy, or somebody, and saying, 'Look, fellows, come to our 

rescue'... . The Navy would say, 'All right, we will give you a project'.... 

You would just be going to some other source to get the money we denied. 

I do not know what the answer is.87 

And Preston made the point more clearly in 1956:88 

MR. PRESTON: Is it a fact, doctor, that had you not performed this work for 

the agencies of the Government, that your direct appropriation would have 

been materially larger? 

DR. AsTIN: Well, that is a difficult question. It might have been larger had we not had so many programs from other Government agencies. 

'° While the Bureau's base appropriation was not all for basic research, it is instructive to compare its growth 

with that of basic research expenditures in the Nation. Between 1953 and 1958, total national expenditures 

for basic research (in current dollars) increased by 100 percent, while total Federal Government basic research expenditures increased by 75 percent. Government in-house basic research expenditures, however, 

increased by only 25 percent over the same period. (Figures from the National Science Foundation, 1989.) 

The Bureau was not alone in experiencing a decline in research funds. Federal Government in-house 

expenditures for basic research showed a drop of 11 percent from 1954 to 1955. From 1953 to 1956, these 

expenditures increased by 3 percent, while the Bureau's appropriation was essentially unchanged. 87 Appropriation Hearing for 1955: 91. 88 House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Department of Commerce and Related Agencies, 

Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1957: Hearings Before a Subco,nmittee 

of the Committee on Appropriations for 1957, 84th Cong., 2d sess., National Bureau of Standards, 20 March 

1956: 101. 179 
Subtle distinctions between basic measurement research and research for other 

agencies were hard to assimilate. Apparently it took the dramatic events of the AD-X2 

incident, the Kelly Committee Report, and the consequent divestiture of the weapons 

work, to bring home to the Congress that the Bureau required support for its own 

unique mission. No amount of transferred funds would compensate for this lack of 

basic support, for inevitably and properly, other agencies were interested in carrying 

out their own programs, not those of the Bureau. 

During the early fifties there were changes in how the Bureau carried out its 

accounting and in its method of presentation of its budget to the Congress.89 The 

whole matter was complicated by transferred funds. Before FY 1956, the budget 

request was made in three line items: operation and administration (most of which, but 

not all, represented overhead), research and testing, and radio propagation and 

standards. The last was added to the budget request in 1949, two years after the 

Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory was changed to the Central Radio 

Propagation Laboratory (CRPL) and was no longer a purely military function. When 

necessary, one-time items such as construction of laboratories were added. In 1950, 

there was formed a Working Capital Fund to put the Bureau's accounting system on a businesslike basis.9° Along with this accounting system was a project system—installed 

in 1949 under pressure from the Congress—by means of which the costs of individual 

research projects could be calculated.9' At the highest level the project system had five 

categories: fundamental research; applied research; development; testing, calibration 

and specifications; and general scientific services. There were nineteen second-level 

categories. 

The system functioned by putting all funds into a Working Capital Fund and making 

all charges to this fund. In accord with customary accounting practice, it was recognized that administrative support activities were of general benefit to all the technical 

projects, hence these activities were considered as overhead. Their costs were 

distributed to the technical projects on the basis of the technical labor in the project. 

This then gave an accurate accounting of the costs of a technical project and formed a good cost accounting system. 

Trouble arose with the operation and administration appropriation. If this was insufficient to cover the overhead costs, then money would have to be transferred from 

other line items, which represented technical work, to the overhead function. This 

would mean using funds appropriated for one function for another, and would be 

illegal. In the Bureau's case, the situation was complicated—and salvaged—by the 

presence of transferred funds. They did not have a stipulated amount of overhead, 

House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Department of Commerce and Related Agencies, 

Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1956: Hearings Before a Subcommittee 

of the Committee on Appropriations, 84th Cong., I St sess., National Bureau of Standards, 20 April 1955: 

154-165. Astin's budget presentation gives the best description of these changes and procedures. 

Deficiency Appropriation Act, 1950, U.S. Statutes at Large, 64 (1950): 279. In 1952 the Bureau had 322 projects under its own appropriation, plus 350 unclassified projects carried 

out with transferred funds. There were, in addition, approximately 350 classified projects, all under 

transferred funds. 

180 
and saved the day. When all administrative costs for the Bureau were added up, they 

amounted to 31 percent of total expenditures. However, the portion of the appropriation for operation and administration that was allotted for overhead amounted to only 

18 percent of the base appropriation. The Bureau thus developed the habit of charging 

the other agencies 40 percent overhead to make up the difference between the Bureau's 

appropriation and what it actually spent in overhead on its base program. In 1955, the 

comptroller general ruled that this way of operating was not legal, and the Bureau 

changed its manner of making budget requests. It did away completely with the line 

item on Operation and Administration. As long as this change was being made, the 

Bureau also eliminated the separate presentation for Radio Propagation and 

Standards. Hence the budget was presented according to the highest level of the 

Bureau's project structure, namely the categories of research; development; testing, 

calibration, and specifications; and general technical services. Construction and related 

expenses were carried as separate items. This restored legality and simplified both the 

presentation and the interpretation of the expenditures. 

By FY 1958 the Bureau was beginning to show some of the effects of the changes 

brought about as a result of the Kelly Committee Report.92 Most importantly, the 

fraction of transferred funds had been brought down to 58 percent, and in the next 

fiscal year the fraction would be lower than 50 percent for the first time since before 

World War II. The authorized staff had dropped from its high of 4781 in 1953 to 

3200. And among the staff were a number of new hires who would have important 

roles in the future of the Bureau as division chiefs, and two who would become 

directors. 

The divisions of the Bureau remained much the same. The three ordnance divisions 

and the missile development division were gone. The Electricity Division was com- bined with the Electronics Division, forming Electricity and Electronics. The Heat 

and Power Division became Heat, and Power disappeared. The CRPL was moved to 

the Bureau's new installation in Boulder, Colorado, and metamorphosed into three 

divisions: Radio Propagation Physics, Radio Propagation Engineering, and Radio 

Standards. And at Boulder there was a whole new division, Cryogenic Engineering. 

By the end of FY 1958, approximately six months after the sputniks, the Bureau was 

well on the way to having reconstituted itself as the Nation's measurement standards 

laboratory. Sputnik I and Sputnik II would hasten the process. 

92 New criteria were adopted for the acceptance of other agency projects. Such projects were to "(1) have a close relationship to basic functions of NBS, (2) show prospect of producing results of general value to 

science, or (3) cannot be undertaken effectively elsewhere and do not require large changes in NBS staff. 

The application of these policies has resulted in discontinuance or significant decrease in a number of other 

agency projects." The excerpt is contained in a document entitled "Analysis of Program Conversion." The 

document, which consists of one page of text and seven of figures and charts, is unaddressed and undated 

and appears to have been an analysis to be used at a division chiefs' meeting with the Director. (NARA; 

RG167; Astin file; Box 20; Folder Corresp. 1958) 

181 
THE ACQUISITION OF THE BOULDER SITE, AND A NEW PROGRAM IN CRYOGENIC 

ENGINEERING 

In 1948, with about 3000 staff members on the Van Ness site, the Bureau was feeling crowded. Moreover, the conditions in the city were not suited for the work carried 

out in the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory, nor for guided missiles. The large 

amount of radio traffic in the surrounding city caused serious interference problems; 

the lack of an unobstructed horizon hampered the study of line-of-sight microwave 

propagation; and new frequency ranges became important in the postwar world of FM, 

television, and an ever-greater volume of communications. Equally important in 

influencing a move out of Washington was the government fear of an atomic bomb 

attack, which led to an effort to locate new facilities out of the city. Beginning in the 

late forties this effort culminated in a dispersal order by President Truman, which 

effectively precluded any expansion moves within Washington and eventually led to 

the move of all Bureau activities remaining at the Van Ness site to new quarters in 

Gaithersburg, Maryland. Thus, then-Director Condon sought new sites for the radio 

and missile work and asked the Senate Interstate Commerce Committee—which 

had jurisdiction over the Bureau, and whose chairman was Edwin C. Johnson of 

Colorado—for authority to build new facilities to house this work and to purchase land 

for them if necessary. 

In October 1949, the Congress authorized $4.5 million for "the construction and 

equipment of a radio laboratory building for the National Bureau of Standards" and 

$1.9 million for a guided-missile research laboratory.93 In both cases authorization to 

acquire land was also granted. With this authority the Bureau began investigating 

possible sites for the two new laboratories. The guided-missile laboratory was rather 

easily established on a former naval hospital site in Corona, California,94 and was 

transferred to the navy in the 1953 divestiture. The settlement of the radio laboratory 

was more complex. 

As stated by Condon,95 there were two principal criteria for a satisfactory site on 

which to conduct both radio propagation and radio standards research; it must be 

"radio quiet" and be so located that long-distance, line-of-sight transmission was possible.96 Accessibility and proximity to a university with strength in electrical 

AN ACT To authorize the construction and equipment of a radio laboratory building for the National 

Bureau of Standards, Department of Commerce, U.S. Statutes at Large, 63 (1949): 886; AN ACT To 

authorize the construction and equipment of a guided-missile research laboratory building for the National 

Bureau of Standards, Department of Commerce, U.S. Statutes at Large, 63 (1949): 905. 

MFP. 445. 

Conversation with Bascom W. Birmingham, September 17, 1990. 

Wilbert F. Snyder, Charles L. Bragaw, Achievement in Radio; Seventy Years of Radio Science, Technology, Standards, and Measurement at the National Bureau of Standards. Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Special 

Publication 555; October 1986: 526. It was for this latter reason that in 1950 an experimental transmitting 

tower was located at Cheyenne Mountain, near Colorado Springs, thereby effectively covering the Great 

Plains. 

182 
Air view of the NBS research center in Boulder, Colorado, taken in 1954. Upon completion, the structure in 

the foreground housed the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory. The buildings in the background (upper 

left) accommodated the NBS-AEC Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory. 

engineering were also important considerations. Twenty-eight sites received consideration, all of them university towns,97 but three of them stood out above the others: 

Boulder, Colorado, Charlottesville, Virginia, and Palo Alto, California. 

With the news of its new authorization becoming quickly known, the Bureau was 

widely courted by places that would be prospective homes. But one city in particular— 

Boulder, Colorado—began an aggressive campaign to attract the Bureau and its projected $2 million annual payroll. Indeed, even before the enactment of the authorization bill, Senator Johnson kept Boulder well aware of what was taking place.98 And 

on the very day the bill was signed into law, Mr. Francis W. Reich, secretary-manager 

of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, returned from Washington, "where he 

Newbem Smith, Kenneth A. Norton, Alvin 0. McNish, and S. W. 1. Welch, "Selection of Site for 

Proposed Radio Propagation Laboratory Building," December 12, 1949. The authors constituted the Bureau's 

Site Selection Board. 

"$1,500,000 Electronics Research Lab of Bureau of Standards May be Moved Here," Boulder Daily 

Camera, August 22, 1949: 1. 183 
had been sent to push Boulder's qualifications," and had spent considerable time briefing Condon and other Bureau officials on the merits of Boulder.99 

Adjacent to its southern boundary, but outside the city proper, there was a tract of 

land, mostly small farms, of somewhat over 200 acres. Immediately on Reich's 

return, he met with the Chamber of Commerce, which voted "to leave no stone 

unturned" to ensure that the Bureau laboratories would be attracted to Boulder. The 

Chamber thereupon took an option to purchase the tract, and one week later offered 

the site to the Government.'°° It was to prove a strong inducement. 

While these various activities were taking place in Boulder, the Bureau's selection 

committee was meeting to decide on which site to recommend to the director. They 

selected three as suitable, and recommended that Boulder be chosen. '°' Part of the 

recommendation was that "A suitable tract of land. . . has been offered." Condon 

accepted the recommendation, and on December 12, 1949, Secretary of Commerce 

Charles Sawyer announced the selection, stating that construction would start in 1951 

"on land donated by the Boulder Chamber of Commerce." There was jubilation in 

Boulder, and a congratulatory telegram from Senator Johnson to the Chamber of 

Commerce. 

The Chamber was in a peculiar position. It had offered free to the U.S. Government a site it did not own, and on February 27, 1950, it began a campaign to raise the 

estimated $70000 needed to purchase it. With full-page ads laying out the advantages 

of the laboratories to Boulder, the campaign was a resounding success, and by April 

25, 1950, had raised $90 407. Boulder's plan to entice the Bureau had succeeded, and on June 14, 1950, in a ceremony in the Chamber of Commerce office, title to the 

217-acre site was transferred to the Government. Now all that was necessary was that 

the Bureau's appropriation committees cooperate and provide the money to start the 

construction. The committees did cooperate and, after adjustment in conference, the 

appropriation bill—signed into law on September 6, 1950—provided for $360000 

cash for engineering and design, and $3.9 million in contract authority, for a total of 

$4.3 million for the radio laboratory. In addition the Bureau received $140 000 for 

design, and $1.8 million in contract authority for modification of the naval hospital in 

Corona, California, into a guided-missiles laboratory. Work could now begin on the 

Boulder site, and the architectural firm of Pereira & Luckman of Los Angeles, and 

"Highlights of the History of NBS Move to Boulder From First Story of Possibility to Official Program," 

Boulder Daily Camera, September 10, 1954: 18. This was a special section of the newspaper, issued for the 

dedication of the Boulder Laboratories, commemorating the Bureau's move to Boulder. 

Has Good Chance of Getting Big Laboratory," Boulder Daily Camera, October 25, 1949: 1; "Site for Bureau of Standards Laboratory Offered to Meet Any Competition of Other Cities," Boulder Daily 

Camera, November 2, 1949: 7. 101 There are persistent rumors that Boulder was Condon's choice from the beginning, and this had some 

influence on the recommendation. 

184 
architect Robert Dietzen of Boulder were retained for the design of the radio 

laboratories.'02 The Bureau was on its way to having a permanent outpost at the edge 

of the Rocky Mountains. 

But although the Boulder site had been acquired for the building of a laboratory to 

house the Bureau's radio research activities, the radio laboratory was not to be the first 

occupant of the site. Rather, the first facility was to be a cryogenic engineering 

laboratory for the production of liquid hydrogen. 

The impetus for this laboratory came from national defense considerations. When 

President Truman announced at the beginning of i950 that the Nation would build a hydrogen bomb, nicknamed "Super," the Atomic Energy Commission began a crash 

program.'°3 Work on the Super had been going on at Los Alamos since 1942, and it 

had been realized from the beginning that the light elements were the most useful for 

fusion. This meant hydrogen and its isotopes. Also, it was realized that the fusion of 

two protons is qualitatively different from and much slower than either deuteron fusion or the fusion of a deuteron and a triton, and the problem with the latter reaction was that of obtaining sufficient quantities of tritium. Furthermore, tritium was highly 

radioactive. Attention was therefore focused on the deuteron fusion reaction. It was also realized at the beginning of this work that the higher the density of the reacting 

species the faster the reaction rate, hence liquid deuterium would automatically 

become the preferred initial state for the "fuel" in a first test. Thus Los Alamos had 

entered into cryogenics research, and by April 1944, a 35 liter/hour (L/hr) hydrogen 

liquefier had been built and tested. 

Now, in 1950 with a crash program following the president's directive, the early 

Los Alamos work was re-examined, and it became clear that a cryogenic facility with 

"gas liquefaction plants and laboratories for engineering research and development at 

liquid hydrogen temperatures" was necessary. After looking at the various institutions 

that could carry such an effort, the AEC selected the Bureau to carry it out at "its 

newly acquired Boulder, Colorado, site," and a contract was entered into between the 

Bureau and the AEC.'°4 Design work began under Ferdinand Brickwedde, Russell B. 

Scott, William E. Gifford, and Victor J. Johnson, and this group quickly expanded to 

02 House Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on the Department of Commerce. Department of 

Commerce Appropriations for 1952: Hearings Before the Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, 

82d Cong., 1st sess., National Bureau of Standards, 10 April 1951: 501. 03 F. 0. Brickwedde, E. F. Hammel, and W. E. Keller, "The History of Cryogenics in the USA": 14-15.16, 19. Much of the early history of the liquid hydrogen production effort comes from this unpublished but 

definitive 1990 report. At the time in question, Brickwedde was chief of the Heat and Power Division in 

which all the Bureau's cryogenic research was carried out. Hammel and Keller were leaders of the Los 

Alamos National Laboratory Low Temperature Physics and Cryoengineering Group. We are much indebted to Bascom W. Birmingham for providing us with a copy of this report. This report was later published as chapter Il of the History and Origins of Cryogenics, edited by R. Scurlock (Oxford University Press, 1992). 

'°4Letter, E. U. Condon to Norris E. Bradbury, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, June 12, 1950. (NARA; 

RG 167; Records of the Director, 1923-63, Director's Correspondence file; Box 18; Folder Cryogenic 

Engineering, Laboratory for) 

185 
include Dudley B. Chelton, Bascom W. Birmingham, Richard H. Kropschot, Peter C. 

Van Arend, Robert B. Jacobs, and Robert L. Powell. A hydrogen liquefier with a nominal capacity of 350 L/hr was built and tested at the Van Ness site, and disassembled and shipped to Boulder. 

Construction of buildings to house the cryogenic engineering program at the 

Boulder site began in 1951, and Birmingham was the first full-time employee in the 

program to arrive on the site in Boulder. A fresh recipient of a master's degree from 

the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he was hired by Scott, arrived at the Van 

Ness site in late summer of 1951, and stayed one month. The rest of the cryogenic 

staff were experts in low temperatures, but were more familiar with laboratory equipment and operation than they were with the process engineering required for this largescale effort. Birmingham, on the other hand, had such experience from previous employment, so it was only natural that he be the first to arrive in Boulder, which he did on October 9, 1951. 

By March 1952 the plant was in operation and, with a capacity of 320 L/hr, was then the world's largest liquid-hydrogen plant. Its hydrogen liquefiers and purifiers 

were in duplicate, making continuous operation much more likely. The liquefiers and 

purifiers were supplied with liquid nitrogen from two 10 000 L storage containers, 

which in turn were supplied by two commercial liquid-nitrogen generators, each 

capable of producing 250 L/hr. All of this was housed in a building of 14 000 square 

feet, with all necessary safety equipment and design. A separate building had 

20 000 square feet for laboratory work, and the whole operation was denoted as the 

Cryogenic Engineering Section, with Scott as chief.'°6 It became the Cryogenic 

Engineering Division in 1954. 

It is interesting to note that the principal product for the AEC, namely liquid 

deuterium, was not produced by fractional distillation of the liquid hydrogen. Instead, 

it was produced by simply cooling gaseous deuterium—produced by electrolysis of 

heavy water—with liquid hydrogen. Since the boiling point of liquid deuterium is 

about 3 kelvins higher than that of liquid hydrogen, its condensation with liquid 

hydrogen is easily accomplished.'07 

Liquid deuterium from the laboratories was used as fuel in successful thermonuclear 

dev ices tested at Eniwetok Atoll in 1952. Before the tests could be conducted, a great 

deal of engineering was needed in such areas as transport dewars, ortho -to-para 

hydrogen conversion, transfer lines, improved insulation, properties of materials at low 

temperatures, seals, improved insulation, and others. Most of this engineering was 

done in the Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory. But it was clear that a final hydrogen 

bomb would not be fueled by liquid deuterium, yielding a so-called "wet" bomb. 

Rather, it would be the light compound lithium deuteride (LiD), and in 1954, tests 

showed that this "dry" bomb worked. Thereupon the AEC shut down completely the 

'°s Interview with Bascom W. Birmingham, May II, 1987: 2. NIST Oral History File. 

Report, 1952: 14. 07 In 1955, the Cryogenic Engineering Division began to develop a process for the fractional distillation of 

liquid hydrogen for the recovery of liquid deuterium. 

186 
"cryoengineering component of the U.S. thermonuclear weapons development 

But before long the AEC needs would be supplanted by rocketry needs, 

therefore the Cryogenic Engineering Section, now the Cryogenic Engineering Division 

under Russell B. Scott, developed its own program. 

Working on liquid-oxygen transfer systems, the flow of liquefied gases, the development of pumps for liquefied gases, the low-temperature properties of materials and, of 

course, the liquefaction of gases, the division had a well-rounded program in cryogenic 

engineering. One of its outstanding achievements—in cooperation with the University 

of California Radiation Laboratory—was the construction of a 500 L liquid hydrogen 

bubble chamber for use in high-energy nuclear research. Cryogenic engineering at the 

Bureau was well established. 

While the Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory was under construction and then in operation, work on the radio laboratory did not cease. Following the appropriation of funds, 

design work began in the summer of 1951. Indeed, the Bureau sent out an "advance 

Brickwedde, et al., "History of Cryogenics in the USA": 19. 

187 

Large reciprocating vacuum pumps in the hydrogen liquefaction plant of the NBS-AEC Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory. These pumps were used to reduce the boiling pressure—and hence the temperature—within 

the liquid-nitrogen precooler. Dean B. Berky is shown opening the vacuum breaker on the first of the three 

vacuum pumps. 
guard" that summer to lay "the groundwork for the technical program and some of the 

field facilities which will be needed when we move." These personnel were housed 

in the Colorado National Guard Radar Armory just north of the city, and by January 

1952 the Bureau had ninety-one staff members in Colorado, including those conducting 

tropospheric propagation experiments from Cheyenne Mountain near Colorado 

Springs.'09 A contract for the construction of the laboratory was awarded to the Olson 

Construction Company of Denver, and work began in late June 1952. The laboratories were completed in March 1954, and the moves from the armory and from 

Washington to the new quarters began. When Frederick W. Brown, recently hired 

from the Naval Ordnance Test Station at China Lake, California, arrived as director on July 1, the Boulder Laboratories were established. 

Except for some of the personnel from Washington who were unhappy about moving to Colorado, everyone was pleased with the new laboratories. The Chamber of 

Commerce sponsored a "Good Neighbor" trip to Washington where, on April 12, the 

party of thirty-six members met with Astin and Ralph J. Slutz, assistant director of 

CRPL, toured the laboratories, and met with many of the staff who were to be 

assigned to Boulder. 

A dedication week was held September 8-14, 1954. Two full-scale scientific 

conferences—one on cryogenic engineering and the other on radio propagation—took 

place in the new laboratories as part of the festivities. But all other ceremonies were overshadowed by the dedication proper. With great praise for the Bureau, this was 

performed by President Eisenhower on September 14, 1954. In the terminology of the 

conference program, the Bureau had a "second principal campus." 

POSTDOCS COME TO THE BUREAU 

Joseph Hilsenrath joined the Bureau in 1948 under a unique joint appointment. In 

the Heat and Power Division, he was to supervise a project on thermodynamic tables, 

and in the Personnel Division, he was to develop a postgraduate training program for 

the NBS staff. In 1952 he entered into a conversation with David E. Mann, who had 

come to the Heat and Power Division as a spectroscopist in 1950 after postdoctoral 

fellowships at the University of Minnesota and at Harvard. Mann deplored the fact that 

the Civil Service system "was not geared to accommodate a transient population of 

postdoctoral fellows." Because of his joint appointment, Hilsenrath knew about these 

matters and pointed out that there was a mechanism sanctioned by the Civil Service 

Commission (CSC) by which persons could be brought to work at the Bureau 

without going through a competitive appointment. Called Schedule A positions, these 

Appropriations Hearing for 1953: 452; Snyder and Bragaw, Achieven,ent in Radio: 525. 

"°Boulder Daily Camera, "C. U. Man Named Consultant for Standards Bureau," May 22, 1951: 2; 

"Construction of Cryogenics Lab Nearly Finished," June 25, 1952: 2; "Excavation for Radio Laboratory to Start Monday," June 28, 1952: 4. 

Hilsenrath, The National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council's Postdoctoral 

Research: An Account of Its Origin and Early History at the National Bureau of Standards. NatI. Bur. Stand. 

(U.S.) NBS/GCR-85/500; September 1985: 4. 

188 
President Dwight D. Eisenhower stepped down into a lobby of the new Radio Building of 

the NBS Boulder Laboratories, accompanied by (left to right) Governor Dan Thornton 

of Colorado; Allen V. Astin, director of the National Bureau of Standards; Frederick W. 

Brown, director of the Boulder Laboratories; and Secretary of Commerce Sinclair Weeks. 

positions were, however, limited to (I) university faculty for a maximum of 120 days a year, (2) qualified consultants for a maximum of 180 days a year, and (3) graduate 

students at an accredited college or university. Perhaps this authority could be extended 

to postdoctoral fellows. 

Both Hilsenrath and Mann were convinced that there were places in the Bureau 

where high-quality doctoral recipients would find the atmosphere and facilities necessary for them to effectively continue their research training, and a constantly renewed 

population of fresh, young minds would be of inestimable value to the Bureau. Both 

men felt that the program should be modeled after the National Research Fellowships 

funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and administered by the National Research 

Council, and if the NBS fellowships could be made into NRC Fellowships, they would 

gain great prestige and attract high-quality students. 

189 
Although no longer attached to the Personnel Division, Hilsenrath was a member of 

the Bureau's Education Committee and began to explore the possibilities. He contacted 

Personnel, which in turn called the CSC to see if there was any interest in, or antagonism to, such a proposed program. After receiving an encouraging response, Hilsenrath 

approached several division chiefs to see if their interest extended to providing funds. 

Four did—Heat and Power, Chemistry, Atomic Physics, and Applied Mathematics. 

Approval was readily obtained from the Bureau administration to continue the exploration and the next step was to approach the NRC to determine if it had any interest in 

the matter. Now serendipity took over. In January and February 1953, the Bureau 

representatives found the NRC not only willing, but anxious to make an arrangement. 

The approach by the Bureau had come at a time when the NRC had been notified by 

the Rockefeller Foundation that it would no longer support the National Research 

Fellowships in the physical sciences. The NRC had been administering these prestigious fellowships since 1919, and was on the verge of having to eliminate them; its 

staff were glad to talk to the Bureau. 

On March 16, 1953, a letter from Wallace R. Brode to Claude J. Lapp of the NRC 

made the matter formal, and from then on everything went smoothly; the NRC was 

happy to enter into a joint postdoctoral program with the Bureau. Indeed, for the 1953- 

1954 competition—the last year of Rockefeller supported fellowships—the NRC had 

forty-six applicants for eight university positions, and permitted the Bureau to see 

applications of four of those not chosen. The Bureau selected one of them—Janet 

Hawkins Meal, a spectroscopist from Harvard—and offered her a position with Mann. 

Except for the NRC screening, this was a noncompetitive (Schedule A) position, and it was described as a postdoctoral position, even before the CSC had approved such 

positions. Meal came to the Bureau in December 1953 and became known as the 

"zeroth postdoc." But CSC approval was forthcoming and on June 25, 1954, Commission Chairman Philip Young informed the director of personnel of the Department 

of Commerce that the commission had approved the Bureau's request to place postdoctoral positions under Schedule A. The Bureau was authorized to fill up to ten such 

positions. 

There was, however, a slight problem with the title. The holders of these positions 

would have to pay income tax, whereas the universities wanted to reserve the name "fellowship" for positions that did not require the payment of income tax. The name of 

the position was therefore changed to "postdoctoral research associateship," and the 

positions were so advertised. The 1954 announcement, sent to university deans, professional societies, and leading scientific journals, read, "Announcement of the National 

Research Council-National Bureau of Standards Postdoctoral Research Associateships 

in Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics, 1955-1956, recommended by the National 

Academy of Sciences-National Research Council." Thirteen areas of research in which 

positions were available were listed. Appointments were for one year, renewable for 

another, and were at the GS-l I grade level, paying $5940 per year. The announcement 

attracted twenty-one applicants. Their applications were rated by three NRC selection 

boards and the Bureau was constrained to select candidates in each field in the order in 

which they were rated. Seven applicants accepted positions, but one did not obtain his 

degree in time. In August 1955, the first NRC-NBS postdoctoral research associate ar- rived at the Bureau. 

190 
The program grew and flourished. In 1958 Director Astin made funding for the 

program a line item in the budget and, since division funds were no longer involved, 

competition for associates became keen among divisions. Rules were laid down: no 

more than two associates per division, but this was later relaxed when the yearly 

number of associates was increased to twenty. The original disciplines of physics, 

chemistry, and mathematics were augmented periodically, so that by 1983 there were nineteen, including astronomy and astrophysics, life sciences, geology, materials 

science with its divisions of metallurgy and ceramics, and all the engineering disciplines. Between 1955 and 1983, 2680 applications had been received, and 505 positions awarded. Other Federal Government agencies followed the Bureau's lead. 

A year after the Bureau received its first associates, the Naval Research Laboratory 

installed its own program with the NRC, and by 1985 some thirty-five Government 

laboratories had one of several types of postdoctoral research associate programs with 

the NRC. 

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of this program to the Bureau. The 

original premises that fresh Ph.Ds could find valuable projects to carry out at the 

Bureau, and that the infusion of these intelligent, questing young minds into the 

Bureau would be a constant source of stimulation to the permanent staff, were amply 

borne out. Due to the method of selection, these were, after all, some of the brightest 

and most gifted students of their generation. Perhaps most important, the postdoctoral 

associate program became the preferred method for the Bureau to hire new staff. 

AN INSTRUMENTATION PROGRAM 

Instruments for measurement have always been at the heart of experimental science, 

and scientists often have to devise special instruments for the measurements they 

want to make. Indeed, in 1923 the Institute of Physics (U.K.), with assistance from 

the National Physical Laboratory—the British counterpart of the National Bureau of 

Standards—began publishing the Journal of Scientific Instruments, comprised of 

scientific papers on new instruments. This publication was followed in 1930 with The 

Review of Scientific Instruments, published by the Optical Society of America. 

Instruments: Industrial and Scientific, published in 1928, was limited largely to 

descriptions of industrial instruments."2 

By the end of World War II instrumentation was a flourishing activity. So many new techniques of measurement had been devised that the ordinary laboratory scientist 

could not keep up with them. A new type of scientist had developed, one who was 

primarily interested in how to measure phenomena, rather than on what the measurements meant. Moreover, feedback control systems had shown great development during 

the war, so that it was possible to think of instruments embedded into a control loop, 

leading to a of measurement and control." The science of instrumentation 

had been born. It recognized that measuring instruments generally had features in 

'12W. A. Wildhack, "Instrumentation in Perspective," Science 112 (1950): 515-519. 

191 
common—transduction, signal amplification, recording—no matter what the 

phenomenon measured, and this provided a basis for a new scientific discipline."3 A new society, the Instrument Society of America, was formed in 1945, and instrument 

design, production, and selling became a new industry. 

It was only natural that the Bureau, whose business was measurement, and which 

had devised many instruments, should consider developing a program in instrumentation. The champion of the program was William A. Wildhack, chief of the Missile 

Instrumentation Section. He convinced Condon of the merits of such a program and, 

effective June 1, 1950, an Office of Basic Instrumentation was established in the 

Office of the Director."4 Funds were received from the Office of Naval Research, the 

Air Research and Development Command, the AEC, and NBS. With the principal 

objectives of systematically analyzing available methods and devices in terms of their 

performance and characteristics, and performing research on new applications and 

materials leading to new types of instruments, the Office of Basic Instrumentation 

worked by assignment of projects to those Bureau laboratories best qualified to conduct research in the particular field in question. The office did, however, maintain a small laboratory staff to work on special problems, and a group of specialists in instrumentation literature to develop a reference and consultation service."5 As head of this 

office, Wildhack appears to be the first person in the Bureau's history to be what was 

later called a "program manager," a person with essentially no resources (personnel) to 

carry out work but who, either by personal persuasion or with funds available to him, 

induced line managers to carry out work for his program. After its formation the 

activities of the program were reported as a line item in the annual report. 

There followed a profusion of instruments. Six examples, essentially picked at 

random, were an electron-beam interferometer, a miniature piezoelectric accelerometer, a thermal noise thermometer, a sensitive calorimeter for measuring the power of an x-ray beam, an instrument for measuring very small alternating currents such as those 

encountered in transistor circuitry without breaking the circuit, and an improved 

galvanometer design which optimized sensitivity and speed of response. By 1953, a bibliography of some 250 books and periodicals on important techniques had been 

compiled. 

In 1960 the office was formed into the Instrumentation Division with five sections 

under G. Franklin Montgomery, with the functions of investigating "[t]he natural 

limitations of the measurement process, and the realizable performance of measuring 

instruments."6 It kept a large reference file on instruments and measurement methods. 

113 An excellent analysis of this topic is given by E. U. Condon, "Is There a Science of Instrumentation?" 

Science 110 (1949): 339-342. Condon arrived at a positive answer to his question. 4 U.S. Department of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards, Bureau Order No. 50-14, June 8, 1950, 

signed by E. U. Condon. (NARA; RO 167; Astin file; Box 19; Folder Corresp 1950) 

'° "Basic Instrumentation at NBS," Technical News Bulletin 37 (1953): 129-133. 

Annual Report. 1960: 100. The sections were Engineering Electronics, Electron Devices, Electronic 

Instrumentation, Mechanical Instruments, and Basic Instrumentation. 

192 
THE TECHNICAL WORK 

In its study of the Bureau, the Kelly Committee evaluated all seventeen of the 

Bureau divisions and was concerned particularly with their ability to carry out basic 

research relating to the Bureau's unique measurement-standards responsibility. Not all 

divisions were equally capable of carrying out this responsibility. Indeed, for four 

divisions—Ordnance Development, Ordnance Electronics, Electrochemical Ordnance, 

and Missile Development—the point was moot, for these were the ordnance divisions 

entirely supported by the Department of Defense and working totally on weapons 

development. After their divestiture in 1953 following the committee's recommendation, thirteen divisions were left at the Bureau. These showed wide diversity in the 

amount and character of basic program work carried out, and the response of the 

Bureau's management to the Kelly Committee Report is well summarized in the 

Annual Report for 

During the past year, the major effort of the National Bureau of Standards 

has been devoted to the strengthening of its basic programs. With the 

assistance of scientific advisory committees, the Bureau is seeking to develop a balanced technical program by increasing the level of research, especially 

basic research, in those fields for which the Bureau has an assigned responsibility. 

An effective standards research program must at all times remain at the 

forefront of science. 

This management aim was carried out during the fifties with differing degrees of 

success in the various divisions. 

This section is a short synopsis of the work carried in the period 1950-1957 in each 

of the divisions, with occasional, more extended vignettes on particularly noteworthy 

accomplishments. The aim is to illustrate by example the nature of the division's work, 

and how it changed during the period, if it did. Most of the material is taken from the 

Annual Reports and, when it is, citations are omitted to reduce what would otherwise 

be an inordinate number of footnotes. 

ELECTRICITY; OPTICS AND METROLOGY 

Two divisions in particular were concerned with fundamentally important standards 

—Electricity, under Francis B. Silsbee, and Optics and Metrology under Irvine C. 

Gardner. In the committee's opinion they were in need of attention so that they could 

meet the requirements of modern science.' Not that they were not capable of providing the calibration services they were accustomed to; the problem was that they 

"7Annual Report, 1955: I. 

Kelly Committee Report: 24, 30. 

193 
were not advancing into new and required areas as fast as the Nation demanded. This 

situation had come about from lack of funds in the base appropriation, leading to far 

too great a proportion of transferred funds, and also from the heavy pressure for 

calibration. The latter problem was exacerbated by the age of the calibration equipment, which made the whole calibration process very slow, particularly in length calibrations carried out in the Optics and Metrology Division. Investment in the divisions 

had not been equal to the need. 

This did not mean that the people were incompetent in their jobs. The calibrations were done well, if slowly, and the testing and calibration of instruments was extended 

into wider ranges. For example, measurements of voltage and current had to be made 

over an ever-expanding frequency and voltage range, and in the early fifties the range 

over which ammeters and voltmeters could be calibrated was expanded to 50 A and 

400 V at frequencies up to 20 kI-lz. Similarly, new means of measuring resistors of 

extremely high resistance were developed, as well as equipment for more rapid calibration of watt-hour meters. Likewise, in Optics and Metrology numerous length calibrations, ranging from 10 to 50 m, were carried out; the working meter bar standards were intercompared and periodically compared with the legal national prototype meter, 

which, in turn, was compared with the international prototype meter at the International 

Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM); and end standards (gage blocks) were 

measured by interferometry using accepted spectral wavelengths. A number of end 

standards were also compared with line standards (standard meter bars) to verify the 

wavelength of krypton in preparation for the proposed change in the definition of the 

meter from the platinum-iridium meter bar to the wavelength of krypton light. 

There were other measurements and standards to be re-evaluated. The output of 

lamps that served as the national standards for the photometry of mercury-vapor lights 

was redetermined with a photometer embodying a thermopile and accurate luminosity 

filters and found to be rated too low, so that their output had to be reassigned. Color 

standards and measurements of various kinds—for petroleum, for the color measurements needed for color television cathode-ray tubes, and for the determination of color 

differences—were issued or carried out throughout the period. 

Both divisions carried out other work that was less directly tied to standards, 

although measurement methods were generally involved. Practically all of this work 

was supported by other agencies. The Electricity Division, working for the Rural 

Electrification Agency, utilized its high-voltage laboratory to test large ceramic insulators used for electric-power transmission. The obtained data enabled the re-design of 

the insulators, thereby reducing the possibility of failure during nearby lightning 

strikes. And the division, embroiled in the AD-X2 affair, nevertheless continued the 

development of various kinds of batteries for military agencies. The Optics and Metrology Division maintained a full program devoted to photography, including the issuance 

of useful charts for the determination of the resolution of photographic lenses; 

designed and built optical components such as interferometers; and used the SEAC to 

pioneer the use of computers for ray-tracing in lens design. 

194 
Then, upon the divestiture of the ordnance divisions in 1953, the Electronics Division was merged with the Electricity Division, becoming Electricity and Electronics 

under Silsbee, and a whole new set of activities was added to the division's program. 

This addition, more concerned with electronic equipment than basic electrical standards, introduced programs in circuits and circuit design, electron tubes, resistor noise, 

and electronic reliability. Under sponsorship from the military and other agencies, this 

component of the Electricity and Electronics Division turned out a profusion of electronic devices and instruments. To list but a few, there were: • A vibration generator that operated at 100 Hz to 10 000 Hz for testing vacuum 

tubes for microphonics. 

• A device to measure the error voltage in servo-feedback systems. 

• A liquid-level indicator and control system, built for the Boulder Cryogenic 

Engineering Laboratory. 

• FOSDIC (Film Optical Scanning Device for Input to Computers). Built for 

reading Census forms in which each answer to various questions consisted of a dark mark in one of several positions, the device read the position of these 

marks on a microfilmed copy of the form and converted the information to 

pulses on magnetic tape for subsequent input into an electronic computer. It was capable of reading 10 million answer-positions per hour. 

• A physiological monitor. Built for the Veteran's Administration, this instrument 

automatically sensed the blood pressure, heartbeat, and respiration of a patient 

under anesthesia, and presented the data on a panel for the physician. This 

appears to be one of the first such now-ubiquitous instruments. 

• A high-speed coin-weighing machine built for the Treasury Department that 

could weigh 18 000 coins per hour. 

• A free-floating weather buoy built for the Navy, and later made operable in 

hurricanes. With a range of 800 miles, every 6 hours the buoy broadcast data 

on wind direction and velocity, barometric pressure, air and water temperature, 

and an identification symbol. It could be left unattended for 3 months. 

• A very compact oscilloscope. Built as part of a continuing Navy program on the miniaturization of electronic components, various portions of the electrontube circuit could be replaced with transistor assemblies to compare the 

performance of the vacuum tube and transistor circuits. 

While these projects—and many more that could be mentioned—aptly illustrate the 

Bureau's role as the "corporate laboratory" of the Government, perhaps the most 

famous of the Electronic Division's programs during the period, Project Tinkertoy, was one of modular design and mechanized production of electronics. Oddly enough, 

despite its concern with the miniaturization of electronic components, the division did 

not have a program in transistors, although it used them in 1957 to build a cordless 

microphone for auditorium use. 195 
A physiological monitor, built by NBS for the Veteran's Administration, shows panel board and attachment 

to the subject's arm. One of the electrodes, for measurement of heartbeat, was attached to the wrist, while 

the inflatable band for measurement of blood pressure was applied to the upper arm. The performance of all this practical work did not mean that these divisions lacked 

the capability—or the desire—to carry out world-class measurement-standards work on the basic units. Indeed, one beautiful experiment in the Electricity Division illustrates 

the class of work that could be done. This was the experimental realization of the 

absolute ampere, and it was neither an idle exercise nor a vain display of metrological 

virtuosity. In 1950, the legal basis for electrical standards in the world had changed. 

Before this date, the basis was the so-called international system of electrical units in 

which, for example, the ampere was defined as the amount of current that would 

deposit 1118 of silver in 1 second. Congress had adopted these units as the legal 

standards in 1894. 

As measurement technology progressed, it became possible to make precision 

measurements that defined the electrical units in terms of the mechanical units of mass, 

length, and time. This possibility arises because two parallel wires carrying current 

experience a force, and therefore—in principle—the measurement of this force and the 

distance between the wires can relate the unit of current to the unit of force, hence 

196 
to the units of mass, length, and time. Similarly, the ohm can be defined on the basis 

of the inductance of a coil, which involves the measurement of lengths and a frequency. The definition of the ampere in terms of these mechanical units therefore 

leads to a unified measurement system, and the quantities based on it—ampere, ohm, 

volt—were called absolute quantities. In 1950 the Congress adopted the new units as the legal basis for electrical measurements in the United States.119 

Before the adoption of these new units, the electrical units at the Bureau were 

maintained by a set of standard cells and standard resistors, with the ampere "as maintained" defined on the basis of these artifacts. The question had naturally arisen as to 

how the United States ampere as maintained by the Bureau was related to the absolute 

ampere. Absolute measurements are hard to make; before 1950 only four realizations 

of the absolute ampere had been made at the Bureau, the first in 1912 and the last 

in 1942.20 These were all based on the so-called Rayleigh current balance. In this 

balance, three coils—two large and one small—are arranged coaxially and current is 

passed through them. Under the proper geometric arrangement, a force is developed on the small coil. The force is proportional to the current, and depends on the dimensions 

and geometric placement of the coils. The force per unit of current can be calculated 

from first principles knowing the dimensions of the coils and their geometric arrangement. The force is easily measured by suspending the small coil from the arm of a balance, with the dimensions and geometry measured as accurately as possible. But 

the measurements are very tedious, the forces small, and the experiments very sensitive 

to disturbances. Nevertheless, uncertainties of a few were attainable. Indeed, 

the 1939 measurement led to the result that one NBS international ampere was equal 

to 0.999 860 absolute ampere, while the 1942 result for the same quantity was 

0.999 850—a value that was adopted by the international community. The units of the 

volt and the ohm as maintained by NBS and the other national standards laboratories 

were adjusted for this difference on January 1, 1948. But it was not until 1950 that the 

United States legally changed the absolute units.'2' 

But routine calibrations were not made with the current balance; they would have 

been prohibitively expensive and time-consuming. They were made on the basis of 

standard resistors and electrochemical cells. And the question arose, "Has anything 

"9AN ACT To redefine the units and establish the standards of electrical and photometric measurements, 

U.S. Statutes at Large, 64 (1950): 369. 120 E. B. Rosa. N. E. Dorsey, and J. M. Miller, "A Determination of the International Ampere in Absolute 

Measure," Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards 8 (1912): 269-392; H. L. Curtis and R. W. Curtis, "An 

Absolute Determination of the Ampere," Bureau of Standards Journal of Research 12 (1934): 665-735; H. 

L. Curtis, R. W. Curtis, and C. L. Critchfield, "An Absolute Determination of the Ampere Using Improved 

Coils," Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 22 (1939): 485-517; R. W. Curtis, R. L. 

Driscoll, and C. L. Critchfield, "An Absolute Determination of the Ampere Using Helical and Spiral Coils," 

Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 28 (1942): 133-157. 

121 Announcement of Changes in Electrical and Photometric Units. Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Circular 459; 

May 1947. The changes were not trivial. They amounted to increasing the value of the ohm and the volt by 

495 ppm and 330 ppm, respectively. 

197 
Prior to 1954. all four determinations of the absolute ampere had been based on the 

Rayleigh current balance. In the classic experiment of Rosa, Dorsey, and Miller 

(1912), a series of nearly 500 measurements determined the absolute ampere to be 

slightly larger (4 parts in 100 000) than the international ampere determined by silver 

voltmeters. 

drifted in this system so that the maintained ampere no longer has the same relationship to the absolute ampere?" In 1954, while the division was still feeling the effects 

of the AD-X2 incident, Raymond L. Driscoll set out to answer it by making yet 

another determination of the absolute ampere. To ensure that his results would properly 

answer the question, he used a different method for the measurement, the so-called 

Pellat balance. While the Rayleigh balance measures forces on coaxial coils, the Pellat 

balance is based on the measurement of torques on current-carrying coils with their 

axes at right angles. For this purpose, a small coil is placed inside a long solenoid 

198 
Electrodynamometer used in the absolute determination of the NBS ampere in 1954 by Raymond L. Driscoll. 

The metal housing that entered the large solenoid contained a small rotatable coil and a balance arm. When 

the direction of the current through the coils was reversed, a torque was produced on the small coil. The coil was connected to the balance arm and, as it tended to rotate, equilibrium was upset. Balance was restored by 

adding known weights to the balance arm by means of the rod-and-pulley arrangement at the outer end of 

the housing. From the known weight, the length of the balance arm, and the geometry of the windings, the 

value of the current in amperes could be calculated in terms of length, mass, and time. The framework 

surrounding the apparatus contained coils to compensate for the earth's magnetic field. 

with its axis orthogonal to that of the solenoid. Current is passed through the two coils 

and the torque on the small coil measured, again using a balance and an ingenious jig 

to support the small coil. New coils had to be designed and made, an excruciating task 

in itself. The whole arrangement had to be kept in an isolated room, with control only 

via long control rods. Four years later DriscolP22 published his results. They were the 

same as the 1942 results with an uncertainty of 6 1iA/A. To cement the results further, 

Driscoll and Robert D. Cutkosky repeated the 1942 work of Roger W. Curtis, Driscoll, 

22 R. L. Driscoll, "Measurement of Current with a Pellat-Type Electrodynamometer," Journal of Research of 

the National Bureau of Standards 60 (1958): 287-296. 

199 
and Charles L. Critchfield, using essentially the same equipment as in the earlier 

work.'23 Their work agreed with Driscoll's Pellat balance work to with an uncertainty 

of 3 ixA/A. The system of electrical units was stable. 

But no matter how beautiful and precise, all this work was applied research, not the 

basic research the committee felt should be done. The committee had recommended 

several areas of what could be called materials science for expansion of the division's 

basic research activities. One of these was dielectrics, and in 1955 the division hired 

John D. Hoffman to begin a program in this field. The effort developed into the formation in 1956 of the Dielectrics Section in the Electricity and Electronics Division, with a truly basic program in the dielectric properties of polymers. Thus, in at least one 

area, the division was following the recommendations of the Kelly Committee. But the 

situation was not to be long-lasting. The section was in due course moved into the 

Polymers Division, the offspring of the Organic and Fibrous Materials Division. 

Project Tinkertoy 

When the divestiture of the weapons work took place in 1953 in the aftermath of the 

AD-X2 incident, one division working almost entirely on military funds was not transferred out of the Bureau. This was the Electronics Division that was combined with the 

Electricity Division to create the Electricity and Electronics Division. For some years it 

largely continued the work it was doing before the divestiture, and perhaps no project 

is as illustrative of the difference in character between work on the Bureau's basic 

measurement mission and the military work as Project Tinkertoy. 

Concerned about the industrial mobilization and preparedness of the electronics industry in case of a national emergency, the navy's Bureau of Aeronautics realized that 

the only way to satisfy the anticipated large demand for electronic equipment in such an emergency was a mechanized production system. The system should be flexible so that many different types of electronic equipment could be manufactured with minor 

changes. Such flexibility could be assured by a modular system, where the modules 

were structurally the same but could be made with differing electronic functions. The 

Bureau looked upon the effort as a partial standardization of the electronics industry 

that would "not only simplify the mobiliiation of the electronics industry.. . but also 

would minimize variations in electronic circuit designs," thereby reducing costs for design, maintenance, parts procurement and stocking, and training.'24 

Knowing that as a result of its work on the proximity fuze the Bureau had a wealth 

of experience with modular design of electronics, and had done pioneering work on printed circuits, and developed such things as tape resistors, in 1950 the navy came to 

the conclusion that "the most advanced state of processed circuitry is available at the 

National Bureau of Standards."25 It therefore asked the Bureau to undertake a project 

R. L. Dnscoll and R. D. Cutkosky, "Measurement of Current With the National Bureau of Standards 

Current Balance," Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 60 (1958): 297-305. 

t24 Annual Report, 1953-54: 78. 25 "Project Tinkertoy: Modular Design of Electronics and Mechanized Production of Electronics," Technical 

News Bulletin 37 (1953): 169. 

200 
Robert L. Henry, Project Tinkertoy leader, adjusted a stencil screen mounting on the MPE wafer pattern 

printer. 

to develop the automated production of electronics. Code-named Project Tinkertoy, the 

major objective of the program was the design and construction of a pilot plant 

compatible with the principles of modular design and mechanized production of 

electronics, or MDE and MPE. In short, the Bureau was entering into the development 

of a process for automated manufacture of electronic equipment and for demonstrating 

it on a pilot production line. The process was to start with the raw materials to preclude the requirement of manufactured parts (except for vacuum tubes). 

The concept was relatively simple. Each stage (e.g., amplifier, oscillator, detector) in an electronic circuit was thought of as a module. Each module was composed of four 

to six ceramic wafers which carried the components of the stage, such as resistors, 

capacitors, or coils, each with leads applied by printed-circuit techniques. The ceramic 

wafers were keyed so that they could fit one above the other in only one way, and were provided with notched edges so that connections could be made from one wafer 

to another. When assembled, the wafers resembled the floors of a building with the 

equipment on each floor connected to that on the floors above and below. At the very 

top—on the roof of the building, so to speak—sat the vacuum tube if one was required 

201 
The Project Tinkertoy module. Each 

module was composed of four to six 

wafers bearing printed conducting 

circuits, tape resistors, capacitors, tube 

sockets, and other miniaturized 

electronic component parts. 

for that stage. These stages, or modules, were then connected to other modules to make 

the whole electronic circuit. This was called modular design of electronics. 

The modules were produced automatically by machines on a production line, the 

process being called mechanized production of electronics. The wafers were produced 

202 
from the powdered ingredients for the ceramic; capacitors, 1/2 in squares, were thin 

sheets with metallized surfaces produced from various titanate compositions to obtain 

capacitances from 7.0 pF to 0.01 resistors were produced from carbon tapes, 

previously developed by the Bureau,'26 to obtain resistances from 10 Il to 10 Mfl, with 

relative uncertainties of 10 percent. Wiring was printed onto wafers, connections made 

in the standard way, and the wafers connected by copper wires. All the assembly 

operations were carried out on a single production line by automatic machines, with 

automatic physical and electrical inspection. 

The Bureau did not work alone in this endeavor. The major part of the production 

equipment design was done by the Electronics Division of the Willys Motor Co., 

which also operated the pilot production line. Several other commercial organizations 

helped, particularly in the manufacture of the specialized production machinery.'27 

By 1953 the pilot plant was in operation, and in the fall, while the production line was producing an item of naval equipment, a public announcement of the project was 

made, stirring considerable industrial interest. An estimate of the manufacturing cost 

was made and found to be 44 percent lower than conventional By 1955 

the main elements of the program had been accomplished, and the pilot plant was being used for indoctrination and training of industrial organizations.'29 Finally, the 

pilot plant was closed down. The 1956 Annual Report announced, "Since these [MDE 

and MPE] concepts were first announced in 1953, the art has been further developed 

and full technical information has been released to private industry. A number of 

manufacturers. . . have shown extensive interest.. . . This broadened industrial activity 

and the further improvements now underway in industry makes it appropriate for the 

Bureau to end its pilot-plant While the Bureau's modular design was not 

used directly in industry, the modular design and mechanized production concepts have 

become the customary way of producing electronic equipment. 

HEAT AND POWER 

In the opinion of the Kelly Committee, the Heat and Power Division, under the leadership of Ferdinand G. Brickwedde, had a good balance between fundamental research 

and "developmental research."3' It was a large division with a staff of 204 (125 professionals), with 86 percent of its support coming from transferred funds. Despite this 

imbalance of support, the committee's praise of the division showed that in some cases good research could be done with transferred funds. 

Foremost among the division's activities was the maintenance and improvement of 

the International Practical Temperature Scale (IPTS), which necessitated the attainment 

126 "NBS Precured Tape Resistor," Technical News Bulletin 36 (July 1952): 110-Ill. 

127 "Project Tinkertoy," Technical News Bulletin 37 (1953): 170. 28 Manufacturing Cost Determination, Vol. 5 (New York: Mead, Carney): 31. 129 Annual Report, 1955: 18. 

Annual Report, 1956: 16-17. 

Kelly Committee Report: 34. 

203 
of very low and very high temperatures, and the exploration of phenomena such as the 

isotope effect in superconductivity under extreme conditions. The measurements at 

high temperatures were further motivated by the temperatures achieved in the jet engine industry, and temperature measurements and combustion studies in the jet-engine 

environment were carried out continuously during the period. Some examples of the 

research on the temperature scale were the development of platinum vs. platinum-iridium alloy thermocouples for use at high temperatures, a new apparatus for measuring 

the liquid sulfur fixed point (444.6 °C), a program on gas thermometry to temperatures 

of 800 °C to bring closer correspondence between the International Practical Temperature Scale and the Thermodynamic Scale, the extension of the range of the platinum 

resistance thermometer as the definer of the IPTS to the gold point (1063 °C), and the 

development of a photoelectric pyrometer in 1957. 

But the division's work did not stop with research on temperature measurements and 

on the temperature scale. It carried out a large program on the measurement of thermal 

properties of matter, often leading to data compendia on various materials, and it had an outstanding capability in the measurement of specific heat of solids, liquids, and 

gases. Some examples of the work are: • Standard samples—n-heptane, benzoic acid, and aluminum oxide—certified for 

specific heat and covering the temperature range from 14K to 1173 K were 

issued. 

• Motivated by the need for good heat-transfer materials for use in nuclear reac- tors at high temperatures, the specific heats of sodium and potassium and their 

alloys were determined up to 1173 K. 

• A number of data compendia on the thermodynamic properties of various 

materials for specific purposes were published: the specific heat of CO2. from 

—50 °C to 100 °C and pressures from 0.5 atm to 1.5 atm, to check the values 

obtained by calculation and published by the National Advisory Committee for 

Aeronautics; extensive tables of properties of hydrogen and deuterium for the 

AEC; thermodynamic properties of wind-tunnel gases—particularly air—up to 

3000 K; and extensive tables on the properties of fluorine compounds, particularly those used as refrigerants. The data were obtained both by direct experiment and by theoretical analysis. Some of these data extended to 5000 K. 

• The heat capacity of natural rubber and other high polymers was determined 

over a wide temperature range, as were the heats of solution, density, and vapor 

pressure of polystyrene and polybutadiene in various solvents. 

In addition to this work, the rheology of various polymers was investigated. This 

research in rheology began with the establishment of the automotive laboratory in 1917 

and the consequent interest in lubrication. The division calibrated viscometers and 

distributed several samples of oils certified for viscosity. The interest in the rheology 

of high polymers seems to have been brought about by Robert S. Marvin, who was trained in the viscoelasticity of polymers and was hired by the division in 1949. In 

1957 a Rheology Section was formed with Marvin as its head. In the same year, 

204 
Richard Lee of the Heat Division calibrated a photoelectric pyrometer using a tungsten 

filament strip lamp. The tool, designed to measure the temperature of a jet engine, 

replaced the less accurate optical pyrometer. 

feeling that with the standard samples available from the Bureau "[m]ore reliable 

calibration of these instruments is now obtained under conditions of actual use," the 

calibration of viscometers was discontinued.'32 

In a somewhat unrelated area, the division had research programs in various aspects 

of automobile and jet engines. Begun in World War I, an engine laboratory assisted 

then-infant automobile and aircraft industries." Along with the area of lubrication, 

hence viscosity, this had led the division into the area of engine fuels, as befits what was essentially a division based on thermodynamics. One of the most important industrial measurements it developed was the octane-number rating of gasoline engine fuels, 

and it distributed iso -octane and n-heptane, the two hydrocarbons necessary to determine octane numbers. Throughout 1950-1957, research continued on various aspects of 

engine knock, combustion in jet engines, and the mechanisms of flame propagation. 

32 Annual Report, 1957: 100. 

205 
Then, in 1956, the engine laboratory was discontinued.'33 The Annual Report notes, 

"The decision was based on careful consideration of the small amount of work of this 

kind now required by other Government agencies, the nature of the work in relation to 

other Bureau activities, and the critical need for the space involved by other projects of 

greater importance. . . . With the tremendous growth of these automobile and 

aircraft] industries they now support their own research, testing and development programs." The decision did not, however, "change the Bureau's activities in regard to 

maintenance of the standards for measurement of octane number, improvement of 

methods of measurement, and other standardization work involving fuels and lubricants." It is not difficult to surmise that this decision was part of the policy in the 

Kelly Committee Report that the Bureau divest itself of activities that were not closely 

related to its measurement mission, where its activities were essential. That same year, 

the words "and Power" were dropped from the division's name, and it became simply 

the Heat Division. 

With support from the army's Office of Ordnance Research, a new program was initiated in 1957 that was to have important consequences for the division and the 

Bureau. In the words of the Annual Report, "[v]aluable information on the structure 

and properties of matter may eventually result from a three-year program of basic 

research initiated during the year. The object of the program is to increase fundamental 

knowledge of the formation, properties, and storage of the highly reactive molecular 

fragments known as free radicals."34 Attesting to the significance Bureau management saw in this program, a new section—Free Radicals Research—was formed for this 

program, and Herbert P. Broida, who had worked with John R. Pellam in the study of 

nitrogen atoms in rare-gas matrices at liquid helium temperatures, was appointed as its 

chief. The Free Radicals Program, as it came to be called, was catalytic in the reorganization of all the Bureau's chemistry activities. 

Among the division's various programs, the best known in the scientific world was 

its program in low-temperature physics. The Bureau had been involved in cryogenic 

research since 1904 when it obtained a hydrogen liquefier, but it was not until 1948, 

when it obtained a helium liquefier, that low-temperature physics research began in 

earnest. Built up by Brickwedde and supported by Condon, the low-temperature 

physics laboratory became one of the best in the world. It attracted a number of outstanding scientists. First was Emanuel Maxwell with his work on the isotope effect in 

superconductivity. He was followed by John R. Pellam, who did pioneering work in 

the determination of the speed of second sound in helium.'35 He in turn was followed 

by two outstanding young scientists from Oxford University, Ralph P. Hudson and 

Ernest Ambler, both students of Nicholas Kurti. Hudson in due course became chief 

of the division, and Ambler became the Bureau's eighth director in 1978. This cryogenics capability was the reason for the AEC's choice of the Bureau to build up their 

cryogenic engineering program. 

Annual Report. 1956: 132-133. 

'34Annual Report, 1957: 6. ° Below the temperature at which liquid helium first exhibits superfluid properties, heat is conducted in it 

by a wave motion similar to that by which sound is conducted. This manner of heat conduction is called 

second sound. 

206 
One of the objectives of the low-temperature program was the attainment of 

extremely low temperatures and devising means of measuring temperatures in this 

region. In the early fifties very low temperatures—down to about 0.001 K—were 

customarily attained by the technique of adiabatic demagnetization, and the temperature of the experiment was measured by the same technique.'36 In this technique, a sample of a paramagnetic salt is cooled to as low a temperature as possible by using 

liquid helium which is being pumped continuously by a vacuum pump. A strong 

magnetic field, provided by a large magnet, is then turned on. This field aligns all the 

atomic "magnetic moments." The sample is then isolated from the liquid helium bath, 

usually by evacuating the container in which it resides. Since heat can no longer flow 

in or out of the sample, it is now in an adiabatic (isentropic) container. Now the 

magnetic field is turned off. Since the sample is thermally isolated, any change in the 

spin system must occur at constant entropy (isentropic process). But with the external 

magnetic field gone, the only way for nature to keep the entropy the same is for the 

temperature to fall. At still lower temperatures, it is possible to align the nuclear spins 

or, with coupling between the nuclear and electronic spins, even at not too low temperatures (I K to 0.01 K). 

In the early fifties, adiabatic demagnetization was a "hot" scientific area. Brickwedde hired first Hudson and then Ambler to work in the area, and by 1956, the Bureau was recognized as one of the foremost laboratories in the world for research at 

"very low temperatures." Now fate was to conspire to bring about one of the most 

famous—if not the most famous—experiments in the Bureau's history: the experimental demonstration of the nonconservation of parity in "weak interactions." 

The Parity Experiment 

In the October 1, 1956, issue of the Physical Review, there appeared a paper by 

Tsung Dao Lee of Columbia University and Chen Ning Yang of the Institute for 

Advanced Study at Princeton, but temporarily at Brookhaven National Laboratory.'37 

The paper was entitled "Question of Parity Conservation in Weak Interactions," which 

was to revolutionize thinking in theoretical physics as well as winning the 1957 Nobel 

Prize for its authors.'38 In a brilliant theoretical analysis, Lee and Yang came to the 

conclusion that, contrary to long-held belief, there was no evidence that parity was 

conserved or not conserved in weak interactions. They proposed two experiments to 

find the actual situation. 

E. Ambler and R. P. Hudson, "Absolute Temperatures Below I °K: Chromic Methylammonium Alum as a Thermometric Substance," Journal of Chemical Physics 27 (1957): 378-389. 

D. Lee and C. N. Yang, "Question of Parity Conservation in Weak Interactions," Physical Review 104 

(1956): 254-258. 

'38 Parity is a quantum mechanical concept which basically states that the behavior of quantum mechanical 

systems should not change when viewed in a mirror or, to put it more technically, "are invariant under space 

inversion." Weak interactions include beta decay, i.e., radioactive decay by the emission of an electron. 

These interactions are one of the four basic interactions known to physics, the other three being the strong 

interaction, which holds the nucleus together; the electromagnetic, which is responsible for the force between 

charged particles and holds the atom together; and gravitation, which governs the behavior of bodies with mass. 207 
One experiment involved the measurement of any angular asymmetry of the electron 

emission from polarized cobalt-60 nuclei, such as cobalt-60 nuclei oriented so that the 

spins of all of them point in the same direction. Any asymmetry in the electron emission with respect to the forward and backward directions of the nuclear spin would 

immediately indicate that parity is not conserved and that, in beta decay, nature prefers 

one hand over the other. In principle, this is an easy experiment, but in practice it is 

very hard. First, and most important, a sample of cobalt-60 with oriented nuclear spins 

must be available, and this means very low temperatures. Second, one must be able to 

get the very low-penetrating beta particles out of the sample used to orient the nuclear 

spins, and out of the cryostat used to cool them. Alternatively, a beta-particle detector 

would have to be developed for use in the cryostat. 

Now, the Cryogenic Physics Section of the Bureau, whose chief in 1956 was 

Hudson and in which Ambler was a principal scientist, knew how to orient radioactive 

nuclei. Both earned their doctorates in the Clarendon Laboratory at Oxford University 

where, under the leadership of Sir Francis E. Simon and Nicholas Kurti, there was a major research program in the physics of very low temperatures produced by magnetic 

cooling, coupled with the work of Brebis Bleaney, Maurice H. L. Pryce, and later with 

others on the techniques of nuclear orientation. Ambler and Hudson brought these 

techniques to the Bureau and, working with Georges M. Temmer of the Carnegie 

Institution, had published two papers on nuclear alignment in cerium-141, cerium-139, 

and neodymium-147, all radioactive nuclei.'40 Moreover, while still a graduate student 

at Oxford, Ambler, working with six others, had polarized cobalt-60 nuclei, and 

measured the anisotropic emission of the gamma radiation. But there had been no good 

reason at that time to tackle the experimentally difficult task of measuring the asymmetry of the beta radiation as was now being suggested by Lee and Yang.'4' 

The Lee-Yang work was not immediately known to Ambler and Hudson, but their 

own work and capabilities were generally known to most of the physics community. 

Consequently, on June 4, 1956, before the publication of the Lee-Yang paper, Ambler 

received a telephone call from Professor Chien-Shiung Wu, a colleague of Lee at Columbia University and herself an expert in beta decay. Ambler recalls, "I didn't know 

who she was, although I'd heard of the name. She said that Lee and Yang had had this 

idea that with beta particles from cobalt-60, more will come up in one direction of 

This follows directly from the fact that the spin direction (an axial vector) is not changed by a parity 

operation, while velocity (a polar vector) is inverted. 

E. Ambler, R. P. Hudson. and G. M. Temmer, "Alignment of Cerium-14l and Neodymium-l47 Nuclei," 

Physical Review 97 (1955): 1212-1221. 

—"Alignment of Three Odd-A Rare-Earth Nuclei," Physical Review 101 (1956): 196-200. 

41 E. Ambler, M. A. Grace, H. Halban, N. Kurti, H. Durand, C. E. Johnson, and H. R. Lemmer, "Nuclear 

Polarization of Cobalt 60," Philosophical Magazine 44 (1953): 2 16-218. The possibility of observing the 

beta emission had been discussed often at Oxford, but it was not done for two reasons. First, because 

of the limited range of the beta radiation (compared to the gamma, which had been observed), the electrons 

could only get out of the surface layers of the paramagnetic salt used for cooling, and second, could not pass 

out of the cryostat. Most important, of course, before the Lee and Yang paper, accepted theory predicted no unusual effects, so that the scientific spur to do the difficult experiment was lacking. 

208 
the field than the other. I said, 'Are you sure you mean up and down?' She said, 'Yes, 

up and down, that's the difference.' I said, 'Is there a preprint of that paper?' She said, 

'Yes.' I said, 'Send me one.' So she sent me one. The first thing I did was to check 

with our radioactivity people and discovered that she was tops in her field, so it was a request to be taken very seriously." 

Having the request from Wu to carry out the Lee-Yang experiment, and knowing 

that it was a very serious request, Ambler checked with "some of the senior physicists 

at the Bureau, and they all shook their heads and said, 'It's a very, very, very long 

shot.' Ralph [Hudson] and I talked about it and we sort of decided, and I became 

convinced, that it was one of those things that is a risk you've absolutely got to take, 

because it was clear that the whole thing would be absolutely revolutionary. So I went 

to see Brick [Ferdinand Brickwedde] and explained it and told him that I thought we could do it with the budget we had. Damn if old Brick said, 'Well, Ernie, if it's not 

going to cost any more money, you go right ahead and do it.' I called her and said, 

'Sure."42 

After several weeks of preparatory work, two nuclear physicists, Raymond W. 

Hayward and Dale D. Hoppes—the experts on beta radiation from the Bureau's 

Atomic and Radiation Physics Division—were asked to join the effort. Prof. Wu had 

been coming down from Columbia periodically with two graduate students, but it had 

become clear that beta radiation experts were needed on the spot. The objective of the 

experiment was the measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry of the electron 

emission from the polarized cobalt-60 sample.'43 Because the range of the beta rays is 

very short, the radioactivity had to be confined to the very surface layers of the paramagnetic salt used for cooling. And a serious concern was whether the surface layers 

would stay cold long enough to do the experiment. There clearly was only one place to 

do the counting of the emitted electrons, namely inside the experimental chamber just 

above the sample of cobalt-60. With this limitation, there was only one way to determine if there was any asymmetry of the electron emission with respect to the direction 

of the nuclear spin. First, the spins are oriented in one direction, say "up," and the 

electron counting rate determined. Then the spins are oriented in the opposite direction, 

say "down," and the counting rate determined again. If the counting rates are different 

in the two cases, the electrons are emitted preferentially along (or against) the spin 

direction, hence the emission is asymmetric with respect to the direction of the nuclear 

spin and parity is not conserved. 

In more detail, to do the counting a small thin disk of anthracene was placed just 

above the sample and a Lucite light pipe carried the scintillations to a phototube outside the cryostat. The sample itself was a single crystal of cerium magnesium 

nitrate with a thin layer containing the cobalt-60 grown on its upper surface. Equatorial 

and polar sodium iodide photomultiplier counters placed well outside the cryostat mon- itored the gamma emission, hence the nuclear polarization of the sample. 

42 Interview with Ernest Ambler, July 7, 1988: 4-5. NIST Oral History File. " C. S. Wu, E. Ambler, R. W. Hayward, D. D. Hoppes, and R. P. Hudson, "Experimental Test of Parity 

Conservation in Beta Decay," Physical Review 105 (1957): 1413-1415. 

209 
NBS scientists assembled low-temperature equipment used in in the experiment which 

disproved the principle of conservation of parity in nuclear physics. Left to right: 

Ralph P. Hudson. Ernest Ambler, Dale D. Hoppes, and Raymond W. Hayward. 

Many operational difficulties had to be overcome as the work progressed and, in 

fact, at one point an entirely redesigned cryostat was constructed. Conclusive results 

were first obtained in late December 1956, some six months after Prof. Wu's first 

telephone contact. 

The experiment was carried out as follows: First the sample was cooled by adiabatic 

demagnetization using a large electromagnet. Then the latter was removed and a small 

solenoid magnet placed around the cryostat. Because of the interaction of the nuclear 

spins with the very strong field caused by the electron spins, a relatively small current 

210 
! 90 - 

as 

- 

- - 11cr u foo; — lit 

/ jI.c2, 4i0 

r 

3 

J 

. This page from Ernest Ambler's notebook recorded the first successful demonstration 

that parity is not conserved in the emission of beta particles by cobalt-60. At the top of 

the page, Ralph P. Hudson lettered PARITY NOT CONSERVED! (courtesy of the 

National Museum of American History) 

passing through the solenoid oriented the electron spins and through them the nuclear 

spins along the magnetic field in the solenoid, either up or down depending on the direction of the current through the solenoid. Due to small but inevitable heat leaks, the 

sample continued to warm, and in about eight minutes warmed up to such a temperature that the nuclei were no longer oriented. During this time the electron counting rate 

dropped for one orientation of the field as the orientation in the sample decreased as monitored by the gamma emission. The counting rate reached a constant value when 

the sample was sufficiently warm that no orientation existed. Now the experiment was 211 
repeated for the opposite direction of current in the polarizing solenoid. The behavior 

of the electron counting rate with time was now the opposite of what it had been with 

the field in the other direction. If it previously decreased with time, it now increased, 

and vice versa, eventually reaching the same warm-temperature value. This experimental result proved conclusively that the emission of the electrons is preferentially along 

the spin, and further analysis shows that it is preferentially in the direction opposite to 

the spin. Hence there is an asymmetry of the electron emission with respect to the 

direction of orientation of the nucleus, and parity is not conserved in the weak interaction. 

The demonstration of the nonconservation of parity in the weak interaction stunned 

the theoretical physics community, which immediately became concerned with the 

violation of other symmetry principles. The situation became more complex. Of 

particular interest were the symmetries of charge conjugation, (C-inversion of charge, or changing from particle to antiparticle), and time reversal (T). Work by Lee, Yang, 

and Reinhard Oehme published after the original cobalt-60 paper—but known to the 

Bureau group via communication with Yang—showed, as was already suggested in the 

original paper, that not only was parity not conserved in weak interactions, but chargeconjugation invariance was also not obeyed, although under certain conditions the 

combination of the two was. It then became very important to see if invariance under 

time reversal was also violated, for a very fundamental theorem due to Wolfgang Pauli 

and Gerhart Lüders states that the triple operation of charge conjugation (C), space 

inversion (P) and time reversal (T), or CPT, will always be conserved. Hence the 

Bureau group continued to work in the area, carrying out essentially the same experiments with cobalt-58 (a positron emitter and hence important because of charge 

conjugation), and later on manganese-52 specifically to see if time-reversal invariance 

could be proved. Within the limits permitted by the data, T was conserved.'45 Further 

work continued on yet other nuclei to obtain data on the parameters in the theory 

and the work became more and more nuclear In 1969 the final Bureau 

work on the conservation laws was carried out by Russell C. Casella, theoretician 

member of the Radiation Theory Section. By an analysis of experimental data 

on the decay of the neutral K mesons, for which it was known that CP invariance 

is violated, Casella showed that the CP violation is connected with a violation 

44 R. L. Garwin, L. M. Lederman, and M. Weinrich, "Observations of the Failure of Conservation of Parity 

and Charge Conjugation in Meson Decays: the Magnetic Moment of the Free Muon," Physical Review 105 (1957): 1415-1417. In a paper published at the same time as the Bureau's parity paper, Richard L. Garwin, 

Leon M. Lederman, and Marcel Weinrich of Columbia University showed that parity is also not conserved 

in meson decays. 

'° E. Ambler, R. W. Hayward, D. D. Hoppes, R. P. Hudson and C. S. Wu, "Further Experiments on 3 Decay of Polarized Nuclei," Physical Review 106 (1957): 1361-1363; E. Ambler, R. W. Hayward, D. D. 

Hoppes and R. P. Hudson, "Beta-Gamma Correlations from Polarized Manganese-52," Physical Review 110 

(1958): 787-789. 

"s D. D. Hoppes, E. Ambler, R. W. Hayward, and R. S. Kaeser, "Matrix Elements in the Forbidden Beta 

Decay of Ce'41," Physical Review Letters 6 (1961): 115-I 18; D. D. Hoppes, "The Angular Distribution of 

Beta Particles from Oriented Cerium-14l Nuclei," Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Low 

Temperature Physics (University of Toronto Press, 1961): 186-188. 

212 
of time-reversal invariance, but that there was no evidence of CPT violation.'47 "In 

Nature, past and future are thus distinguishable even on a microscopic level." 

In retrospect it is difficult to find a better example of what the Kelly Committee had 

in mind when it insisted that the Bureau get back to doing research in its unique 

mission. A group formed to work on the production, measurement, and application of 

low temperatures, and given some latitude to follow their own interests were, admittedly by a happy combination of circumstances, brought face to face with some of the 

most fundamental questions in all of physics. And they were able to answer at least 

one of them. 

ATOMIC AND RADIATION PHYSICS 

Formed in 1947 as part of his reorganization, the Atomic Physics Division was 

Condon's principal mechanism for bringing the new physics to the Bureau. It was started with five sections of the Optics Division—Spectroscopy, Atomic Physics, 

Radiometry, Radioactivity, and X-Rays—and it was as if Condon had grouped together 

those aspects of the Bureau's work that rested on quantum mechanics as a foundation. 

The division grew rapidly with the addition of new, bright, young scientists—one of 

whom, Lewis Branscomb, was to become a Bureau director—so that by the time 

the Kelly Committee investigated the Atomic and Radiation Physics Division in 1953, 

it had a total staff of 176 employees, 120 of whom were professionals. Led by 

Lauriston S. Taylor, it was organized into two laboratories: the Atomic Physics 

Laboratory with eight sections, and the Radiation Physics Laboratory with seven 

sections. With 46 percent of its funds coming from direct appropriations, it was relatively well supported by Bureau funds. 

In some ways the division's name was a misnomer, for its work included electron 

physics, solid state physics, radiometry, and instrumentation. It was one of the 

Bureau's stellar divisions, winning high praise from the Kelly Committee, which found 

its work excellent, and whose only lament was that there was not enough of it.'49 

Three of the division's notable accomplishments and areas of work have already been 

described: length and light, standards and fundamental constants, and x rays. Here we give a rather cursory account of some of the other activities of the division. 

Considering its history, it is not surprising that one of the strong elements in the 

division's program was spectroscopy. While the work on the development of the green 

line of mercury-198 into a standard of length was perhaps the most famous development in the division's work during the fifties, there was other meritorious work of 

R. C. Casella, "Time Reversal and the K° Meson Decays," Physical Review Letters 21(1968): 1128-1131; 

and "Time Reversal and the K° Meson Decays II," Physical Review Letters 22 (1969): 554. The author is deeply indebted to Dr. Casella for several discussions on the conservation of these various symmetry 

operations. 

" Otto Nachtman. Elementary Particle Physics: Concepts and Phenomena (Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1990), 

Chapter 26: I. a Kelly Committee Report: 36-38. 

213 
perhaps even greater utility to the practicing spectroscopist. Three volumes of atomic 

energy levels were published. Volume I, published in 1950, was for elements up to 

atomic number 23. Volume II, in 1951, covered elements 24 through 41, and finally 

Volume III, in 1956, covered elements 42 through 57 and 72 through 89. In a similar 

vein of providing reference data for science and technology, the division published tables of complex spectra listing over 6700 radiations from singly and doubly ionized 

chromium. A similar publication gave the intensity of spectral lines for 70 elements to 

be used for identification purposes. Other publications gave a series of wavelengths to 

be used as standards of wavelength in the infrared, as well as the hyperfine structure of 

technetium. In a sense, the publication of these data collections was complementary to 

the publication of Nuclear Data as Circular 499 in 1950, with a supplement in 1951. 

Containing data on half-lives, radiation energies, relative isotopic abundance, nuclear 

moments, cross sections, and nuclear decay schemes, these tables became the bible of 

the nuclear physicist. Finally, in an unusual effort for spectroscopy, the division made one of two accurate determinations of the speed of light. The other came from a more 

expected quarter, the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory. 

Spurred by the wartime development of crystal diodes and the recent invention of 

the transistor, the division in 1949 began a program in the study of semiconductors. 

But germanium and silicon, the materials that were to become the economic standbys, 

were never studied in the fifties. Rather, the program was concerned with the more 

general questions of the transition from electron to hole conductivity, the measurement 

of mobility, and the effect of lattice defects. The first materials studied were rutile 

(titanium dioxide, Ti02) with some of the oxygen removed, and grey tin, for which 

there were great problems in the preparation of macroscopic single crystals. Experiments concentrated on photoconductivity and rectification, the latter being achieved 

with Ti02. Of note was an attempt to study the crystal imperfections in TiO2 by the 

study of internal friction, a direction which was to have important scientific consequences later in the Mineral Products Division. Toward the end of the period the work 

shifted to become closer to commercial practice with the study of intermetallics. These 

were compounds of antimony or arsenic with indium, gallium, or aluminum—the so- called "three-five" compounds, from the numbers of the columns of the components in 

the periodic table. In 1957, the material worked on was indium antimonide. 

Because of widespread interest in very high-energy x rays, the Bureau by 1952 had 

purchased and installed a betatron (50 MeV) and a synchrotron (180 MeV). With these 

two major instruments the Bureau both continued and expanded its work in x-ray 

protection and was led into nuclear physics. Thus, throughout the fifties, work continued in radiation protection and monitoring. The design and construction of what are now the ubiquitous radiation-monitoring film badges were worked on, as were means of shielding against x rays. The efficacy of concrete barriers was a constant concern, 

and much experimental and theoretical work was carried out. A sentence in the Annual 

Report for 1952 gives the aim of this work: "Ultimately, the accumulated data will 

form a basis from which radiation barriers of the correct thickness and material may be 

designed for economical and safe protection." As part of the effort, the Bureau 

published Circular 583, X-Ray Attenuation Coefficients from 10 Key to 100 Mev, which 

214 
gives attenuation coefficients for twenty-three materials, including air, water, and concrete. Finally, in 1954, Handbook 50, X-Ray Protection Design, was published.'50 

All this work on x-ray shielding inevitably led to questions of the scattering of x rays by atomic nuclei, and the Bureau, with its betatron and synchrotron, was well 

placed to carry out such studies. Thus, with the hiring of a group of bright, young 

scientists, the Bureau became a world-renowned center for photonuclear research, with a great deal of the work supported by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). In this 

work, the first observation of a resonance in the elastic nuclear scattering of photons 

was made, leading to information about the nuclear energy level structure. In a similar 

vein, as part of a study to provide data for nuclear-structure theorists, the angular 

distribution of the monoenergetic gamma rays emitted from the carbon nucleus when 

irradiated with high-energy x rays was determined. In 1957, the study of mesons 

from carbon led to information on the distribution of nuclear matter in the nucleus, and a correlation was shown between the photoneutron yield from a given nucleus and the 

deformation of the nuclear surface, thereby opening a new approach to the study of 

nuclear quadrupole moments. By the end of the fifties, the Bureau was solidly involved 

in nuclear physics research. 

Along with this x-ray work there was a related effort in the standardization of 

measurements in radioactivity, both to determine the correct activity level and for 

safety reasons. The rise of nuclear reactors made available a number of artificially 

produced radioactive isotopes, and these were becoming more widely used in medicine, 

science and industry. Thus, in 1950, the Bureau issued standard samples for the 

standardization of the measurement of activity of such samples. To check the 

accuracy of radiation meters, the Bureau constructed a portable cobalt-60 source. In 

the laboratory several calorimeters were built to measure the intensity of low-level 

radioactive sources on the one hand, and of high-voltage x-ray sources on the other. 

And the radiation measurement system had to be checked against its international 

counterparts. In 1953 the national primary x-ray standard was transported to the 

National Physical Laboratory in England and compared with the British national x-ray 

standard. Two discrepancies found in the British standard caused a redesign of that 

standard. A later comparison of the U.S. and Britsh standards gave improved results. 

Similarly, the primary British and Canadian radium standards were transported to the 

Bureau for comparison. While the British and U.S. standards compared satisfactorily, 

the Canadian differed by 0.5 percent from its assigned value. 

The area of mass spectrometry merits mention because of its subsequent development. Throughout the whole period, the division carried out work in this field, including the development of lightweight, portable mass spectrometers. The Bureau became so well recognized for these measurements that, in 1956, it began a program to issue 

standard samples for isotopic abundance, an important matter for workers in geology 

and geochemistry. The samples were to be issued internationally as well as domestically. Eventually this led to the Bureau achieving a unique position in the measurement 

of isotopic composition, and hence the determination of atomic weights. 

NBS Handbooks on related topics were: No. 52, Maximun, Permissible Amounts of Radioisotopes 

in the Human Body and Maximum Permissible Concentrations in Air and Water; No. 53, Recommendations 

for the Disposal of Carbon-14 Wastes; No. 55, Protection Against Beta:ron-Synchrotron Radiations Up to 

100 Million Electron Volts; No. 56, Safe Handling of Cadavers Containing Radioactive Isotopes. 

215 
Robert W. Medlock (left) and William F. Marlow of the Radioactivity Section filled and sealed ampoules 

with the benzoic acid (7C-l4) standard sample (in center flask) for liquid-scintillation counters. 

The Electron Physics Section was under the direction of Ladislaus L. (Bill) Marton 

who, among other achievements, was the organizer of the Division of Electron Physics 

of the American Physical Society—the first division of that society. Marton's avowed 

aim for the section was to do everything with electrons that had been done with light. 

Thus, one of the achievements of the section was the construction of an electron-beam 

interferometer, followed by an electron spectrograph. With the main aim being better 

understanding of the processes by which electrons lose energy upon impact with 

atoms, the latter instrument measured the angle of scatter and was capable of detecting a loss of 5 eV from an initial electron energy of 50 keY. Since this instrument was limited to small angles, a variation was developed that could measure scattering angles 

up to 1000. Automatically measuring every '80, the instrument could give energy 

loss and intensity over the whole range in one-half hour. First used to study 

copper, aluminum, beryllium, and gold, the instrument was later modified to study 

low-pressure gases. 

216 
John Simpson adjusted an electron-beam interferometer, a device that utilized electron 

beams to produce interference fringes in much the same way that conventional optical 

interferometers used light beams. The instrument employed diffraction from an ex- tremely thin crystal as a means for splitting and recombining an electron beam. Three 

crystals were mounted in a vacuum chamber (center) placed between the illuminating 

and viewing systems of a conventional electron microscope. Each of the crystal mounts 

could be rotated around the optical axis. The mount of the first crystal could also be 

translated along the optical axis. The controls for these motions were brought Out at the bottom of the evacuated chamber. 

217 
In another form of data compendium, the section published Electron Physics Tables 

in Covering the energy from 0.206 eV to 3.353 TeV, and calculated with the 

help of SEAC, the NBS automatic digital computer, these tables gave the potential 

difference necessary to accelerate an electron to a specific kinetic energy (V), the 

effective relativistic potential energy (V*), the product of magnetic field and radius of 

curvature of an electron in a magnetic field (Hp), the deBroglie wavelength (X); 

momentum in units of m0c (p*), kinetic energy in units of the rest energy (E*), total 

energy (W*), and the ratio of speed to the speed of light 

With programs in electron physics, where the avowed aim was to do everything with 

electrons that could be done with optical instruments, and with the study of negative 

ions, the Atomic and Radiation Physics Division was a scientifically productive unit. 

CHEMISTRY 

Identified as Division III, the Chemistry Division with a staff of two in 1903 was 

the third one formed at the Bureau. By 1953, under Edward Wichers, it was a large 

division with a staff of 181 (147 professionals) organized into eleven sections. Since 

the standards aspect of chemistry is largely concerned with the composition of materials, the division was heavily involved in developing methods of chemical analysis 

and the analysis of materials for special purposes. It also produced a large number of 

standard samples, many for the composition of commercial metals and alloys. In a related activity, it was concerned with the preparation of very pure substances and had 

programs in purification and separation. Its analytical effort was by no means limited 

to solids and liquids, but extended to the difficult field of gas analysis. It covered the 

areas of inorganic and organic chemistry, but only in specialized areas of these 

immense fields. It had important work in areas of surface and colloid chemistry, physical chemistry and, particularly, thermochemistry. 

Two areas of work, organic coatings and electrodeposition, were rather specialized 

and took place at the Bureau for historical reasons. The Bureau became involved in the 

first of these in 1914 when it took over the function of acceptance testing of paints and 

varnish—among other commodities—from the contracts laboratory of the no-longerexistent Bureau of Chemistry of the Department of Agriculture.'52 In 1953 that work 

was carried out under Paul T. Howard in the Organic Coatings Section. Commodity 

testing was still performed, but by 1955, routine testing had ceased, and the work 

changed to the more valuable development of test methods and specifications for use 

by all agencies which purchased paints and other coatings. 

The electrodeposition work existed at the Bureau only because of the vigor, stamina 

and technical inventiveness of William Blum, the section leader until 1954. Called in 

1913 to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on a troubleshooting effort on the 

L. Marton, C. Marton, and W. G. Hall, Electron Physics Tables, NatI. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Circular 571; 

March 1956. 52 Kelly Committee Report: 41; MFP, 155. 

218 
BPE's electrotyping baths, he quickly solved the problem. Struck by the lack of 

methods to control the baths, and the paucity of the literature on the topic, he decided 

that electrodeposition was a field ripe for scientific exploration. Thus began a fruitful 

and productive career.'53 Blum was followed by Abner Brenner, an equally ingenious 

and entrepreneurial scientist. Unhappy with a program that was built on the interest 

and ingenuity of one man, the Kelly Committee felt that this "level of effort. 

appears out of proportion to the entire program of the Chemistry Division."54 In 1961, 

the section was moved into the Metallurgy Division. 

The analytical chemistry work of the division was partly devoted to the development 

of new methods of analysis and partly to the analysis of specific materials—mostly 

metals. Because of their inherent speed, the various techniques of spectrochemistry 

were used for as many purposes. Flame photometry was used to analyze calcium in 

sugar solutions, and spectrographic methods were used for bismuth, tin in bronze, and 

magnesium in cast iron. The crucial matter of the effect of excitation conditions on the intensity of spectral lines was studied and brought under control. Further 

spectrographic methods were employed for impurities in nickel used for cathodes in 

electron tubes, for the analysis of complex dental alloys, for trace elements in portland 

cement, and for alkalies in refractory materials. 

Not performed spectrochemically, but notable because of its use of a rapidly emerging analytical method, was the analysis of cobalt-based alloys for jet-engine turbine 

blades, the so-called "superalloys." This was done by the isolation of the alloy components—cobalt, nickel, iron and manganese—by chromatographic separation on ionexchange resin columns. The method was further applied to the separation of niobium, 

tantalum, titanium, tungsten, and molybdenum as they occur in stainless steels. Further 

analytical methods based on separation were developed for determining the composition of complex dielectrics—mostly titanates—used for proximity fuzes. Finally, a chromatographic method on a commercially activated carbon was developed for the 

analysis of corn syrup. When coupled with analyses performed for the issuance of new standard samples—such as for the composition of a jet engine alloy, and the composition of white iron—and for the reissuing of existing ones, it is clear that this was an active and productive research effort. 

Closely associated with analytical problems is the production of very pure substances. At the time of its formation, the division was concerned with "a study of the 

standards of purity for chemical reagents and of the methods to be used for the quantitative determination of small amounts of impurities in such reagents,"55 and that 

concern still existed in the fifties, but was not limited solely to reagents.'56 Again, 

work went ahead on the development of general methods of purification and on the 

production of specific pure materials, often at the request of another agency. One of 

'53MFP, 128. 

'54KeIly Committee Report: 41. 

'55Annual Report, 1906: 14. 56 MFP, 379. The Bureau's history in the production of pure materials stood the Nation in good stead in the early 

days of the Manhattan Project when the Bureau devised a method of purifying graphite for the nuclear pile. 

219 
the purification methods studied was crystallization. Noting that purification is often 

achieved by repeated crystallization, its inverse, fractional melting, in which supernatant melt is periodically withdrawn, was developed by division chemists as a means of 

concentrating impurities, hence making the determination of their amount and their 

identification easier. In true purification, the by-now-commercial zone refiner was adapted to the purification of low-melting-point solids by constructing a bath of two 

immiscible liquids, the upper held at a temperature above the melting point of the 

material to be purified and the lower at a temperature below. The interface between the 

two liquids provided a sharp temperature gradient, and passage downwards through it 

of a tube of the material to be purified provided the zone refining. But a more interesting discovery came in 1957. Working with the production of single crystals of ammonium phosphate from aqueous solutions contaminated with chromium, it was found 

that when growth is normal to some crystal faces the impurity enters the crystal, while 

for other faces it does not—or at least its entry is much reduced. Thus the control of 

the crystal growth direction can produce a purer and more perfect crystal. In the 

preparation of specific pure substances, the chromatographic column again proved its 

worth. Such methods were used with ion-exchange columns to prepare nearly all of the rare earths with a purity of 99.99 percent. Other purifications by this and other 

methods led to the preparation of several very pure titanium salts and several titanates. 

Gas analysis programs developed some important new methods and, as a harbinger 

of things to come, broke into a new field. One of the important new methods was the detection of impurities in hydrogen by thermal-conductivity measurements. By this 

method, one part in 10 million of any other gas could be detected and the apparatus 

could give direct readings from any of fifty sampling sites. Another important new method was the spectrometric analysis of high-purity gases. A glow discharge in the 

flowing gas was excited by a high-frequency field and the emitted light was observed 

by an automatic scanning photoelectric spectrometer. Useful for flowing gas, the 

apparatus could detect concentrations of one part per million of hydrogen, nitrogen, 

and water vapor, and was obviously useful for flowing gas streams. 

The new area where the division began work was air pollution. In 1950 the Bureau 

appears to have made its first attempt to work in this field. At that time, the Bureau, 

working in Los Angeles, concentrated smog components by collecting them on a filter 

at liquid-oxygen temperatures. They were then separated by isothermal distillation and 

the fractions analyzed by mass spectrometry. About sixty compounds were positively or tentatively identified. Most seemed to be hydrocarbons or reaction products of 

hydrocarbons with ozone or nitrogen dioxide. Thus the Bureau entered into the field of 

air pollution and interaction with other agencies of the Federal, state and local governments. As the Nation became more serious about the control of air pollution, the 

Bureau's activities in this area increased. 

Aside from composition, another area of chemistry where the Bureau provided 

standards was that of acidity. In that activity it sold standard samples certified for a given pH, or hydrogen-ion concentration. Work throughout the period was designed to 

improve the accuracy of the standards and to expand their utility. In 1950, for 

example, four new standards were issued to improve the accuracy at the low and high 

ends of the pH scale, and in 1953 the top of the useful temperature range of the 

220 
As the final step in purification of a substance by fractional melting, Gaylon S. Ross 

sealed off an ampoule containing the purified sample (1957). 

standards was increased to 95 °C. But perhaps the most interesting development was the concern with acids and bases in nonaqueous solvents—an area of interest to the 

petroleum, food and drug industries, and to several scientific fields, among them 

analytical chemistry and electrodeposition. The behavior of acids and bases in non- aqueous solvents was puzzling in that there was no constancy in the order of relative 

strengths as some nonaqueous solvents were substituted for water. But there began to 

appear a relationship between the structure of individual acids and their behavior in 

different kinds of solvents. 

The division had a strong program in thermochemistry. Experimental work was carried out on the determination of heats of combustion, of formation, and of other 

reactions, usually on compounds of particular interest at the time, or on series of 

compounds, such as different isomers or homologous series of organic compounds, 

221 
where basic questions, such as the effect of cis-t Tans isomerism on reaction energies, 

could be addressed. Thus, for example, measurements of the heats of formation of 

various boron compounds were carried out to "aid in understanding these relatively new compounds in which the usual laws of chemical bonding do not apply." Similarly, 

data were obtained on various series of hydrocarbons, examples of which are the heats 

of formation of ortho-, meta-, and para-tert-butyltoluene to obtain information on steric effects, and on all the pentenes and pentadienes, and some hexenes to obtain 

the effects of alkyl substituents on double bond energies "which are valuable in 

synthetic-rubber development."57 But the program went far beyond laboratory measurements. A file was kept on all publications in this field, and in 1952 a massive 

publication was announced. "In the continuing project on the collection and critical 

evaluation of the chemical thermodynamic properties of substances. . . a milestone was 

passed with the publication of a 1200-page circular (C500) entitled Selected Values of 

Chemical Thermodynamic Properties."58 Containing values of heats and free energies 

of formation, entropy, heat capacity, and heats and temperatures of transition, fusion, 

and vaporization for all inorganic compounds—where data were available—and 

organic compounds of less than three carbons, it was periodically supplemented by 

looseleaf tables. Circular 500 became the bible of thermochemists and was immensely 

useful to chemical engineers in process design. 

Circular 500 was not the only data issued by the division. Basic data on the infrared 

spectra of some 15 000 chemical compounds—their fingerprints, so to speak—were 

prepared with the cooperation and financial support of the National Research Council, 

and distributed to more than 200 cooperating laboratories in 1955. In the next year, the 

division published Circular 566, Bibliography of Solid Adsorbents, 1943 to 1953, a 1500-page volume containing nearly 14000 scientific abstracts. These publications, 

along with the others mentioned in other sections, continued the Bureau's long tradition of publishing such compendia as a service to industry and science. This service 

was to become a formalized activity of the Bureau in the National Standard Reference 

Data System. 

The Kelly Committee had pointed out that the organic chemistry program of the 

Chemistry Division was insufficient to keep pace with industrial developments. This was true, although it could be argued that it was impossible for any single organization 

to keep up with the explosive growth of the postwar chemical industries. There was, 

however, one area in which the Bureau not only kept up with industry and science 

but was in fact a world leader. This area was that of carbohydrate chemistry, and 

specifically the synthesis of sugars with radioactive carbon-14 in a specific location in 

the molecule. In fact, except for some early work in 1951 on the purification of a large 

number of hydrocarbons and sulfur compounds obtained from other laboratories and 

thence sold as standard samples, and some work in 1957 on the relative strength of 

Annual Report. 1953-1954: 38. 

Annual Report, 1952: 26. 

222 
After final crystallization. Benjamin Bruckner placed position-labeled radioactive 

sugars in the bottom of small weighing bottles in amounts of 10 mg to 100 mg, and 

the exact weight of each sample was determined. The samples were then distributed in 

the weighing bottles to other laboratories. 

aromatic carboxylic acids in benzene, all the Bureau's organic chemistry research was 

on the synthesis of such sugars.'59 In work sponsored first by the AEC because they were in biology, where scientists are interested in discovering the mechanism 

by which a molecule becomes either a source of energy or contributes to the structure 

of living cells," the Bureau not only synthesized a large number of such labeled 

For an account of the Bureau's abortive efforts to create an industry to produce levulose and other rare sugars, see MFP. 265-266. 60 Annual Report, 1952: 24. 

223 
sugars, but also became a supplier of them to laboratories engaged in such work. It 

clearly had been planned that industrial organizations would manufacture and sell them 

but, except for two substances, this did not occur. The synthetic methods were simply 

too complex and expensive. It is clear that the AEC came to the Bureau for this work 

because of the competence of Horace S. Isbell, its leader, and he in turn was involved 

in this work because of the Bureau's long history in sugar chemistry, dating from the 

days of its involvement in determining the sugar content of solutions by polarimetry 

for customs purposes.'6' 

A related area made more important by the outbreak of the Korean War was that of 

the compound dextran. Formed by the action of the bacterial agent Leuconostoc 

mesenteroides on glucose, dextran was a polysaccharide with utility as a blood extender, and hence a substitute for plasma. Quite a bit of work borrowed from polymer 

chemistry went into the determination of molecular weight and molecular weight 

distribution, with good success. Along with its use as a plasma substitute, dextran, 

when cross-linked, found industrial use as a "molecular sieve" for the separation of 

polymers. 

The division's program in surface chemistry might better be called one in colloid 

chemistry. Clearly concerned with keeping up with the rapid shift in industry from 

soaps to synthetic detergents, the division carried out a program on the characterization 

of the colloidal state of detergents in solution. Using the polymer chemistry techniques 

of viscometry and light scattering, the size and shape of micelles formed from anionic, 

cationic, and neutral detergents were determined. But these were complicated micelles 

because, in the ionic detergents, they had a charge, thus being more analogous to 

polyelectrolytes than neutral polymers. The charge was determined by electrophoresis, 

and much interesting and important information was collected. 

The work in electrodeposition was for the most part concerned with the deposition 

of difficult metals, much of it supported by military agencies. Aluminum and molybde- num were of particular interest, but other metals, such as zirconium, titanium, and 

beryllium were also of concern. Since none of these can be deposited from aqueous 

solution, practically all the work was concerned with the important questions of 

deposition from nonaqueous solutions and fused salts. It was interesting work, more in 

the nature of process invention and development than research, but had no evident 

connection to the Bureau's standards and measurement functions, which probably 

bothered the Kelly Committee. 

During the period 1950-1957, there was no obvious change in the program of the 

division. Its work had kept up with the needs of the times but, at least in organization, 

it remained a large and somewhat disparate collection of work. That this began to be 

of concern to Bureau management is shown in the method of describing the division's 

work in the Annual Report. Up to 1956 the reporting was done by the eleven division 

sections, or even subdivisions of those sections. In 1956 there was a definite change 

with the work reported in six categories that were only slightly related to the division 

organization. And in 1957 the work was reported in only four categories, three 

161 MFP. 151-152. 265. 

224 
In this apparatus developed by NBS for the electrodeposition of molybdenum from 

fused salts, the molybdenum was deposited from a solution of potassium hexachloromolybdate (Ill) in a molten mixture of alkali halides. Heat was supplied by an induction furnace (center). The glass cylinder projecting out of the furnace contained the 

molten mixture within a graphite crucible. An argon atmosphere was used in the glass 

cylinder to prevent contamination. 

of which were discipline oriented: inorganic and analytical chemistry, physical and 

electrochemistry, organic chemistry, and air pollution. This was a harbinger of the 

changes to come when the division would be divided in two in 1960, and another step 

would be taken in implementing Astin's response to the Kelly Committee Report. 

225 
MECHANICS 

Involved in research on the mechanics of solids, liquids, and gases, the Mechanics 

Division, under its chief, Walter Ramberg, also worked on the mechanics of stnictures, in fluid mechanics, in the measurement of sound and vibrations, and in the measurement of various mechanical properties of materials. It had custody of mechanical 

standards such as those of pressure and flow rates in fluids, and calibrated flow meters, 

strain gages, microphones, and related instruments. More important, it had custody 

of the standard kilogram and calibrated weights and measures of capacity. It also 

undertook the acceptance testing of structural materials, mechanical appliances, and 

instruments for other government agencies, industry, and the public. In mid-i 953 it was a large division with a total staff of 194 (129 professionals) organized into seven 

sections,'62 two of which, Hydraulics and Mass, the Kelly Committee found in need 

of attention. A full 69 percent of the division's work was supported by other agencies, 

with the military and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics the main 

sponsors. 

Considering its capabilities and its sponsors, it is not surprising that a large thrust of 

the division's work was concerned with high-speed jet aircraft and rocketry problems. 

This work continued throughout the whole period with three main directions: air 

flow past a surface and turbulence in the boundary layer, the response of aircraft 

structures to imposed loads, and the use of the Bureau's electronic computer, SEAC, 

for various engineering calculations. 

The study of turbulence made good progress in a very difficult field. It featured the use of a hot-wire anemometer to measure velocities, density, and temperature of the 

flowing air at velocities up to twice the speed of sound. The sensing element of the 

instrument was made from platinum-rhodium alloy wire only 1.2 in diameter. 

Since this wire was tiny, the frequency response was enormous, approaching 70 kHz. 

Its small size meant that rapidly varying quantities could be measured in a small region 

and mapped out by moving the sensor. One of the first discoveries was that the transition from a turbulent boundary layer to the laminar-flow region above it was diffuse 

rather than sharp, with fingers of turbulence reaching up into the laminar region. In 

this transition region, the flow is alternately chaotic and laminar. Turbulent spots first 

form, then grow as they move downstream, and it was possible to measure their "rate 

of propagation, shape, and other significant features."63 It was also found that surface 

roughness influenced the transition layer, with greater roughness inducing a transition 

at lower velocities, but this was also influenced by the nature of the roughness. 

The work on aircraft structures was partly theoretical and partly experimental, the 

latter sometimes concerned with matters of aircraft performance or durability and 

sometimes with matters of aircraft production. Thus, driven by the industrial need to 

62 The sections were Sound; Mechanical Instruments; Aerodynamics; Engineering Mechanics; Hydraulics; 

Mass; and Capacity. Density, and Fluid Meters. A year later Hydraulics was abolished, Aerodynamics was changed to Fluid Mechanics, and a new section, Combustion and Controls, was added. 

'i" Annual Report, 1955: 49. 

226 
determine the formability of high-strength aircraft sheet, a photo-grid technique for 

accurately determining elongation was developed, and a light, stiffened skin composed 

of two facing sheets separated by spacers was developed. The mechanical properties of 

aircraft structures of most concern were fatigue and creep, the latter driven by the high 

temperatures generated in the aircraft skin during operation at high speeds. The main 

aim of the work, and one that underlay all this research, was not merely to measure 

the common mechanical properties of materials, but to see how materials behaved in 

structures with their inevitable rivets, windows and doors, and various other types of 

stress raisers. In fatigue, for example, the fatigue strength of beams with rivet holes in 

them was measured and compared with the strength of smooth specimens, and in 1955 a test program was begun to determine the fatigue life of aircraft beams under the 

spectrum of loads typical of aircraft maneuvers. 

The theoretical work developed into the use of the SEAC in aircraft engineering 

problems. An example was the use of the computer to calculate the deflection of 

tapered cantilever beams per unit load—a calculation that took three minutes on the 

machine, but which would have taken two days to do by hand. Other uses were in the 

structural analysis of delta wings; in vibration problems for computing the normal 

modes of aircraft, using a model with 63 degrees of freedom; in the calculation of 

temperature distributions, again driven by concern for high-speed flight; and in analytically evaluating the load-carrying capacity of the whole structure prior to testing. 

227 

The NBS supersonic wind tunnel produced wind velocities up to twice the speed of sound. Inset: Close-up 

of the test section shows the hot-wire anemometer probe mounted in the central part. Direction of air flow is from left to right. The glass sides of the test section permit schlieren pictures to be made of the air flow. 
After its formation, the Combustion and Controls Section was also involved in 

aircraft work with the study of jet-engine combustion and the development of a combustion chamber, and on jet-engine controls, particularly thermocouples which are used 

to prevent the occurrence of dangerously-high temperatures at the jet-engine exhaust. 

When considered with additional projects, such as the measurement of the moisture 

content of the atmosphere at high altitudes; the development of n-heptane as a standard 

metering fluid for aircraft carburetors; and the instrumentation of a control stick to determine the forces exerted by the pilot, it is clear that a large part of the division, while 

doing valuable work, was almost an adjunct of the military and civilian government 

aviation agencies. There was no indication that the situation was about to change. 

In addition to the work on turbulence just described, the division carried out 

research on flow in liquids. In particular, there was considerable work on aspects of 

liquid flow in bodies of water in different situations. Three main problems were addressed over a number of years: the effects that occur when a dam breaks; the effect 

of wind in causing waves in shallow bodies, driven by concern for the effect of 

hurricanes in such bodies of water as Lake Okechobee and shallow reservoirs; and 

density-driven flows at the mouth of estuaries where salt water mixes with fresh. In 

each case, both theoretical and experimental approaches were taken, with generally 

important results. For example, in a dam break it was found that the roughness of the 

surface of the valley through which the water rushes is important in controlling the 

flow, and that at the beginning of the flow from the break, the viscosity of the water 

rather than the resistance of the turbulence, is important in determining the flow. In the 

wind-wave coupling problem, it was possible to "illuminate certain aspects of energy 

transfer"64 from wind to waves, and thus provide a means for estimating the magnitude of waves and tides. Finally, in the density-driven flow problem, it was possible to 

estimate the effect of such properties as density differences, river velocity, depth of 

channel, etc., on the characteristics of the density-current flow. 

The division had a vigorous and productive program in sound and its sibling, 

vibration. A large part of it consisted of the unique Bureau functions of calibration of 

instruments, primarily microphones and vibration pickups, but it extended into other 

areas of the science of acoustics. In the calibration of microphones and pickups, the 

general thrust of the work was to increase the frequency range over which,the services 

could be provided, and to measure high-level noises such as found near jet engines. 

Thus, while work was started to extend the upper frequency limit of the calibration 

range of microphones to 100 kHz, the range of microphones having absolute calibrations was extended from 50 Hz to 10 000 Hz up to 1 Hz to 20 000 Hz. The main 

problem in the measurement of jet noise is that the sound level is so high that microphones can be damaged. To measure such loud sounds, a null method was devised to 

protect the sensitive microphone, and the same arrangement proved to be useful as a sound source in calibrating vibration pickups. Since noise from a jet engine can 

be loud enough to cause hearing damage, the Sound Section began to look for ways 

to reduce jet noise. A method was developed to measure the total sound energy 

produced by a jet engine which was then applied to models of jets and to various 

devices proposed to reduce the noise level. 

'64AnnuaI Report, 1955: 48. 

228 
The measurement of sound velocity, as might be expected, was an area of some activity. Careful measurement of sound velocity in monatomic gases found a very 

small degree of dispersion; it was the first time such observations had been made. In a completely different application, an instrument was developed for the continuous determination of sound velocity in sea water. Sound was also used to measure physical 

properties of materials, leading to the production of an instrument that continuously 

measured the viscosity of gases. Sound measurements are also necessary for architectural purposes, and in the area of architectural acoustics, improved methods of measurement of transmission loss through walls were developed, as well as improved 

methods for the measurement of reverberation. Not only was sound investigated, but 

also its physical perception, or hearing. Again, the emphasis was on measurements and 

their calibration. There was a considerable difference between the British and the 

U.S. standard sound pressures for the threshold of hearing, with the British standard 

being a full 10 decibels lower than the U.S. standard. To investigate this difference, a program to measure the sound pressure in the ear canal at the threshold of hearing was started on 100 persons and eventually led to the study of measuring the acoustic 

impedance of the ear to an earphone. Also concerned with hearing was the calibration 

of bone-conduction hearing aids. Measurements on a human head led to the conclusion 

that it would be possible to make a model of a human head, or "mastoid," that could 

be used for calibrating such devices. 

One of the most important quantities derived directly from the basic units of mass, 

length, and time is force, and its relatives, stress and pressure, are equally important. 

Hence one of the basic functions of the division was to provide standards for these 

quantities, and the main thrust of the work was to extend the range over which 

standards and calibration services could be provided. In force measurements, four 

3 million pound capacity compression dynamometers for use in calibrating large testing 

machines were themselves calibrated. The dynamometers used wire-resistance strain 

gages as output devices and increased the range over which calibrations could be 

performed from 2.6 million pounds to 12 million pounds. The same need to extend the 

scale was felt in pressure measurements. At the high end, a new piston gage to serve as the national standard in the range from 50 000 psi to 200 000 psi was built. At the 

low end, responding to needs from high-altitude flight, the development of an instrument for accurate measurements of pressures up to two inches of mercury was undertaken. While all this pressure work was going on, the development of the diamondanvil cell in the Mineral Products Division would revolutionize the attainment of very 

high pressures. 

In the Mass Section, the division had custody of the standard kilogram that was the 

national standard of mass. The section spent most of its time carrying out calibrations 

which, in the words of the Kelly Committee, "requires great technical skill but 

relatively little scientific knowledge." The committee went on to point out that "some 

imagination and scientific knowledge might be introduced in this There is no evidence that this was done. In 1950 a re-evaluation of the equal-armed, double-beam 

Kelly Committee Report: 45. 

229 
Apparatus used by NBS in studies of sound propagation through gases. The superstructure on the table supported equipment for measuring the pressure of gas in the double-crystal interferometer on the table in front 

of it. The cabinet on the right contained the principal electrical circuits for measuring the phase and amplitude of the sound that traversed the test gas. Instruments for automatically recording the phase and amplitude were above the cabinet and at the right end of the table. 

balance was undertaken (results not known), and in 1955 a double-beam balance with a capacity of 1000 lb was constructed. With a sensitivity of about 500 mg, a half-ton 

weight could be calibrated to one part per million. It was designed to be used by state 

weights and measures laboratories, and working drawings were made available to 

balance and scale manufacturers. 

230 
This setup in the NBS 10-million-pound testing machine demonstrated the calibration procedure for a 3-million-pound dynamometer. The device was loaded against three I-million-pound dynamometers which 

had previously been calibrated. 

MATERIALS RESEARCH 

The bulk of the Bureau's materials work was carried out in three divisions: Organic 

and Fibrous Materials, Metallurgy, and Mineral Products, representing—at least in the 

fifties—the major classes of materials in the economy. There was also specialized 

work on materials in other divisions, such as rheology of polymers and thermodynamic 

properties in the Heat and Power Division, and dielectric properties in the Electricity 

Division, but these were relatively small efforts. In 1953, the three materials divisions 

had a combined staff of 478, of whom 284 were professionals. These three divisions 

did testing and specifications development but in widely varying degrees. Thus. 

17 percent of the total funds in Organic and Fibrous Materials, were expended in 

these categories; in Metallurgy the funding percentage was 9.7 percent; and in Mineral 

Products it was a very substantial 40 percent, mostly for acceptance testing of 

231 

- 
portland cement for the Also showing wide disparity were division 

sizes and the fraction of transferred funds that each had. The largest of the materials 

divisions was Mineral Products with a staff of 244, only 121 of whom were professionals. Organic and Fibrous Materials had a staff of 169, but 115 were professionals, 

and Metallurgy—the smallest of the Bureau's seventeen divisions—had a staff of 68, 

48 of whom were professionals. Other agency funds also showed wide disparity, with 

percentages of 68 percent for Organic and Fibrous Materials, 48 percent for Metallurgy, and 82 percent for Mineral Products. 

These divisions were all concerned with the basic problems of materials science: the 

enhancement of desirable properties, the relation between properties and microstructure, determining degradation mechanisms, measuring and improving durability, 

and the synthesis of new materials. Of course, the nature of the materials determined 

the actual work carried out. 

Organic and Fibrous Materials 

This division was organized partly along materials lines and partly along disciplinerelated lines. Thus, five of its eight sections were named after materials—Rubber, 

Textiles, Paper, Leather, and Organic Plastics—and two were more generally 

oriented—Polymer Structure, and Testing and Specifications. The Polymer Structure 

Section was the division's basic research section; and the Testing and Specifications 

Section handled all of the division's testing and specifications work, but the technical 

personnel come from the other sections. The eighth section was Dental Research, a special case. The division's work is best described as coming under natural polymers—cellulosic 

and proteinaceous—concerning materials such as leather and paper, and under synthetic polymers—plastics and elastomers, although the latter includes natural rubber. 167 The development of the synthetic polymer area formed the bulk of the scientific and 

industrial activity in polymeric materials. 

In studies of elastomers and plastics, the principal areas of concern were mechanical 

properties and their time dependences; failure mechanisms of plastics; various thermodynamic properties, but particularly crystallization; the degradation of plastics; and 

some synthesis work. Late in the period, with the purchase of an ultracentrifuge, 

solution studies began seriously, leading eventually to standard samples for molecular 

weight. 

The mechanical properties work was a mixture of basic and applied, the basic 

primarily in the area of natural and synthetic rubbers, and the applied generally in 

plastics. This plastics work was largely supported by the military and was concerned 

with various aircraft problems. 

Kelly Committee Report: 48-57. 

The division played an important part in the wartime development of synthetic rubber. A good account 

is given in MFP, 410-414. 

232 
In the work on rubbers using polyisobutylene as a model elastomer, the temperature 

dependence of viscosity was determined to be the same as that of the "retarded 

elasticity," a result that would later find expression in equations for the temperature 

dependence of all viscoelastic properties of elastomers. Then, in a study of pure gum 

vulcanizates—such as a cross-linked elastomer without filler, such as a rubber band—it 

was found that the ratio of Young's modulus to stress was a specific function of the 

elongation. Applicable to both natural rubber and a number of synthetic rubbers, as well as to creep in tension, the expression was not applicable to elastomers containing 

carbon black. In subsequent work, apparatus for measuring bulk modulus at frequencies of 50 Hz to 5000 Hz was developed. The apparatus would be used to study the 

behavior of rubbers in the low-temperature region in which the rubber converts from an elastic material to a hard plastic. 

The work on the mechanical properties of plastics was much more directed. One 

study was on aircraft canopies, which were made of acrylic. The study was designed to 

find the source of mechanical failure in the canopies, which crazed extensively in 

service, especially when laminated with a sheet of polyvinyl butyral to protect against 

impact damage. The Bureau found that if the acrylic is biaxially stretched, the tendency to craze almost disappears, and the acrylic develops the high-impact properties 

of the laminate. In a similar vein, in a study of the failure of aircraft windows, it was found that creep under the thermal gradient existing in the windows during flight leads 

to failure, and that this occurs more readily with thermosetting resins than with thermoplastics. Perhaps the most important results of these studies were the stimulation of 

research on the nature of crazes and the microscopical study of fracture surfaces. These 

studies provided important evidence for what was later learned about crazes, namely 

that, unlike a crack, the two surfaces of the craze are connected by a forest of fine 

fibrils. 

Thermodynamic studies were carried out, particularly on the glass transition and on crystallization. The glass transition of silicone rubber was measured to assess its utility as an elastomer at low temperatures, but a study of the effect of pressure on the glass 

transition temperature was scientifically more interesting. Contrary to what was later 

found for this subtle measurement, these early measurements found no effect. The 

glass transition temperature of copolymers was also investigated, and by analysis of 

published data, an expression for calculating the glass temperature of copolymers 

from those of their constituents was developed. But perhaps better known were the 

division's studies on crystallization in polymers. Such studies demonstrated crystallization in the various forms of natural rubber and other polymers, and found that a melting point exists. The determination of its actual thermodynamic value would, 

however, depend upon techniques developed elsewhere in the Bureau. 

Degradation of polymers was a concern, but under specific conditions. The action 

of temperature, oxygen, and ultraviolet radiation on polystyrene—one of the com- ponents of GR-S (Government Rubber-Styrene, a copolymer of butadiene and styrene) 

synthetic rubber—was chosen. Using ultraviolet, infrared, and mass spectrometry to 

detect reaction products, it was possible to deduce the reactions involved and to postulate mechanisms for them. This work developed into a study of polymer behavior 

under the action of high-energy radiation to attempt to deduce why some polymers are degraded by this treatment while others had their properties enhanced. Using a new 

233 
2520-curie cobalt-60 source for the studies, it was found that reactions proceed by free 

radical intermediates, and the course of a reaction could lead to desirable cross-linking, or in other cases to undesirable depolymerization. As a corollary to these degradation 

studies, new polymers (generally fluorine-containing) with elastomeric properties for 

use at high temperatures were synthesized. Driven by aerospace concerns, this work 

was to continue for some time. 

Finally, somewhat as a legacy from the division's work on synthetic rubber during 

World War II, there were a number of other studies in rubber, both natural and 

synthetic. A program for the standardization of Government synthetic rubbers was 

begun involving methods for chemical analysis and physical testing. The analysis of 

mixtures of GR-S synthetic rubber and natural rubber was accomplished by thermally 

decomposing the rubber and using infrared spectroscopy to analyze the decomposition 

products. In a somewhat unrelated activity, the heat of vulcanization of natural rubber was determined by adiabatic calorimetry. 

The division's work in natural polymers and the products derived from them— 

leather, paper, textiles—grew out of the Bureau's work in acceptance testing for 

Government purchases. This led to the development of many tests for often specialized 

properties—fold endurance of paper and abrasion resistance of textiles are examples— 

used in such testing, and in specifications for these materials. And one of the major 

concerns was durability and the laboratory means for assessing it. By 1950 the division was expert in all these subjects, as attested by its work in preserving the Charters of 

Freedom. Along with, and supporting this work, were more fundamental studies on various aspects of the natural materials involved, such as cotton, silk, wool, and 

collagen. 

During the period, there was work on the structure of collagen and cotton. In cotton, 

the aim of the research was to determine both the external and "internal" surface areas. 

The latter includes the interface between crystallites and amorphous regions in the 

model of cellulose structure generally accepted at that time. Measurements of those areas by nitrogen adsorption at liquid nitrogen temperatures on untreated cotton, and on cotton which had been swollen with water and then had the water removed by a process of solvent exchange, showed that the internal surface area can be up to eighty 

times the external surface area. It varied greatly, however, depending on the treatment 

of the cotton. In collagen studies, the amino acid composition was determined by paper 

chromatography, replacing older and far more tedious techniques. Seventeen of the 

eighteen amino acids were determined, all on the same sample of collagen. In related 

work, the pore structure of leather was measured microscopically down to the actual 

collagen fibrils. The studies showed that a myriad of pores exist in sizes down to less 

than 0.1 In another background study, the moisture content of leather as a function 

of relative humidity was determined at several temperatures. This permitted the calculation of heats, entropies, and free-energies for the water-absorption process. The study 

was then extended to development of a new method for the determination of watervapor permeability of leathers. This was accomplished, and the time for making these 

measurements was decreased from four days to one. 

234 
An NBS staff member inspected 

chromatograms used in determining the 

amino acid content of collagen, parent 

substance of leather. In the NBSdeveloped method, each component appeared as a separate colored patch on a sheet of cellulose paper. The amount 

of each amino acid present was determined by comparing the optical 

densities of the extracted patches with 

the appropriate calibration curves. 

The main emphasis of the studies on these natural materials, was, however, on their 

durability. Concerned with all the final products, from fur skins to shoe soles, these 

studies extended throughout the fifties. One of the main products studied was paper, as it had always been. Here a number of studies were performed: the development of a method to measure aldehyde content, which was known to rise when paper degrades in 

storage; the degradation of cellulose by ultraviolet light, which was shown to be 

caused by photolysis of the alcohol groups in the cellulose to produce hydrogen gas 

and an aldehyde; and in ground-wood papers, where it was shown that clay coatings 

protect the paper from ultraviolet light. But perhaps the most important study, and 

one in which the Bureau made a unique contribution, was one that lasted twenty-six 

years. To put accelerated aging tests on a firm basis, the division had in 1928 

artificially aged some commercial rag papers by heating them to 100 °C for 

72 hours. Properties of the papers before and after aging were determined. 

Samples of the artificially-aged and original papers were then stored and periodically 

tested. After 26 years the final assessment was made. Results showed that there 

was a fair correlation between accelerated aging and natural aging for changes in 

physical properties (i.e., the folding endurance decreased to half its value), but 

there was very little change in chemical properties. Besides putting the accelerated 

aging tests on a firmer basis, the results showed that a "distinction must be 

235 
Thelma Worksman measured the folding endurance of a paper specimen. The specimen was alternately folded, under I kilogram tension, in opposite directions until failure 

occurred. The number of folds until failure was indicated on the small horizontal wheel 

behind and right of the specimen. Statistical analysis of the Bureau's data on folding 

endurance showed a fair correlation between natural and accelerated aging. 

made between the permanence of the cellulose fibers and that of the properties of the 

paper sheet."68 

Durability studies were not limited to paper. In other studies it was found that the 

presence of copper salts used in dyeing was correlated with the weakening of fur skins. 

A study of the effects of nitrogen tetroxide, an air contaminant found in smog, indicated that the natural cellulosic fibers from cotton and ramie were degraded, but the 

chemically similar viscose rayon was not. And a study of the effects of ozone on the 

degradation of cotton showed that the effect was small compared to other mechanisms 

of degradation. 

Among all this polymers work was the special case of the Dental Research Section. 

Peopled almost entirely by research associates from the American Dental Association, 

this group was the principal research arm of American dentistry. Formed in the early 

I 920s,'69 the main areas of study were the structure of the tooth material itself, the 

development of new materials for dentistry, and the development of dental equipment. 

Studies of the tooth material went on throughout the whole period, using primarily 

x-ray diffraction to determine the crystal structure of the tooth material, and fluorAnnual Report, 1955: 58. 

271-272. 

236 
escence to denote the boundaries between the enamel and dentin phases of the tooth. 

It was established that the tooth consists of some form of hydroxyapatite (Ca10(P04)6(OH)2) 

with a second phase of calcite, CaCO3. The complicated calcium phosphate-calcium 

carbonate system merited continuous further study. 

The dental materials studied were the dental amalgams, dental resins, and impression 

materials. Along with studies of the normal mercury-silver amalgam, a new approach 

was tried for the filling material. Alloys of gallium, chosen because its melting point is 

only 29.5 °C, were tried as replacements for the standard system, but with uncertain 

results. The normal acrylic for dentures received considerable attention to improve its 

properties, and for impression plates, a mixture of zinc oxide and eugenol was tried, 

but it did not replace the standard material. 

Significant advances were, however, made in dental equipment. A hydraulic-driven 

drill operating at 61 000 rpm promised to tame the dentists' instrument of torture, since 

it was well known that discomfort is greatly reduced as the rotational speed increases. 

And a panoramic x-ray machine was developed that could photograph the whole mouth 

Developed by NBS in cooperation with the Air Force, the panoramic x-ray machine rapidly took a single 

x-ray picture of the entire dental arch. 

237 

with a single exposure. 
Metallurgy 

The smallest of the Bureau's divisions at the time of the Kelly Committee study, the 

Metallurgy Division under John G. Thompson, was organized along strictly disciplinary lines. Its four sections were Thermal Metallurgy, Chemical Metallurgy, Mechanical Metallurgy, and Corrosion. The small size of the division and its lack of fundamental work, by which the committee clearly meant solid state physics, deeply 

disturbed the committee. Indeed, it went so far as to recommend that the Solid State 

Physics Section of the Atomic and Radiation Physics Division be transferred to Metallurgy. The transfer was not made, but in 1957 a new section, called Metal Physics, was established under the leadership of Lawrence M. Kushner, showing that Bureau man- agement was eager to press on along the road to fundamental research. 

The largest division activity was the study of mechanical properties. Two areas of 

continuous investigation were fatigue and creep, but tensile and impact properties were 

also of concern. In many cases, the materials studied were of military and aerospace 

interest. One very specific study was the fracture behavior of steel from failed ship 

plates, which is discussed in the next section. 

Some of this mechanical work was designed to get at the fundamentals of the subject and some was, quite honestly, applied work. In fatigue studies of aluminum alloys, 

for example, it was found that prestressing, if done properly, could improve the fatigue 

life. Other studies were concerned with the determination of fatigue life of springs. 

In more fundamental studies it was shown that the increase in lattice spacing upon 

fatiguing was not related to fatigue failure, as had been postulated, but to cold work. A 

detailed study of crack initiation in fatigue in aluminum alloys found that cracks 

nucleated on slip bands. To study this process further, a small fatigue device that could 

be used under a microscope was built. With this device and time-lapse movies, the 

initiation of a crack was followed; it was found that at one stage of crack development, 

material is extruded from the incipient crack. In a similar study, the appearance of 

cracks in large-grained aluminum alloys under fatigue was studied by photometric 

recording. That study showed that the cracks were initiated in the interior of the grains 

rather than at the grain boundaries. 

Another constant theme was creep. In a long program on the study of copper and 

nickel and their alloys, pure copper, nickel, and alloys of 70-30 and 30-70 coppernickel were studied. In pure copper, cold drawing increased the creep resistance, as did strain aging in pure nickel. None of the existing equations for predicting creep 

behavior was found suitable for predicting the results. 

Titanium, due to its high strength-to-weight ratio, and other high-strength metals were studied. The tensile properties of the former were studied down to liquid nitrogen 

temperatures, and notch sensitivity was tested under impact from 300 °C to —196 °C. 

As expected, the sensitivity increased as the temperature decreased, but differences 

in different lots were correlated with differences in the concentration of interstitial 

elements, particularly oxygen. In a related development for the military, the division 

entered into a program for the development of high-strength steel—over 250 000 lb/in2 

—with sufficient ductility for aircraft uses, such as for landing gears. Such alloys were 

developed, and fatigue properties were being determined near the end of the period. 

238 
In a more basic study, the plastic deformation of metals was studied by x rays and 

metallography in an ambitious attempt to identify the effects of dislocations, grain 

boundary migration, and lattice misorientation. It was found that changes in Young's 

modulus under applied stress are different in different directions, both for polycrystalline rods and for individual crystals. 

The division had a significant effort in the preparation of pure materials. With this 

effort went the study of phases in alloys and the determination of constitution (phase) 

diagrams. Thus, in 1950 the division announced the preparation of ultra-pure iron, with a purity of 99.995 percent, and an even purer form with only 30 ppm of impurities was produced 3 years later. Highly pure samples of chromium were also made, and it was 

found that the metal was more ductile when dissolved gases were removed. And a number of studies of phases in various alloys were made such as graphite in nodular 

iron, where it was shown that the shape of the graphite phase, not its crystal structure, was what improved the ductility of the iron; the solubility of chromium carbides in 

stainless steel; and, inevitably, the conversion of martensite to austenite—the reaction 

responsible for the hardening and strengthening of most steels. But what is most 

impressive is the number of constitution diagrams that were determined. Spurred by 

atomic energy requirements, a number of binary phase diagrams of uranium with 

beryllium, titanium, silver, gold, and platinum were produced, as well as magnesium 

with several of the lanthanide metals. And spurred by jet-engine developments, the 

complex iron-chromium-nickel-molybdenum system used for turbine blade alloys was 

worked over thoroughly. 

Toward the end of the period, the division began a project that brought it into co- operation with the metrologists in the Optics and Metrology Division. While the 

Bureau was capable of calibrating gage blocks to one part per million, industry needed an accuracy of one part in 10 million. It made no sense to provide this level of 

accuracy if the material (steel) from which the gage blocks were made was not dimensionally stable at the same level or better. The Metallurgy Division therefore began a program on developing ultra-stable gage blocks, and this continued as a cooperative 

project between the two divisions. Involving specialized heat and surface treatments, 

the problem was solved in later years. 

With the transfer in 1947 of the Corrosion Section from the Electricity and Electronics Division (where it was called Underground Corrosion) to the Metallurgy Division, a new line of work was added to the division's program. Corrosion activities began at 

the Bureau in 1910 with the study of corrosion caused by stray currents. In 1922 this 

work was extended to a more general study of underground corrosion. Eventually the 

Bureau operated 128 test sites throughout the United States, representing all the major 

types of soils found in the Nation. At these sites, samples of metals of very different 

kinds were buried, periodically unearthed, and their condition assessed. With this 

history, it is not surprising that the work of the section was in part very practically 

oriented and, in part, less directly applicable laboratory work. 

By the fifties, the underground corrosion studies had been developed and extended 

to other forms of environmental corrosion. Exposure sites were set up at Hampton 

239 
Roads, Virginia, for atmospheric corrosion in a marine environment, and in Washington for an inland atmosphere. With support from the Navy, a large number of samples 

of various stainless steels and aluminum and magnesium alloys were exposed at these 

sites. Metals for more general use, such as aluminum for house sidings, were also 

assessed. The underground corrosion work continued with, however, a background 

research effort, the culmination of which was the development of an electrochemical 

technique for determining the instantaneous rate of corrosion of a buried specimen. 

And in 1957, "a final report on the studies of underground corrosion conducted by the 

National Bureau of Standards" was published.'70 Authored by Melvin Romanoff, and 

containing a detailed account of all the Bureau's results at the 128 test sites, this 

publication became the bible of the corrosion engineer. 

Laboratory research work in corrosion centered about two main themes: the corrosion rates of different faces in metal single crystals, and stress corrosion. In the singlecrystal work, aluminum and copper single crystals were studied. With the aluminum 

crystals it was found that in acidic media, the <Ill> crystal faces corroded more 

rapidly than the <100> faces, while in basic media the opposite was true. Similar 

results were found with copper single crystals, where oxidation in the presence of 

water and oxygen was faster on some faces than on others. With the same system, it 

was found that light strongly increased the corrosion rate and indeed, for faces with a thick (1000 A to 2000 A) film, light helped the dissolution of the film. 

The stress-corrosion cracking work was concerned with establishing mechanisms for 

this deleterious process, but progress was only hard-won. Generally, the studies seemed 

to confirm the accepted mechanism that crack growth starts at a break in the protective 

passive film, but how it continues remained a problem. In more specific studies with 

alpha brass and low-carbon steel, it was shown that cracks are intergranular and along 

those grain boundaries of high energy because of high crystalline mismatch between 

grains. But then the contrary result was found that, with beta brass, the cracks were transgranular. These were puzzling results. 

Ship Failures 

Since all Federal Government agencies own equipment, from typewriters to aircraft 

carriers, they are naturally interested in the cause of failures of this equipment. In addition, some agencies are interested in such failures because, like the various agencies of 

the Department of Transportation, they have the responsibility to set regulations to prevent the failure of equipment, thus preventing injury and loss of life of the general 

public. Consequently, from the Bureau's very early years, other agencies have sent it 

pieces of failed equipment with a request to determine the cause of the failure. The 

Bureau's entry into underground corrosion began with the study of the corrosion of 

underground gas pipelines by stray currents from street railways. A number of interesting failures analyzed by the Bureau are described by John A. Bennett and G. Willard 

Quick in Circular 550. 171 Since most machinery and equipment is made of metals, the 

M. Romanoff. Underground Corrosion. Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Circular 579; April 1957. 

J. A. Bennett, 0. W. Quick. Mechanical Failures of Metals in Service. Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Circular 

550; September 1954. 

240 
Four test sites illustrative of the varying environments in which ferrous specimens were installed for periods 

of up to seventeen years in studies of underground corrosion. Upper, left to right, Lake Charles clay at El 

Vista, Texas; Merced silt loam at Buttonwillow, California. Lower, left to right, tidal marsh at Charleston, 

South Carolina. Hagerstown loam at Loch Raven, Maryland. 

241 
Metallurgy Division was generally involved, and because design problems may have 

contributed to the failures, the Mechanics Division sometimes became involved. 

In later years, building research scientists also took part and their participation extended to the investigation of natural disasters such as earthquakes. 

One of the most important series of failure investigations in the Bureau's history 

began in 1942 and was not ended until a final report was published in 1953.172 

Recognizing that shipping was to be a crucial factor in World War II, the Nation began a crash program of building merchant ships of various kinds and designs. To speed up 

the process of building the ships, the customary riveted construction of the ships was 

foregone for welding, which was much faster and provided more leak-proof joints. 

But almost immediately dire things began to happen. Some of the ships began to 

fail, a few by a crack running through the whole structure approximately amidships 

and transverse to the long axis of the ship, leaving the ship in two pieces. Others 

developed cracks of various sizes which, however, stopped before traversing the whole 

structure. These occurrences could have had a serious effect on the war effort, and in 

April 1943 the secretary of the navy convened a board of investigation to look into the 

problem. The board appointed a sub-board which set up and directed the execution of 

all phases of the inquiry as set forth by the board.'73 The board undertook a complete 

investigation of the problem, including technical and statistical analyses of all fractures; strength of the vessels; their loading and ballasting conditions; convoy routes; 

and, important from the Bureau's point of view, a laboratory study of the design, 

fabrication, and materials used in the construction of welded ships. The board made its 

final report in at which time its work was continued by the Ship Structures 

Committee, with the same membership plus the U.S. Army Transportation Corps. This 

committee supported the Bureau work from 1947 until its ending in 1953. 

The problem was not a small one. By April 1946, 4694 ships had been built and 970 

of them sustained "casualties" consisting of a total of 4720 fractures. Eight ships were 

lost: four were abandoned, one broke in two and was abandoned, and three broke in 

two with portions salvaged or scuttled. Another four broke in two but were not lost. 

Particularly important was the nature of the fracture, for unlike the behavior of ship 

steels in a laboratory tension test, there was very little evidence of any ductility. In 

the words of the board of investigation, "The fractures, in many cases, manifested 

172 M. L. Williams, G. A. Ellinger, "Investigation of Structural Failures of Welded Ships," Welding Journal, 

Welding Research Supplement 32 (1953): 498s-527s; M. L. Williams, G. A. Ellinger, "investigation of 

Fractured Plates Removed From Welded Ships," NBS Report, Dec. 9, 1948; "Failures in Welded Ships," 

Technical News Bulletin 37 (1953): 24-29. 

The members of the board of investigation were engineer-in-chief, U.S. Coast Guard; chief, Bureau of 

Ships, USN; vice chairman, Maritime Commission; and chief surveyor, American Bureau of Shipping. The 

sub-board consisted of representatives of the four member agencies and the War Metallurgy Committee of 

the National Academy of Sciences. 

"Final Report of a Board of Investigation Convened by Order of the Secretary of the Navy to Inquire Into 

the Design and Methods of Construction of Welded Steel Merchant Vessels," Welding Journal 26 (1947): 

569-6 19. 242 
themselves with explosive suddenness and exhibited a quality of brittleness which was 

not ordinarily associated with the behavior of a normally ductile material such as ship 

The fracture surface did not have the appearance of that seen in tensile tests 

and, most telling of all, there was no thinning of the material right up to the fracture 

surface. Indeed, even the paint was continuous right up to the edge of the crack, with 

the paint layer cracking along the fracture. It was more like the cracking of glass than 

the failure of structural steel. Metallurgical knowledge at the time could not explain the 

phenomenon. 

The Bureau was called in to help at the very beginning, and in 1943, after the formation of the board investigation, the Bureau's position was formalized. Early in 

that year, all merchant ships received a communication from the Coast Guard with 

directions for removing samples of material from a fractured plate: 

If steel is removed in repairing the fracture, two pieces about two feet square 

taken from opposite sides of the fracture and each including one side of the 

starting point, should be obtained.. . . Mark the steel samples with reference 

points. Indicate these reference points.. . on sketches . . . and then forward 

both samples and sketches to the Metallurgy Division, National Bureau of 

Standards, Washington, 

By 1952, the Bureau had received plates from 100 ships, sometimes receiving several 

plates from one ship. In all, the Bureau tested 130 plates. 

The investigation of the plates by the Metallurgy Division consisted of visual inspection of the fracture surface to locate the origin of the fracture, followed by a detailed 

examination of the fractures and welds; chemical analysis of the plates; tension tests; 

metallographic examinations as appropriate and necessary; and, most important as it 

turned out, Charpy V-notch impact tests. These last tests proved to be of crucial importance. In part, they measure the energy required to fracture a specimen with a notch in 

it. The higher the energy necessary for fracture, the greater the material's "notch 

toughness." This turned out to be the crucial factor in the failure of the ships.t77 

The Mechanics Division did not work on these plates from failures. Their assignment was to measure the stress distribution in various complex ship structures, such as bulkhead intersections. 

Ibid.. 569. 

ITh Ibid.. 605. 177 In detail, the specimen is a bar 55 mm X 10 mm X 10mm. A carefully shaped transverse notch 2 mm deep is machined at the center of one of the lateral surfaces. The specimen is supported at its ends and is 

impacted with a pendulum hammer on the surface behind the notch, thus breaking the bar. Measurement of 

the resulting amplitude of the pendulum swing gives the energy necessary to break the specimen. This is done over a range of temperatures. The notch toughness decreases with temperature. from typically over 50 ft lbf at 700 to 100°F to 5 ft lbf or less at 30 °F or lower for these ship plate steels. The tensile strength as measured on smooth tensile specimens rises with decreasing temperature. 

The results of the work of the Mechanics Division are given by William R. Campbell. Studies of 

Welded Ship Structure Specimens." Welding Journal 30 (1951): 68s-77s. 

243 
NBS staff from the Metallurgy Division took data during a tensile test at room temperature of an interrupted 

longitudinal specimen from a ship plate. 

In its study of the fractured plates, the Metallurgy Division workers found, 

starting points of the fractures could be traced, invariably, to a point of stress concentration at a notch resulting from structural or design details, welding defects, metallurgical imperfections or accidental damage." In short, the notch could be any stress raiser 

from a sharp corner on a hatch to a position of incomplete penetration in a weld. They 

also found that the steel in the plates passed the tensile strength and composition re- quirements. In looking at the service record of the failures, however, it was seen that 

there were relatively more failures at lower temperatures, and "the few failures that did 

occur at temperatures higher than about 50 °F were not as extensive or serious as many 

of the failures which occurred at lower temperatures."t79 

These observations did not answer the question of why some ships failed and others 

of the same design and service did not. To answer this question, the Bureau workers 

divided all the plates examined into three categories: plates in which the fracture was 

Williams and Ellinger, "Investigation of Structural Failures of Welded Ships": 522s. 

244 
initiated ("source" plates), those through which the fracture propagated without stopping ("through" plates), and those in which the fracture stopped ("end" plates). 

Measurements of the notch-impact properties of the steel from these three types of 

plates led to the solution to the problem. 

The laboratory results showed that when impact measurements were made at the 

temperature of failure in the ship, none of the source plates had a notch toughness as 

high as 15 ft lbf, the highest being 11.4 ft lbf. For the end plates, 33 percent had a notch toughness greater than 15 ft lbf, and the corresponding fraction of through plates 

was 9 percent. A value of fracture toughness of 15 ft lbf seemed to be critical. Consequently, a transition temperature, which was defined as that temperature at which the 

steel has a notch toughness of 15 ft lbf, was chosen as a criterion for comparison of the 

classes of plates. 

When the plates were analyzed with this criterion in mind, it was found that the 

average transition temperature in degrees Fahrenheit for the source plates was 100.7, 

for the through plates it was 67.4, and for the end plates it was 53.0. These numbers 

imply that in the source plates, failure could occur up to temperatures of 100 °F; while 

for end plates, temperatures above 53 °F were safe. Moreover, a more careful statistical 

analysis brought out two very interesting facts. Looking at the distribution of transition 

temperatures, it was found that, while for the through plates the distribution was approximately normal, it was hardly so for the source and end plates. For the source 

plates the distribution was skewed toward higher temperature, with one of the plates 

245 

This interrupted longitudinal specimen from a ship plate was examined in the NBS 

Metallurgy Division immediately after fracture. 
having a transition temperature of over 120 °F. For the end plates, the distribution was 

skewed toward lower temperature, with the highest transition temperature being 70 °F. 

Now the conditions for failure coUld be qualitatively laid out. A plate with a low 

notch toughness, from the tail of a distribution curve, had to be at a critical location in 

the ship structure where there was a stress concentration at an appropriately low temperature. When these two conditions were met, a running crack could occur and lead to 

catastrophic failure. These conditions were rarely met, and indeed only a very few of 

the many thousands of ship plates manufactured and placed in service failed, suggesting that lack of notch toughness was a borderline condition, but nevertheless one that 

could lead to serious consequences. 

The ship-failure problem was alleviated by design changes and improved welding 

practice. But increasing the notch toughness was a longer-range problem. The Bureau 

workers found that the composition of the steel was important, with carbon and 

phosphorus raising the transition temperature and manganese and silicon lowering it. 

Moreover, a finer grain size also improved the notch toughness, so that steel-making 

practice was important. These considerations were gradually incorporated into steel 

specifications, but the 15 ft lbf criterion became almost magical, being applied in cases 

where it had little relevance. 

Aside from its value in helping the war effort, the ship-plate investigation spurred a new interest in basic metallurgy in making tough steels. But perhaps the most important effect it had was to reawaken interest in the science of fracture, which had lain 

dormant since the mid-twenties, by the development of fracture mechanics. 

Mineral Products 

With a staff of 244 in 1953, the Mineral Products Division, under In C. Schoonover, was the largest of the materials divisions. Five of its sections—Porcelain and Pottery, 

Glass, Refractories, Enameled Metals, and Concreting Materials—were concerned with 

products, and two—Constitution and Microstructure, and Chemistry of Mineral 

Products—with more general disciplinary topics. A full 40 percent of the division's 

funds were, however, expended in the acceptance testing of concreting materials and 

the associated standards and specifications. The division maintained field stations 

for testing Government cement purchases in Seattle, Denver, San Francisco, and 

Allentown, Pennsylvania. This large amount of testing did not bother the Kelly 

Committee, which was concerned solely with Government purchases, but the activity 

would be discontinued by 1960 and the work taken over by research associates from 

the Portland Cement Association. 

The broad research program of the division could be classified in six categories, some of which were centered in a single section, and others which crossed section 

lines. The categories were: cement and concrete studies, coatings for metals, glass, 

properties of ceramics and ceramics for special purposes, phase equilibria, and 

standard x-ray patterns and crystal structure determination. 

Kelly Committee Report: 56. 

246 
The testing and specifications work on cement and concrete was backed up with a broad program of basic and applied research. A mere listing of the various activities 

gives a flavor of the work carried out: 

• Developed a means of speeding up standard tests for measuring heats of hydration of cements. 

• Studied the properties (particularly strength) of refractory concretes at intermediate temperatures above those at which a hydraulic bond is formed, but 

below those at which a ceramic bond (sintering) is formed. 

• Carried out studies on the durability of concreting materials under alternate 

freezing and thawing conditions, and studied the mechanism of reaction 

between some aggregates and the alkalies in cement. This reaction was known 

to cause deterioration and disintegration of concrete structures. In further 

durability studies, the reaction of portland cement with carbon dioxide was investigated. It was found that the reaction took place only in humid atmospheres, 

and carbon dioxide reduced the rate of hydration. 

• Began a program of basic research on systems containing soda, potash, lime, 

alumina, ferric oxide, and silica in cooperation with the Portland Cement 

Association. The ambitious aim was "to learn the effects of every variable in 

composition and heat treatment as reflected in the behavior of the 

This work led to an impressive number of phase-diagram studies of importance 

to cement and concrete. The studies included the systems lime-silica-water, 

lime-alumina-water, lime-alumina-silica-water, and multi-component systems of 

oxides of calcium, silica, and iron. 

• Studied the nature of cement hydration compounds by x-ray and electron 

diffraction, and found particles of 5 nm to 20 nm that may have resulted from 

the hydration of calcium silicate. 

• Investigated heat-resistant concrete for jet-aircraft airport aprons. The concrete was not very strong, and the mechanism of spalling was studied. 

The work on ceramic coatings progressed on two fronts: the old one of porcelaincoated metals, and a new one concerned with more modern problems. As in other 

divisions, a great deal of work, supported by other agencies, was concerned with 

jet-aircraft and nuclear-reactor problems. In Mineral Products the concerns were with 

coatings for the protection of engine rotor blades and metals in nuclear reactors at 

high temperatures. It was found that a coating composed of powdered chromium 

mixed with a vitreous alkali-free ceramic substantially increased the lifetime of 

molybdenum at I 800 °F. Similar results, and the production of a rough surface, were 

obtained with a chromium boride-nickel cermet (a mixture of powdered metal and 

ceramic) as a coating. In studies designed to determine the cause of deterioration, it 

was shown that the cause was hydrogen liberated from water in the ceramic coating 

Annual Report, 1953-1954: 67. 

247 
at the high operating temperature. Continuing on the studies of the mechanism of 

adhesion, it was found that the roughness of the metal surface was important, but in 

another study on the bonding of ceramic to I 8-chromium, 8-nickel stainless steel, 

copper ions in the ceramic were important in promoting adhesion to the metal. In 

results with related materials, it was found that a coating of barium silicate with dispersed fine particles of cerium oxide reduced the creep rate of 80-nickel, 20-chromium 

alloy by as much as 90 percent. This was thought to be caused by the ceramic preventing the diffusion of hydrogen into the metal. 

In coatings for nuclear reactors, not only was high-temperature durability important, 

but also the coating must not absorb neutrons. The best material found was a boronfree coating of a barium type combined with ceria-chromic oxide. This had a satisfactorily low neutron absorption cross section, and it reduced the oxidation of the 

substrate metal by 50 percent to 75 percent. 

In work on porcelain-coated metals, a program was started in which various items 

were placed in service in homes; their performance after a length of time was to be 

compared with that predicted by laboratory tests. While this new program was 

beginning, an older one was ending. In 1939, 864 porcelain samples had been placed on exposure racks to determine their weather resistance. In 1956 these samples were 

removed and brought into the laboratory for gloss and color difference measurements. 

The results were published. 

At the beginning of World War I, the United States was not capable of making 

optical glass for its war effort. The Bureau began a crash program to learn how to 

make this type of glass and set up a plant for its manufacture. Research was carried 

out during the period between the two wars and the plant operated continuously 

throughout World War The Korean War again called for the output of the plant. 

In the mid-fifties the Bureau's glass research consisted of two parts: production of special glasses for the military and research into the structure and properties of glasses. 

The production of glass and the associated development work consisted of manufacturing new glasses with special properties, the development of a continuous melting 

process, and the production of large optical elements. New glasses with increased 

transmissivity at both ends of the spectrum—particularly in the near infrared—were 

developed. Working with the ternary system, consisting of barium oxide and silica, 

plus titanium dioxide, lanthanum oxide, or tantalum oxide, the Bureau was able to prepare a number of special glasses with particularly high refractive index, good transmittance in the infrared, high (>800 °C) deformation temperature, and good resistance to 

chemical attack. It was also successful in developing a continuous process for the 

production of glass for making large optical pieces with diameters ranging from 6 in to 

20 in. And in a study for the navy, it learned how to make glass fibers with particularly high Young's modulus. Along with this development at work, it also manufactured optical glass, delivering 7500 lb to defense agencies in 1955. 

82 MFP, 187-188. 

248 
Dwight Moore of the Mineral Products Division examined enameled steel panels that had been exposed to the weather on the roof of the NBS industrial building for fifteen years. Similar specimens were exposed at St. Louis, Missouri, Lakeland, Florida, and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Measurement of changes in gloss and 

color were used to evaluate weather resistance of the various types of enamel that were included. 

The work on the structure and properties of glasses was mainly concerned with the 

measurement of various physical properties of glasses of different types and composition and trying to deduce something about the atomic structure from the results. For 

example, studies of glasses containing alkali ions showed that the viscosity was independent of the size of the alkali ion, implying that the strength of the interatomic 

bonds, rather than the size of the ion, controlled the flow behavior. A number of studies were carried out on borate-alkali systems. These indicated that there was a great 

attraction between the alkali ions and the borates. When this study was extended to 

alkaline earth-borate glasses, it was found that there was liquid immiscibility, with two 

liquid phases being formed. The extent of this phenomenon was dependent on the nature of the alkaline earth. For example, the addition of calcium oxide in low concentrations to borate did not lead to immiscibility but actually decreased the volume to less 

than that occupied by the borate alone. But perhaps the most intriguing and basic 

experiments were concerned with the measurement of the residual entropy of glasses. 

Such measurements were started both calorimetrically by measurement of the 

249 
This high-temperature drop calorimeter was used in studies of the excess 

entropy of glass by Cornelius 

Pearson as he measured the vapor 

pressure of arsenic oxide in the 

crystalline and vitreous states to 

determine entropy of vaporization. 

specific heat from absolute zero to a temperature above the melting point, and by the 

measurement of the vapor pressure of the glass and the same material in the crystalline 

phase. 

The division's program on ceramics studies consisted of two parts: one concerned 

with ceramics for dielectric and piezoelectric uses, and the other comprising more general studies on ceramics for various purposes. 

The dielectric and piezoelectric work was largely supported by the military and in 

the main was aimed at developing materials with better properties. For example, 

it was found that ceramics made from calcium titanate or from mixtures of titania with 

rare-earth oxides had resistivities greater than lOin at temperatures up to 

200 °C—results which exceeded the capabilities of commercial materials. Continuation 

of this type of work led to a composition with a dielectric constant of only 

37, as compared with 100 for the standard barium titanate, but with a zero temperature 

coefficient in the range —40 °C to +200 °C, far exceeding the properties of the barium 

titanate. The work on piezoelectric materials had much the same orientation—the 

search for new compositions with enhanced properties. The system most studied was 

lead titanate-lead zirconate, but with the addition of other compounds, such as stannates or hafnates. Some compositions were found with good properties indeed. Late in 

the period, the work turned more basic. A study of the relationship between mlcrostructure and piezoelectric properties was started in 1956. Using the technique of 

x-ray diffraction to characterize the particle size, state of strain and regularity of crystal 

250 
structure for barium-titanate powders prepared from the thermal decomposition of 

barium-titanium oxalate, strong changes in the x-ray pattern were noted during the processing of the material. Finally, in 1957, a method of production was found that 

assured single-domain crystals in the material, thus strongly enhancing its ferroelectric 

properties. 

The division's work on ceramics for other purposes was concerned primarily with 

high-temperature uses and the measurement of properties at high temperatures—even on systems that are not normally considered ceramics. For example, the elongation and 

strength of graphite for nuclear reactors was measured in the temperature range 

1800 °C to 2400 °C, and the service life of graphite crucibles for melting non-ferrous 

metals was determined. It had been believed that only graphite from Madagascar could 

be used for this purpose, but this work showed that domestic graphite was adequate. 

Other studies were performed on true ceramic materials; the following is a partial 

listing of projects: 

• In work supported by the Atomic Energy Commission, the mutual compatibility 

of oxides, metals, and carbides was studied. In particular, the reactions of re- fractory materials with uranium oxide were determined. It was found that there 

was no solid solubility with alumina, beryllia, and silica, but extensive or com- plete solid solution occurred with five other refractories. 

• A basic study of the thermal decomposition of crystalline inorganic compounds 

led to the study of carbonates because of their industrial importance, particularly ferrous and manganous carbonates. These are complicated materials to 

study because their decomposition is influenced by valence changes with 

temperature, the rate of heating, the composition of the atmosphere, and other 

factors. However, by the use of high-temperature x-ray diffraction, an automatic 

recording thermal balance, and differential thermal analysis, it was possible to 

determine the actual equilibrium conditions at various temperatures under air, 

carbon dioxide, and inert gas, and thus resolve the conflicting data in the 

literature. 

• There was excellent work on mechanical properties supported by the Wright 

Air Development Command. The object of the program was the understanding 

of the mechanical properties of polycrystalline ceramics at high temperatures. 

The program started off with the measurement of properties of single crystals: 

sapphire (A12O3), rutile (Ti02), and periclase (MgO). It was found that each of 

these began to deform at about one half their respective melting points, and the 

slip planes were determined as well as the shear stresses necessary to cause 

deformation. Later, the deformation of polycrystalline samples was studied. 

The creep, Young's modulus, and internal friction of alumina and magnesia were measured in the temperature range 1000°C to 1300 °C. In alumina the 

creep was almost entirely recoverable, while in magnesia very little was. 

It was hypothesized that, in alumina, creep was by grain boundary slip, 

while in magnesia it was by slip within the grain. As part of the investigation 

251 
the elastic constants of 35 materials were determined at room temperatures. 

This important program was to continue and lead to some significant 

insights into the mechanical behavior of ceramics and indeed other materials. 

At high enough temperatures, vaporization can be an important problem for 

even high-melting-point ceramics, and for this reason the determination of 

vaporization processes at high temperatures was an important activity. Some 

results were astounding. With alumina at the melting point—2015 °C, achieved 

in a solar furnace—"the material volatilized at such a rate that the molten 

material appeared first to boil and then to freeze as it drew upon its own heat to 

maintain the volatilization process."83 

• Silica is one of the most important high-temperature materials, but it exists in 

several crystallographic modifications and a study of the conversion between 

crystalline forms was undertaken. 

The division programs in phase equilibria and standard x-ray patterns had one aspect 

in common: they led to data compendia that became standard reference data. The 

phase equilibria studies were published in conjunction with the American Ceramic 

Society as Phase Diagrams for Ceramists, and the standard x-ray patterns, used for 

identification of unknown materials, were disseminated via a file of patterns located at 

the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). Beginning in 1952 with one research associate, this x-ray program was sponsored by the Joint Committee on Chemical Analysis by Powder Diffraction Methods, consisting of members from 

ASTM, the American Crystallographic Association, and the Institute of Physics (U.K.). 

The number of associates eventually reached three, and the Bureau also provided 

financial support and leadership. The ASTM file was old and of doubtful accuracy, and 

the Bureau's work was to evaluate and correct the file as necessary, adding new patterns as appropriate. New and revised patterns from the literature and in-house work 

were published approximately yearly as Circular 593 until 1962, and thereafter as Monograph 25. By 1956 the Bureau had produced 300 patterns of high accuracy. 

These replaced 600 patterns in the ASTM file and added new ones. The work was 

continuing, and would continue to the end of this history. 

While x-ray diffraction methods were in widespread use in the division for many 

purposes, their use for the determination of crystal structure appears to have become an identifiable autonomous activity only about the middle of the period. This, of course, 

was when computers and computer programs became useful for the tedious calculations necessary to convert x-ray diffraction patterns to crystal structures, but a reading 

of the annual reports leaves little doubt that the division's work was becoming 

more basic. Thus, in 1955 a program began on the crystal structure of the orthophosphates because of their importance in bone, teeth, detergents, and fertilizers, and 

later this program expanded to the structure of borates. Crystal-structure determination was a capability that was to lead to considerable important work in the division. 

Annual Report, 1957: 58. 

252 
The determination of equilibrium diagrams has been mentioned already in this 

review, particularly under cement and glass studies, but like crystal structure determination, this was an autonomous activity carried out for its own value. Thus, for example, because of their possible importance in jet engines and rocket motors, ternary 

equilibrium diagrams for an extensive group of oxides were determined. And, because 

knowledge of them is crucial in nuclear reactor fuel, binary equilibrium diagrams of 

uranium oxide with alumina, beryllia, magnesia, and silica were determined. Again, 

similar work would extend well into the future. 

Unreported in the Annual Report, and probably little known to management, some "bootlegged" work carried out by Alvin Van Valkenberg and Charles E. Weir would, 

in a few years, lead to the so-called diamond-anvil cell and revolutionize the attainment and measurement of very high pressure. 

BUILDING TECHNOLOGY 

Despite the fact that the Bureau had been involved in the technology of building and 

housing from its earliest days, it was not until 1921 that the activity was formalized as the Building and Housing Division. In that year, Herbert Hoover, newly appointed as secretary of commerce, and with a desire to "stimulate the building industry as a means of promoting industrial recovery after World War I," formed a Division of 

Building and Housing in his office, along with divisions of Simplified Practice, Specifications, and Trade Standards.'84 A parallel division structure was formed at the 

Bureau, but these two divisions had no sections. The technical work was carried out in 

other divisions of the Bureau. This organizational situation led to some dismay on the 

part of Director Stratton since the direction of these new divisions was "centered in the 

Commerce building downtown."85 

The functions of the new Building and Housing Division were less than completely 

technical, being "to coordinate scientific, technical, and economic research in building; 

to simplify and standardize building materials; and to revise state and municipal 

building codes."86 It was not until 1930 that the division identified sections, but it soon fell prey to the Great Depression in the early l930s and its staff dropped from 

thirty-six to two. But in 1937, with a special authorization from Congress, a program 

on low-cost housing research was initiated. No new division was created; the work was carried out in existing divisions. Then, in 1947, by combining "smaller organizational 

units devoted to structural engineering; fire research; heat transfer and mechanical 

systems; wall, floor, and roof coverings; and codes and standards" from other Bureau 

divisions, the Building Technology Division was finally formed.'87 

Paul R. Achenbach, Building Research at the National Bureau of Standards. Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) 

Building Science Series 0; October 1970: iii. 

185 MFP, 233; the two NBS divisions were Building and Housing and Simplified Commercial Practices. 186 Achenbach, Building Research: 6. 87 Annual Report, 1938: 90; Achenbach, Building Research: 7. 253 
This was the division found by the Kelly Committee in 1953. Its five sections: 

Structural Engineering; Fire Protection; Heating and Air Conditioning; Floor, Roof, 

and Wall Coverings; and Codes and Specifications were concerned either with building 

systems or the associated codes and specifications. With 102 on its staff (57 professionals), it was of moderate size, and 50 percent of its funds was from other agencies. 

While the committee recognized that building research was, for good historical 

reasons, less complex than more traditional scientific research, and that the division's 

publications were valuable, it was nevertheless critical of the division. On the positive 

side, the committee wrote: 

Many of the techniques and practices in this industry have not had the 

benefit of technical innovation to the degree common to our major manufacturing industries; the work going on in the Building Technology Division 

must be viewed in light of this historical situation. If it were compared with 

the complex procedures and delicate judgments found in some of the other 

scientific areas, it might be considered as a lower order of endeavor. But 

measured by the existing demand from and the degree of technical progress 

of the industry it serves, it is performing reasonably well. 

The committee continued, "The publications of this Division, which are the record 

of their accomplishments, are among the most highly valued of the Bureau. The 

handbooks on Building Technology are.. . in constant demand." 

"Nevertheless," the committee wrote "this activity requires an infusion of new blood. 

At present a relative handful of experienced and recognized persons are carrying the 

Division. These men lack competent understudies and little is being done to obtain 

and train them." And the committee continued, "This lack of potential leaders with 

competence and imagination is also reflected in many of the projects. Although much 

of the work is reliable and carefully done, it is performed in conventional ways and 

lacks the spark of imagination and As with other divisions, the 

conirnittee went on to recommend that service testing be minimized and that research 

be increased. 

In describing the actual work carried out, we depart somewhat from the section 

organization and discuss the program under the categories of structural engineering; 

heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; roofing and floors; materials; and fire. 

The structural research was primarily concerned with concrete. With the participation of guest workers from the American Iron and Steel Institute, division scientists 

were able to relate crack formation in concrete to the design of reinforcing bars and 

• the strength of the bond between the concrete and the steel. This work led to the 

development of the first standard for the deformation of reinforcing bars. Notably, the 

division participated in the design and material selection for the Distant Early Warning 

(DEW) arctic radar network planned to provide warning of a polar missile attack. 

The properties of concrete are normally determined in static tests, but for some purposes, such as blast and earthquake resistance, properties under dynamic loading 

Kelly Committee Report: 59-60. 

254 
Tensile bond specimen under test at NBS. Cracks were narrower at the 

surface of the steel reinforcing bar than at the outside surface of the concrete. 

thus exposing less of the bar to atmospheric corrosion and consequent 

weakening than heretofore believed. 

are important. A program supported by the U.S. Navy was designed to determine 

properties of concrete under various rates of loading, and this was accomplished at 

rates of l0_6 in/s to 10 in/s. Stress-strain curves were obtained, and it was shown that 

both the strength and Young's modulus increased as the loading rate increased. This was a fortunate outcome in that the common static tests led to an over-design. 

Other concrete studies were concerned with so-called "foamed" concrete, which 

contained entrained air bubbles and, in some cases, was lighter than water. Such 

concrete was found suitable for two-story structures. 

In 1940, the division had constructed a complete four-room research bungalow for 

testing various building systems and components. It was thus well placed when in 

1950 it began a program with the Housing and 1-lome Finance Agency (HHFA). 

Designed to help establish performance-based standards for homes that the HHFA 

insured, or where they guaranteed loans, this program was concerned in the period 

with heating devices for small homes. Warm-air furnaces, radiant glass panels, and 

ceiling panels were studied. Making measurements of vertical and horizontal temperature distributions, heat loss and noise, the systems were compared on the basis of 

cost and comfort. All in all, the warm-air furnace was the best. In the course of the 

work it was found that the generally used heat transfer coefficients were too high by 

50 percent, and this was pointed out in publications. 

255 
Underground shelter used by NBS in experiments on heat transfer from man-made caves to the surrounding 

earth. Heat was supplied through the ventilating system and from space heaters on the floor. To measure the 

temperature at various points, thermocouples were suspended in the air, ceiling, and floor, and placed at intervals up to twelve feet deep in the rock surrounding the chamber. 

Other work on heating did not involve houses. One project was concerned with the 

heating and air conditioning of underground structures—chambers for general use, 

reservoirs for collecting waste heat from air conditioning systems, shafts and tunnels 

used for ventilation, and shelters in the event of an atomic bomb attack. In all cases 

the object was to measure heat transfer into the surrounding rock. Both experimental 

and analytical approaches were taken. 

But perhaps the most unusual project did not involve housing at all, but rather 

refrigerated trailer trucks. In general operation, ice was found to form due to condensation of moisture in the insulated space of the truck walls, and this increased the heat 

transfer between inside and outside. The Bureau studied this problem and operated a trailer for 72 days at typical Washington summertime temperatures. They found that a large amount of ice (850 pounds) was formed, but the heat transfer rate was 

increased by a modest 8 percent. In the process of the investigation, the Bureau 

developed a device that could record any changes in heat transfer, and the trucking 

256 
industry and the Bureau promptly initiated a project to develop this device and to determine test conditions for rating trailers as to their insulation efficiency. 

Associated with heating is the problem of air infiltration into a house. Procedures to 

measure this air flow were developed using coulometric techniques, pressure difference 

methods, and tracer gas measurements that utilized helium, ethane, or methane. Of 

these three methods, tracer gas measurements proved to be the best. In the course of 

the work, the Bureau developed a heated-thermocouple anemometer to measure air 

flow, which proved to be an accurate and sensitive instrument. 

In a project carried out for the General Services Administration, the division tested a number of air cleaners so that Government specifications could be revised. Five electrostatic cleaners, two automatic oil-type filters, and three throw-away or cleanable filters were tested. Like many prosaic studies, these led to the development of widely 

adopted Government and industry-wide standards and material specifications. 

The thermal insulating capacity of walls, floors, and roofs is clearly an important 

property of building structures, and building research at the Bureau had been long 

concerned with measuring this property. When a construction contains an air space, 

measurement is complicated because the insulating capability depends on the 

direction of heat flow, and large-size specimens have to be tested because of edge and 

three-dimensional effects. In order to determine the directional effect, the Bureau built an apparatus so that the heat flow in 5 ft X 8 ft panels with air spaces could be mea- sured in different directions: horizontally, vertically up, vertically down, and with different slopes. Air spaces with different emissivities, for example, as provided by dark 

paints or reflective surfaces, were tested. Total radiative emissivity was measured, thermal conductance obtained for different emissivities, and a general relationship correlating the different variables was obtained. 

This work led to the evaluation of aluminum foil reflective insulation. In projects 

sponsored by the Aluminum Company of America, often utilizing industrial guest 

workers, the insulating properties of aluminum foil were assessed by testing 154 different specimens, leading to the testing of fibrous insulation with an aluminum foil 

surface. It is probable that the measurement techniques developed in this work were 

partially responsible for the wide acceptance of glass wool insulation with aluminum 

foil-paper surface. 

In two other projects, the effect of moisture on the thermal conductance of insulated 

panels was studied—one evaluated the insulation of refrigerated structures, and one 

investigated special situations. In work supported by the U.S. Army Quartermaster 

Corps, an apparatus was built to test the effect of moisture on 4 ft X 8 ft panels, and in 

another project, supported by the Office of the Army Chief of Engineers, the effect of 

moisture on the insulating properties of concrete deck roofs was studied. In the latter 

project, the straightforward technique of exposing fifteen samples of different roofs to 

simulated climatic conditions was taken, indicating that moisture can have an important 

effect on the insulating effectiveness of these roofs. 

The Asphalt Roofing Industry Bureau (ARIB) had maintained a research associate 

at the Bureau since 1926, and in the 1950s most of the work done in roofing was concerned with asphalt roofs. The aim of the work was to get at the mechanism of 

257 
weathering, and a well-designed investigation lasting the whole period was carried out 

for about twenty foreign and domestic asphalts. Using both natural exposure and simulated weathering carried out in the laboratories, two approaches were tried. In one of 

theni, the change in composition of the asphalt while weathering was determined, and 

in the other, the degradation products were collected and identification attempted. In 

such a complicated chemical system as asphalt, analysis of the composition at the individual chemical species level was too difficult. Therefore a chromatographic method to 

separate the asphalt into four distinct groups of components was developed. Then, 

nleasuring the change in these component groups during weathering gave some indication of the changes brought about by the resulting degradation. Moreover, such a system permitted the comparison of different asphalts by observing the distribution in 

each of the four component groups. It also provided a means of comparing degradation 

brought about by the combined effect of heat, light, and moisture as occurs during 

weathering with the effect of one of these variables alone. Such studies were carried 

out throughout the whole period. And with respect to the collection and identification 

of degradation products, a collection method was developed, but methods of quantitative identification were still being sought by the end of the period. 

Analysis of asphalt degradation was not the only project carried out on roofing. At 

the request of the Office of the Army Chief of Engineers and the U.S. Navy Bureau of 

Yards and Docks, the division studied roofing conditions in army and navy stations in 

the continental United States, Hawaii, and Guam. As a result of these field investigations, and of prior knowledge, the Bureau wrote a well-received publication called the 

Roof Maintenance Manual. And in ether work for the Department of Defense, asphalt 

and coal-tar roofs in the Eastern, Western, and Midwestern states were investigated. 

On the basis of this investigation and on tests on fourteen samples submitted by 

manufacturers, a proposed purchase specification for specific types of asphalt roofs was prepared. 

Finally, in the study of floors, only a perfectly routine project was carried out. At 

the request of the army, the effects of grease, oil, acid, alkali, and bleach were 

evaluated on floors of various composition. After soaking the floor material overnight 

in the chemical to be assessed, a scratch was made on the floor covering, and its width 

measured. This gave a rating for the floor material. The meaning of such a test is not 

discussed. 

The materials work of the division consisted of evaluating proprietary products for 

specific purposes. For other Government agencies, various materials were evaluated 

for their water-vapor permeability: bituminous coating for the navy, interior paints used as barrier materials for the HHFA, and various materials used to control condensation 

in crawl spaces in basementless homes for the Department of Agriculture. All this 

work was pure testing, as was the evaluation of various commercial asphalt stabilizers. 

Carried out in cooperation with the Asphalt Roofing Industry Bureau, these materials were evaluated with a tentative specification proposed by that organization and the 

Bureau. A more extensive project was carried out for the army on protective 

coatings for exterior masonry walls. This involved laboratory tests as well as field 

258 
inspections to installations over much of the United States and discussion of problems 

with builders and distributors. The main conclusion was that "proprietary portland 

cement paints and paints made on the job from portland cement. . . give protection 

from leakage caused by wind-driven a result reminiscent of the Aquella affair. 

Fire research was one of the most important programs in the Building Technology 

Division. C onducted in the Fire Protection Section in the fifties, this program would 

in later years become a division in its own right. While some of the program was 

concerned with testing, as in 1950 when twenty-one prototypes of building constructions—load-bearing walls, partitions, floors, and roofing—were tested to develop 

performance data leading to code acceptable designs, most of the program was devoted 

to the development of flammability test methods, to the detection of fires, and to more general fire research. 

One concern was for a small-scale test that would measure the rate of spread of 

flame on the surface of a test sample and correlate it with flame spread along walls, 

ceilings and compartments. In this method, the test'sample was placed vertically in 

front of a refractory panel heated to 670 °C, and ignition was induced to take place at 

the top of the sample. The rate of flame spread downward was measured and this, 

combined with the rate of heat release, gave a flame spread index. This index seemed 

to correlate with British data on actual burn-out tests in rooms. This test method has 

been widely used as a standard method to rate the flame spread properties of interior 

finished materials. 

Another test method, developed for the U.S. Coast Guard, involved hand-held fire 

extinguishers. The problem was to define standard small fires and typical conditions 

that could allow establishment of a relative merit rating for extinguishers used to 

control flammable liquid fires that might occur on small boats. It was found that three 

liquid fires of increasing severity could provide a qualitative ranking of extinguishers 

since rather wide variations in the ambient conditions did not greatly influence the 

results. The work demonstrated the difference in performance among vaporizing liquid, 

foam, and dry chemical extinguishers in typical motorboat fires. 

Some of the research projects involved only the methodology of fire research, while 

others were more akin to traditional physico-chemical research. An example of the 

former was a study of the hazard to mattresses of cigarette ignition. It was known that, 

under certain conditions, cigarettes ignite mattresses, leading to dangerous, smoldering 

fires. In a study sponsored by the Veteran's Administration, it was found that sheets 

and pillow slips by themselves were not a problem, and that the smoldering of cotton 

mattresses could be substantially reduced by treatment with fire retardant. It was not 

necessary to treat the whole mattress, but only its outer surface to a depth of about one 

inch. 

Another problem studied by fire research methods was the self-ignition of fibrous 

materials. After determining that "a significant portion of the fires which occur in 

the United States each year are attributable to spontaneous ignition of certain 

Annual Report. 1952: 49. 

259 
combustible materials,"90 the Bureau developed an apparatus to explore this 

phenomenon. By using an adiabatic furnace that maintained the exterior temperature of a fibrous mass the same as the rising interior temperature all the way to the ignition 

temperature—a sort of positive feedback system—the occurrence of self-ignition could 

be related to the thermal properties of the material and the temperature of the surroundings. Recommendations for storage and shipping conditions were made for a wide variety of materials. 

Perhaps the most important basic research problem was studied by more traditional 

considerations and got down to some of the critical problems in fire science. This was a study of the mechanism of fire extinguishment by dry-powder extinguishers. First, it 

became apparent that to increase the efficiency of such extinguishers, it was necessary 

to ensure the "dispersibility" of the powder, and this was a "function of particle size 

and shape and the tendency of particles to agglomerate."9' But this was hardly the 

mechanism of extinguishment. The hypothesis that the active agent was carbon dioxide 

from the powder was rejected because, while most commercial powders were indeed 

sodium bicarbonate, others were not. Also rejected was the hypothesis that the effect was caused by radiation shielding of the fuel from the flame. But the conclusion 

reached was that "the behavior of the dry powders in experimental tests further suggests that the interruption of chain reactions in the combustion process may constitute 

another important factor in the effectiveness of these powders."92 Further research at 

the Bureau and elsewhere was to show that this was the correct conclusion. 

On June 30, 1953, the Congress passed what was to become the first of two flammable fabrics acts.'93 As explained by Director Astin in a letter to George M. Wheatly 

of the American Standards Association (now the American National Standards Institute, ANSI) on August 29, 1952, several years previously, "following a number of fatal 

accidents to small children wearing highly flammable 'cowboy suits,' the Bureau initiated a study of such materials and still has a group working on the flammability of 

fabrics."94 Later, highly flammable "torch sweaters" and very light silk scarves also 

caused serious injury. This led the Congress to pass the 1953 law which set a mandatory standard whereby fabrics that burned more rapidly than a specified rate when 

measured on a simple jig largely developed by the Bureau could not be sold in interstate commerce. While this law solved the problem for such incendiary fabrics, it did 

not solve the whole fabric flammability problem and, as will be detailed later, a second 

flammable fabrics act was passed in 1967. For several years this latter act gave the 

Bureau regulatory responsibility for the first time in its history.'95 

Annual Report, 1953-1954: 71. 191 Annual Report. 1957: 66. 92 Annual Report, 1956: 73. 

FlOmmable Fabrics Act, U.S. Statutes at Large, 67 (1953): 1 1 1 Letter, A. V. Astin to G. M. Wheatly, 29 August 1952. (NARA; RG 167; Director's Files; Box 23; 

Folder 10.0 1952) 195 AN ACT To amend the Fabrics Act to increase the protection afforded consumers against 

injurious jianimable fabrics, U.S. Statutes at Large, 81(1967): 568. 

260 
From this short description, the applied and often prosaic nature of the work which 

bothered the Kelly Committee is evident. Much of this nature was determined by the 

mandates of the non-Bureau sponsors, and the Bureau staff were well aware of the 

need and importance of broader-based research. This awareness was shared by division 

management, which were also aware of the need for the infusion of new blood.'96 In 

future years the division's research situation would change substantially. 

APPLIED MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTERS 

In mid-1947, less than two years after Edward Condon became director of the 

Bureau, he formed two new divisions: Atomic and Radiation Physics, and the National 

Applied Mathematics Laboratories (NAML). If the first of these brought the "new 

physics" to the Bureau, the second may be said to have brought the "new mathematics" of electronic computation. Formed with the considerable help of the U.S. 

Navy, other military agencies, and the Census Bureau, the new division was renamed 

simply Applied Mathematics in 1954 when its original name was thought to be too 

grandiose. It was originally conceived of as a laboratory that would be equipped with 

high-speed computing machinery, lead in the development of such machinery, and 

serve as a central computation facility for the Government. Later, research and training 

functions were included, so that at the time of its formation, the division-laboratory, 

under the directorship of John H. Curtiss, consisted of four units: Numerical Analysis, 

which consisted of the Institute for Numerical Analysis on the UCLA campus with 

responsibility for research and training in numerical analysis, and a complementary 

unit in Washington; a Computation Laboratory equipped with large-scale computing 

equipment to carry out computing for NBS staff and other Government agencies; a Statistical Engineering Laboratory devoted to research in statistical methods and 

providing consultation and cooperation in statistics; and a Machine Development Laboratory with the function of developing and constructing new electronic 

The whole operation was overseen by an advisory committee of experts outside the 

Bureau called the Applied Mathematics Executive (later Advisory) Council. At the 

time the Kelly Committee carried out its evaluation of the division, there was also an Electronic Computers Section in the Electronics Division, where all the computer construction and research on components was carried out. 

NAML was short-lived. In 1954, as part of the divestiture recommended by the 

Kelly Committee, the Electronics Division was combined with the Electricity Division, 

except for the Electronic Computers Section, which was elevated to division status un- der Samuel N. Alexander and named Data Processing Systems. The Machine Development Laboratory was transferred to the new Data Processing Systems Division. Except 

for the administrative separation, the Applied Mathematics and Data Processing 

Systems divisions together functioned as had been envisioned in the formation of the 

National Applied Mathematics Laboratories. 

William C. Cullen and Daniel Gross, private communication, January 1991. 

"i' M. R. Hestenes and J. Todd. NBS-INA—--the Institute for Numerical Analysis—IJCLA 1947-1954. NatI. 

Inst. Stand. Technol. Special Publication 730; August 1991: 1-5. 

261 
A corner of the library at the NBS Institute for Numerical Analysis. The Institute maintained a comprehensive collection of works pertinent to applied mathematics and numerical methods. 

These changes were not the last in the fifties. In mid-1953, John H. Curtiss, the first 

chief of the NAML, resigned, to be succeeded in 1954 by Edward W. Cannon after an acting stewardship by Franz L. Alt. In its investigation, the Kelly Committee found 

that most of the activities of the NAML were acceptable and followed the 

directives of the Bureau's Organic Act of 1950. However, the work of the INA was 

almost entirely supported by funds from the military, and the Kelly Committee 

observed that its work was more like that of a university than that of NBS. In addition, 

Secretary of Defense Charles Wilson had decreed that a non-DoD Government agency 

could not serve as administrator of projects entirely or largely supported by defense 

funds, and carried out at a university. Thus, on June 30, 1954, the INA was removed 

from the Bureau and given entirely to UCLA where it was thereafter called Numerical 

Analysis Research, and its move concluded the Bureau's divestiture of military work. 

Finally, in 1954, a new section, called Mathematical Physics, was formed. 

With a staff of 159 (119 professionals) when the committee investigated it, the division was of substantial size. But its funds were only 9.3 percent from direct appropriation. the remainder coming primarily from the military, and more than half the 

funds were expended in general services. Despite this, the committee made no 

262 
recommendation for divestiture, recognizing that the work of the division was of 

general applicability, not solely devoted to specialized work as was the case with the 

ordnance divisions. Moreover, the division provided a valuable consulting service to 

non-military agencies, and was the principal advisor to the Census Bureau on computer 

problems. It was a healthy and productive division with high morale doing excellent 

work. 

The section structure of the Applied Mathematics Division, along with the work 

carried out in the Electronic Computers Section of the Electronics Division, and subsequently in the Data Processing Systems Division, forms a good basis for a synopsis of 

the technical work carried out. 

As now seems perfectly natural considering the history of machine computation, 

three problems were of constant concern throughout the whole period: the solution of 

sets of simultaneous linear equations, eigenvalue problems, and the numerical solution 

of ordinary and partial differential equations. Given the first problem, constant attention was given to matrix inversion, which in 1952 was called "the basic problem of 

numerical The object here was to develop useful codes and methods 

of general utility in the numerical calculation of the inverse matrix. In this development, such topics as the stability of solutions and the effect of round-off errors had to 

be investigated. Similar considerations drove the work on eigenvalue problems, and by 

1956 general-purpose codes for eigenvalues and eigenvectors were "brought to a high 

state of perfection and put on a routine basis."9' Related to these matrix problems and 

originating from operations-research-related activities, was the development of an existence theory of the solutions of linear inequalities. 

The numerical solution of ordinary differential equations proceeded. Partial differential equations were, of course, much more complicated, especially considering that 

SEAC, on the Washington, D.C. campus, and SWAC (Standards Western Automatic 

Computer) at the INA at UCLA, while state-of-the art at the time, were, by modern 

standards, primitive instruments. Nevertheless such problems as the vibration of a square plate were undertaken with satisfactory results. 

An outcome of these research efforts was new conjectures which could be checked, 

and methods of attack on old, but unproven, conjectures. In short, the studies led to some enjoyable mathematics. An example was the proof that is a prime number—the largest found as of that date. Determining the primality, and finding the prime 

factors of such large numbers, was to be an important problem in the future in connection with so-called trap-door codes. The listing of a few other problems gives a further 

flavor of the work. 

• The development and testing of a method for generating random numbers to be 

used in Monte Carlo methods of numerical solutions. 

• Instruction codes for SEAC for the numerical evaluation of integrals where 

great accuracy was essential. 

" Annual Report, 1952: 51. 

"Annual Report, 1956: 76. 

263 
• The theoretical analysis of a war-games model represented by six non-linear 

differential equations. 

• The development of rational approximations to special functions to make them 

available by computation on high-speed computers. 

The Computation Laboratory calculated tables of special functions, carried out computations for other agencies and Bureau staff members in cooperative endeavors that 

sometimes turned into full-scale research problems, and trained the first generation of 

Bureau programmers. And, as did the Institute for Numerical Analysis, it created new 

theories in numerical analysis for application to high-speed computers. 

The calculation of mathematical tables was, in a sense, a carryover from the prewar 

WPA Mathematical Tables Project operated by the Bureau. But the availability of 

high-speed computers raised the question about the necessity for these tables which 

were, after all, calculated on such machines. Concerned about this problem, the 

National Science Foundation and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology convened a meeting in 1954 to discuss the need for mathematical tables. The consensus was that 

such tables were necessary because "a greater variety of functions and higher accuracy 

of tabulations are now required as a result of scientific advances." Indeed, the 

availability of computers increased the tables' importance because they could serve in 

"preliminary surveys" of a problem before undertaking the tedium of programming, 

and many-place tables of important functions were invaluable for checking the 

accuracy of subroutines. And, of course, they were essential for those without computers. As a result of this conference, the NSF requested that the Bureau prepare a handbook containing the more common functions, a plan which had already been 

considered by Milton Abramowitz of the Computation Laboratory. A massive 

undertaking, this book of more than 1000 pages was published in 1964.200 With the 

decisions of this conference in hand, the Computation Laboratory continued the 

calculations of mathematical tables through 1972. 

The other main activity of the section was consultation and cooperation with 

Bureau staff and other agencies in carrying out calculations. This led to some interesting problems: 

• Calculating the trajectory of various missiles. 

• Studies of explosions. 

• The calculation of LORAN (Long Range Navigation) tables. 

• The solution of four nonlinear differential equations arising from a study 

carried out at the Naval Medical Center on the reaction of nerve fibers to 

electrical stimuli. 

200 Milton Abramowitz and Irene A. Stegun. Handbook of Mathematical Functions With Formulas, Graphs, 

and Mathematical Tables. NatI. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Applied Mathematics Series 55; June 1964. From 1964 

through 1972 this handbook went through ten printings. Each iteration corrected, revised, or modified the 

previous work. In the preface to the ninth printing, Lewis Branscomb noted that after only four and one-half 

years the 100 000th copy of the handbook was presented to Lee A. DuBridge, science advisor to the 

President. At the end of 1970, distribution of the handbook approached 150 000. 

264 
Computations were not limited to strictly scientific problems. Many operations 

research calculations were made, such as those needed to determine the optimum 

deployment of aircraft to ensure a balance between combat, reserve, and training aircraft. This computation was carried under a largely classified project named SCOOP 

(Scientific Computation of Optimum Programs) for the Office of the Air Controller. 

Similarly, SEAC was used in the awarding of contracts to bidders for the New York 

Quartermaster Purchasing Agency. 

In 1957 the Bureau obtained its first large commercial computer, the IBM 704. 

Industry had caught and surpassed the Bureau in the construction of computers. In 

conjunction with SEAC, it was used to perform scientific calculations and data 

processing programs, including the Bureau payroll. 

One of Condon's reasons for an applied mathematics effort at the Bureau was to be 

sure that sound statistical principles were used in the Bureau's research and testing 

activities. To this end he brought to the Bureau mathematician/statistician John H. 

Curtiss from the navy where he had successfully applied statistical theory to problems 

of naval engineering, and appointed him statistical assistant to the director. But 

before Curtiss could organize a statistics group, Condon turned over to him the administration of the Bureau's responsibilities in the development of computers and numerical analysis. Hence, still needing a leader of a statistics effort, on October 1, 1946, 

Condon brought in Churchill Eisenhart from the University of Wisconsin to head up a small statistical group in Curtiss' office. Eisenhart became the chief of the Statistical 

Engineering Laboratory at its founding in 1947, and remained so until 1963. With its 

stated function, the work of the section led to close collaborations with the Bureau 

staff and outside agencies. These collaborations extended from short consultations to 

full-scale research projects that lasted for months. An example of the type of services 

it provided was its role in the "suicide test" in the AD-X2 affair, where the section 

designed the experiment and provided the final statistical analysis of the results. Along 

with this service function went research, for without research the staff would soon lose 

its scientific edge. 

Throughout the whole period, the two main topics studied were the statistical design 

of experiments and the analysis of experimental data. The aim of proper experimental 

design is to obtain the maximum amount of information with a minimum amount of 

effort. Generally used in agriculture and industry, the principal effort throughout the 

period was to adapt these methods to scientific research. There are many examples of 

the value of these designs, the AD-X2 case being only one. Others, culled from a long 

list, included experimental designs for the intercomparison of four national radium 

standards to arrive at a consensus of the standards used; the study of the dependence of 

fatigue life of ball bearings on load, where the failure rate is very low and many tests 

do not extend to failure, thus requiring the development of new analytical methods; 

and work in the development of methods for the high-precision measurement of 

temperature. While all this consultation was going on, research was carried out on different types of experimental designs, but it did not end there. Extreme value 

theory—particularly valuable in writing building and engineering codes—was a continuing activity, as was the study of distribution-free methods, where no assumption 

265 
Churchill Eisenhart came to the Bureau 

in 1946 where he introduced modem 

statistical methods, particularly methods 

of experimental design. He founded the 

Statistical Engineering Laboratory in 

1947. which he headed until 1963 when he became a senior research fellow 

until his retirement in 1983. A recognized authority on the use of statistics 

in research and manufacturing, one of 

his papers led to the name "Eisenhart's 

Model 11" for the random effects 

model. 

of the experimental results is made. The section clearly carried out Condon's original 

expectation on the desirability of applying statistical methods in the Bureau's research. 

By 1955 the work of the Bureau entailed so much computation on mathematical 

physics and engineering problems that a new section, called Mathematical Physics, was formed to carry out research in mathematical analysis related to topics in mathematical 

physics. The concentration was, however, in those areas where the Bureau had 

interests, and these were fluid mechanics, mathematical elasticity, and electromagnetic 

and acoustical diffraction theory. As part of its research, the section published tables of 

800 Fourier transforms as its contribution to the mathematical tables project. Some of 

the specific projects carried out were the analysis of the fundamental basis of twophase vapor-liquid condensation systems; the calculation, using SEAC, of the stresses 

and displacements in a corrugated diaphragm; the computation, again using SEAC, of 

the vibrations of a delta wing, then of great interest for supersonic aircraft; and the 

analysis of wave transmission through geophysical models, which was expected to con- tribute to the study of earthquakes by seismographic methods. 

Beginning in 1950, when SEAC became operational, it was the computer available 

for calculations in Washington, and in 1951 SWAC became available to the INA 

in California. The sections mentioned up to this point used these computers for 

their work, but the maintenance, operation, and continued development of these 

machines fell on the Electronic Computers Section of the Electronics Division 

266 
before 1954, and on the Data Processing Systems Division after its formation in 1954. 

In that same year the Bureau announced that data processing for the solution of 

business and management problems would be a major thrust. 201 But SEAC and SWAC were not the only computers involved, for the Bureau 

continued the development and construction of new machines for the military. Two 

major efforts were the production of STATAC-SCOOP, a serio-parallel machine of 

very high speed made for very-large-scale computations for the SCOOP (Scientific 

Computation of Optimum Programs) program of the Office of the Air Controller. 

Parallel in intent was DYSEAC, a new computer built for the military. Similar to 

SEAC, but with a new logical design and much more powerful, it used modular 

construction. And while this computer building was going on, SEAC was continually 

upgraded with new components—various means of punched card handling, high-speed 

magnetic tapes, diode memories, magnetic drum memories (for SWAC), electrostatic 

memories, transistor switching circuits, and others, making SEAC an instrument for the 

development of new components. 

Not only was the Data Processing Systems Division a research organization in the 

building of new computers and the development of new components, it was also a place where other agencies of the Government could come for advice, guidance, and 

consultation on computer use and procurement, with the division in some cases actually carrying out the procurement process. It was a clearing house for information 

on the application of computers to science, and in the processing of business data. The 

last point became an announced effort in 1955, and some projects showed the type of 

activity the Bureau had in mind. In cooperation with the navy's Bureau of Supplies 

and Accounts, an exploratory program to determine the applicability of electronic 

techniques to supply management was carried out. Involving such topics as problem 

definition, machine coding of supply replenishment procedures, and new methods of 

sorting and merger of data in master files, the study went far to point out what had to 

be done to create a complete electronic supply management system. Other data 

processing applications analysis included payroll and accounting, sorting, file maintenance, and report editing. Other computers were added or built for special purposes. A 

"modest" analog computer was purchased as part of the whole computation laboratory 

for the modeling of specialized problems and, under sponsorship by the Weather 

Bureau and the Atomic Energy Commission, two others were developed for prediction 

of fallout patterns from atomic bomb blasts. These two were shipped to Eniwetok in 

1956 for use in atomic bomb tests. 

2ffl House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Department of Commerce and Related Agencies. 

Department of. Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations 1956: Hearings Befbre a Subcommittee 

ofthe Co,n,nittee on Appropriat ions, 84th Cong., 1st sess., National Bureau of Standards. 30 April 1955: 167. In asking for funds for a program in automatic data processing. Astin pointed out that the Bureau had 

been consulted by the Patent Office. Bureau of the Budget, General Accounting Office. Health, Education. 

and Welfare Department. Treasury Department. and "most Government agencies with management problems 

involving processing of large quantities of paper or routine data. The Departments come to us for advice and 

assistance." 

267 
In DYSEAC. much of the computer circuitry was reduced to standardized packages. Here, an operator 

inserted a delay-line package which, because of the general similarity of the circuits of most stages. was one of only two types of etched circuit packages required as basic building blocks of the computer. 

Considering the original aim of the National Applied Mathematics Laboratories of 

forming an organization that would lead in the development of high-speed electronic 

computers; serve as a central computation facility for the Federal Government; carry 

out research in numerical analysis; and serve as a source of information, guidance, and 

training on computers, the Bureau's applied mathematics and computer effort must be 

judged as highly successful. Yet the effort led to a great deal of discussion in the 

committee report about its appropriateness, perhaps because the whole effort did not 

arise directly from the core measurement-standards function of the Bureau. In large 

part, the applied mathematics program arose from the "advisory service to Government 

agencies" clause in the 1950 version of the Organic Act,202 for the activity was almost 

wholly supported by the military agencies, at least in its early years, and with respect 

to the development of computers as part of this advisory function, the committee notes, 

2u2 Almost humorously, the NAML was formed before the passage of this revision of the Organic Act. 

268 
The magnetic drum auxiliary memory 

added to SWAC increased its 

problem-solving capacity. 

"Computers are a rapidly developing area and no one has succeeded in producing 

experts except by building computers."203 The major Bureau function of the program was to help the rest of the Bureau carry out their functions—it was a staff rather than a line activity. In fact, the 1950 act specifically authorized the Bureau to "operate a laboratory of applied mathematics," and so it did. 

CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY 

In its budget presentation to the House for FY 1947, the Bureau made a strange 

request. It asked for $550 000 for an activity classified under "Information Services" 

and called "Forecasting Radio Communication." As explained—in somewhat fractured 

syntax—by Director Condon in what was his first appearance before the budget 

committee, "This represents an activity which it is planned to consolidate, taking 

over from a number of Government agencies, including the Army and Navy, 

the Army Signal Corps, the Army Air Forces.. . the Coast Guard, the Federal 

Communications Commission and others, also from private industries, who have 

203 Kelly Committee Report: 72. 

269 
NBS computer engineer J. Howard Wright held a map on which he had marked isoroentgens of predicted 

radioactive fallout. Values for wind speed and direction at different levels and for characteristics of the 

radioactive cloud were set into panel controls of the computer. The level of fallout predicted for points 

selected by map-table handwheels was given by the panel meter shown on the console. The oscilloscope 

showed the area-wide distribution of fallout. 

requested that. . . this be consolidated into one bureau."204 In this first request the 

Bureau was asking for funds to take over a forecasting service for radio communication that had previously been funded by other agencies. During World War II, the 

Bureau, with funds from the military, had formed an organization called the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory (IRPL), which provided weather" forecasting used for frequency selection and communications planning that were crucial to 

the prosecution of the war. It was now felt that the effort should become primarily 

civilian, hence the request to Congress. Congress did not balk, and on May 1, 

24 House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, Department of 

Commerce Appropriation Bill for 1947: Hearings Befbre the Subcommittee on Appropriations, 79th Cong.. 

2d sess., National Bureau of Standards, 29 January 194.6: 192. 

270 
1946, a new organization, the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (CRPL), was formed at the Bureau. It did far more than radio weather forecasting. As explained to 

the Appropriations Committee a year later: 

On May 1, 1946, the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory, administered by 

the Bureau of Standards and directed by an executive council having 

members from the Army, Army Air Forces, Navy, Federal Communications 

Commission, Civil Aeronautics Administration, Coast Guard, Bureau of 

Standards, Weather Bureau, and the industry as represented by the Radio 

Technical Planning Board began operations. This Laboratory, which was established at the request of the above-mentioned agencies, is a continuation 

and expansion of the Inter-Service Radio Propagation Laboratory, an organ ization sponsored and supported by the military services during the war. Since the organization of CRPL, the various Government agencies have 

concentrated basic research in radio-wave propagation in this Laboratory. 

Such centralization of basic work has saved considerable manpower and 

money by producing a well-coordinated program with a minimum of 

manpower."205 

In forming of this new organization, the Bureau combined all its research on radio 

propagation and radio standards with the forecasting function, and asked for 

increases from the Congress for the next several years. For FY 1947, the Congress 

appropriated $ 1.174 million, which included the $550 000 originally requested; by 

1949 the appropriation had become a line item for which the Congress appropriated 

$2.56 million. That year the total appropriation for the Bureau was $8.44 million, with 

the CRPL representing a full 30 percent of the Bureau's appropriated funds.206 

Funding requests then began to level off, and by the time of the Kelly Committee 

Report the appropriation for the CRPL was $2.629 million. A staff of 414 (192 

professionals) made it the largest organizational unit in the Bureau. With a total of 

$990 000 in transferred funds, a full 72.6 percent of the laboratory's support was by 

direct appropriation, a figure much closer to what the committee considered proper, 

and indeed the committee found that Central Radio Propagation Laboratory 

constitutes one of the finest scientific groups in Government and its operations fall 

within the legitimate sphere of Federal activity."207 

205 House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations. Department of 

Commerce Appropriation Bill for 1948: Hearings Before the Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropria- 

(ions, 80th Cong.. 1st sess., National Bureau of Standards. 12 March 1947: 336. The quoted excerpt is part 

of testimony signed by members of the Executive Council from the Army Air Force. Navy Department. 

Coast Guard. Civil Aeronautics Administration. Federal Communications Commission, and Weather Bureau. 206 These figures come from the House Appropriation Hearings for the appropriate years. 207 Kelly Committee Report: 77. Although the committee at one point in their discussion found that the 

CRPL was an appropriate Bureau activity, in its formal finding the committee carefully wrote "Federal" 

rather than "Bureau" activity. There may have been some concern about the Bureau conducting "radio 

weather" research and forecasting among its functions, although it is specifically mentioned in the 1950 version of the Organic Act. Indeed, this portion of the CRPL would in due course be divested from the 

Bureau and become part of the newly-formed Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) in 

1965. 

271 
At the time of its formation, J. Howard Dellinger was the CRPL chief. After 

Dellinger's retirement in 1948, the CRPL was reorganized and Newbern Smith was named chief. The organization found by the committee in 1953 consisted of three 

laboratories, each with two sections: Ionospheric Research (Upper Air Research, 

Ionospheric Research); Systems Research (Frequency Utilization Research, Tropospheric Propagation Research); and Measurement Standards (High Frequency 

Standards, Microwave Standards). A special section provided current analyses of radio 

propagation data, issued working predictions of radio propagation, and carried out 

research on improvement of predictions. Upon movement of the CRPL to Boulder in 

1954, the three laboratories were accorded division status and their names were 

changed to Radio Propagation Physics, Radio Propagation Engineering, and Radio 

Standards.205 

In addition to the work carried out in Washington or Boulder, the laboratory operated a number of field stations, some with Bureau personnel and some under contract 

with outside organizations. At the time of the committee report there were ten Bureauoperated stations209 and seven under contract. The Laboratory also operated the 

Bureau's time and frequency broadcast stations—WWV in Beltsville, Maryland, and 

WWVH on Maui. It was a far-flung laboratory. 

The laboratory had a significant participation in the 1957—1958 International 

Geophysical Year, as well as its in-house activities. 

Since the two principal concerns of the CRPL were radio propagation and national 

primary standards at radio frequencies, it had a varied program in radio wave propagation physics, geophysics associated with radio propagation, precise measurement 

techniques for electrical quantities at radio frequencies, and primary frequency 

standards. This last line of research led the laboratory to the development of the 

"atomic clock."210 

Because of the immense postwar explosion of radio communication led by FM 

broadcasting and television, there was inordinate pressure for space in the frequency 

spectrum, particularly in the VHF and UHF frequency ranges.21' And because 

frequency allocations could not be made until the propagation characteristics of the 

different frequencies were known, a great deal of the work of the laboratory was aimed 

at obtaining that information. A listing of the projects undertaken gives a flavor of the 

type of work carried out. 

209 Wilbert F. Snyder and Charles L. Bragaw, Achievement in Radio: Seventy Years of Radio Science, 

Technology, Standards, and Measurement at the National Bureau of Standards. NatI. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) 

Special Publication 555; October 1986. Appendix C: 762-763. 209 These were located at Fort Belvoir, Virginia; Sterling, Virginia, on the site of what is now Dulles Airport; 

Cheyenne Mountain, near Colorado Springs; Maui; Guam; Puerto Rico; Panama Canal Zone; Anchorage, 

Alaska; Point Barrow, Alaska; and Greenland. The number of such stations changed from time to time. 210 'NBS Research in Radio Propagation," Technical News Bulletin, 38 (April 1954): 49-58. An excellent 

general summary of the work of the CRPL is given in this report. 211 These acronyms stand for Very High Frequencies and Ultra High Frequencies, respectively, and their 

ranges are 30 MHz to 300 MHz and 300 MHz to 3000 MHz. For comparison, the FM broadcast band covers 

the VHF range 88 MHz to 108 MHz. 

272 
• There was considerable study of the effect of the terrain on propagation, finding, among other things, that in the VHF region, the configuration of the terrain 

was important in determining the directivity of directional antennas. 

• Since the ionosphere is of central importance in radio propagation, there was a constant study of the ionosphere.212 For example, it was found that storms with 

well-defined centers in the ionosphere moved across the continent, sometimes at 

speeds of up to 300 km/h. Because propagation by reflection from the ionosphere at oblique incidence is possible at higher frequencies, this effect was studied both theoretically and experimentally. 

• A theory of tides in the earth's atmosphere was developed. The concern was 

with the relative importance of gravitational and thermal effects. The theory 

predicted that the thermal effects should exceed the gravitational by a factor of 

100, and experimental verification of this prediction upset long-held beliefs. 

Perhaps the most important developments in the period had to do with the VHF and 

UHF propagation beyond the horizon. Since such propagation is generally "line of 

sight," propagation beyond the horizon should not occur. However, under certain 

conditions, it does occur due to scattering either from the troposphere or from the 

ionosphere. This is called "forward scatter propagation," and was believed to be caused 

in the troposphere by scattering from "very small inhomogeneities in the refractive 

index of the atmosphere."213 The demonstration of reliable propagation by this 

tropospheric scatter led to its adoption by industry and the armed forces, thereby eliminating some relay stations. Ionospheric forward scatter occurs from the lower portion 

of the ionosphere, and is particularly useful in the polar regions. Thus, a communication system from Labrador to Greenland was designed by the Bureau and built under 

its supervision for the United States Air Force. The system worked so well that it was extended to England via Iceland, thus providing complete transatlantic communication 

by ionospheric forward scatter. Clearly, the study of the ionosphere and its movements 

is essential in utilizing this mode of communication. 

The ultimate limitation on radio communication results from noise, and this led to an international effort on noise maps and noise prediction, guided by the International 

Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR). Illustrating the type of interaction the laboratory had with this international effort, it worked with a representative from the British 

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research who came to Boulder to help develop 

new methods of presentation of maps and predictions. 

The study of radio noise and its origins was an important part of the CRPL research 

program throughout the whole period. Radio noise has two sources: terrestrial and 

extraterrestrial, or "cosmic." The former determines the ultimate limit to radio 

212 This is the region of the atmosphere that extends from approximately 50 miles to 300 miles, and contains 

many charged particles. The region below the ionosphere, which does not contain charged particles, is called 

the troposphere. 

213AnnuaI Report, 1955: l09. 

273 
This field station established near Boulder. Colorado. to monitor signals transmitted by radio stations WWV 

and WWVH. was also used as one of a network of ionospheric probing stations maintained by or operated in 

cooperation with NBS. The C3 ionosphere recorder (right, background) was one of the instruments used 

widely by science and the military for investigating the outer atmosphere by radar techniques. 

reception below about 30 MHz, and its main natural cause is thunderstorms—hence it 

is called atmospheric noise although much of it is man-made. Indeed, a hunt to find a location where man-made sources were minimized led to a site near Bill, Wyoming. 

The study of cosmic noise automatically led the laboratory into radio astronomy, 

particularly of the sun, which is the main source of radio noise from outer space and 

whose 11-year sunspot cycle has major effects on the earth's ionosphere. 

Standards and measurement methods are principal needs in the study of terrestrial 

floise. To provide such methods the Bureau developed a receiver that automatically 

recorded noise levels at eight frequencies between 50 kHz and 20 MHz. This receiverrecorder was used to make a detailed statistical study of the amplitude and time 

distribution of atmospheric noise to permit an accurate evaluation of the errors that 

this source of noise produced in various radio systems. It was found that the average 

noise voltage, the average logarithm of the noise voltage, and the frequency 

274 
"provide a reasonably comprehensive picture of the physical nature of its amplitude 

distribution."214 This noise receiver was internationally adopted for noise measurements 

and, in 1956, fourteen Were under construction for placement around the globe for the 

International Geophysical Year in 1957—58. At higher frequencies, noise of extraterrestrial origin becomes important. Indeed, in the words of the 1950 Annual Report, 

"Cosmic and solar radio waves reaching the earth from outer space are manifested 

audibly as frying and hissing noises in a receiver at the higher frequencies." Study of 

this noise led the CRPL into a program on radio astronomy, where the main interest 

was the sun. In work that was partly observational and partly theoretical, recordings 

were made of both background noise from the sun and noise in sudden bursts, with 

special detailed studies of small bursts of noise. These studies gave information on the 

breadth of the spectrum of outbursts, and on the "basic nature of the processes taking 

place in the sun."215 

This observational work was backed up by a theoretical effort in which two models 

were investigated. The first was of oscillations in a plasma, and the second was shock 

waves being propagated in an ionized atmosphere with a superposed magnetic field. 

The former showed that radiation is possible from such a wave, but the period 

depends on the amplitude and the phase velocity, and it was felt that this explained the 

second-harmonic component of radio noise. The analysis of shock waves showed that 

in such a model there is a non-Maxwellian distribution of ions, and this helped to ex- plain the observed anomalous dual-temperatures for the solar chromosphere. The 

interaction of the two waves suggested that the fine structure of solar noise might be 

due to plasma waves. 

In 1956, after the discovery that Jupiter is a source of radio noise, its study was 

begun. It was possible to show that Jupiter has an ionosphere that behaves much like 

Earth's with respect to the sun's sunspot cycle. It was also possible to determine 

precisely the planet's period of rotation, and to show that there is a rigid core beneath 

the atmosphere from which the radio noise originates. 

Finally, from a study of solar flares and the associated 200 MHz emission, improved 

methods of forecasting magnetic disturbances were developed. 

These, of course, were not the only activities carried out in the propagation portion 

of the CRPL. Others include the following: 

• A study of the reflection of very low frequencies from the ionosphere, which 

gives information on the structure of the ionosphere and the propagation characteristics at these frequencies. 

• The attenuation of microwaves by rainfall. 

• The development of automatic field-intensity measurement equipment. 

• The setting up of a chain of field-strength recording stations to study propagation in the Auroral region where propagation is difficult. North of the 

maximum Auroral zone, propagation takes place with high reliability, but the 

antenna pattern is very important. 

214 Annual Report, 1956: 96-97. 215 Annual Report, 1950: 84-85. 

275 
Mobile research unit used by NBS to measure the field strength of radio signals. The antenna on top of the 

trailer could be raised to a height of 30 ft by remote control while the unit was in motion. 

• A study of the enhancement of radio signals by the edges of obstacles such as the edges and tops of mountains. It was found that edge-diffraction theory is 

applicable to the problem. 

• Theoretical studies of turbulence in the upper atmosphere and its effect on the 

ionosphere. 

• A study of night airgiow resulting from excited molecules and atoms in the 

region about 100 km above the earth. 

• The observation on February 23, 1956, of a major solar flare that produced a worldwide increase in cosmic ray flux, along with the expected communication 

fade out, and that caused a large increase in ionospheric absorption in the dark 

hemisphere. This was the first observation of such a dark-hemisphere effect 

from a solar flare. 

• The investigation of over-water tropospheric propagation in the Pacific Coast 

region. 

• A study of the origin of the fading of signals reflected from the ionosphere. 

• The development of methods for the calculation of both steady-state and 

transient propagation of the very low frequencies of 10 Kz to 100 kHz, presaging the day when such systems would be extensively used for military 

communications. 

• Work for the Air Navigation Development Board in developing an air navigation system (called TACAN). The aim was to develop this into a nationwide 

system. 

276 
In addition to these various projects, the laboratory carried out a high-precision measurement of the speed of light, one of two made by the Bureau in the fifties. 

All this work was carried out in the Radio Propagation Physics and Radio Propagation Engineering Divisions and their predecessors, but this was not all the work 

carried out in the CRPL. A whole division—Radio Standards—was devoted to the 

Bureau's central mission of providing standards, measurement methods, and calibration 

services in the radio field. With the explosive growth of radio communications in the 

post-World War II period, this was a crucially important activity. Indeed, the press for 

calibrations was so great that in 1956 work was begun on a new wing to the Radio 

Laboratory building in Boulder. Called the Electronic Calibration Center and 

scheduled to be completed in 1958, the new wing was the Bureau's response to the 

burgeoning requests for ever more calibrations. The air force and the navy's Bureau of 

Aeronautics alone were expected to send more than 4000 items for calibration yearly. 

Along with the building proper, work was under way for the design and construction 

of $1 million worth of interlaboratory standards and other specialized equipment. Many 

of the items submitted for calibration were, in fact, themselves secondary laboratory 

standards to be used for calibrations in the sender's laboratory after calibration against 

the Bureau's national standards. It was a classical example of how the Bureau kept the 

Nation on a common measurement basis in a new field of technology. 

The required radio standards were many and varied, and often associated with a specialized measurement method. There were standards for noise, voltage, power, 

impedance, radio interference measurements, attenuators, a whole class of measurements associated with wave guides, field strength, and that queen of all measurements, 

frequency. Research was carried out continuously to improve the standards/measurement methods and, in keeping with the thrust of technology and commercial practice, 

to extend the frequency range, particularly to higher frequencies because of the wider 

spectrum available there. To give just two examples, standards for impedance measurements were extended in 1955 to 18 GHz, or to a wavelength of approximate 1.6 cm, 

and in 1953, the calibration service for frequency meters was extended to 40 GHz. 

The move to Boulder necessitated moving the national standard of frequency from 

Washington to the new site, where all the radio standards work was now located. This was accomplished in 1954. At that time the national standards were a set of quartz 

crystal oscillators, kept at constant temperature and jealously guarded. These standards 

were transferred to Boulder and placed in three separate 50 ft wells for temperature 

stability. Between July 7 and October 12, they were compared with WWV broadcasts 

from Beltsville, Maryland, and on that latter date pronounced fit. Clearly, during this 

moving period the oscillators that controlled WWV were the de facto national frequency-time standards. 

But the use of quartz resonators as national frequency/time standards was not to last 

long. The Radio Standards Division was working on four models of an atomic clock, 

which would eventually replace the quartz artifact with a frequency-time standard 

based on an invariant and unchanging atomic phenomenon. 

277 
Unassembled view of a constant-temperature oven that stabilized the temperature of a quartz crystal for precise oscillator frequency control. Left to right are can, switch, heater, wire, crystal holder, and octal socket. 

The Speed of Light 

One of the most important of the fundamental constants is the speed of light (always 

denoted by c). In the words of Joseph F. Mulligan: 

The velocity of light in a vacuum is one of the most fundamental quantities 

in nature... . In addition to the basic role it plays in the theory of relativity, 

the value of c must be known accurately for work in optics, electricity, 

quantum theory, and nuclear physics. For this reason a great deal of time and 

energy has always been devoted to its precise determination."216 

Now, in the postwar years, using radar and microwave techniques developed during 

the war, values for the speed of light higher than the generally accepted prewar values were obtained.217 As an example, the 1941 average value derived by Raymond T. 

Birge was (299 776±4) km/s. but the 1953 value derived by Jessie W. M. DuMond 

21o F. Mulligan, "Some Recent Determinations of the Velocity of Light." American Journal of Physics 20 

(1952): 165-172. 

Ibid.; This is also discussed by J. W. M. DuMond and E. R. Cohen, "Least-Squares Adjustment of the 

Atomic Constants. 1952," Reviews of Modern Physics 25 (1953): 691-708. 

278 
and E. Richard Cohen was (299 790±0.9) km/s.218 These results caused quite a bit of 

discussion in the scientific world. There was, in fact, even some theoretical work 

(since discounted) on the possibility that the speed of light showed some temporal 

oscillation. 

Despite the importance of c, before 1955 the Bureau had made only one measure- ment of its value—by Edward B. Rosa and N. Ernest Dorsey in 1907.219 They 

determined the speed of light by the classic method of measuring the ratio of the 

electrostatic unit of charge to the electromagnetic. To do this, they built two capacitors, one consisting of concentric spheres and another of coaxial cylinders. The capacitance 

in electrostatic units can then be calculated from the dimension, and the problem 

becomes one of the accurate measureament of these dimensions, at which Rosa and 

Dorsey were masters. The capacitance in electromagnetic units was determined (in 

modern terms) by measuring the impedance of the capacitors on a bridge in terms 

of the standard ohm. The ratio (which is the square of the speed of light) gave 

the value of c as 2.9971 X 10'° cm/s, with "an uncertainty of not more than I part in 

10 000." This remarkable result was corrected by Birge in 1941 to the value of 

(299 784± 10) km/s, a value just intermediate between the low prewar accepted 

values and the higher postwar values. 

Now, in 1955, the Bureau supported two determinations of c by two widely different 

techniques, and in widely different locations. In Washington the determination was made by Earle K. Plyler, Lamdin R. Blame, and William S. Connor of the Atomic 

and Radiation Physics Division, from an analysis of the rotational spectrum of 

carbon monoxide (CO).22° In Boulder, the measurement by Edwin R. Florman of 

the Radio Propagation Physics Division was a direct determination of the wavelength 

of VHF radio waves of accurately known frequency by measuring a phase shift by 

what was essentially a microwave interferometer.22' 

219 DuMond and Cohen, op. cit.; R. T. Birge, "The General Physical Constants," Reports on Progress in 

Physics, VII! (London: The Physical Society, 1941): 90-134. 219 E. B. Rosa and N. E. Dorsey, "A New Determination of the Ratio of the Electromagnetic to the Electrostatic Unit of Electricity," Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards 3 (1907): 433-604. 220 E. K. Plyler, L. R. Blame, and W. S. Connor, "Velocity of Light From the Molecular Constants of 

Carbon Monoxide," Journal of the Optical Society of A,nerica 45 (1955): 102-106. 22! Edwin R. Florman, "A Measurement of the Velocity of Propagation of Very-High-Frequency Radio 

Waves at the Surface of the Earth," Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 54 (1955): 

335-345. RP 2596. Part of this work was carried out during the move to Boulder, and even before the 

formation of the Propagation Physics Division. Nevertheless we shall continue to refer to it as the Boulder 

work. 

279 
The spectroscopic method rests on the fact that the rotational spectrum of CO can be 

determined either by microwave methods or by traditional—albeit specialized—spectrographic means. The microwave frequency of a rotational line is given by the sum of 

two terms, each term the product of a constant and (J+l), or a power of it, where J is 

the rotational quantum number. The two constants, B0 and the much smaller D0, both 

have the dimensions of frequency. In spectroscopy, the wave numbers of the transitions are given by a slightly more complicated expression involving the same two constants, as well as The units, however, are now wave numbers. Thus, if the constant 

B0 is determined by both microwave experiments and by spectroscopic means, in one case it will be expressed in cycles/s (Hz), and in the other case in cm'. The speed of 

light is then the quotient of the microwave value and the spectroscopic value. 

The experimental details of the spectroscopic experiments are rather complicated. 

Suffice it to say that they involved fringes from a Fabry-Perot interferometer, 

calibrated by a standard, such as mercury-198 light to obtain the spacing of the fringes, 

which then acted as a ruler for determining the wave numbers of the lines in the CO 

spectrum. 

This system, using hydrogen cyanide (HCN) was first used by David H. Rank, 

Ralph P. Ruth, and Kenneth L. Vander Sluis at the Pennsylvania State University 

to obtain the speed of light.222 The microwave results were obtained by Arthur H. 

Nethercot, Jr., J. A. Klein, and Charles H. Townes of Columbia University.223 The 

results were (299 776±6) km/s for c, which was lower than the postwar measurements. 

The value was, however, subsequently revised to (299 789.3 ±3) km/s, which was 

more in keeping with the newer results.224 

The Bureau's spectroscopic analysis was made on CO by essentially the same 

method, with some improvements. Measurements were made both in absorption and 

emission by Plyler, Blame, and Connor, and different standard wavelengths were 

used in calibration. The microwave analysis was made at Duke University by 

Otis R. Gilliam, Charles M. Johnson, and Walter Gordy.225 The result for c was 

(299 792±6) km/s. The spectroscopic results on two different compounds and 

involving four different laboratories confirmed the higher postwar values. 

While the Bureau's Washington group was carrying out its measurements, Florman 

was using a totally different method for his determination of c. The method was based 

on the fundamental relationship that the velocity of a wave is given by the product of 

222 D. H. Rank, R. P. Ruth, and K. L. Vander Sluis, "Precision Determination of the Velocity of Light 

Derived from a Band Spectrum Method," Journal of the Optical Society of America 42 (1952): 693-698. 223 A. H. Nethercot, Jr., J. A. Klein, and C. H. Townes, "The Microwave Spectrum and Molecular Constants 

of Hydrogen Cyanide," Physical Review 86 (1952): 798. 224 Plyler, Blame, and Connor, "Velocity of Light": 102-106. 225 0. R. Gilliam, C. M. Johnson, and W. Gordy, "Microwave Spectroscopy in the Region From Two to Three Millimeters," Physical Review 78 (1950): 140. 

280 
its frequency and wavelength.226 Very-high-frequency transmitters with frequencies 

calibrated against the national frequency standard were, of course, available in the 

Radio Propagation Physics laboratories in Boulder. If the wavelength could be 

measured very accurately, then c followed immediately. To measure the wavelength, 

Florman essentially built a microwave interferometer, which operated in the following 

way. Two receivers were placed an accurately known distance apart. Clearly, if the 

total number of wavelengths separating the receivers (i.e., the phase difference between 

them) is known, then the wavelength is calculated easily. To understand the basis of 

the experiment, imagine now a transmitter located exactly on the line connecting the 

two receivers. If the transmitter is moved from one point to another on this line, the 

phase of the signal at the two receivers will change, with the phase retarded at one 

receiver, and advanced at the other. This change in the phase difference is readily measured. The phase difference between the end points of the distance over which the 

transmitter was moved is then just half this measured change in phase difference. 

Florman actually used the phase difference between the two receivers to obtain maximum accuracy, and the measurement—the details of which are too complicated to describe here—involved three transmitters as well as the two receivers. The frequency of 

the transmitters was 172.800 MHz (wavelength approximately 1.73 m) and the distance 

between the two receivers was accurately determined to be 1500 m. The survey was carried out using U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey techniques, with three 50 m invar 

tapes calibrated by the Bureau. The measurements were thus directly related to the 

national standards of length and time. The measurements were carried out at three 

sites: at an abandoned airport near Willard, Virginia (now the site of Dulles 

International Airport), for preliminary tests; a dry lake bed near Willcox, Arizona, 

where most of the measurements were made; and a final series of system tests at 

Sterling, Virginia. The final weighted average of 110 measurements of c was 

(299 795.1 ±3.1) km/s. Within the stated uncertainty, this value was the same as was 

obtained by the spectroscopic means. The Bureau's results showed that the postwar 

results were indeed higher than the prewar. What was happening? The answer was 

very simple. As discussed by DuMond and Cohen, the difficulty lay with an improper weighting of experimental results of different workers in arriving at average 

values. While its true average value was higher than previously believed, c was indeed a fundamental constant. In fact, the measurement of c became so precise that the 

uncertainty in the realization of the meter became the main source of error. As a result, 

in 1983 c was defined to be 299 792 458 m/s, and the standard of length was defined 

in terms of this value and the second.227 

226 florman, "Measurement of the Velocity of Propagation." Another description, and more detail, along 

with one for the spectroscopic measurements, is given in "Velocity of Light Redetermined; Higher Values 

Confirmed," Technical News Bulletin 39 (1955): 1-3. 227 D. A. Jennings, R. E. Drullinger, K. M. Evenson, C. R. Pollock, and J. S. Wells, "The Continuity of the 

Meter: The Redefinition of the Meter and the Speed of Visible Light," Journal of Research of the National 

Bureau of Standards 92 (1987): 11-16. 

281 
TESTING 

Routine testing of commercial products for compliance with specifications in 

Government purchases does not devolve directly from the Bureau's 1901 Organic Act 

unless it is considered to come under Stratton's catchall phrase, "the solution of 

problems which arise in connection with standards."228 Despite this, such testing was an integral part of the Bureau's activities starting in 1904 when, at the request of an- other Government agency, the Bureau tested a batch of light bulbs of a type that had 

been burning out at a great rate. The Bureau promptly failed more than three-quarters 

of the bulbs because they did not meet the Government's rather simple specifications, 

nor, indeed, those of the manufacturer. Yet other agencies sent samples of clinical thermometers, inks, chemical glassware, and other commodities, and when the Bureau 

found similarly useful results, the other agencies realized that large sums of money 

could be saved by the Bureau's testing, and such testing became an established part of 

the Bureau's activities.229 This activity was authorized in the 1950 revision of the 

Organic Act by the inclusion in Sec. 2 of the statement: 

"(c) The development of methods for testing materials, mechanisms, and 

structures, and the testing of materials, supplies, and equipment, including 

items purchased for use of Government departments and independent 

establishments." 

Indeed, the Bureau had gone further and provided testing for such regulatory agencies as the Federal Trade Commission, which was concerned with false advertising claims, 

and the Post Office Department, which was concerned with mail fraud. It was this 

latter testing that led to the AD-X2 debacle and the Kelly Committee Report. 

The Kelly Committee Report was ambivalent about product testing. It tended to be 

repetitive and routine, so that the committee wrote: 

The Committee is concerned that a larger amount of repetitive testing is now 

done in the Bureau than is necessary with the present state of development of 

technology in industry.. . . The Committee recommends that the repetitive 

test operations of the Bureau be critically examined... . The personnel and 

facilities of the test program area of the Bureau should be primarily 

employed in the development of specifications and testing and quality control 

procedures.23° 

225 The word "testing" is used with a number of meanings. We use it here to denote the investigation of a material or instrument by subjecting it to a test, or a series of tests, to determine if it complies with a specification. A simple example would be the carrying out of a test on a sample of steel to determine its 

tensile strength. Calibrations, which are the comparison of measuring instruments with standards to determine how closely they correspond to the standard, are excluded from this definition. Also excluded are longer investigations such as the ship plate study described in this chapter, which are more in the nature of 

research projects within which various tests may be carried out. 229 An excellent account of the early history of the Bureau's involvement in such commodity testing is given 

in MFP, 90-96. 230 Kelly Committee Report: 15-16. 

282 
Despite these statements, the committee gave rather high marks to the cement 

testing program—the largest at the Bureau—since it served only the Government and 

saved a great deal of money. 

Nevertheless the Bureau seriously undertook to clarify and revise its testing 

program, including calibrations. First, in the area of calibrations, many of which were 

indeed repetitive and routine, the Bureau "instituted a policy of restricting the calibration services, insofar as possible, to the calibration of basic standards. .. . [T]ests of 

products were made only at the request of other Government agencies except when 

the Bureau possessed facilities not available elsewhere or in the rare instances when 

referee tests were required."23t 

In a series of conferences with Government and industry users of Bureau services, 

these policies were announced in August 1953, before the Kelly Committee Report 

was officially received. While the conferences were successful in making the Bureau's 

position known, they were not very successful in helping the Bureau to divest itself of 

routine calibrations. This was partly caused by the fact that it was too difficult to assign priorities in calibration services, and that routine calibrations "did not appear attractive as a commercial venture" for commercial testing laboratories.232 

As part of this re-analysis of its position with respect to acceptance testing, the 

Bureau consummated an agreement, codified by a Memorandum of Understanding, 

with the General Services Administration, the most important of the Government 

agencies involved in this area.233 In the agreement, the position and responsibilities of 

the two sides are laid out. With respect to specifications, the agreement reads: 

The General Services Administration will endeavor to assign to the National 

Bureau of Standards specifications projects for general methods of test and 

for end products which come within the scope of the technical competence 

and interest of the Bureau. 

The Bureau thus looked upon itself as the place to develop general test methods, but 

when specific products were involved, it would work on those in which it was already 

technically competent or was interested. Similar limitations were laid on testing. Here 

the agreement reads: 

When qualification tests are called for by a specification or are required by 

Federal Supply contracts in connection with a procurement under a specification prepared by the National Bureau of Standards, the General Services 

Administration will designate the Bureau as the laboratory to make the 

tests.. . . The General Services Administration will make every reasonable 

effort to send to the Bureau for acceptance testing a portion of the samples of 

those products for which the specifications have been assigned to the Bureau. 

231 Annual Report, 1953-1954: 96. 232 Ibid., 97. 233 Annual Report, 1953-I954: 131. 

283 
And the Bureau agreed to act as a type of monitor: 

The National Bureau of Standards will undertake to conduct a program of 

interlaboratory testing to aid in maintaining a uniform high quality of 

acceptance testing on the part of all laboratories concerned with Government 

procurement that are willing to participate. 

The GSA agreement shows that the Bureau was not prepared to divest itself of 

routine acceptance testing, but rather to better define its role in the activity. While it 

would have preferred to follow the recommendations of the committee and limit itself 

primarily to the development of test methods, both general and specific, it would 

develop specifications in those areas where it had competence and interest, and it 

wanted to limit itself to the routine testing of only those products for which it had 

developed specifications. With these policies, its routine testing work did not rapidly 

decrease. Due to the large effect of the Korean War and the Bureau's lumping together 

calibrations and acceptance testing, it is difficult to make concrete, year-to-year comparisons of the amount of such testing work. Nevertheless, there does not seem to have 

been a significant decrease in such work as late as 1962. To pick only the areas of 

lamp and cement testing, in 1952 the Bureau tested 4500 light bulbs (representing a total of 7 million), and 26 000 samples of cement (representing 15.8 million barrels). 

The comparable figures for 1962 were 4300 light bulbs and 21 000 cement samples. 

The figures for other commodities, such as paper, textiles, rubber, leather, and plastic 

products, and various building materials show similar behavior. It would be some time 

before the Bureau ended its routine acceptance testing. 

The situation with respect to calibrations was quite different. Here the Bureau's aim was to divest itself of routine bulk calibrations and limit itself to calibration of master 

standards for other standards laboratories, in effect adding another link in the standardizing chain. Its aim was to encourage the formation of such laboratories, both private 

and public. As stated by Astin in a speech at the dedication of the IT&T Standards 

Laboratory in 1957: 

It is a matter of some concern to us that the demands for standards, measurement techniques, and precise testing and calibration have out-distanced 

our ability to provide direct service. The fact is that the research and development requirements of our programs are such that we can at best provide 

only very limited direct service to the public. We consider that we are a scientific service agency. By that I mean, we seek to serve central or key 

professional organizations, to calibrate master instruments and transfer 

standards, and to enable competent private standardizing and testing laboratories to provide effective and valuable measurement services to the scientific 

and industrial communities.. . . With the cooperation of laboratories such as this one, the program of precision measurement will have a multiplied effect 

upon the nation.234 

234 A. V. Astin, "A Service for the Nation's Technology," The Magazine of Standards 57 (1957): 197-198. 

284 
At first, the formation of private standards laboratories went slowly, but by 1956 

with the pressing need for ever higher accuracy led by the electrical industry, a number 

of large manufacturing industries and military organizations established their own standards laboratories. Moreover, in the same year, the Eli Whitney Laboratory, the first 

commercial for-fee standardizing laboratory, was established. By 1961 the movement 

had progressed to the point that a new organization—the National Conference of Standards Laboratories (NCSL)—was formed. This conference brought together representatives from commercial, military, and university standards laboratories to "promote co- operative action on common problems of management and operation of measurement 

standards and calibration laboratories."235 The Bureau was on its way to divesting itself 

of the drudgery of routine calibrations and limiting itself to standardizing only the 

master standards of a group of secondary standards laboratories. 

SUMMARY 

The first seven years of the fifties decade were dramatic auspicious years for the 

Bureau. Paralleling the history of the Nation, the Bureau passed through turbulent, 

tumultuous years at the beginning of the decade and then entered a calmer period full 

of hope and confidence. The AD-X2 affair, with its drama and trauma, caused the 

Bureau, by the mechanism of the Kelly Committee Report, to look inward and 

rediscover and reaffirm the principal reasons for its existence. To the Nation's obsession with communism it lost the best—and perhaps most charismatic—scientist ever 

appointed as director in its history, but he was replaced by a dogged, consummate 

tactician with an unparalleled sense of personal and official integrity and of Bureau 

mission. It acquired a new Organic Act which, if it did not materially change the 

Bureau's responsibilities and authority, at least clarified them and made them more 

specific. It had grown to the largest size in its history and, if at one stroke of the pen it 

had lost 2000 of its 4800 staff to newly-formed organizations, the loss was not a punishment, but a result of having done its war-emergency job too well. And if, under 

pressure of the emergency, it had lost sight of the primary reason for its existence, it 

set about to reaffirm its basic mission. 

In the process the nature of its work began to change, becoming more basic, more fundamental; for the Nation's science and technology, growing explosively, demanded 

this of the Nation's central measurement laboratoiy. In the process of carrying out this 

reaffirmation, it made changes that forever altered its mode of operation. On the fiscal 

side, it was permitted to retain fees it charged for calibrations and standard samples, 

thereby substantially increasing its income. And new legislation permitted it to establish a working capital fund, which made its fiscal operations more businesslike and, at 

least partially, removed the stringent onus of fiscal-year funding. In conformance with 

the recommendations of the Kelly Committee on the operational side, it established 

advisory committees to each of its divisions, an addition that was forever to change the 

management process at the Bureau. Also on the operational side, it established a 

235 Annual Report, 1962: 13. 285 
program under which postdoctoral research associates could be brought into the 

Bureau. No other Bureau program would have as great an effect on its scientific 

competence. 

Finally, while decreasing in staff, the Bureau grew in extent. It acquired a new site 

in Boulder, Colorado, with almost three times the land area of the Van Ness site, and 

firm plans were made to move to a bucolic site two and one-half times the size of the 

Boulder site near the small Maryland town of Gaithersburg. 

By the time the sputniks were launched in late 1957, the Bureau was well on its way 

to becoming a laboratory new in spirit and facilities. It was about to enter into some of 

its most rewarding and scientifically productive years. 

286 
CHAPTER FOUR 

REORIENTATION AND RECONSTITUTION, 1958-1964 

THE BEGINNING OF A TIME OF TURMOIL 

When Sputnik I was launched near the end of 1957, the United States was entering a 

period of great agitation. In fact, while the fifties are remembered as a decade of 

placidity and conformity, the sixties are remembered as a decade of turmoil and 

turbulence. I Names and events capture the agitation of the times: black student sit-ins 

at lunch counters in Greensboro, North Carolina; police dogs and water cannons 

attacking peaceful civil-rights demonstrators in Birmingham, Alabama; hippies and the 

drug culture in Haight-Ashbury; race riots and flames in northern cities and the Watts 

section of Los Angeles. There were college students rebelling against authorities at 

Berkeley and Columbia. pitched battles between police and radical youth at the 1968 

Democratic convention in Chicago, and young people exploring alternative cultural 

forms at Woodstock. It was a time of peace m~ches, draft-card burnings to protest the 

Vietnam War, and of shocking government violence at Kent State. It was the era of the 

Bay of Pigs misadventure, of the building of the Berlin Wall, of Gary Powers and the 

U-2 spy plane incident, and of the Cuban missile crisis. The decade was punctuated 

with assassinations: Medgar Evers, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and 

Robert F. Kennedy. 

Not all the events were dire. Other events were happy, and some even noble: 

Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech before the Lincoln Memorial; 

President Kennedy's request that citizens ask themselves what they could do for their 

country; President Lyndon B. Johnson's announcement of the passage of a comprehensive civil rights bill barring discrimination on the basis of color, national origin, or 

gender and his announcement of plans for a "Great Society;" Neil Armstrong's 

footsteps on the Moon. 

Like the blows of a forge hammer on iron, these events beat the society into new 

legal and cultural forms with lasting effect. Foremost among the legal changes was 

increased civil rights protection. Although de Jacto equality was still not realized, the 

basis for achieving complete legal equality was laid. On a cultural level, sexual taboos 

were overridden, with consequences welcomed by some and abhorred by others. A 

drug culture was established, with unwelcome ramifications for the whole society. 

But perhaps the most important cultural change was society's altered attitude toward 

authority. Where it had once been uncommon to question government, law enforcement, and parents, now such questioning was not only done with impunity, but 

expected of all thinking citizens. 

I Paul Johnson, Modern Times: The World From the Twenties to the Eighties (New York: Perennial Library, 

1985). Johnson calls the section dealing with these years "America's Suicide Attempt." 

287 
Foreign Affairs 

After the flight of the sputniks, Senator Styles Bridges of New Hampshire noted that 

the "time has clearly come to be less concerned with the depth of pile of the new 

broadloom rug or the height of the tail fin of the new car and to be more prepared to 

shed blood, sweat and tears."2 Sputnik I was one factor that began jolting the Nation 

out of its 1950s complacency. Americans were ready to ascribe to Russia a capability 

that it did not have and to assert a missile gap that did not exist. This feeling was 

not assuaged when the Nation's first attempt at orbiting a satellite failed on national 

television. 

President Dwight D. Eisenhower was chagrined and nonplussed by public reaction 

to the sputniks. He had been under great pressure to increase defense spending but had 

resisted, for he knew that no missile gap existed. 3 The president knew that the 

Nation's missile program was on schedule, and through U-2 reconnaissance was aware 

of the status of Soviet efforts. Indeed, before the end of the decade, Atlas, the first 

U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), became operational. Titan had begun 

to be developed in 1955, and the solid-fueled Polaris in 1956. In the early sixties, 

Minuteman, a solid-fueled ICBM, became ready for use. Convinced that public 

reaction was out of proportion to the danger, the president travelled around the Nation, 

attempting to reassure the populace that the sputniks did not represent a threat to 

national security. 

The United States could have launched a satellite a full ten months ahead of the 

Soviets, but it would have been a military effort that Eisenhower did not want. The 

President preferred to wait until January 31, 1958, when a civilian satellite, Explorer I, 

would be launched as part of the International Geophysical Year. 4 Although launched 

by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency using the Jupiter-C rocket designed by that 

agency and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Explorer I was a civilian endeavor. 5 But the 

sputniks sped up the satellite effort, and a full-scale space race was on. 6 In May 1958 

Eisenhower proposed the formation of a civilian space agency, and on July 29, 1958, 

Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, thereby forming the National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on the bones of the old National 

Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. 7 

Three years later, with Kennedy in office, another Soviet space spectacular shook 

the Nation. On April 12, 1961, the Soviets launched into orbit a satellite carrying Yuri 

Gagarin, the first cosmonaut. President Kennedy felt frustrated. As reported by the 

2 William L. O'Neill, American High: The Years o/Confidence. 1945-1960 (New York: The Free Press, 

1986): 271. 

3 James Everett Katz, Presidential Politics and Science Policy (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1978): 119; 

O'Neill, American High: 270-272. 

4 O'Neill, American High: 273. 

5 Hugh Odishaw, "International Geophysical Year," Science 128 (1958): 1608. 

6 Katz, Presidential Politics: 119; O'Neill, American High: 273. 

7 National Aeronautics and Space Act 0/1958, U.S. Statutes at Large. 72 (1958): 426. 

288 
An Atlas ICBM was shrouded for security as it moved through an unidentified town en route from San 

Diego to the Air Force missile testing center in Cape Canaveral, Florida (1957). (AP-Wide World Photos) 

Washington bureau chief of Time, Hugh Sidey, at a White House meeting, Kennedy 

stormed: "Is there any place where we can catch them? What can we do? Can we go 

around the Moon before them? Can we put a man on the Moon before them? ... Can 

we leapfrog? ... If somebody can just tell me how to catch up! Let's find somebody, 

anybody. I don't care if it's the janitor over there, if he knows how."g In May 1961 the 

president publicly committed the Nation to landing a man on the Moon and returning 

him safely to Earth by the end of the decade. The Apollo Program was born. 

Far more than any other foreign policy event, the sputniks influenced the programs 

of the Bureau. Three other events, however, recall the tenor of the times. Seeking to 

establish friendly relations with the Soviets and to promote peace between the two 

countries, Eisenhower invited Premier Nikita Khrushchev to the United States in 1959. 

Although miffed because of his inability to visit Disneyland (for security reasons), 

Khrushchev enjoyed his American tour. In the friendly "spirit of Camp David," he and 

Eisenhower arranged for a Paris summit conference to be held in August 1960. 

However, on May 1 of that year, the Soviet Union shot down and captured American 

pilot Gary Powers in one of the U-2 spy aircraft regularly used to fly over the Soviet 

Union. Unable to believe that Powers had survived despite the array of devices 

meant to destroy both the aircraft and its commander in the event the plane was hit, 

Eisenhower maintained that the U-2 was merely a weather plane. But Khrushchev 

produced both plane parts and pilot, catching the administration in a web of lies. The 

summit conference was aborted, and hopes for detente were dashed. 

A far more serious encounter faced Eisenhower's successor, John F. Kennedy, in the 

second year of Kennedy's administration. In the wake of the abortive Bay of Pigs 

invasion in early 1961, the peace treaty between the Soviet Union and East Germany, 

8 Johnson. Modern Times: 629; Katz, Presidential Politics: 143, gives a slightly different version. 

289 
and the construction of the Berlin Wall, Khrushchev began the drastic step of emplacing missiles in Cuba. There was no hope of keeping this action a secret, and on October 15 newly constructed missile sites were photographed by a U-2 aircraft. 9 On 

October 22, while the armed forces were on "maximum alert," ninety B-52s with 

multi-megaton bombs were poised over the Atlantic, and nuclear warheads were activated on 1 ()() missiles as Kennedy explained to the Nation what had occurred. He announced that he was instituting a "quarantine" of the island. On October 24, Soviet 

missile-carrying ships approached but did not cross the quarantine linet whereupon 

Kennedy wired Khrushchev, to request the removal of the missiles or, in his words, "a 

restoration of the earlier situation." In return for an American promise not to invade 

Cuba, Khrushchev removed his missiles from the island. 10 Both sides had faced the 

abyss of nuclear war but had not fa]]en in. 

A U.S. Navy patrol plane hovered overhead as the destroyer U.S.S. Barry pulled 

alongside the Soviet freighter Anesov. The Soviet vessel carried a presumed cargo of 

outbound canvas-covered missiles. The removal of missiles from Cuba in 1962 by the 

U.S.S.R. brought an end to the Cuban missile crisis. (AP-Wide World Photos) 

9 Johnson. Modern Times: 625-626. It was not a small emplacement. It was to have contained 42 mediumrange strategic missiles. 24 longer-range (2200 miles) missiles, 24 surface-lo-air missile groups, and 22 000 

Soviet troops and technicians. 

10 Ibid., 625-627. 

290 
But the defining foreign-policy event of the late fifties and early sixties was not the 

sputniks, the U-2 shoot-down, or the Cuban missile crisis, but the Vietnam War. This 

was not started by an individual event about which it could be said, "Before it we were 

not at war, and after it we were." Rather, a series of incremental events led the Nation 

into the quagmire of Vietnam. Perhaps, as historian Paul Johnson points out, the two 

events during the fifties and early sixties that were most influential in drawing the 

United States into the war were Eisenhower's refusal to sign the Geneva accords which 

called for free Vietnamese elections in two years, and Kennedy's acquiescence to the 

overthrow of South Vietnam's leader, Ngo Dinh Diem. II 

National Affairs 

When the sputniks flew, the Nation was approaching the end of the placid fifties. It 

had been a prosperous decade, analyzed by the economist John Kenneth Galbraith in 

his best-selling book The Affluent Society. In Galbraith's view, the modern industrial 

states had "mastered the difficulty of producing goods," and the days of shortages were 

over; the only remaining problem was the equitable distribution of goods. This was not 

only an economic problem, but a political one as well. 12 It was a problem not easily 

solved. Indeed, from 1958 to 1964, the principal domestic issue was the distribution of 

economic goods and political rights to African Americans. In short, the issue was civil 

rights. 

Following the successful completion of the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycotts at 

the close of 1956, African Americans had a new organization, the Southern Christian 

Leadership Conference (SCLC), and a charismatic leader who preached nonviolent, 

Gandhi-like protest, Martin Luther King, Jr. But this success did not mean that equality 

had arrived. In 1957, Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus refused to allow "black" students into "white" public schools, openly defying the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown 

v. Board of Education. Faubus's hard-line stance necessitated Eisenhower's reluctant 

use of a thousand paratroopers to force integration past an angry mob of white citizens. 

As late as 1961, James Meredith's attempt to be admitted to the University of Mississippi caused a riot that could not be controlled by 500 Federal marshals. As a result, 

President Kennedy federalized the Mississippi National Guard. Scores of marshals 

were injured, hundreds of rioters were taken into custody, and two bystanders were 

killed. 

Beyond the segregation of schools, the South still had segregated public eating places, toilets, and bus and train waiting rooms. Throughout the Nation, housing was segregated. Young African Americans, most of them college students-largely from black 

colleges-picked up the struggle in Greensboro, North Carolina, where they worked to 

desegregate lunch counters. Studiously courteous and nonviolent, their example was 

followed in many other places in the South, and they gained considerable sympathy 

II Ibid., 632-633. 

12 Ibid .• 613. 

291 
from at least the northern segment of white society. They were followed by the 

"freedom riders," whose simple demand that interstate bus terminals be integrated 

provoked such vicious attacks that Federal marshals had to be called upon to protect 

them. Other sit-ins, demonstrations, wade-ins and boycotts followed. Sympathy for the 

black push toward equality mounted slowly in the white population, but the defining 

incident occurred in Birmingham, Alabama. 

It was the SCLC's strategy to carry out "mass demonstrations and store boycotts" 

in Birmingham in the hope of splitting the business elite from the white leadership. 13 

After a few skirmishes between civil rights protestors and the police, Eugene "Bull" 

Connor, Birmingham commissioner of public safety, obtained an injunction against 

further demonstrations. When the SCLC persisted, the leaders were thrown into jail. 14 

King was held incommunicado, without mattress and blankets, until his wife Coretta 

contacted President Kennedy. After Kennedy's intercession King's lot improved, but 

the men, women, and children who marched on the Birmingham city hall were set 

upon by police dogs, buffeted by water from high-pressure fire hoses, and jailed. King 

and the otheir leaders were released, but the marches, dog attacks, hosing, and jailing 

continued. The scenes of dogs and water cannons assaulting helpless people, many of 

them women and children, helped to create a great deal of support for the demonstrators, and the White House sent in mediators. Although city officials remained intransigent, the business community, faced with a "paralyzing boycott and damning publicity, 

agreed to desegregation demands." The SCLC's strategy had worked as intended and it 

was clearly a victory for the African Americans. IS 

Martin Luther King, Jr., first visited the White House in 1961. He left somewhat 

disappointed. Concerned about his southern support, Kennedy was slow to move on 

civil rights. Finally, in June 1963 while southern killings continued, he called 

for new legislation. Medgar Evers, an NAACP official, was killed in his Jackson, 

Mississippi, home on June 12, and four black girls were killed in a church bombing in 

Birmingham in September. On August 28, 250000 persons of all colors marched on 

Washington and assembled at the Lincoln Memorial to support civil rights and hear 

King's "I Have a Dream" speech. It was clear that the time had arrived for something 

to be done. But, like a historical exclamation point to this era, a killing unrelated to 

civil rights took place. On November 22 in Dallas, President Kennedy was struck by 

an assassin's bullets. 

Kennedy's civil rights bill had not been passed and, ironically, it might not have 

passed had he lived. However, the new president, Lyndon B. Johnson, who had been 

looked upon with skepticism by the civil rights movement because of his southern 

background, saw the bill through Congress with his masterful knowledge of that 

institution's workings. On July 2, 1964, a civil rights bill that forbade discrimination in 

most public facilities was passed and became the law of the land. In 1965 Johnson 

1.1 James MacGregor Bums. The Crosswinds of Freedom: From Roosevelt to Reagan--America in the Last 

Half Century (New York: Vintage Books, 1990): 367. 

14Jt was here that King wrote his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail." 

IS Bums, Crosswinds of Freedom: 368. 

292 
shepherded through Congress a voting rights bill that banned literacy tests and provided for Federal registrars. There was still a long way to go, but most of the basis for 

legal equality was now at hand. 

During the period the public became more concerned with the environment, an area 

in which the Bureau would get more deeply involved. The most potent catalyst in 

increasing this concern was Rachel Carson's publication of Silent Spring in 1961, ten 

years after her other famous book, The Sea Around Us. Combining a poetic vision 

with sound scholarship, Carson laid open to public view the destruction of the environment by booming industries, the dumping of chemicals, and the indiscriminate use of 

herbicides and pesticides. Also important in awakening public sensitivities to the 

environment were Jacques Cousteau's vivid pictorial documentations of the beautyand fragility-of the undersea world. 

Congress also became more active on environmental issues. Four pieces of legislation were passed during the period, two dealing with air pollution, one with water 

pollution, and the fourth dealing with the control of the sale of pesticides and other 

poisons. In 1959, the original Insecticides, Fungicides, and Rodenticides Act, which 

controlled the sales of poisons for "insects, rodents, fungi, weeds, and other forms of 

plant or animal life ... which the secretary [of agriculture] shall declare to be a pest" 

was expanded to include nematocides, plant regulators, defoliants, and desiccants; and 

the power of the secretary was somewhat expanded in determining what was considered proper labelling. 16 Similarly, the Water Pollution Control Act of 1948 was 

significantly amended to require that research and studies be carried out on the 

treatment of municipal sewage, on the effects of pollution on water, on the effect of 

augmented flows on water quality, and on the waters of the Great Lakes. 17 

The first amendment of the original 1955 air pollution law, passed in 1962, was very 

brief but notable for its recognition of air pollution by motor vehicles. It instructed the 

surgeon general to study the substances emitted by motor vehicles to determine their 

effects, both harmful and benign. A little more than a year later, the comprehensive 

Clean Air Act was passed, having as its purposes the protection of the Nation's 

resources, the initiation of a national research and development program, and the 

provision of assistance to state and local governments. The comprehensive act again 

singled out motor-vehicle pollution. It mandated the formation of a committee that 

would monitor progress in the automotive and fuel industries and required a semiannual report on progress from the secretary of health, education, and welfare. Slowly 

the Nation was becoming serious about the environment. IR 

16 Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, U.S. Statutes at Large, 61 (1947): 163; Nematode, 

Plant Regulator, Defoliant, and Desiccant Amendment of 1959, U.S. Statutes at Large, 73 (1959): 286. 

17 Water Pollution Control Act, U.S. Statutes at Large, 62 (1948): 1155; Federal Water Pollution Control 

Act Amendments of 1961, U.S. Statutes at Large, 75 (1961): 204. 

18 Air pollution control, U.S. Statutes at Large, 69 (1955): 322; Air pollution control, U.S. Statutes at Large, 

76 (1962): 760; Clean Air Act, 77 (1963): 292. 

293 
THE GLORY DAYS 

Scientists at work in the late fifties and early sixties would later recall these years as 

a golden age of science. Times were good. The esteem placed by Vannevar Bush on 

basic research in Science, the Endless Frontier, and fonnalized by the establishment of 

the National Science Foundation in 1950, was unquestioned. Many industrial corporations gave their scientists new freedom in doing research, and science had wide public 

support. Most important, research and development expenditures continued the steep 

upward climb begun at the end of World War II. Between 1957 and 1964, while the 

gross national product was increasing by a factor of 1.43 (in current dollars), national 

expenditures for research and development increased by a factor of 1.93, averaging a 

yearly growth rate of 13.41 percent. Expenditures by the Federal Government increased 

by a factor of 2.05, an even greater growth rate. And the character of the work was 

changing, with basic research increasing still faster. Thus, national expenditures for 

basic research increased by a factor of 2.99, and such expenditures by the Federal 

Government alone increased by a whopping 3.91. Even the Federal Government 

in-house expenditures for basic research increased by the substantial factor of 2.98. 

These were times that were destined to make the research scientist happy. 19 

Science also achieved a loftier position within the Federal Government. In the 

wake of the sputniks, President Eisenhower fonned the President's Science Advisory 

Committee (PSAC), whose chainnan was instantly known as the presidential science 

advisor. Science now had a presence in the White House with an advocate who had the 

president's ear. 

A year later, on March 13, 1959, the president fonned the Federal Council for 

Science and Technology (FCST) by Executive Order 10807. Composed of the science 

advisor and officials from all the departments and agencies concerned with science, the 

aim of the Council was to provide a means for closer collaboration and cooperation 

among Federal agencies involved in scientific matters. FCST was to consider the 

effects of new developments and problems in science, provide more effective planning 

and administration of programs, identify research needs, avoid duplication, and further 

promote international cooperation. Its chainnan was to be designated by the president, 

and the position came to be occupied by the science advisor. 

Apart from the White House, PSAC assisted in the creation of a new policy body, 

the Office of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering, under the secretary of 

defense. In February 1958, DOD fonned the Advanced Research Projects Agency 

(ARPA) to handle its long-range projects. Early in the same year, the National 

Academy of Sciences (NAS) gave fonnal recognition to the new area of space science 

with the creation of the Space Science Board. And the fonnation of NASA in July 

1958 further spurred the new science and provided vehicles for new developments in 

astronomy, earth sciences, and communications. Closer to home, the Department of 

Commerce, along with various other agencies, fonned a new post of assistant secretary 

for science and technology, with important consequences for the Bureau. The persons 

filling these positions generally represented their agencies on FCST. 

19 Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970. Parts 1 and 2 (Washington, D.C.: 

Bureau of the Census, 1975): 224, 965. 

294 
The election of President Kennedy also gave science a sympathetic ally. In a May 

1961 message to Congress, Kennedy announced his plans for a manned lunar landing. 

In June 1962, with the acceptance of Congress, the President formed the Office of 

Science and Technology (OST) in the Executive Office of the President. 20 With the 

science advisor heading OST, science policy advice was no longer denoted as a White 

House staff function, but rather as a full office. The main aim, originally proposed by 

Senator Henry Jackson's Subcommittee on Government Operations, was to provide a 

mechanism for detennining and coordinating science activities in the Government. 

To that end, the National Science Foundation function "to evaluate scientific research 

programs undertaken by agencies of the Federal Government" was transferred to OST. 

But while the office could evaluate programs and had responsibility to coordinate 

them, it had no line authority. It was still an advisory body, although it-and hence all 

of science-had a voice at the highest level. 21 These were glory days indeed. 

The pace of technological change and scientific discovery did not slacken during this 

period. 22 The electronics revolution based on the transistor and on solid-state physics 

continued. In 1959 Sony introduced the first solid-state television set, and in the same 

year the first fully transistorized business computer, the RCA 501, was manufactured. 

As a harbinger of what was to come, the first integrated circuits were used for gates 

and logic circuits in computers designed for military purposes. In communications, a 

marriage of solid-state electronics and space capabilities produced two developments 

that would "shrink the world." In 1960, Echo, the first (passive) communications satellite, was placed into orbit, and two years later, on July 10, 1962, Telstar was launched, 

relaying the first transatlantic television pictures. In a few years, world news would be 

seen in "real time." Two other developments would revolutionize the office and the 

home. In 1959 Xerox introduced the first commercial copy machine, bringing joy to 

the lives of stenographers and paper manufacturers. In 1964 the first penn anent-press 

clothing was introduced, bringing delight to housekeepers and despair to the manufacturers of flatirons and cotton fabrics. In space, the Soviet Union made two advances. 

Although they would eventually be overshadowed by the United States feat of landing 

a man on the Moon, these accomplishments made headlines at the time. 

In 1959 the Soviet Lunik II landed on the Moon, the first man-made object to do so, 

and in the same year Lunik III returned pictures of the far side of the Moon-the first 

time that mankind had seen the back of its celestial neighbor. 

Progress in the field of basic science was even greater, if less spectacular. In 

astronomy a new class of celestial objects, the quasar (for quasi-stellar object), was 

discovered. These objects, enonnously distant, as shown by their large red-shift, and 

20 Reorganization Plan No.2 of 1962, U.S. Statutes at Large, 76 (1962): 1253. Ironically, the OST had little 

input into the lunar landing decision. Kennedy obtained his advice from his line organization, i.e., NASA. 

Jerome Wiesner, then director of OST, was to state later that this came about because NASA and OST 

differed on the details of how the mission should be carried out, with NASA planning on a "straight shot" 

while OST proposed going via a space station. Kennedy could hardly go against his line organization in such 

a crucial matter. (From author's personal recollection; see also Katz, Presidential Politics: 143) 

21 Katz, Presidential Politics: 39-40. 

22 Alexander Hellemans and Bryan Bunch, The Timetables of Science: A Chronology of the Most Important 

People and Events in the History of Science (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988). 

295 
enonnously bright as shown by their immense luminosity, excited considerable speculation as to their nature. No known source could power such a massive output of 

energy. Later it would be proposed that the far-away quasars were very early galaxies 

with immense black holes at their centers. 

At the opposite extreme of dimensions, Murray Gell-Mann of the California Institute 

of Technology (and independently Yu'val Ne'eman at Imperial College, London) 

introduced what Gell-Mann called the "eightfold way." A means of classifying the 

observed family of subnuclear particles, this method would lead to the concept of 

quarks, to quantum chromodynamics, and to the standard model of elementary 

particles. In other notable discoveries in elementary particle physics: 

• Gordon Danby and his group showed that there are two types of neutrinos, the 

known one associated with the electron and another associated with the muon. 

It is now known that there is a third neutrino associated with the tau lepton, 

giving a family of six so-called leptons. Later it would become a part of the 

standard model that six quarks exist in symmetry with the leptons. 

• Gerhart Liiders and Wolfgang Pauli proved the CPT theorem that conversion 

of a particle into its anti-particle, along with the simultaneous inversion of 

space and time, leaves the laws of physics intact. The CPT theorem is now 

recognized as one of the most fundamental theorems in physics. 

In the mushrooming field of molecular biology, new discoveries came swiftly. In 

1958 Severo Ochoa and Arthur Kornberg shared the Nobel Prize for the artificial 

production of nucleic acids with enzymes. Then in 1960, using x-ray diffraction 

techniques, John C. Kendrew and Max Perutz detennined the structure of myoglobin 

and hemoglobin, respectively. In the same year, Jacques Monod and Fran~ois Jacob 

proved the existence of messenger RNA, and a year later Robert W. Holley produced 

transfer RNA, the molecule that actually produces proteins. Marshall W. Nirenberg 

began breaking the genetic code locked in DNA when he showed that the UUU 

(uradylic acid) triplet of three bases in a row was the code for the amino acid 

phenylalanine. And in 1962 Francis H. C. Crick, Maurice Wilkens, and James D. 

Watson received the Nobel Prize for their determination of the molecular structure of 

DNA. The concept of a code for life had become reality, with a future of promise and 

threat from genetic engineering. 

But from the point of view of the Bureau, two developments of central importance 

to basic measurement standards were the most important advances in physics during 

the period. The first of these was the production by Theodore H. Maiman of the pulsed 

ruby laser. 23 Based on a fundamental paper by James P. Gordon, Herbert J. Zeiger, 

and Charles H. Townes on the maser, this work would lead to a host of other types of 

pulsed and continuous-wave lasers, making possible unparalleled applications in 

metrology. 24 

23 T. H. Maiman, "Stimulated Optical Radiation in Ruby," Nature 187 (1960): 493-494. 

24 J. P. Gordon, H. J. Zeiger, and C. H. Townes, "The Maser-New Type of Microwave Amplifier, 

Frequency Standard, and Spectrometer," Physical Review 99 (1955): 1264-1274. 

296 
The other development was the work of Brian D. Josephson at the Cavendish Laboratory of Cambridge University. In a purely theoretical investigation of electron tunneling through an insulator that separated two superconductors, Josephson, while still a 

graduate student, showed that a voltage between the superconductors should produce 

an alternating current across the insulator. 25 The frequency of the current was predicted 

by a remarkably simple equation. The frequency was simply proportional to the 

voltage, with the proportionality constant being twice the ratio of two fundamental 

constants: the electronic charge arid Planck's constant. There were thus two uses for 

the effect. One was the detennination of the ratio of the two constants directly in tenns 

of the basic standards of frequency and voltage. The other-which is really the inverse 

of the first-was to develop a measurement standard for voltage based only on the 

basic standard for frequency (the most accurate measurement known to science) and 

the ratio of the two constants. 26 It was another example of using a natural phenomenon 

as the basis for the realization of a unit of measurement. On January I, 1990, a new 

reference standard for the volt based on the Josephson effect was adopted internationally. 

THE BUREAU 

Wen on its way to implementing the welcome changes inspired by the Kelly 

Committee Report and, to some degree by the sputniks, the Bureau was about to enter 

its own "golden age." In the period from 1957 to 1964, its history, like that of the rest 

of science, did not mirror the growing turbulence of the times. Rather it was to be a 

time of great growth for the Bureau in which the character of its work was to change 

significantly. By the end of the period, all the recommendations of the Kelly Committee Report would be accomplished. No longer would transferred funds be the dominant 

source of financial support. Appropriations would rise dramatically, albeit insufficiently 

to pennit the Bureau to carry out all that was demanded of it. New, talented, younger 

staff would be added. Most significantly, the character of the work would change, 

becoming more basic and more fundamental with a substantial theoretical component, 

a striking departure from its historical condition. Construction of a spacious modern 

home with several major new facilities-an immense mechanical testing facility, a 

linear accelerator for electrons, a nuclear research reactor-would be under way in 

Gaithersburg, Maryland. The Bureau would undertake a new and crucially important 

program on the production, analysis, and dissemination of scientific data. Most 

importantly, its scientific productivity would flourish. 

These changes did not take place without trauma. Significant reorganization of divisions occurred, and new divisions were fonned. This reorganization was accompanied 

by the replacement of old leaders with new, young ones. Mostly--especially at the 

25 B. D. Josephson, "Possible New Effects in Superconductive Tunnelling," Physics Letters 1 (1962): 251-

253. 

26 The use of the Josephson effect as a voltage standard is dependent on a further, but related, property of the 

effect. If, in addition to a direct voltage, an alternating voltage is applied across a superconductor-insulatorsuperconductor junction, then at frequencies which are sub-multiples of the above defined frequency, the 

voltage-current curve of the junction shows plateaus at constant voltage. 

297 
division chief level-this replacement was done when retirement provided the opportunity. Even so, potential replacements from within were often passed over in favor of 

new persons from outside or younger leaders from inside, inevitably causing some 

resentment. New programs were undertaken, important established programs strengthened, and some established programs stopped or curtailed. 

Underlying all this was a yearning by Director Astin for a statement of the Bureau's 

mission, a definition of the Bureau's place in the economic and social fabric of the 

Nation. This quest produced a series of statements of the Bureau's role and eventually 

led to an even more important development. Despite all the programmatic changes, the 

organizational structure of the Bureau remained stable through most of the period. 

Then in 1964, partly as a result of the quest for the definition of a role and partly as 

the result of an analysis by a second Kelly Committee of the role of the Department 

of Commerce in science and technology, the Bureau would undergo the first major 

structural change in its history. 

Budget Matters 

The key to all these changes was an increase in direct appropriations, almost certainly brought about by the effect of the 1957 launch of the sputniks. During the 

previous seven years, Bureau appropriations had actually decreased. 27 Appropriations 

in 1950 had totaled $8.8 million; they dropped to a low of $6 million in 1954, then 

began to rise, reaching $8.75 million in 1957. The next seven-year period was to 

prove greatly different. By 1964, appropriations had grown to $28.7 million, more than 

three times the 1957 appropriations. While substantial and surpassing the increases 

for research and development described in the preceding section, these increases lose 

some of their impact when the funding history is examined in more detail. The Bureau 

had been starved for funds since 1950, thus the gains after 1957 were doubly welcome. 

The decreasing-increasing course of Bureau funding was mirrored by staffing levels, 

although the numbers are misleading. Bureau employment reached a peak of 4852 in 

1953, though only 1132 were supported by direct appropriation. With the divestiture of 

the ordnance divisions, total employment dropped precipitously to about 2800. By 

1957. total employment was 3024. with 1182 supported by the direct appropriation. 

Then began a steady climb that in 1964 brought the total level of pennanent staff to 

3905, with 2043 supported by the direct appropriation. By this time, the staff at 

Boulder had grown to 1230. 28 

21 The figures given here are for direct appropriations for research and development. The appropriation total 

for each year defines the base to which the next year's increases (or decreases) are made and defines the 

monies available for the Bureau to carry out research and development for its measurement and standards 

responsibilities. It does not include special one-time appropriations for the purchase of equipment, maintenance and plant services. or the construction of facilities, which can be substantial-the cost of the Gaithersburg facilities was over $100 million. It also excludes funds from other agencies and income from calibrations, the sales of standard samples, and the reimbursement for administrative services, except as noted in the 

text. All figures are given in current dollars. Conversion to constant dollars does not change any of the 

conclusions drawn. Later in the period there were special non-base appropriations for the Civilian-Industrial 

Technology program and from a Special Foreign Currency Program. 

28 See Appendix G. 

298 
These numbers do not represent all the persons working in the Bureau laboratories. 

For example, in 1964 the total NBS population was 4557, the number above fun-time 

employment being composed of intennittent and temporary employees, consultants, 

students, teachers, research associates, and guest workers. 29 

The effect of the sputniks was not felt immediately. Because the Government's 

fiscal year ran from July 1 to June 30, the sputniks occurred in the 1958 fiscal year. 

Appropriations for that year were made before July 1, 1957. Thus, Sputnik I was 

launched after the budget for FY 1958 had already been passed. Moreover, since budget hearings were held in the spring, budget documents were always prepared in the 

previous fall. By the fall of 1957, the budget documents for FY 1959 had already been 

completed. Since, as we have seen, Eisenhower was against crash programs and, in 

addition, did not feel that the sputniks offered any threat, those budget requests for 

1959 were not changed. But the Nation could not stand to be in second place, and the 

Congress wanted action. In particular, the House Appropriations Committee, under the 

sympathetic Prince H. Preston of Georgia, wanted to give NBS more money. As the 

committee well knew, Astin could not ask for more than the administration permitted 

and so had to defend a smaller budget than Congress would have approved. In early 

1958, the Bureau requested an increase of $2.07 million for FY 1959. Preston deftly 

drew out that the original Bureau request was for an increase of approximately $3.5 

million, but that this amount had been reduced by the department. Having a little fun 

at the expense of Astin and the department, Preston asked: 

MR. PRESTON: It is not likely that you would have materially altered this budget 

had sputnik been launched at that time; is it? 

DR. ASTIN: I doubt that it would have been materially changed. 

MR. PRESTON: There seems to be general agreement between the Department, 

yourself, and the Bureau of the Budget on this? 

DR. ASTIN: Yes, sir. 

MR. PRESTON: If the Congress approves the amount that you have requested, in 

toto, will you essentially be able to fulfill your mission as the Bureau of 

Standards? 

DR. ASTIN: We will not be doing all of the things we should be doing but it is an 

important first step. 30 

29 These figures come from the following sources, respectively: Kelly Committee Report: \05; MFP 

Appendix H; House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Department of Commerce and Related 

Agencies, Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1958: Hearings Before a 

Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, 85th Cong., 1st sess., National 

Bureau of Standards, 12 March 1957: 166; Annual Report, 1964: 236; House Committee on Appropriations, 

Subcommittee on Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies 

Appropriations, Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1965: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, 88th Cong., 2d sess., National Bureau of Standards, 21 February 1964: 588 . 

.10 House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Department of Commerce and Related Agencies, 

Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1959: Hearings Before a Subcommittee 

of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, 85th Cong., 2d sess., National Bureau of 

Standards, 23 April 1958: 420-423. 

299 
Later in the same hearings the subject of high-temperature measurements came up, 

led by Congressmen Daniel J. Flood of Pennsylvania and Sidney R. Yates of I11inois. 

It was believed, or perceived, that the Soviet Union had far greater capabilities for 

measuring high temperatures than did the Bureau-6000 °C as contrasted to 3000 °C. 

Astin explained that in order to extend the range of measurements, a new facility 

would have to be built. Mr. Yates asked: 

MR. YATES: Why do you not ask for the facility then? 

DR. ASTIN: I hope that ultimately we will be pennitted to ask for it. 

MR. FLOOD: Pennitted to ask for it? 

MR. YATES: Who is preventing you from asking for it? 

DR. ASTIN: We have prepared an analysis of major needs, at the request of the 

Secretary of Commerce, and this is under consideration. 

MR. YATES: And in the meantime you are falling behind every day? 

DR. ASTIN: Our requests were rather substantial. 31 

_ It was clear that the way was open for significant budget increases. Congress would 

certainly not stand in the way. That year the Congress approved the full $2.07 million 

increase. Next year the Bureau asked for an increase of $6 million and received 

$5.75 million. In the two years following the sputniks, the Bureau appropriation increased from $9.73 million to $17.25 million. With Astin explaining how the demands 

on the Bureau exceeded the Bureau's ability to fulfill them and comparing Bureau 

capabilities to those of the Soviet Union when possible and strategically advantageous, 

the budget continued to increase, although not as greatly as the demands. By FY 1964, 

the Bureau appropriation was $28.7 million. 

In 1957 the Bureau, of course, did not know that its appropriation would expand in 

the manner it did. Moreover, one of management's greatest concerns was to bring 

transferred funds into balance with appropriated funds in the manner recommended by 

the Kelly Committee. There was no evidence that this balance would occur of its own 

accord. Indeed, in fiscal years 1956-1958 the ratio of transferred to the total of transferred plus appropriated funds remained relatively constant at 63 percent to 65 percent. 

To try to arrive at a policy on transferred funds. Nicholas E. Golovin. then associate 

director for planning, undertook a study of work perfonned for the Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) as representative of other-agency work in general. 32 The BuAer was 

a large client of the Bureau, with a $1.43 million program spread through nine 

of the Bureau's divisions. Golovin found that 26 percent of the BuAer funds were 

"convertible" and the remainder "nonconvertible." In accordance with definitions 

contained in the Kelly Committee Report, the tenn convertible meant that the work 

was such that the Bureau could justify it as part of its measurement and standards 

JI Ibid., 433. 

J2 Memorandum, N. E. Golovin to A. V. Astin, "Bureau of Aeronautics Programs," August 2, 1957. (NARA; 

RG 167; Astin file; Box 17; Folder Golovin Correspondence Relating to NBS Programs and Administrative 

Problems, 1956-1958) 

300 
mission hence desirable because it added to basic Bureau capabilities. The nonconvertible work was quite different. The Bureau could not justify it as part of its basic 

mission; it was purely a service to the agency requesting it. But the Bureau went a 

step beyond the Kelly Committee Report. Not only would it undertake to carry out 

the desirable convertible work for other agencies, it would, in fact, seek direct 

Congressional appropriations to carry out the work, much as was done with the 

conversion of the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory into the Central Radio 

Propagation Laboratory (CRPL). 

Golovin suggested a policy statement for the acceptance of work of other Federal 

agencies. The policy stated that NBS would not undertake industrial-type product or 

device development, evaluation, or testing work unless [1] there were a national 

emergency, [2] there were no "alternative source of capabilities ... inside or outside 

the federal government," [3] the Bureau had been assigned a central mission for doing 

the work, or [4] if "test and evaluation work is limited in extent or duration, and is 

definitely subordinated to ... developing data and/or test procedures of sufficient 

interest to warrant publication .... " If the third or fourth conditions applied, it was 

understood that the work would eventually be financed by direct appropriations. 33 

Upon receiving this memorandum, Astin appointed a committee under the chairmanship of Robert D. Huntoon to study the application of this policy, first to specific divisions and then to the rest of the Bureau. 34 After considering a number of options, the 

committee came up with a remarkable proposal. 35 All the nonconvertible other-agency 

work would be carried out in a separate organizational unit with the tentative title 

Institute for Applied Science. Reporting to an associate director for applied science, 

"the institute would be part of NBS with Civil Service Commission employees, but 

would be financed entirely from transferred funds and would not ask for Congressional 

support." An important point made by the committee was that the institute would be 

similar to the Diamond Ordnance Fuze Laboratory before its divestiture by the Bureau. 

Administrative services would be shared, employees of the "regular" Bureau could 

occasionally go to work in the institute, and special NBS capabilities (such as vacuumtube fabrication) could be utilized via work orders. Convertible transferred-funds 

work would be carried out as usual except that steps would be taken to convert it to 

appropriated-funds work . 

. U Memorandum, N. E. Golovin to A. V. Astin, "Working Fund Work Policy Statement," September 30, 

1957. (NARA; RG167; Astin file; Box 17; Folder Golovin Correspondence Relating to NBS Programs and 

Administrative Problems, 1956-1958) 

34 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to Committee Members, "Special Study of NBS Programs Supported by Other 

Federal Agencies," October 16, 1957. (NARA; RG167; Astin file; Box 17; Folder Golovin Correspondence 

Relating to NBS Programs and Administrative Problems 1956-1958). The members of the committee were 

R. D. Huntoon, associate director for physics; N. E. Golovin, associate director for planning; I. C. Gardner, 

chief, Optics and Metrology Division; W. Ramberg, chief, Mechanics Division; I. C. Schoonover, chief, 

Mineral Products Division; F. B. Silsbee, chief, Electricity and Electronics Division; and Carroll C. 

Stansbury, chief, Electronic Instrumentation Section. Later, Dean Judd, the Bureau's expert on color 

measurements, was added to the committee. 

35 Memorandum, R. D. Huntoon, chairman, Special Committee on Programs Supported by Other Agencies to 

A. V. Astin, "Report of Committee," January 20, 1958. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 18; Folder Testing 

by NBS 1952-58) 

301 
All in all, the proposal to establish an institute whose sole purpose was to conductwith transferred funds-scientific work that the Bureau would not carry out under its 

basic measurement mission was a strange ,proposal indeed. Only a few years earlier the 

Bureau had such an institute in the Diamond Ordnance Fuze Laboratory. Admittedly, 

under the pressure of the Korean emergency, the laboratory had grown so big that the 

Bureau had to divest it lest the Bureau lose its identity. Now the committee was 

proposing to create another such institute. As the committee pointed out, the clear 

identification of this entity as separate and bearing only an administrative relation to 

the Bureau would permit complete budgetary separation between direct appropriations 

and convertible transferred funds on the one hand, and nonconvertible transferred funds 

on the other. Perhaps it was felt that this clear separation would protect the 

Bureau's measurement mission. The separation would be a sign to all that the Bureau 

was doing this work purely as a service to other agencies and would not do it otherwise, except in a national emergency, under direct orders, or if no other organization 

was capable of doing the work. 

Whatever the reasons for the proposal, it does not appear to have led anywhere. In 

fact, the rising appropriations decreased the need to rely on transferred funds. While 

appropriations rose to $28.7 million in 1964, transferred funds were reasonably 

constant between 1957 and 1964, averaging $15.26 million per year-a maximum of 

$17.88 million in 1964 and a minimum of $13.22 million in 1961. Indeed, in 1960, for 

the first time since before World War II, appropriated funds exceeded transferred 

funds, being 53.8 percent of the total. By 1961, transferred funds were less than 

40 percent of the total and remained near that figure for the rest of the period. There is 

also some evidence that the character of the transferred-funds work was changing. 

The criteria applied to the acceptance of transferred-funds work in 1957 were that 

it have a close relationship to the basic functions of NBS, show a prospect of producing results of general value to science, or that it could not be undertaken as effectively elsewhere. 36 But no one knew the optimum amount of transferred-funds 

work, or even if there was an optimum amount. Hence the subject continued to be 

discussed by Bureau staff members in memoranda to their superiors in the Bureau and 

in the department. 37 Despite all this study and communication, something like the policy as stated in Golovin's original memorandum remained the guiding policy on transferred-funds work. The subject would continue to concern Bureau management for the 

remainder of this history. 

JIi Report, "Analysis of Program Conversion." (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 20; Folder Correspondence 

1958). This unsigned, undated eight-page document appears to be an analysis for Bureau management of 

transferred funds from 1947 to 1958. The context indicates that it was written in 1958. 

37 Memoranda: N. L. Christeller to A. V. Astin, "Conversion Policies," January 27, 1962; Under Secretary E. 

Gudeman to A. V. Astin, "Conversion Program in National Bureau of Standards," January 18, 1962; L. M. 

Branscomb to A. V. Astin, "Transferred Fund Policies," October 30, 1961. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 

15; Folder Transfer of Funds) 

302 
In 1960, funds from an unusual source became available for the Bureau to carry out 

a part of its program.38 Through its Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), the United 

States sold surplus agricultural commodities to various nations and was paid by the 

purchasing country in the local currency. By the tenns of the law governing these 

sales, the United States was obligated to spend these funds in the purchasing country. 

The money could be used for such essential expenses as support of the U.S. embassy.39 

In some cases the sales exceeded these necessary expenses and a surplus of funds in 

the local currency accrued to the CCC account. The NSF requested that the Bureau of 

the Budget pennit various Government agencies to use these funds to support research 

in the foreign country to further those agencies' programs. Such pennission was 

granted, and thus was born the Special Foreign Currency Program, or, less fonnally, 

"PL-480 money." 

However, by the tenns of PL-480, the agencies could only use these surplus funds if 

the Congress appropriated U.S. dollars to the agencies for "purchase" of the funds 

from the CCC. In effect, U.S. funds were transferred from the Treasury's general 

account to the CCC account. The net result was to use surplus commodities for the 

purchase of research services, but the appropriations committees remained in charge of 

the agencies' funds. 

The Bureau, with excellent knowledge of the scientific work in other countries and 

seeing a way of carrying out work that it could not do itself, was naturally interested 

in obtaining PL-480 money. The funds did not pelmit the addition of staff, but they 

permitted the support of foreign workers in fields where knowledge was important to 

the Bureau program and, in a roundabout way, pennitted more foreign travel than 

was possible under the chronically inadequate foreign-travel allotment. In 1960, the 

Bureau asked for $5.17 million for work in Spain, Yugoslavia, Poland, Israel, India, 

and Pakistan, but received nothing. In 1961, NBS asked for $5 million, now omitting 

Spain from its list of countries, but the Joint House and Senate Conference Committee 

deferred the appropriation pending further studies. In 1962, proposing projects only in 

Israel, India, and Pakistan, it asked for and received $1 million. In 1963 and 1964, the 

Bureau again asked for $1 million, and received half the requested amount. The work 

included such studies as the calculation of atomic spectra (Israel), the propagation of 

electromagnetic waves in the earth (India), standard reference materials (Pakistan), 

and translations-particularly from the Russian literature-on highly specialized topics 

of little interest to U.S. publishers. It was a useful program, expanding the Bureau's 

international activities. The Bureau continued to receive funds from this source into the 

1980s, when the CCC funds in excess were essentially depleted. 

38 House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Department of Commerce and Related Agencies, 

Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1961: Hearings Before a Subcommittee 

of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, 86th Cong., 2d sess., National Bureau of 

Standards, 13 January 1960: 264-281. 

39 Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954, U.S. Statutes at Large, 68 (1954): 454. 

303 
An Evaluation and a Status Report 

Doubtlessly pleased with the results of the Kelly Committee Report in 1953, 

Secretary Weeks, as one of his last acts at Commerce, in late 1958 asked the National 

Academy of Sciences to carry out a similar study of science and technology in the 

whole Department of Commerce, not merely on the Bureau alone. Weeks requested 

that a committee be appointed "to undertake an up-to-date evaluation of the functions 

and operations of the Department of Commerce in relation to present national needs,,,40 

and Detlev W. Bronk, then president of the Academy, appointed Mervin J. Kelly as 

chairman of the committee. 41 Their report, The Role of the Department of Commerce in 

Science and Technology," was delivered on March 2, 1960, to then Secretary of 

Commerce Frederick H. Mueller, the second secretary to hold the office after Weeks 

had commissioned the second Kelly study shortly before he returned to private life. 

The objective of the study was "to evaluate the functions and operations of the 

Department of Commerce to insure that it is fulfilling its responsibilities in the interest 

of science and technological progress.,,42 For this purpose the committee studied all 

the agencies of the department that had some bearing on science. 43 In addition, the 

committee investigated the overall management of science at the secretarial level. In its 

analysis, the committee found that in comparison with other nondefense science and 

technology institutions, financial support in the Department of Commerce was 

relatively inadequate and had not progressed as rapidly as that of other institutions. 

Most important, the committee found that "the explanation lies largely in Commerce's 

organization structure and personnel at the administrative level.,,44 The administration 

of the seven agencies in the study was divided between two "assistant secretarial 

offices." These assistant secretaries had other competing responsibilities and, in 

addition, the offices had not been "filled ... by men with background in science and 

technology and understanding of the operations and needs of research and development." To rectify this situation the committee recommended the formation of "an assistant secretaryship for science and technology" to provide "professional leadership at 

the top administrative and policy levels." It was the only department-wide recommendation made by the committee. 

40 Letter, D. W. Bronk to Secretary of Commerce F. H. Mueller, March 2, 1960. This is the cover letter for 

the committee report. 

41 The other members of the committee were Horace R. Byers, Michael Ference, Jr., Paul M. Frye, Frank W. 

Herring, Augustus Kinzel, H. A. Leedy, Dale F. Leipper, e.G. Suits, and Abel Wolman. 

42 The Role of the Department of Commerce in Science and Technology: A Report to the Secretary of 

Commerce by a Special Advisory Committee of the National Academy of Sciences (Washington, D.e.: NASNRC. 1960): 3. Hereafter referred to as the Second Kelly Committee Report. 

43 Besides the National Bureau of Standards, the agencies were the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, 

Maritime Administration, Patent Office, Bureau of Public Roads, Office of Technical Services, and Weather 

Bureau. The Bureau was by far the largest, with appropriated expenditures equal to the combined scientific 

expenditures of all the other agencies. 

44 Second Kelly Committee Report: 6. 

304 
The recommendation was adopted, the position established, and in May 1962 its first 

occupant, J. Herbert Hollomon, was installed. Hollomon was a forceful and dynamic 

research manager-metallurgist from the General Electric Research Laboratory who 

would have a profound effect on the organization, programs, and manner of operating 

at the Bureau. 

Earlier, in 1958, at about the time Astin learned that Secretary Weeks had requested 

the fonnation of an evaluation committee, he had been discussing the major needs of 

the Bureau with Under Secretary Walter Williams. 45 At the request of the under secretary and doubtless spurred by the impending fonnation of the second Kelly Committee, 

Astin prepared a study paper for use by the secretary of commerce in planning for 

Bureau activities. 46 Along with a three-page, memorandum for the secretary, the study 

paper provided an analysis of both the legislative and the financial needs of the 

Bureau. In it Astin clearly pointed out that certain very important activities carried out 

by the Bureau did not arise directly from its organic act, but were carried out because 

of frequent ad-hoc assignments or other-agency arrangements. These activities needed 

a base of mission statements with legal impact. For example, the functions of the 

CRPL were not clearly defined, leading other agencies to try to duplicate some of 

them. Astin felt that an Executive Order, perhaps initiated by the science advisor, 

would simplify the operation of the CRPL for both the Bureau and the Department of 

Defense. 

Other activities in which the Bureau's role required greater clarification were 

Boulder's Electronic Calibration Center, under construction with appropriated funds at 

the request of the DOD but without finn commitment from Defense for its support; the 

Building Technology Division, which was becoming a central government buildingresearch activity with no authoritative definition of its scope and objectives; the 

Cryogenic Engineering Division, set up with AEC funds and subsequently transferred 

to the Bureau when AEC needs diminished; the Data Processing Systems Division, 

which was becoming a sort of central government service organization for computers, 

but without an authoritatively defined mission; the Applied Mathematics Division, 

which was in much the same situation; and the National Hydraulics Laboratory, which 

had never received sufficient support to become a truly national research facility and 

whose facilities were being duplicated and surpassed in other agencies. 47 

Astin made two other points in this administrative portion of his study. Both had to 

do with the difficulty of hiring and retaining staff, particularly at the higher levels. 

Government pay scales were simply not high enough to compete with the private 

45 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to W. Williams, "Major Needs of the National Bureau of Standards," March 3, 

1958. (NARA; RG167; Astin file; Box 36; Folder "A"-NBS Functions) 

46 "Study Paper on Major Needs of the National Bureau of Standards," February 25, 1958. (NARA; RG 167; 

Astin file; Box 36; Folder "A"-NBS Functions). The first page of the study paper is unfortunately missing 

from the record. 

47 A national hydraulic laboratory facility was authorized on May 14, 1930. It was to have been a facility 

available to all agencies of the Government to obtain fundamental data in hydraulic research and engineering. (Bureau of Standards, hydraulic laboratory to be established, U.S. Statutes at Large, 71 (1930): 327) 

305 
sector, and Astin requested an increase in the number of PL-313 positions allocated to 

the Bureau. 48 In addition, he strongly recommended legislative requests that would 

increase the general pay scales of scientists. 

In a long portion of the study Astin asked for funds for specific equipment, facilities 

and programs. Stating that this was not an exhaustive inventory he listed twenty-three 

specific items, ranging from $81 million for new facilities at Gaithersburg to $250 000 

in yearly operating costs for a program in operations research. While most of the requests were the type nonnally made by research directors, three illustrate some of the 

new directions the Bureau was taking and the change in its character. There was a 

request for $4.7 million for a high-intensity linear electron accelerator and $4 million 

for a companion research nuclear reactor. These two facilities would in due course be 

realized, and the Bureau would become a leader in their use. 

But one item more than any other illustrated how the nature of the Bureau's work 

was changing in 1958. In item number 6, the Bureau requested $500000 as yearly 

operating costs for theoretical studies. Stating that "one of the current weaknesses of 

the Bureau's programs is inadequate highly specialized attention to the theoretical 

aspects of experimental work ... ," Astin proposed to "establish strong theoretical 

groups at both Washington and Boulder on a sufficiently large scale to attract the 

desired and needed talent."49 No such autonomous groups would be fonned, but 

theoretical work was rapidly becoming a strong-if decentralized-component of 

Bureau activities. 

As did the first Kelly Committee, the second carried out an intensive, division-bydivision investigation of the Bureau. It gave the Bureau high praise, writing "the 

Bureau represents an important and pennanent scientific resource of government, 

and should be given the support warranted by so valuable an asset that insures the 

maintenance and enlargement of its scientific strength and effectiveness."5o More 

4S Enacted on August I, 1947, Public Law 313 (War and Navy Department, professional and scientific 

service, U.S. Statutes at Large, 61 (1947): 715) established a new class of Civil Service positions within the 

War and Navy Departments. To "effectuate those research and development functions, relating to the 

national defense ...• " these positions could be granted by the secretaries of the departments. upon approval 

by the Civil Service Commission, without competitive examination. The law specified the number of positions allotted to each department, as well as the minimum and maximum salaries permitted. The salaries 

were higher than those for the GS-15 leve!, the normal top of the grade. From time to time amendments to 

the act extended the authority to other agencies, revised the number of positions allotted, and the salary 

range. 

In a similar manner, Public Law 429 (Classification Act of 1949, U.S. Statutes at Large, 63 (1949): 954) 

specified the number of positions for the whole Civil Service in grades GS-16, GS-17, and GS-18-the 

so-called "Super Grades." Again periodic revisions in number and salary were made. In 1965. the Bureau 

had 39 appointees in GS-16, and 29 in GS-17. It also had 12 under Public Law 313. Memorandum, G. R. 

Porter to A. V. Astin, June 14, 1965. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 20; Folder Correspondence 1965) 

49 Study Paper: 8. 

50 Second Kelly Committee Report: 87. 

306 
important, as part of its investigation, the committee asked Astin to prepare for them a 

statement of the missions of the Bureau, and what resulted was the first clear statement 

during Astin's tenure of these missions. 51 Included as an appendix to the committee 

report, the statement won high praise from the committee, which wrote: "[the paper] 

gives evidence of a clarity of vision of the Bureau's place in government and in the 

nation's scientific and industrial communities."s2 

The statement was based largely on the 1958 study paper Astin had written for the 

secretary but with only an abbreviated list of desired projects and considerably more 

on the mission of the Bureau. Using the 1950 version of the Organic Act as the basis 

for his discussion of the Bureau's mission, Astin pointed out that the legal functions of 

the Bureau were very broad and pennitted "almost any sort of technical activity" but 

were not much help in setting priorities. 53 Astin looked at the mission statement as 

useful in setting priorities. After a cogent discussion of the functions listed in the 

enabling legislation, Astin arrived at a single statement for the Bureau's primary 

mission: 

The National Bureau of Standards seeks to provide the central basis for a 

self-consistent and unifonn system of physical measurement throughout the 

United States. 54 

Having such a statement, the relevance of a program to a "particular measurement 

problem and its importance to scientific and technological industrial progress" may be 

judged and hence priorities set. 55 

But this statement did not encompass all the activities of the Bureau. In particular, it 

did not come to grips with the other-agency problem. Here Astin felt an obligation to 

perfonn technical services for other agencies but only to the extent that such work 

did not interfere with the primary mission. There would be no going back to the 

ordnance development days. Moreover, if a particular task were to be substantial and 

continuing, a fonnal assignment of responsibility would be desirable, as Astin had 

already proposed in his study paper. Again he stressed the need for better definitions 

of the missions of CRPL and other Bureau programs. In smaller, miscellaneous 

projects for other agencies, Astin's policy was to give preference to those jobs where 

the Bureau had some unique competence or which enhanced its measurement-standards 

competence. Finally, Astin noted a very important point. In the field of industrial 

stand(ifds, codes, and specifications, the Bureau had no primary responsibility for the 

development or promulgation of these standards, but it made its competence available 

to the organizations that had the responsibility. 

51 Minutes of associate director meetings. November 3 and November 5, 1958, and November 6, 1959. 

(NARA; RG167; Astin file; Box 29; Folder Old-AD Minutes). This mission statement was worked on by the 

associate directors in late 1958 and finished in late 1959 for publication in the Annual Report, 1960. 

52 Second Kelly Committee Report: 83. 

5J Ibid., 97. 

54 Ibid., 98. 

55 Ibid. 

307 
The committee took good note of Astin's paper. Their recommendations reflected 

the desires of the Bureau. The committee called for: yearly expansion of 15 percent in 

the measurement standards area (a rate that could not long be sustained); rapid completion of the Gaithersburg installation; an Executive Order for the CRPL; special 

committees of scientists and engineers to review the scope and activities of the 

Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory, the National Hydraulics Laboratory and the 

Building Technology Division; appropriated funds to be used for measurement and 

standards activities of broad national interest; a substantial increase in the number of 

PL-313 positions; more effective technical advisory committees; and an analytical 

review and report for the Statutory Advisory Committee, by the director, of the 

Bureau's various activities for other agencies. Not all of these recommendations would 

be carried out, but they were an eminently reasonable set. 

The interest in a well-articulated mission statement did not end when Astin framed 

one for the second Kelly Committee. On September 9, 1960, the Bureau issued a 

mission statement and published it in its annual report for 1960. An expansion of what 

was provided for the committee and less pedagogical in tone, the statement was built 

around the measurement-standards functions of the Bureau but did not contain the 

condensed single-sentence version noted above. Nor did it come to grips with the 

Bureau's special responsibilities, instead promising that the Radio Propagation 

Laboratory, the National Hydraulics Laboratory, the data processing systems program, 

cryogenic engineering, building technology, and fire research would be "dealt with in 

later separate statements.,,56 

In cryogenic engineering and building technology, the special statements would take 

the form of reports of the National Academy of Sciences. Following the recommendations of the Kelly Committee, the Bureau asked the academy to appoint committees of 

experts to "determine the scope of the Bureau's responsibilities in these areas." The 

academy did so, appointing an ad-hoc committee to investigate the cryogenicengineering area and a committee from the Building Research Advisory Board of the 

National Research Council (NRC) to investigate the building-technology area. The two 

reports were delivered in 1962, the cryogenics on January 15 and the building technology on May 21.57 Both reports, though each with a different emphasis, cautioned that 

the Bureau should not compete with industry in the development of proprietary 

products but found that the Bureau did have a role in these areas. 

The cryogenics panel in effect wrote a mission statement for the Bureau's cryogenics work. Pointing out that the competence of the Bureau was utilized in reinforcing 

56 Study Paper: 4-5; Second Kelly Committee Report: 95; Annual Report, 1960: 150. 

57 "Report of the Ad-Hoc Cryogenic Engineering Panel," Dr. Clyde McKinley, chainnan, January 14, 1962 

(Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council, 1962). (NARA; RG167; 

Astin file; Box 21; Folder NASI A V A-1953-1969); "A Program for Building Research in the United States, a 

Report for the National Bureau of Standards by a Special Advisory Committee of the Building Research 

Advisory Board," Richard G. Folsom, chainnan, May 21, 1962. Publication 994 (Washington, D.C.: 

National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council, Building Research Advisory Board, 1962). 

(History Project File. Chapter 4, Folder Building Res. Ch. 4). See also Bascom W. Binningham, "Program of 

the Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory Division," February 1964. A "white paper" courtesy of the author. 

(History Project File, Chapter 4, Folder Binningham White) 

308 
the capabilities of other Government agencies to further the "national need in cryogenics, the panel noted that in carrying out this function the agency's "acti'" ies are 

broadly basic in character, in keeping with the primary measurement mission of the 

Bureau." The committee then listed five specific types of activities, all concerned with 

providing information on cryogenic engineering, including the maintenance of a 

National Cryogenic Data Center and the furnishing of advisory and consultative 

services to other government agencies and the general public. It is clear that the 

cryogenics panel saw a useful role for the Bureau in the cryogenics area. 5ll 

The Building Research panel made a very different recommendation. It recommended that there be established a National Institute of Building Research with the 

mission of "stimulating and sustaining a correlated and continuing national program of 

building research," that the Institute be organized under the Bureau, and that the 

Bureau's research activities be incorporated in the Institute. It was a wide-ranging 

recommendation but showed clearly that there was an important role for the Bureau in 

building research. 59 

However. Astin did not accept the recommendation of the panel. He wrote to 

Hollomon, "I am skeptical that a National Institute of Building Research, established 

within the NBS and subordinate to it, could effectively attain the full stature and 

importance which the recommended program elements demand. . .. It should be essentially on the same reporting level as NBS."60 How Astin proposed to deal with the 

special mission for building research is discussed in a later section of this chapter. 

Fire research was in somewhat the same state as building research. An NAS-NRC 

panel, under joint sponsorship of the U.S. Forest Service, the DOD, the NSF, and the 

Bureau, studied the fire problem during several weeks in the summer of 1961 and 

recommended that a fire group should be formed in the Federal Government. This 

group would continually assess the fire program in the whole Nation and "arrange for 

the execution of work not now adequately supported.,,61 The "group should have a fulltime director and a full-time technical staff. A budget of $3 million was suggested as a 

start, rising to perhaps three times that amount. It is not difficult to think of this as an 

institute as well. Indeed, the recommendations were referred to the Federal Council for 

Science and Technology (FCST), which gave this responsibility to the Department of 

Commerce. The Bureau was then designated "a central agency for fundamental fire 

research in the physical sciences ... " and, with funds provided by the DOD and the 

Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization, it began to support fundamental research in 

58 "Report of the Ad-Hoc Cryogenic Engineering Panel," 5. 

59 "A Program for Building Research in the United States:" 7. 

60 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to J. H. Hollomon, "NAS-NRC report 'A Program for Building Research in the 

United States,'" February 21, 1963. (DOC; Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology; Accession 40-

68B-6087; Box 28; Folder National Bureau of Standards) 

61 A Study of Fire Problems: a Study held at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, July 17 to August I I, 1961 under 

the guidance of the Committee on Fire Research of the National Academy of Sciences-National Research" 

Council, Division of Engineering and Industrial Research (Washington, D.C.: NAS-NRC, 1961) NAS-NRC 

publication 949: I. See also NAS Annual Report, 1961-1962: 79-80. 

309 
other laboratories. 62 Plans were made to fonn a National Center of Fire Technology to 

report to Hollomon, but this did not to come to pass. 63 

It was not clear to everyone that the Bureau had a role in these areas. On September 

25, 1962, eight months after the cryogenics panel report, Hollomon wrote to Astin: 

"I wish to initiate the necessary steps and come to a decision concerning the Cryogenics Laboratory at Boulder. Further, I think we agree that the work underway there does 

not fall within the responsibility of the Bureau of Standards .... I think it very likely 

that it may be carried out by private enterprise rather than by government and it is in 

competition with private enterprise. Thus, I would appreciate your indicating the steps 

that are necessary for the government to cease operating the Cryogenic Laboratory.,,64 

Astin's thoughts on receiving this letter are not known. What happened was that 

Bureau management, with these two reports in hand, took a different course and 

rewrote the mission statement extensively. It produced a strikingly different document 

from that prepared in 1960. On June 20, 1963, Deputy Director Huntoon wrote to the 

division and section chiefs on the restatement of the mission: 

The mission of the National Bureau of Standards is to conduct research and 

perform essential central national services in the area of physical measurement which are performed with the objective of facilitating the reliable and 

efficient exchange of quantitative data and of technological products and 

services in science, engineering, industry and commerce. 

The research and services aspects of the mission are considered as equal in 

priority since neither can exist without the other. Without the service function 

there is no solid justification for NBS to continue as a Federal research 

institution. Without the research function the service function cannot be 

effectively performed. Therefore, both must be emphasized and neither to the 

detriment of the other. 65 

The document then went on to list eight mission components: direct services, 

physical measurement standards or measurement systems, standard reference data, 

standard reference materials (previously called standard samples), engineering 

measurements and standards, special central responsibilities, general infonnational 

research (undirected basic research), and technical services, such as mathematical, 

instrumental and analytical services. 66 

62 Annual Report, 1960: 109. 

6.1 "Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the NBS Visiting Committee," May 14, 1962: 4. (NIST RHA; Director's Office file; Box 354; Folder 1962-Visiting Committee) 

64 Memorandum, J. H. Hollomon to A. V. Astin, "Cryogenics Laboratory," September 25, 1962. (NARA; RG 

167; Astin file; Box 17; Folder Correspondence reo Senior Appointments) 

65 Memorandum, R. D. Huntoon, deputy director to division and section chiefs, "Revised Mission Statement 

and Associated Programming Instructions," June 20, 1963: \. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 15; Folder 

Mission) 

66 Ibid., \-3. 

310 
The most interesting of these components was "special central responsibilities." The 

memorandum states, "The enabling legislation of the Bureau and the stated mission 

are,broad enough to permit either temporary or long term activity in connection with 

central national responsibilities .... When authorized and activated these will be 

included in one component of the mission, called ... Special Central Responsibilities.,,67 Only three examples of these were listed: radio-propagation research and 

services, building research, and data-processing-systems research and services. Missing 

from the list were cryogenic engineering and the National Hydraulics Laboratory. With 

this new mission, the cryogenic-engineering activities fell under direct services, 

standard reference data, and engineering standards, so that by redefining the mission, 

the activities of this program fell under three of the defined mission components, 

thereby obviating the need for a special mission. The three listed still needed special 

mission justification. 

The analyses of the Hydraulics Laboratory's functions and fate came about in a 

somewhat different manner. Astin had been concerned for some time about what to do 

with this laboratory, particularly since the impending move to Gaithersburg made a 

decision on facilities at the new site imperative. 6~ Thus, doubtless at his instigation, in 

November 1960 the FCST appointed a committee with Astin as chairman to decide the 

fate of the laboratory. 69 After a few meetings, Astin reported to the FeST on the 

decisions the committee had reached. The committee recommended that the legislation 

establishing the Laboratory be repealed, provided that all agencies involved in 

hydraulics strengthened their basic research programs; it provided a list of recommendations for strengthening basic research in hydraulics; and it recommended that a 

limited research hydraulics facility be provided for the Bureau at the Gaithersburg site. 

This was in fact done. 

67 Ibid., 3. 

6K Memorandum, C. N. Coates to A. V. Astin, "Advisory Committee Recommendations Regarding National 

Hydraulics Laboratory," September 8, 1958. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 16; Folder National 

Hydraulics Laboratory, Anny Corps of Engineers). Authorized in 1930 (Bureau of Standards, hydraulic 

laboratory, U.S. Statutes at Large, 46 (1930): 327) as a laboratory to obtain fundamental data in hydraulics 

research and to serve as a central Government laboratory in this field, the then-not-inconsiderable amount of 

$350000 was authorized and appropriated for the facilities. However, operating funds commensurate with 

this broad authority were not provided and the laboratory operated principally on transferred funds. In 1961 

it had a staff of fifteen and expenditures of $69 000 from direct appropriations, and $109000 from transferred funds. By comparison, the Navy spent $1.41 million, the U.S. Geological Survey $330000, and the 

USDA Soil Conservation Service $1.85 million, only slightly less than half in basic research. The laboratory 

did regularly publish a directory of all the hydraulics research carried out in the United States and Canada. 

From 1933 to 1942 these directories were published as the Bulletin. Series A: Current Hydraulic Laboratory 

Research in the United States, from 1947 to 1971 as Hydraulic Research in the United States, and from 

1974 to 1980 as Hydraulic Research in the United States and Canada. 

69 Letter, L. Cannichael, chainnan of the Standing Committee of FCST, to A. V. Astin, December I, 1960. 

(NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 16; Folder FCST Hydraulics Lab. Panel). The committee members in 

addition to Astin were, A. L. Cochran, Corps of Engineers; L. B. Leopold, U.S. Geological Survey; F. D. 

Rigby, Office of Naval Research; G. B Schubauer, National Bureau of Standards; R. J. Seeger, National 

Science Foundation; T. W. Edminster, U.S. Department of Agriculture; and J. Westrate, FCST Standing 

Committee. 

311 
The Bureau did, however, pick up a new amendment to its organic act on September 

7, 1958. 70 Unlike the 1950 revision, it had nothing to do with the basic responsibilities 

and authority of the Bureau. Rather, along with other similar housekeeping matters, it 

clarified the secretary of commerce's authority to acquire or lease land for field sites 

and to undertake the construction of buildings. The law had no effect on the work the 

Bureau was authorized to carry out and, hence, was of no historical consequence. 

An Organization Changes 

As with any organization, the Bureau underwent periodic alterations in the makeup 

of its organization when individuals left for retirement or other reasons, and 

organizational units were added, subtracted, or had functions modified as the aims of 

the institution changed. During the period 1957-1964 there were a number of the 

former type of changes, and many of the latter type as management strove to redirect 

the nature of the research carried out. However, in these changes the basic line structure of section-division-director was not altered. In 1964, a major change occurred in 

which a new level of "institute" was added, so that the line structure was now sectiondivision-institute-director. 

Along with this new line structure, there was, of course, a support and staff structure, sometimes organized as divisions, sometimes as offices, and sometimes simply 

by title. One of the most important changes made during the period occurred in 1958, 

when the position of deputy director was formed. Robert D. Huntoon was the office's 

first occupant. It is remarkable that in its first fifty-seven years the Bureau had not felt 

the need for this position. With "fully delegated authority in the direction, coordination, and review of Bureau programs and administration,,,71 the position freed the 

director from day-to-day operations and allowed him to devote himself to broad policy 

matters and to contacts with the outside. 72 It was a significant change. 

The Office of the Director always had a number of consultants, special advisors, 

special assistants, and persons with similar functions. Then in 1961, a new position of 

senior research fellow was created. Similar to the movement in many other research 

organizations at that time to form a "parallel ladder" recognizing-and payingscientists as much as managers, this position was to "afford recognition to distinguished scientists and to enable them to do independent research and consultation of a 

broad character beyond the scope of a particular division.,,73 The first holder of one of 

these positions was Ugo Fano, the Bureau's senior theoretical physicist. By July of 

70 An Act To amend the Act of March 3, 1901, U.S. Statutes at Large, 72 (1958): 1711. 

71 Annual Report, 1959: 14. 

72 As already discussed in previous chapters, the Bureau had a number of associate directors in several disciplines, including planning, but these positions combined line and staff functions and cannot be considered 

as true line positions. In 1961, the "Associate Directors were relieved of responsibility for supervision of 

particular divisions so that they could spend full time in staff work for the Director and Deputy Director." 

(Annual Report, 1961: 17) 

7J Annual Report, 1961: 17. 

312 
I· 

Robert D. Huntoon joined the Bureau 

staff in 1941 as one of the principal 

scientists working on the development 

of the radio proximity fuze, a major 

scientific achievement bearing on 

Allied victory in WWII. Over the 

course of his career, Huntoon held 

many high-level positions at the 

Bureau. including chief of the 

Electronics Division, chief of the 

Atomic and Radiation Physics 

Division, acting chief of the Central 

Radio Propagation Laboratory, 

coordinator of Atomic Energy 

Commission projects at NBS, director 

of the NBS Corona Laboratories, and 

associate director for physics. In 

1958, Huntoon was appointed deputy 

director, becoming the first occupant 

of the newly created position. 

1964, he had been joined by chemist-theoretician Kurt E. Shuler, mathematical statistician Churchill Eisenhart, and James R. Wait, the principal theoretician of the CRPL. 

All were administratively assigned to the Office of the Director. 

This new-found concern for the staff was illustrated by the establishment of awards. 

The few awards then available were of recent establishment. In 1949, the Department 

of Commerce had initiated two awards to recognize outstanding performance by 

members of the staff. These were the Gold Medal award, Commerce's highest honor, 

conferred upon an employee of the department for "distinguished achievements of 

major significance to the department and the Nation," and the Silver Medal award, the 

second highest award of the Department, bestowed for "meritorious contributions of 

exceptional value to the Department." Each of these consisted of a medal, a lapel 

emblem, and a certificate. They were naturally highly prized. 

Although members of the Bureau staff were frequent winners of these awards, in 

the first sixty years of its history the Bureau had not instituted any awards of its 

own. Then in 1960, the Bureau Personnel Committee,14 through its chairman Irl C. 

Schoonover, wrote to Astin recommending the establishment of the Samuel Wesley 

74 The Bureau Personnel Committee met periodically to consider grade increases for personnel and to go 

over any personnel problems. Each of the divisions also had a personnel committee whose recommendations 

went to the Bureau committee. 

313 
Stratton A ward to recognize "truly outstanding scientific accomphshment. Recipients 

selected to receive this honor should be presented with a bronze plaque and an 

honorarium at an appropriate ceremony." The committee made provisions for two 

awards each year, but also for omitting years in which no truly outstanding accomplishment was available. 75 

After some discussion with the department, the establishment of such awards was 

authorized on November 7, 1960, and on September 4, 1962, Astin wrote to the 

department with the committee's choice of recipients for the first two Stratton Awards. 

They were James R. Wait. the senior theoretician of the CRPL, "in recognition of his 

contributions to a better understanding of the mechanisms of electromagnetic radiation 

and radio-wave propagation" and, in a joint award, Peter L. Bender and Raymond L. 

Driscoll "in recognition of their contributions to precision electromagnetic. measurement and particularly the determination of the gyromagnetic ratio of the proton." Each 

James R. Wait came to NBS, Boulder 

from Ottawa, Canada, in 1955 to 

examine theoretical aspects of radiowave propagation. He received a 

Department of Commerce Gold 

Medal for Exceptional Service in 

1959 and one of the first Stratton 

Awards in 1962. In the following 

year, Wait was honored with an 

appointment as a Senior Research 

Fellow at NBS and was granted an 

Arthur S. Fleming Award by the 

Washington Junior Chamber of Commerce, recognizing him as "one of the 

ten outstanding young men in the 

Federal service, 1963." These early 

awards and honors would be 

augmented by many more over the 

course of Wait's distinguished career. 

75' Memorandum, I. C. Schoonover to A. V. Astin, "Stratton Awards." (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 18; 

Folder Stratton A wards 1961-62). Date on memo is not legible. 

314 
Peter L. Bender. a joint recipient of 

one of the first Stratton Awards in 

1962, was recognized for contributions to precision electromagnetic 

measurement and particularly the 

determination of the gyromagnetic 

ratio of the proton." Bender was 

among the first group of seven 

Postdoctoral Research Associates 

that arrived at the Bureau in 1955-

1956. He became a regular staff 

member in 1957 and, just two years 

later, received a Gold Medal for 

Exceptional Service from the 

Department of Commerce for his 

application of the principle of optical 

pumping to measurements of atomic 

C'bnstants and to the development 

of a rubidium clock. 

recipient received a plaque and a $1500 honorarium. 76 The establishment of the award 

and the work of the recipients illustrate well the emphasis management was placing on 

fundamental research. 

These were not the last awards to be established. Since the Stratton Award was for 

basic science, other areas of the Bureau's work were in danger of being neglected. In 

1964 the Edward Bennett Rosa A ward was instituted for "outstanding achievements 

in the development of meaningful and significant standards of practice in the measurement field." This award recognizes another major aspect of the Bureau's activities and 

consists of an honorarium and a brass plaque. 

Other awards followed: in 1966 the Bronze Medal for "work that has resulted in 

more effective and efficient management systems as well as the demonstration of 

76 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to C. Hayward, "Stratton Awards," September 4, 1962. (NARA; RG 167; Astin 

file; Box 18; Folder Stratton Awards 1961-62) 

315 
Raymond L. Driscoll came to NBS in 

1936 and proceeded to accrue honors 

for his work in the area of experimental absolute electrical measurements and for the application of such 

measurements to the determination of 

atomic constants. In 1950 Driscoll 

won a Silver Medal for Meritorious 

Service from the Department of 

Commerce, and in 1959 he was 

awarded a Gold Medal for Exceptional ServIce. In 1962, the year the 

Stratton Award was inaugurated, 

Driscoll was a joint recipient for 

"contributions to preCision electromagnetic measurement and particularly the determination of the 

gyromagnetic ratio of the proton." 

unusu~l initiative or creative ability in the development and improvement of methods 

and procedures" (bronze medal, lapel emblem, certificate); in 1967 the Eugene Casson 

Crittenden Award for employees "who perfonn supporting services that have a significant impact on technical programs beyond their own offices" (honorarium and certificate); in 1974 the Edward Uhler Condon Award recognized "distinguished achievement 

in written exposition in science and technology" (aluminum plaque and honorarium); 

in 1975 the Applied Research A ward recognized the "practical application of the 

results of scientific or engineering research" (mixed metal plaque and honorarium); in 

1977 the Equal Employment Opportunity A ward recognized "significant contributions 

to EEO which have been perfonned in an exceedingly outstanding manner" (anodized 

brass plaque and honorarium); in 1979 the NBS Safety Award, recognized "unusually 

significant contributions to the NBS Occupational Safety and Health program" 

(honorarium and certificate for individual recipients, certificate and plaque for group 

awards); in 1984 the Allen V. Astin Measurement Science Award recognized 

"outstanding achievement in the advancement of measurement science or in the delivery of measurement services" (bronze plaque and honorarium); in 1992 the William P. 

Slichter Award recognized "outstanding achievements by NIST staff in building or 

.strengthening ties between NIST and industry" (certificate and honorarium); and in 

1996 the George A. Uriano Award recognized "outstanding achievements by NIST 

316 
staff in building or strengthening NIST extramural programs, with emphasis on fostering U.S. competitiveness and business excellence" (certificate and honorarium). 

Presented at a special annual ceremony, the awards provide some happy occasions and 

result in stimulation for members of the staff. 

In another arena, the civil rights struggles of the time shaped Government personnel 

action. In the Federal Government, equal opportunity had long been a policy.77 Beginning in 1940 with Executive Order 8587, which was the first public statement of the 

principle that persons must not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, or 

creed, and with the Ramspeck Act,78 a series of other executive orders and legislation 

effectively barred such discrimination in the Federal Service. In 1955, with President 

Eisenhower's Executive Order 10590, which stated that equal opportunity was to be 

afforded to all qualified persons, a new active phase of EEO began, heightened by 

President Kennedy's introduction of affinnative action in 1961. Then the Congress 

produced legislation that went beyond the confines of Federal Government employment 

when the Equal Pay Act of 1963 prohibited "discrimination on account of sex in the 

payment of wages by employers engaged in commerce or in the production of goods 

for commerce." 79 In that same year, just before the landmark Civil Rights Act of 

1964, the Department of Commerce began an EEO program. As a result, the Bureau 

sent a monthly memorandum to Assistant Secretary Hollomon listing the actions it 

had taken to improve EEO. A typical example lists six African Americans interviewed, 

two appointed, eight promoted, and one who received a cash award. The highest grade 

involved was GS-8, and most of those cited were at the GS-2 or GS-3 level. In addition, high-level management met with six black employees on housing problems 

in connection with the Gaithersburg move and other aspects of the Bureau's EEO 

activities of c~ncern to minority employees. 8o The Bureau itself did not fonn an EEO 

Committee until May 1968. Hollomon was critical of the Bureau's EEO program, 

stating that it was concerned with only long-range problems and was not specific 

enough about goals on dates and numbers. 81 

* * * 

Outside the Office of the Director a number of changes were made before 1960, the 

most notable of them being the fonnation of the Radio Communications and Systems 

Division in 1959, with Richard C. Kirby as chief, in the Central Radio Propagation 

Laboratory. But the most significant changes occurred in mid-1960, and they were 

extensive indeed. After the retirement in 1959 of its long-tenn chief Francis B. Silsbee, 

the Electricity and Electronics Division was split into its component parts, reversing a 

merger made in 1953. The Electricity Division was fonned under Chester H. Page, 

\ 

77 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Office of Equal Employment Opportunities, "Generational 

EEO Developments," [19911. 

7K An Act Extending the classified executive civil service, U.S. Statutes at Large, 54 (1940): 1211-1216. 

79 Equal Pay Act of 1963, U.S. Statutes at Large, 77 (1963): 56-57. 

80 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to J. H. Hollomon, "Progress Report on the NBS Equal Opportunity Program," 

December 17, 1963. (NIST RHA; Director's Office file; Box 381; Folder Chrono 7/63-12163) 

81 Memorandum, J. H. Hollomon to A. V. Astin, "Equal Employment," June 19, 1963. (DOC; Assistant 

Secretary for Science and Technology; Accession 4O-70A-6988; Box II; Folder June 1963) 

317 
and the electronics component was merged with the Office of Basic Instrumentation 

from the Office of the Director, and the Mechanical Instruments Section from the 

Mechanics Division to fonn a new Instrumentation Division under G. Franklin 

Montgomery . 

Following the retirement of its chief, Irvine C. Gardner, in 1959, Optics and Metrology became simply Metrology under Alvin G. McNish, picking up the Mass and Scale 

Section under H. Steffen Peiser and the old Capacity, Density, and Fluid Meters 

Section under Charles T. Collett from the Mechanics Division in the process. 

Very important changes occurred in the Heat Division under Charles M. Herzfeld. 

The Engine Fuels Section, the last holdover from the automotive laboratory, was 

abolished. The Rheology Section under Robert S. Marvin was moved to the more 

appropriate Mechanics Division, and the Free Radicals Research Section under Arnold 

M. Bass, its work completed, was also abolished. However, two new sections were 

fonned, and they were to become stellar perfonners. These were the Equation of State 

Section under Joseph Hilsenrath, and the Statistical Physics Section under Melville S. 

Green, which brought statistical mechanics research to the Bureau in a big way. 

Condon's division, Atomic and Radiation Physics, had grown greatly and was replete with capable, enthusiastic, and ambitious young scientists. It was simply split into 

its two components: Radiation Physics under its vigorous long tenn chief, Lauriston S. 

Taylor, and Atomic Physics under the natural leader Lewis M. Branscomb. It was a 

pleasant separation for all concerned. 

In a split that was not accepted with complete enthusiasm, the Chemistry Division 

was divided into Analytical and Inorganic Chemistry, under the temporary tutelage of 

Irl C. Schoonover, and Physical Chemistry, under the capable stewardship of relative 

newcomer Merrill B. Wallenstein. In the process, the Organic Coatings Section was 

abolished, and the Electrodeposition Section was moved to the Metallurgy Division, 

both moves consistent with the recommendations of the first Kelly Committee Report. 

Physical chemistry, with new sections on Molecular Spectroscopy under David E. 

Mann, Molecular Kinetics under Robert E. Ferguson, and Mass Spectrometry under 

Vernon H. Dibeler, was to become one of the stellar scientific divisions of the new 

Bureau. 

The Mechanics Division was also extensively reorganized, but remained under the 

leadership of Bruce L. Wilson. Its Mechanical Instruments Section was transferred to 

the new Instrumentation Division; two sections were transferred to Metrology as 

described above; and two sections-Rheology under Robert S. Marvin from the Heat 

Division and a new section, Pressure and Vacuum under Daniel P. Johnson-were 

added. 

In 1960, Boulder's Radio Propagation Physics Division under Ralph J. Slutz was 

split into Ionosphere Research and Propagation Division under Ernest K. Smith, Jr., 

and the Upper Atmosphere and Space Physics Division under C. Gordon Little. No 

new sections were fonned, nor any old ones abolished. In 1962, the Radio Standards 

Laboratory also split into two divisions: the Radio Standards Physics Division under 

L. Yardley Beers and the Radio Standards Engineering Division under George E. 

Schafer. By 1963, Boulder had seven technical divisions, four in the Central Radio 

Propagation Laboratory, two in the Radio Standards Laboratory, and one in the 

Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory. 

318 
The Annual Report for 1961 described these changes as having been made "as part 

of the Bureau's efforts to meet the expanding needs of modern science and technology," but the changes were not yet complete. 82 In particular, the reorganization of the 

three materials divisions had not yet been accomplished. For two of these divisions, the 

changes were made less by movement of division parts than by installing new leadership at the division level. Thus, in late 1959, Alan D. Franklin was installed as chief of 

the Mineral Products Division, and in 1960 Lawrence M. Kushner, who had been chief 

of the Metal Physics Section, was appointed chief of the Metallurgy Division. Both 

were younger men who reorganized and re-oriented their divisions as time passed. For 

the Organic and Fibrous Materials Division, the changes were more substantial. In 

early 1962 it was renamed the Polymers Division in recognition of the fact that the 

industrially important organic materials were in fact synthetic polymers. The division 

remained under Gordon M. Kline, its long-time head, but five of its eight sections 

'were abolished and replaced with a new set of four under new leadership. Robert B. 

Hobbs, however, remained in a leadership role, becoming chief of the Applied 

Polymers Standards and Research Section upon the abolition of the Paper Section 

which he had headed. 83 

These major changes did not occur without some rancor on the part of the staff. 

Older staff members who were passed over by younger or more capable persons were 

understandably upset, and those who were replaced-sometimes summarily-were 

naturally hurt. Many left the Bureau. The management, however, was serious in its 

desire to transform the Bureau and proceeded with its plans. The younger staff who 

had taken over positions of leadership were happy with the turn of events and brought 

a heightened vigor to their jobs. In a few short years the composition of middle 

management at the Bureau had been substantially recast. 

Not planned and not part of this reorganization effort, a major change in leadership 

occurred in 1962 with the resignation of Frederick W. Brown, director of the Boulder 

Laboratories since their establishment in 1954. This resignation was not occasioned by 

the desire of management to re-orient the work at Boulder. Consisting of the Cryogenic Engineering Division, the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory, and the Radio 

Standards Laboratory, the work in Boulder was basic and scientifically modern. Rather, 

Brown's resignation was caused primarily by the nature of his position, although 

personality differences between him and Astin played a part. While he bore the title of 

director, he was not in charge of the technical work. The division chiefs in Boulder 

reported directly to the Bureau director, not the Boulder director. As a result, the 

Boulder director was not a great deal more than a caretaker, looking after administrative matters, taking care of the physical plant, and acting as the interface with the 

H2 Annual Report, 1961: 17. 

HJ The sections abolished were Rubber under Lawrence A. Wood, Textiles under Herbert F. Schieffer, Paper 

under Robert B. Hobbs, Leather under Joseph R. Kanagy, and Plastics under Frank W. Reinhart. The new 

sections were Macromolecules: Synthesis and Structure under Donald Mcintyre, Polymer Chemistry under 

Leo A. Wall, Polymer Physics under Elio Passaglia, and Applied Polymers Standards and Research under 

Robert B. Hobbs. Dental Research under William T. Sweeney, Polymer Characterization under Nonnan P. 

Bekkedahl, and Polymer Evaluation and Testing under Robert D. Stiehler were not changed. 

319 
Frederick W. Brown was the first 

director of the Bureau's Boulder 

Laboratories from 1954 until 1962. 

Before coming to NBS, Brown served 

as technical director of the U.S. Naval 

Ordnance Test Station at China Lake, 

California. He was widely recognized 

as an outstanding administrator of 

scientific research and development 

programs as well as a technical 

expert. While employed by the 

Bureau of Mines during World War 

II, Brown authored what was long 

considered a classic in the field of 

theoretical calculations for explosives. 

outside community. The direction of the technical work was determined by the division 

chiefs and the Bureau director with ~e associate director involved. The Boulder director doubtless had input in this process, but he was not a formal part of the technical · 

line organization. Even in administrative matters, the amount of leeway the Boulder 

director had in interpreting Bureau administrative policies, and in making his own, was 

a source of some difficulty. 84 

But the Boulder problems were deeper and_ more endemic than merely the relationship between Brown and Astin. The Boulder staff chafed under what they thought to 

be restrictions on their freedom to select projects. Indeed, in 1958, an audit by the 

General Accounting Office found that the Boulder staff were eager to complain that 

Washington did not understand Boulder's problems and thus were not sympathetic to 

84 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to F. W. Brown, '''Review and Definition of Washington-Boulder Relationships." (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 20; Folder 1956). This memorandum is undated, and it is not 

known if it was ever sent. This same box contains a great deal more material on Boulder-Washington 

relationships. 

320 
Boulder's needs. Because their work mostly came under the "special missions" category, they felt that Washington was not as supportive of them as it should have been. 

The situation festered to the point that in early 1962 all the Boulder division chiefs, 

with Brown's knowledge, wrote memoranda to Astin expressing their views on the 

Boulder-Washington relationships. While some of the memoranda were quite moderate, 

others were more forceful. One division chief entitled his memorandum "My Reasons 

for Believing that CRPL Should Now Explore the Possibility of Finding a New Home 

Outside of the NBS. ,,85 Russell Scott, chief of the Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory, 

who would succeed Brown, wrote, "The activities of CEL are relegated by NBS policy 

to the status of 'secondary missions.' . .. [This] has hurt morale.,,86 A third division 

Russell B. Scott played a leading role 

in the development of the science of 

cryogenics. He joined the staff of the 

Bureau's Low Temperature Section in 

1928 and became its chief in 1948. 

Following the establishment of the: 

Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory in 

Boulder, Scott was transferred there 

as its chief. In 1963, Scott succeeded 

Brown as Boulder's director. 

8S Memorandum, chief, Radio Propagation Engineering Division to A. V. Astin, "My Reasons for Believing," 

February 6, 1962. (NARA; RG167; Astin file; Box 20; Folder Correspondence 1962) 

86 Memorandum, chief, Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory to A. V. Astin, "NBS Boulder-Washington 

Relations," February 6, 1962. (NARA; RG167; Astin file; Box 20; Folder Correspondence 1962) 

321 
chief did not feel that morale had deteriorated below the division chief level, but he 

made the point, "I suspect CRPL is considered more of a nuisance than a jewel by 

Washington management," and then continued, "I can also see how we would tend to 

grow more apart with Boulder increasingly reflecting the views of local management 

due simply to the separation in distance.,,87 Yet another division chief recommended 

"complete delegation of authority to Boulder Laboratories' management for all policy 

formation, program planning, manpower, and fiscal controls, etc., pertaining to Boulder 

Laboratories.,,88 He did not, however, say what was left for Washington to do. That 

was the rub of the matter. The installation 1700 miles from headquarters naturally 

began to feel more and more independent. However, complete independence was not 

possible without destroying the reason for existence of headquarters, save perhaps for 

the defense of the budget. Power necessarily had to be shared, but the final authority 

had to reside at headquarters. This placed the director of the Boulder Laboratories in a 

difficult position, with authority over some things but not over others. It appears that 

for Brown, who was very anxious to create the best research climate possible, his 

authority did not extend far enough, and so he resigned. 89 

Brown was replaced by Russell Scott, chief of the Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory. Significantly, his title was changed to manager of the Boulder Laboratories; 

there was now only one director, and he was in Washington. Under Scott unrest 

lessened. Then in 1965 the CRPL was transferred to the newly formed Environmental 

Science Services Administration (ESSA) and all questions of "secondary missions" 

ceased. The CRPL laboratories remained in the same location despite the fact that they 

were no longer part of the Bureau, and it is significant that the name of the site 

remained "Boulder Laboratories." Scott now managed Boulder for both ESSA and the 

Bureau. 

JILA, The Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics 

The Bureau's annual reports for 1959-1961 feature discussions of a new program in 

plasma physics and astrophysics that the Bureau intended to emphasize. With the 

development of space science brought about by rocket and satellite capabilities and of 

research in thermonuclear power, interest in the behavior of very hot gases and 

plasmas had grown substantially. But the relevant fields of physics were poorly understood and, as a result, progress was being held up in the fields of space exploration 

and astrophysics, thermonuclear power and plasma physics, rocket re-entry problems, 

87 Memorandum, E. K. Smith to A. V. Astin and R. D. Huntoon, "Boulder/Washington Relations," February 

2, 1962. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 20; Folder Correspondence 1962) 

8H Memorandum, chief, Division 87 to A. V. Astin, "Recommendations Regarding the Management of 

Boulder Laboratories," February 6, 1962. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 20; Folder Correspondence 1962) 

H9 Brown went to the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires, and his departure was without rancor. A few years later 

Astin was to help Brown in his attempt to find a new position. Letter, A. V. Astin to F. W. Brown, August 

20, 1964 (NIST RHA; Director's Office file; Box 381; Folder 5/64-8/64); Letter, A. V. Astin to F. W. 

Brown, April 28, 1965 (NIST RHA; RG 167; Director's Office file; Box 381; Folder 111/65-4130/65) 

322, 
ultra-high temperature research, and atmospheric research. Lacking were "precise measurement techniques, standards, and basic data on the fundamental properties of the hot 

gas or plasma.,,9o The Bureau's new program was to emphasize these areas, and the 

implementation of the program would eventually lead not only to a decentralized but 

coordinated Laboratories for Astrophysical and Plasma Research involving some 100 

senior staff members, but also to the formation of a wholly new and novel organization 

called the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA).91 

The Bureau was not starting from scratch in this field. Along with work in the measurement of very high temperatures and with astrophysical and ionospheric studies in 

Boulder, it had a small program in laboratory astrophysics, loosely defined as the 

laboratory study of the atomic properties and processes of importance to astrophysical 

phenomena. The program was centered in the Atomic Physics Section under Lewis 

M. Branscomb, who had been chosen in 1959 to coordinate the development of a 

larger program. 92 In 1960, a presentation of the Bureau's present program and plans for 

its future program was made to the Space Science Board of the National Academy of 

Sciences, whereupon that body sent a resolution to the secretary of commerce: 

The Board foresees that a strong limitation to progress in physical interpretation of experiments and observations of the terrestrial, planetary, solar and 

stellar atmospheres is the lack of sufficient understanding of basic physics of 

atoms and molecules in the environment which they encounter in these 

atmospheres. The Board feels that basic work on atomic cross sections, 

reaction rates and interaction with radiation fields both individually and cooperatively should be encouraged wherever interest exists or may be 

stimulated. 

The Board is aware of the excellent work in various such aspects of laboratory and theoretical astrophysics done by groups at the National Bureau of 

Standards, and, as a supplement to the above, believes that the Government 

should recognize in a formal way this potential in a federal laboratory for a 

coordinated and relatively comprehensive approach to these problems which 

are so important to space science. 93 

90 Annual Report, 1961: 6. 

91 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to R. E. Giles. "The NBS Program in Laboratory Astrophysics, Appendix I," 

February 28. 1962. (DOC; Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology; Accession 4O-68B-6087; Box 28; 

Folder National Bureau of Standards). The defining document for JlLA is "Memorandum of Understanding 

between the National Bureau of Standards and the University of Colorado concerning the collaborative establishment of a Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics." (History Project File; Chapter 4; Folder JlLA). 

The document will be referred to as MOU. 

92 In 1960 Branscomb became chief of the new Atomic Physics Division and Stephen J. Smith became chief 

of the Atomic Physics Section. A description of the program Branscomb coordinated is given in Measurements and Standards in Plasma-Physics and Astrophysics at the National Bureau of Standards, Lewis M. 

Branscomb, ed .• Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Technical Note 59; (July 1960). 

9.1 Annual Report, 1960: 10-11. 

323 
Similar opinions were expressed in 1962 by the FCST, which had appointed a panel to 

study the problem in 1960: the Bureau's "statutory responsibility for precise measurements ... [make] the NBS a focal point for laboratory astrophysics. Directly appropriated funds for operations and facilities should be made available to NBS to complete the establishment of a long range interdisciplinary laboratory and theoretical 

astrophysics program."94 

Earlier, Branscomb had developed unique plans for an effort in laboratory astrophysics that did not involve the Bureau. The recipient of a Rockefeller Public Service 

Award, he had spent the 1957-1958 academic year at University College, London, 

gathering material for a book on negative ions which he never wrote. He was not 

unaware of the connection between atomic physics and astrophysical problems. 

Through his colleagues William Meggers and Charlotte Moore Sitterly, Branscomb 

had contact with the International Astronomical Union (lAU). His association with 

Professor Michael Seaton of University College strengthened that contact. Moreover, 

the study of material for his proposed book sharpened his interest in astrophysics, 

turning his attention to the role of negative ions in stars. Thus, with his way eased, 

Branscomb obtained an invitation to the General Assembly of the IA U in Moscow. 

There he met Richard N. Thomas, one of two astrophysicists from the Boulder Laboratories. With the other Boulder astrophysicist, John T. Jeffries, Thomas was administratively housed in the Office of the Director of the Boulder Laboratories. Branscomb 

had known Thomas slightly at Harvard, and in their discussions in Moscow, they 

conceived the idea of a "proper group of atomic physicists interested in astrophysical 

applications, and astrophysicists who wanted to do the astrophysics, not in the classical 

way, but in the modem quantum mechanical way .... We cooked up the idea, the two 

of us, that if somehow we could take the atomic physics group in Washington and 

these two astronomers [Thomas and Jeffries, a guest worker from Australia] in 

Boulder, and marry them up, we would leave the Bureau and we would go somewhere, 

and we would do this great thing." The main impetus behind this idea was that 

Branscomb was not satisfied with simply measuring and publishing properties of 

matter. He wanted to see his work applied. The marriage of atomic physicists and 

astrophysicists would help assure that the work of the atomic physicists would be used 

by astrophysicists, and doing the work in the free environment of a university would 

also attract workers in other fields such as aerodynamics. Thus, notwithstanding its 

fundamental nature, the work of the atomic physicists would be "applied research.,,95 

When Branscomb returned from his sabbatical, he told Astin of the ideas that he and 

Thomas had and gave notice that he would like to try to "find someplace to go and try 

to do all this stuff." Astin pointed out to Branscomb that he need not leave the Bureau 

to do this and reminded him that the Bureau had at one time set up the Institute for 

94 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to E. Gudeman, "The NBS Program in Laboratory Astrophysics," February 14, 

1962. (DOC; Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology; Accession 4O-68B-6087; Box 28; Folder 

National Bureau of Standards) 

95 Interview with L. M. Branscomb, July II, 1988: 70. (NIST Oral History File); Letter, L. M. Branscomb to 

E. Passaglia. August 23, 1991. (History Project File; Chapter 4; Folder JILA) 

324 
Numerical Analysis as a joint effort between the Bureau and UCLA. Why not do 

the same thing in this field? Thus was the idea of a Joint Institute for Laboratory 

Astrophysics born. 96 

While coordinating the work of the Atomic Physics Division, Branscomb's ideas for 

the joint institute were sharpened. The institute would consist of astrophysicists and 

atomic physicists already on the Bureau staff and faculty members, fellows, and 

students from appropriate departments of a university. The senior members of the NBS 

component would be professors adjoint in the university. Visiting scholars, important 

in the institute, were expected to number about ten per year. 

The disciplinary core of the institute was to be atomic and molecular physics, radiative transfer theory, and eventually quantum electronics, while the applications were to 

be in atmospheric chemistry, missile wake dynamics, plasma physics, and astrophysics. 

Particularly important was the emphasis that Thomas placed on the solution of the 

nonequilibrium, nonlinear radiative transfer problem. All of this required knowledge of 

atomic collision cross-sections and nonequilibrium radiative transfer theory. 97 

Thus, the institute would carry out research in astrophysics and low energy atomic 

physics, do theoretical analysis of astronomical observations, and study the physics of 

the astronomical medium. In short, it was to be a collaboration of atomic physicists 

and astronomers/astrophysicists. From the point of view of the NBS participants, the 

university environment promised greater academic freedom, the availability of graduate 

students, interaction with visiting scholars, and the opportunity to see their results 

applied. From the point of view of the university, the Bureau could provide sound, 

experienced administrative personnel, superb shop facilities, and teaching, for an 

important function of the institution was the training of students in these fields. 98 The 

university could get grants from agencies such as the NSF where the Bureau could not. 

In addition, for the university it would be an interdepartmental-interdisciplinary 

research facility with new opportunities for students and faculty. 

The final Bureau plan for its effort in plasma and astrophysics was that the Bureau 

would form the Laboratories for Astrophysical and Plasma Research, with work to be 

performed by appropriate members of various divisions in Washington and Boulder. 99 

Then, following the lines set out by Branscomb, there would be formed with a yet-tobe-chosen university an organization first called the Joint Institute for Astrophysics and 

Atomic Physics and finally called the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics. 100 It 

was this latter part of the program that made it unique. 

96 Interview with L. M. Branscomb, July II, 1988: 71. (NIST Oral History File) 

97 Personal communication, L. M. Branscomb to E. Passaglia, August 23, 1991. 

91! Much of this material is from "Joint Institute for Astrophysics and Atomic Physics," December 19, 1961, 

an early planning document written by Branscomb. (History Project File; Chapter 4; Folder JlLA) 

W A formal program of this kind appears not to have been instituted, although the planned work was carried 

out. 

100 Interview with L. M. Branscomb, July 12, 1988: 10-28. (NIST Oral History file); proposal, L. M. 

Branscomb, December 19, 1961, "Joint Institute for Astrophysics and Atomic Physics"; memorandum, A. V. 

Astin to E. Gudeman, "The NBS Program in Laboratory Astrophysics," February 14, 1962. (OOC; 

Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology; Accession 4O-68B-6087; Box 28; Folder National Bureau of 

Standards) 

325 
Even before the idea had been completely approved, the Bureau began to implement 

the formation of the joint institute. The problem was to find a suitable university, 

define the relationship between the two parties, determine the organizational position 

of the institute in the NBS hierarchy (Branscomb was insistent that it have division 

status), and tend to the myriad administrative and financial details that the formation of 

such an organization entailed. 101 Approaches were first made to Harvard and to the 

University of California at San Diego. Both universities were anxious to have the 

organization, but both universities wanted their faculty to decide which Bureau people 

would be given faculty positions. The Bureau people would not accept this, and 

negotiations were effectively killed. 

The next school approached was the University of Arizona. With the Kitt Peak 

National Observatory established there and observational astronomy sure to be strong 

and growing, this seemed to be an excellent partner. The only problem was that the 

physics department at the University was weak, awarding degrees only up to the 

masters. The NBS group felt that in this situation they would be only a service group 

to the astronomers. Prizing their independence and autonomy, Arizona was rejected. 

The last university investigated was the University of Colorado in Boulder, which, 

with its High Altitude Observatory and its Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space 

Physics, had capabilities complementary to those of the NBS group. The presence in 

Boulder of the National Center for Atmospheric Research was an added bonus. Here a 

happy marriage was made, though not because the Bureau already had an establishment in Boulder. In Branscomb's words, "[that was] a negative factor. We would have 

been happier to go to Boulder without it, because we really wanted not to be in the 

Bureau's administrative environment. We wanted to be in an academic one."I02 With 

the leadership of University President Quigg Newton, who was very receptive to the 

union of the two institutions, with the advantage of Thomas and Jeffries already being 

in the area, and with complementary capabilities on the two sides, a Memorandum of 

Understanding (MOU) was drawn up and submitted to the two parties. On the Bureau 

side, approval had to be obtained from the department, and Astin had largely cleared it 

with Under Secretary Gudeman. 

What made the proposed organization unusual and easier to sell was its unique 

concept. Neither the Bureau nor the university would lose any autonomy by fonning 

the institute. All the workers in the institute (including administrative and supporting 

personnel) would remain the employees of one or the other institution. Since it was 

planned that the institute would be located in a new building on the university campus, 

the space required would be owned by the university and the Bureau would simply 

101 Branscomb Oral History, July 12, 1988: 10-28. 

102 Ibid., 12-13. 

326 
pay a fee for its use. 103 While not specifically mentioned in the MOU, title to equipment would also reside in one or the other institution. Under this arrangement the 

proposed institute owned no property and had no employees, hence in this sense did 

not legally exist. The Bureau would simply carry out one of its programs in an admit-

·tedly unusual place, a place for which it made a payment, but spent no money inappropriately. It retained complete control of its program. The Bureau did have the responsibility for providing funds for the visiting scientists. These funds were provided as a 

grant to the university, which then dispersed them to the visiting scholars. 

The fact that some Bureau staff would do some teaching did require justification. 

The Bureau argued that the teaching would consume only a very small fraction of a 

scientist's time, that it would be done only at the postgraduate level, and that it was, 

moreover, an integral part of doing research. 104 The idea was accepted and the road to 

the formation of JILA was cleared. 

On the university side, the memorandum had to be cleared by the Board of Regents. 

After a Saturday presentation to them by Branscomb, the clearance was obtained and 

JILA was formed. On April 18, 1962, the MOU was signed by Astin and on April 25 

by President Newton. Even before these signings, with approval by the Board of 

Regents, a public announcement of the joint venture was made on April 13, 1962. It 

was accepted enthusiastically by the Boulder community. 

It was not a large organization when formed. There were nine members from 

Washington, Thomas and Jeffries from Boulder, and three appointed by the university. 

But by 1967, the permanent scientific staff numbered twenty-four, with forty graduate 

students and twenty visiting scientists. 105 

The management of the institute was novel for a hierarchical organization like the 

Bureau, but rather more common in the collegial environment of universities. The 

MOU called for two types of appointments: fellows and members. Fellows were 

defined as Bureau staff members who were professors adjoint or who held equivalent 

civil service grades, and university associate professors and professors. Visiting scholars 

IOJ The rent situation was not simple. Briefly, the National Science Foundation was willing to fund half the 

cost of the JILA building if the University had the funds for the other half. The University did not have 

these funds, but it arranged to borrow them from the State Escrow Fund, essentially the retirement fund. As 

security it used a letter from Branscomb "pointing out that the Bureau of Standards was going to occupy half 

of this building and was going to pay a payment in lieu of rent of an agreed amount which the Bureau 

auditors had agreed to as a reasonable compensation for the space we would use, and that this revenue 

would be more than sufficient to amortize this university loan in a reasonable period of time. In effect ... 

[the Bureau] matched ... [NSF's] money ... but the Bureau of Standard's money was paid out over a period 

of time." Moreover, since the Bureau and university people were completely intermixed, there was no way to 

determine what space was assigned to which group. Thus the Bureau did not pay rent; it paid a fee in lieu of 

rent. Branscomb Oral History, July 12, 1988: 26-28. 

104 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to R. E. Giles, "Proposed agreement between the NBS and the University of 

Colorado," April 9, 1962. (DOC; Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology; Accession 4O-68B-6087; 

Box 28; Folder National Bureau of Standards) 

105 R. H. Garstang, "The Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics," Sky and Telescope, 23(3) (March 

1967): 2-4. 

327 
were all members. The MOU specified that the university contingent would come from 

the Department of Physics or be "appropriate members of the University faculty in 

high temperature aerodynamics and fluid physics." The Fellows of JILA fonned a 

small council, which in theory was advisory only, but in practice was able to make 

decisions that could be carried out by either the chief of the Laboratory Astrophysics 

Division on the Bureau side or the chainnan of the Physics Department on the university side. The fellows elected a chainnan from their members, the chainnanship 

rotating back and forth between the Bureau and university contingents. The system is 

still in effect. 

The new building for JILA near the center of the campus was planned by the university as part of a physics and astrophysics complex, but construction was not 

completed until 1966. The Bureau people, however, came out to Boulder in the 

summer of 1962, setting themselves up in the same armory their predecessors had 

occupied almost ten years earlier when the cryogenics and radio propagation staffs first 

came to Boulder. 

While most of the staff from Washington were atomic physicists and spectroscopists, 

Branscomb had longer range visions than merely laboratory astrophysics. With the 

urging of Peter L. Bender, one of the recipients of the first Stratton Awards, he also 

brought John L. Hall, whose field was the then relatively new one of lasers. Not only 

were lasers expected to be useful in the study of the nonlinear properties of atoms, 

Branscomb properly viewed the laser as a premier tool for fundamental metrology. 

Indeed, by 1976 the JILA program had evolved to the point where an addendum to the 

MOU was made. The program now included: 

laser physics, precision measurements, geophysics, and data and measurements necessary for the understanding of reaction mechanisms in the atmosphere; to the collection and evaluation of the scientific data; and to the 

education of scientists. 

In view of these contributions ... the purpose and role of the Joint Institute 

for Laboratory Astrophysics shall continue to evolve and expand beyond the 

areas of science outlined in the original Memorandum of Understanding. 106 

As an almost humorous aside, JILA was fonned less than a month before Hollomon 

assumed his position as assistant secretary for science and technology. It appears that 

he did not believe that the Bureau should be involved in such an effort. He sent Astin 

a copy of an article by Branscomb and Thomas that had appeared in Physics Today 

with notations questioning the scientific objectives as described by the authors. 107 

In response, Astin wrote him a memorandum about JILA. In the margin of this 

memo Hollomon wrote, "Allen, honestly I guess I don't see how it connects with the 

106 "An Addendum to the Memorandum of Understanding Between the National Bureau of Standards and the 

University of Colorado Concerning the Collaborative Establishment of a Joint Institute for Laboratory 

Astrophysics, March 1976." (History Project File; Chapter 4; Folder JILA) 

107 L. M. Branscomb and R. N. Thomas, "Laboratory Astrophysics," Physics Today 15(11) (November 

1962): 42-46. 

328 
Standards business-Isn't this just the sort of thing NSF is supposed to do-H," and 

returned the memo to Astin. \08 Nothing came of this exchange; JILA was an eminently 

successful example of interaction between the Government and academia. Its MOU 

was used by several other Government agencies as a model of such collaboration. To 

this day it remains a thriving and successful institution. One, however, cannot help but 

wonder what would have happened had Hollomon arrived a year earlier. 

The National Standard Reference Data System 

Well-known and accurate data are the lifeblood of science and engineering. Whether 

the problem is the design and execution of an experiment in science or the design of a 

nuclear reactor in engineering, accurate data are essential. These self-evident facts were 

formalized when, at the organizational meeting of the International Union of Pure and 

Applied Chemistry in 1919, the new organization approved the production of the 

International Critical Tables of Numerical Data of Physics, Chemistry and Technology. 

The task of organizing the compilation of these tables was given to the United States, 

whereupon the National Research Council took on executive, editorial, and financial 

responsibilities for the project. A large part of the funding came from industry. A 

board of trustees and board of editors were instituted with the help of the American 

Chemical Society and the American Physical Society, and in 1926 the first of seven 

volumes of critical-meaning well-evaluated--data was published. 

The Bureau had a significant role in this effort. The then director, George K. 

Burgess, was a member of the board of editors and Edward W. Washburn, chief of the 

Bureau's Chemistry Division, was editor-in-chief. By 1933, the first seven volumes 

and the index to the first edition were finished but, with the onset of the Great Depression, the lack of funds caused work on the critical tables to lapse. Then in 1955, with 

stimulus by Astin, the Office of Critical Tables was founded in the National Academy 

of Sciences-National Research Council to encourage the formation of new groups and 

to develop standards of criticality. However, the office had no funds; its role was 

purely advisory and no directly sponsored program resulted. 109 

By the early sixties the mushrooming of science made action on standard reference 

data essential. Indeed, in 1962 Astin acted unilaterally to form a committee under 

Merrill B. Wallenstein, chief of the newly formed Physical Chemistry Division, charging it to layout what a suitable Bureau role in standard reference data would be. 1 \0 

The Bureau was thoroughly familiar with reference data. Not only did it have the history of participation in the International Critical Tables Project, but NBS periodically 

published compendia of reference data from its own work and from data obtained from 

the literature. It had background in obtaining data, compiling and evaluating them. 

lOll Memorandum, A. V. Astin to J. H. Hollomon, "The Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA)," 

December 7, 1962. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 17; Folder Correspondence re Senior Appointment) 

IW Interview with Edward L. Brady, August 10, 1987: 2. (NIST Oral History File) 

110 Ibid., 2-3. 

329 
This Bureau study and those of others in the scientific community pointed to the 

need for a decentralized program managed by a small office at the Bureau, but having 

data centers throughout the country. III Learning of this plan through its Committee on 

Scientific Information, the Federal Council for Science and Technology issued a 

"Federal Policy on National Standard Reference Data System" on May 28, 1963. 112 

The policy read: 

There will be established a National Standard Reference Data System 

(NSRDS) to provide on a national basis critically evaluated data in the physical sciences. The NSRDS will consist of a National Standard Reference Data 

Center (NSRDC) at the National Bureau of Standards and such other Standard Reference Data Centers as may be required. 

The National Bureau of Standards will be charged with the administration 

of the National Standard Reference Data System. This assignment will include the establishment of standards of quality, methodology including machine processing formats, and such other functions as are required to ensure 

the compatibility of all units of NSRDS. 

The policy went on to state that centers could be assigned to departments or agencies, in which case that organization would administer the center and bear the costs but 

would have to "meet the quality standards and other requirements of the NSRDS." 

Centers could also be established at universities and research institutes, but to be 

included in the NSRDS they would have to meet the standards and requirements of the 

system. 113 Nine days later the FCST policy was followed with a press release from the 

Office of Science and Technology announcing the policy and pointing out that the 

responsibility for data compilation held by NBS, the Department of Defense, the AEC, 

NASA, the NSF and several other agencies was concentrated at a single point. The 

Bureau had a new function. 114 

But the Bureau was prepared. As a result of the study begun by Astin, John D. 

Hoffman, then chief of the Dielectrics Section, contacted Edward L. Brady, a friend 

with whom he had worked at the General Electric Research Laboratory. Brady had 

considerable experience in international atomic energy circles and was now at the 

General Dynamics Corporation in San Diego. When asked about heading up the 

NSRDS, a position that clearly required great tact and diplomacy, Brady felt the 

"concept sounded very good to me, and I was excited at the opportunity .... ,,115 

III Committee on Science and Astronautics. Subcommittee on Science. Research. and Development. A Bill to 

Provide a Standard Reference Data System: Hearings Before the Subcommillee on Science, Research, and 

Development of the Commillee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, 89th Cong .• 2d 

sess .. on H.R. 15638. superseded by H.R. 16897, June 28. 29. and 30. 1966: 3 I. Testimony of A. V. Astin. 

112 "Appendix An in Edward L. Brady and Merrill B. Wallenstein, National Standard Reference Data System 

Plan of Operation, Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) National Standard Reference Data Series I; December 1964. 

11.1 Ibid. 

114 Ibid., Appendix B. 

liS Brady Oral History: 2. 

330 
Upon joining the Bureau in 1963 Brady fonned the Office of Standard Reference 

Data (OSRD) to manage the program, staffed the office, organized a review committee-later called an evaluation panel-and began the interaction with the national and 

international communities that were involved in the data collection, evaluation and 

dissemination efforts that were to always characterize the OSRD. Most important, 

Brady did everything in the open, writing with Wallenstein a document giving the plan 

of operation of the system and its philosophy. 116 In that document the scope of the 

NSRDS was laid out, along with a discussion of appropriate activities, the organization 

and management of the system, the budgetary plans, and a plea to the technical 

community for its cooperation. 

The philosophy of operation of the system was perhaps best laid out in a discussion 

of the definition of standard reference data. The definition states that "Standard 

Reference Data means critically evaluated quantitative infonnation relating to a property of a definable substance or system." 1 17 Illustrative of Brady's diplomatic experience, th is is clarified: 

To obtain complete precision of meaning. most of the terms used in the 

above definition would themselves require definition. However, the purposes 

of the National Standard Reference Data Program do not require such 

precision. General, flexible guidelines on the scope of the program and 

appropriateness of specific activities are quite sufficient. Decisions will be 

made taking into consideration all relevant circumstances. 1 HI 

Importantly, priorities for choice of properties and substances were to be detennined 

by the needs of the U.S. technical community. 

Despite a chronic shortage of funds-somewhat alleviated by funds from various 

agencies and by cooperative programs with industry-the system flourished. When the 

office was fonned there were five data centers in the Bureau: chemical thennodynamics, atomic transition probabilities, atomic cross sections, ceramic phase equilibria, and cryogenics. 119 In 1988, there were seventeen centers in the Bureau and 

seven outside. 120 Moreover, the OSRD funded many short-tenn projects carried out by 

scientists in outside institutions. 

Despite the fact that the assignment was given to the Bureau by the White House, 

it did not have the legal force of an Executive Order. Ever conscious of his situation 

with CRPL and other special assignments, Astin wanted the task to have a finn legal 

116 Brady and Wallenstein, National Standard Reference Data System Plan of Operation. 

117 Ibid., 4. 

118 Ibid. 

119 Annual Report, 1963: 8. 

120 Office of Standard Reference Data, 1988 Annual Report Submilled 10 the Panel for the Office of Standard 

Reference Data, Board on Assessment of NIST Programs, National Research Council, December 5-6, 1988 

(Washington, D.C.: U.S. DOC, NIST, 1988): 37-41. (History Project File; Chapter 4; Folder Standard 

Reference Data). The OSRD was not involved in the administration or funding of three of the outside data 

centers but assisted in dissemination of their outputs. 

331 
basis. Iii He began an effort to obtain passage of a law that would do this. Astin was 

successful and, in July 1968, Congress passed the Standard Reference Data Act, which 

largely repeated the functions specified by FCST, but assigned them to the secretary of 

commerce. 122 The law also spelled out some of the procedures to be followed, such as 

publishing in the Federal Register "such standards, criteria, and procedures for the 

preparation and publication of standard reference data as may be necessary to carry out 

the provisions of this act." The law made provision for the sale of documents and, 

rather importantly, for their copyright. In an unusual step, the secretary of commerce 

was given the authority to "secure copyright ... of any standard reference data which 

he prepares or makes available under this Act." This authority, which is almost unique 

in the Federal Government, stood the Bureau in good stead in arranging the means of 

publication of reference data. 

It was clear from the outset of the NSRDS that the aim of the program was not the 

production of a new or continuing set of International Critical Tables. Science had 

become too big and diverse. Moreover, scientific data were not static, and more 

accurate values became available as measurement techniques improved. Data could not 

be codified once and for all in a set of numbers buried in books enshrined on library 

shelves. In addition, the concept of critical evaluation required that the sources of the 

data and their validity be discussed and documented-an OSRD innovation and not a 

feature of earlier compendia. Thus, the fonn of the evaluated data outputs was expected to vary with the subject, and to range from tables of numbers through critical 

reviews of the status of data in particular fields to complete monographs containing 

graphs and figures. In the beginning, most of this output was published in the NBSNSRDS series, but some was published in appropriate scientific journals. Later, 

machine-readable data bases covering many types of data were made available. The 

OSRD and individual data centers also responded to individual inquiries for specific 

infonnation. 

Despite the diversity of means of output, or perhaps because of it, it became clear to 

David R. Lide, who in 1969 succeeded Brady as head of OSRD, that some identifiable 

archival method of publication of reference data was desirable. Under his leadership, 

the Bureau entered into an agreement with the American Chemical Society (ACS) and 

the American Institute of Physics (AlP) for the publication of a journal devoted to 

standard reference data. Named the Journal of Physical and Chemical Referenc.e Data 

(JPCRD), publication began in 1972. Initially published quarterly, but later bimonthly, 

with offprints of individual papers available for separate purchase, the journal provided 

121 When asked about need the for the proposed legislation at the House Hearings on the Standard Reference 

Data Bill, Donald F. Hornig, then director of OST, replied, "I think the main answer I would give ... is 

that when we talk about the provision of a general service for many agencies of the Government, it becomes 

very hard for the agency providing it to justify it in terms of its own particular missions .... [nhe most 

important thing that is involved here is the general expression of intent by Congress that this general service 

should be performed and not justified strictly in terms of the Department of Commerce's own needs in this 

case." The statement clearly reflects Astin's own feelings. (NSRDS Hearings: 16) 

122 Standard Reference Data Act, U.S. Statutes at Large, 82 (1968): 339-340. 

332 
a continuing and identifiable means for the publication of standard reference data. The 

involved institutions shared responsibilities: the Bureau for editing and content, the 

AlP for production, and the ACS for dissemination. Proceeds were shared among the 

three organizations. Using the authority given him by the Standard Reference Data 

Act, the secretary of commerce copyrighted the contents of the journal and then 

assigned the copyright jointly to the AlP and the ACS. The government, however, 

retained the right to unlimited copying for its own use of materials originating in its 

own laboratories. Today the JPCRD continues to be the leading source of evaluated 

reference data and publishes contributions from scientists throughout the world as ~ell 

as from groups that are part of the NSRDS. 

It was always recognized that some costs of the NSRDS operation would be recovered by the sale of documents, and this was the principal reason for granting the secretary the power of copyright in the law. The question was always how much could be 

recovered. All printing and publication costs could be recovered without charging 

excessive prices, but it was impractical to recoup the cost of the research that led to 

the production of the data. Only judgment could decide how much of the compilation 

and evaluation costs (i.e., the costs of the OSRD and the data centers) to try to 

recover. Brady estimated that only 5 percent to 10 percent of the total OSRD budget 

could be recovered in this manner. This, though, was not enough for Hollomon, who 

was a strong supporter of the program. Wanting to impress the Senate and promising 

to produce $5 million in fees, the assistant secretary estimated 25 percent, which 

dismayed Brady. Determined by a trade-off between high prices with high cost 

recovery and low prices to increase availability, cost-recovery in fact averaged 

5 percent to 6 percent. 123 In 1964, appropriations for the program were $3.5 million 

but, over the years, they remained quite static. 124 Despite the fact that the inflationadjusted appropriation steadily decreased, the SRD program was able to increase its 

output through cooperative projects with industry, other government agencies, and 

foreign data centers. 

Civilian Industrial Technology-The Bureau Gets a Small, Short Program 

The first significant action J. Herbert Hollomon undertook when he became assistant 

secretary for science and technology in May 1962 was the development of a program 

called Civilian Industrial Technology (CIT). It was not that he was the originator of 

the idea for the program. In fact, prompted by a memorandum from Science Advisor 

Jerome Wiesner and economist John Kenneth Galbraith, President Kennedy formed a 

White House Panel on Civilian Technology in the summer of 1961. Composed of 

Wiesner, Secretary of Commerce Luther Hodges, and Chairman of the Council of 

Economic Advisors Walter Heller, the panel was "assigned the duty of encouraging the 

utilization of technology in the civilian economy.,,125 The Department of Commerce 

was chosen as the standard bearer for spurring economic growth. 

123 Brady Oral History: 8-9. 

124 Appropriations Hearings for 1965: 600; Brady Oral History: 7. 

125 Katz, Presidential Politics: 139. 

333 
Thus, when Hollomon joined the department, at least one of his tasks was laid out 

for him. The new assistant secretary was not a stranger to the White House activity. 

On March 6, 1962, just two months before joining the department, Hollomon addressed a meeting of the White House Panel on Civilian Technology on the related 

work he had been carrying out with the Engineers' Joint Council's Engineering 

Research Committee. 126 Moreover, his own beliefs on the role of science and technology were nicely parallel to the aims of the panel. "Scientific and technological 

resources are a major basis for economic development and for national power, and we 

do not yet know how best to deploy them," Hollomon wrote in Science. He continued, 

"The relative roles of private and public participation in the use of science and technology for practical purposes are not clear, nor do we know how to employ fully the 

fruits of science for the improvement of our society.,,127 

With this background, Hollomon "hit the ground running." By the fall of 1962 he 

had put together a program. However, contrary to the advice of the Bureau of the 

Budget that he seek legislative authority for his program, Hollomon went to Congress 

for a supplemental appropriation-normally used only for unexpected needs, not for 

the initiation of programs. He was using the appropriation route to obtain authority for 

the program, which in effect circumvented the legislative route. This tactic was to 

prove costly. 1211 

Both Hollomon's program and the concepts of the White House Panel were meant to 

correct four problems. First, Government funding of science and technology had led to 

an unbalanced condition in which most of the money was going to the military and 

"space," and with the maturing of those fields there had been a significant drop in the 

spin-off of technology useful in the civilian sector. Second, this imbalance led to the 

hiring of the bulk of science graduates by the military and "space." Third, the technological pre-eminence of the Nation in international commercial markets was in danger 

of being eroded because other nations, unencumbered by military and "space" requirements, could devote an increasingly greater share of their resources to civilian technology. And fourth, the program hoped to correct the inertia or structural inability to 

develop technology of certain industries and firms. 

Hollomon's program had two broad objectives. Technical advances were to be stimulated in the segments of the economy which most needed the benefits of technology, 

thereby enhancing economic growth and the ability to compete on the world market. 

Since the bulk of research and development funds were expended by large firms, the 

program was directed at those industries that were made up of small firms which 

could not support "even jointly, any significant research." The other objective was to 

"encourage the rapid diffusion of technology" which would "help close the gap 

126 Letter, M. Michaelis to A. V. Astin, February 19, 1962. (NARA; RG167; Astin file; Box 14; Folder 

untitled). Included is the program for the three-day meeting. Astin was asked to discuss "New Goals for the 

National Bureau of Standards: A National Institute of Applied Science and Technology." 

127 Letter to the editor, J. H. Hollomon, "Government and Science: How Science Policy is Developed." 

Science 143 (January 31, 1964): 429. 

128 Katz, Presidential Politics: 140. 

334 
between the technically leading and lagging industries and firms.,,129 Widely perceived 

to be a program that would help the laggards at the expense of the leaders, CIT's 

objectives caused consternation in some sectors, particularly the building industries. 

To achieve these objectives, Hollomon proposed a program with seven elements: 130 

1. Support of university activities for the creation of more scientists. 

2. Support of research institutes serving industry. 

3. Dissemination of technical information in a useful form for specific industries. 

4. Support of research and development projects for needy industries at universities and research institutes. 

5. Application of systems-research to whole industries. 

6. Research conferences in chosen industrial fields. 

7. Support of journals and other means of dissemination of information 

where necessary. 

The industries chosen for specific support were textiles and apparel, building technology, and machine tools. Another group of industries was not supported at that 

time because not enough data were available to decide on the specific requirements for 

them. These were leather and leather products, lumber and wood products, and 

foundries and castings. They would be handled later. 

In the request for a supplemental appropriation, Hollomon asked for $3.8 million 

and received $665000 from the Congress. 131 The following spring he went before the 

House Appropriations Committee to ask for enough to make the program a $7.4 

million effort. Hollomon should have known that he was in trouble when Chairman 

Rooney of New York, angered by the supplemental subterfuge, refused to address him 

as "Doctor." The exchange went as follows: 

MR. ROONEY: Did I not read something over the weekend that we should not call 

doctors "doctors" anymore? ... Did you read something about that? 

MR. HOLLOMON: No, sir; I did not. 

MR. ROONEY: It pointed out that the only ones entitled to be called doctors are 

M.D.'s and D.D.S.'s. We have a government of doctors now. \32 

And for the rest of his testimony Hollomon did not receive the honorific. 

129 House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Department of State, Justice, and Commerce, the 

Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations, Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, the Judiciary, 

and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1964: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on 

Appropriations, House of Representatives, 88th Cong., 1 st sess., National Bureau of Standards, 25 February 

1963: 750. 

130 Ibid., 755. 

131 Appropriations Hearings for 1964: 764; Supplemental Appropriation Act, 1963, U.S. Statutes at Large, 77 

(1963): 35. 

132 Appropriations Hearings for 1964: 763. 

335 
Hollomon came a cropper on building research. His written justification stated that 

the NAS-NRC report A Program for Building Research in the United States and 

the report on the same topic by the White House Panel on Civilian Technology 

"provide[d] the technical framework for this program." Then it continued, "Special 

studies will be perfonned to bring new technology to bear on ways to establish man's 

physical environment. For instance, more economic solutions to the needs for the 

control of humidity, ventilation, temperature, sound, and light, require the cooperation 

of several disciplines and industrial segments."133 Widely perceived to mean that the 

program would engage in innovation and technology development, these statements 

brought serious criticism from members of the industry. William H. Scheick, executive 

director of the American Institute of Architects, wrote to Chainnan Rooney, "We 

are absolutely opposed to the use of Federal Government funds for any support, by 

matching funds or otherwise, of research projects connected with the innovation or 

development of building materials or products by industry, trade associations, or of 

individual finns."134 Richard H. Tatlow III, chainnan of the NAS-NRC Building 

Research Advisory Board which had prepared the building research report, wrote to 

Frederick Seitz, chainnan of NAS, "The Board specifically concluded that there is no 

identifiable need for Government to concern itself directly with industrial product or 

process innovation, and that any effort to do so could very easily upset the sensitive 

balance within the industry.,,135 But these were mere love pats compared to the 

cudgeling by Douglas Whitlock, chainnan of the board of the Structural Clay Products 

Institute. A close friend of Congressman Clarence Bow, ranking Republican member 

of the Appropriations Committee, Whitlock testified for the U.S. Chamber of 

Commerce. After extensive criticism of the program, he concluded, "The national 

chamber opposes the creation of a subsidized research and development program in the 

construction industry and recommends that the subcommittee reject this portion of the 

proposed civilian industrial technology program." 136 As if this were not enough, 

Congressman Bow attacked the program on the floor of the House: 

I want to call the immediate attention of the Congress to a clumsy and highly 

suspect attempt by a major Federal agency to undertake on behalf of the 

vast U.S. construction industry and without its invitation, participation, or 

guidance, an ill-conceived and ill-defined research program that would 

tamper with the delicate free enterprise mechanisms of that highly competitive $80-billion-a-year industry.,,137 

1.1.1 Ibid., 755-756. The report of the White House Panel on Civilian Technology, "Technology and Economic 

Prosperity," was delivered to President Kennedy on December 3, 1962. The authors were Luther H. Hodges, 

secretary of commerce; Walter W. Heller, chairman, Council of Economic Advisors; and Jerome B. 

Wiesner, special assistant to the president. (DOC; Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology; Accession 

4O-72A-7166; Box 10; Folder Internal and Miscellaneous) 

1.14 Ibid., 774. 

1.15 Ibid., 780. 

1.16 Ibid., 1538. 

1.17 Congressional Record, 88th Cong., 1st sess., 1963, 109, pt. 2: 2754. 

336 
This criticism from the building industry, along with that from other industrial 

groups, left the CIT program floundering; it had not sunk, but neither was it sailing 

very fast. 138 The Senate-House conference allowed a new appropriation of $1 million 

in addition to the $665000 already appropriated in the "supplemental." This was to be 

used for the textile industry which, unlike housing, faced intense international 

competition and did not oppose government help in innovation. But the funds were 

pointedly made available only for the completion of the program, and no funds were 

allotted for any other purpose. 139 

The program was to have been a Department of Commerce one located in 

Hollomon's office. It would not be a laboratory-based activity but one that made grants 

to universities and other institutions. Thus, aside from giving advice to the assistant 

secretary, the Bureau would be treated as any other prospective contractor, receiving 

perhaps $100 000 or so primarily for the dissemination of technical information to the 

industry. Astin quite properly felt that the Bureau could not on the one hand be an 

agency that made grants, and on the other be a grantee. 140 However, with the reduction 

of the program and its limited duration, the Civilian Industrial Technology program, 

now concerned solely with textiles, was established at the Bureau in FY 1964. It 

remained until 1970 when the program ended after expenditures totaled $1.37 million. 

During its stay, the program was directed by the Textile and Apparel Technology 

Center in the Institute for Applied Technology. Except for a small contract with the 

Applied Mathematics Division, all the funds were let in contracts with external 

organizations. The work was a combination of applied research and infrastructure 

development. A few examples illustrate its nature. 141 A contract for a study of fiber 

surface properties in relation to textile products and processing was awarded to the 

Textile Research Institute, Princeton, New Jersey. A small award was made to the 

Fashion Institute of Technology in New York to survey the possibility of setting up 

programs that would bring new technical information to the apparel industries. This 

small program led to the establishment of the American Apparel Manufacturers 

Association, which was formed under another contract but became self-sufficient. A 

2-year program at MIT was designed to provide managers and research engineers 

with a bibliography of the world literature on mechanical processing of textiles. The 

MIT program developed a thesaurus that provided a link to the scientific literature. 

us Katz, Presidential Politics: 140. 

1J9 D. S. Greenberg, "Civilian Technology: Program to Boost Industrial Research Heavily Slashed in House," 

Science 140 (June 28, 1963): 1380-1382. 

140 Appropriations Hearings for 1964: 774-775. 

141 R. L. Stem, "Current Status of Program Activities and Proposals Under the Textile and Apparel Technology Center." (DOC; Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology; Accession 4O-68B-6087; Box 53; 

Folder Correspondence. 1965-66 Filed by Bureau: (b) National Bureau of Standards-General 1966) 

337 
A Bold Proposal Leads to a Major Reorganization 

Astin had pondered deeply the role of the Department of Commerce in science and 

technology. Somewhat more than a year after the report of the second Kelly 

Committee, and while a program for civilian technology was being discussed in the 

White House, the Bureau director made a bold proposal to then Secretary of 

Commerce Luther Hodges. It was transmitted to Hodges on August 30, 1961, under 

the rather cumbersome title "A proposal to strengthen the role of the Department of 

Commerce in the promotion and development of the Nation's commerce and industry 

by means of a systematic stimulation and utilization of science and technology." 

While agreeing with the second Kelly Committee that science and technology were 

important to the department's primary functions, Astin did not feel that simply 

strengthening the existing activities of the department went far enough, but that "the 

great dependence of commercial and industrial growth upon science and technology 

requires a more unified and dynamic approach." He made the hardly contestable 

argument that modern industry depended on new products and processes based on 

engineering advances, and that those advances were based, in turn, on scientific 

developments. Thus, in order to carry out its mission of stimulating and fostering 

commerce and industry, the department had to be deeply concerned with science and 

technology. 142 

Now, there were other departments for which science and technology were of fundamental importance. These were Defense; Agriculture; and Health, Education and 

Welfare through its National Institutes of Health. Each of these had far-flung, highly 

coordinated and successful research efforts in furtherance of their missions to provide, 

respectively, for the Nation's defense, its agriculture, and its health. With regard to the 

DOC, however, Astin wrote, "In spite of the fact ... that new industries and related 

commercial activities have been major users and exploiters of scientific research and 

development, we find no comparable program within the government department 

entrusted with promoting the Nation's commerce and industry." True, there were 

activities in various bureaus, and these were important, but they fell far short of "a 

leadership-type utilization of the impact of science upon commerce and industry." 

Moreover, competition among nations shaped Astin's consideration of the department's role in science and technology. According to Astin, while "most industrial 

research and development has been and most likely will continue to be privately 

supported there are increasing numbers of important new areas where government 

stimulation and support are necessary. Industrial strength and technological leadership 

are such important parts of national policy that the Federal Government can afford to 

do no less here than in [Defense, Agriculture, and Health]." 

As a result of this reasoning, Astin proposed that the DOC establish a major new 

research and development agency called the National Institutes for Physical Sciences 

(NIPS). Clearly modeled after NIH, these institutes would have as their primary 

purpose "the stimulation, conduct and support of scientific research and development 

that are important to industrial and commercial activities, and not adequately provided" 

142 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to L. H. Hodges, "A Proposal to Strengthen the Role of the Department of 

Commerce," August 30, 1961. (NARA; RG 167; Astin file; Box 14; Folder untitled). 

338 
for either by Government or the private sector. Then Astin listed six specific functions 

of the new organizations: (l) The operation of research institutes in major areas of 

industrial technology, such as new materials, automation and production processes, 

construction, transportation, communication, fire research, quality control, and 

engineering standards; (2) the operation of a national center to provide services to 

science and technology in such areas as measurement services, high-precision data, 

and information; (3) the provision of technical services, such as research and development, surveys and advisory assistance to other agencies of the Government; (4) the 

conduct of research in areas of engineering or physical science not sufficiently supported in other parts of the Government; (5) the support in private institutions through 

contracts or grants of applied research of importance to industrial and economic 

growth; and (6) the operation in the DOC of bureaus whose programs are primarily 

scientific or technical. 

Astin had in mind that all of the work of the Bureau would be included and expanded in the new institutes along with that of some of the other bureaus of the 

department. And some new functions would be added. In fact, the first three of the 

enumerated functions were already being carried out at the Bureau in manners ranging 

from complete and profound to rudimentary. The fourth was clearly meant to provide 

for the "special missions" activities that so concerned Astin, while the fifth was a 

completely new departure, for the Bureau had never been a contracting or granting 

agency. Finally, the last function was meant to accommodate the scientific work in 

other agencies of the department, primarily the Weather Bureau, the Census Bureau, 

the Patent Office, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the Office of Technical 

Services. Thus the Bureau and, to a lesser extent, the other agencies of the department 

would provide the source or nucleus for a number of institutes. The unique measurement-standards function would become an institute, while the Bureau's work on 

materials could provide the nucleus for a Materials Institute. The CRPL could become 

an Institute for Communications Research, and Building Research could develop into a 

Construction Institute. Data Processing could give birth to an Automation and Control 

Institute, and product testing could be included in a Quality Control and Engineering 

Standards Institute. 

The relation of the institutes to the National Science Foundation was, of course, a 

matter of concern. Astin felt that rather than competing with NSF's mission of supporting basic research, the institutes would complement that agency since they would 

primarily support applied research and "operate such basic physical science laboratories 

as are beyond the scope of the Science Foundation's non-operational mission." His 

proposal would provide a means for the conduct of "technological activities which do 

not fall clearly within the responsibilities of existing science agencies," and preclude 

the often-suggested formation of a Department of Science. 143 He cited examples of 

how the department and the Bureau had frequently been asked to undertake work that 

did not result directly from their missions and, thus, were already performing some of 

the functions of a Department of Science. 

143 "Senate Committee on Government Operations: Press Release," from Senator John L. McClellan and 

Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, Subcommittee on Reorganization, January 20, 1958. This was the most recent 

proposal for a Department of Science when Astin made his proposal for a National Institutes for Physical 

Sciences. (DOC; Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology; Accession 40-76-4; Box I; Folder State 

Federal Technical Services Act) 339 
The kind of organization that Astin had in mind is further clarified by his wistful 

statement, "A proposal for establishing such National Institutes is made with mixed 

feelings on my part since it involves, if accepted, a loss of most of the present 

programs of the NBS and at least a major part of its present identity. Also, the NBS 

would be at a lower organizational echelon than it is now." Clearly, Astin referred to a 

loss on the Bureau's part of its basic measurement standards activities for these would 

become an institute in the new structure. His NBS would not become NIPS but only a 

piece of it. 

Astin asked for pennission to work with the assistant secretary designate and the 

other agencies of the department on this matter. By the time he took office, Hollomon 

had already heard about Astin's proposal. When Astin spoke before the White House 

Panel on Civilian Technology he appears to have presented at least some of his own 

ideas for NIPS. 144 Hollomon was the immediately preceding speaker on the program 

and it is safe to assume that he had stayed to hear Astin. Then, less than two months 

after Hollomon assumed his duties, Astin answered a request from the secretary on 

how the Bureau could respond to the department's program of promoting economic 

growth by recommending that the department move rapidly in the direction pointed out 

in his NIPS proposal. 145 He noted that he had had discussions with Hollomon on the 

matter and was detailing Associate Director Irl Schoonover to work full time with 

Hollomon to develop a "specific plan for action."I46 

Exactly what happened between Schoonover and Hollomon may never be known. 

Schoonover's many virtues did not include writing (nor often reading) memoranda. He 

much preferred face-to-face discussions and man-to-man deals closed with a handshake. As a result of these predilections and the natural propensity to keep delicate 

negotiations secret, no written record of the interaction has been found despite 

assiduous searching. The account to be given has been pieced together from the oral 

histories of Astin, Schoonover, and Huntoon, as well as from discussions with persons 

such as John D. Hoffman, Robert L. Stem, and Churchill Eisenhart, who were in 

positions to know something of the negotiations. 

144 The title of Astin's talk was "New Goals for the National Bureau of Standards: A National Institute of 

Applied Science and Technology." Letter with attachment, Michaelis to Astin, February 19, 1962. (NARA; 

RG 167; Astin File; Box 14; Folder untitled) 

145 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to L. H. Hodges, '''Will it Promote Economic Growth?' Program," June 25, 

1962. (NARA; RG167; Astin file; Box 36; Folder A. Secretary of Commerce 1953. 1961) 

146 Astin had to be careful in his choice of a person to work with Hollomon. While respected for his intellect, 

Hollomon was variously described by many as domineering, contentious, arrogant, and disdainful, and he 

quickly caused antagonism in many people. In fact, it was these character traits that alienated some congressmen and members of industry, and were partly responsible for the failure of the CIT program. (Katz, 

Presidential Politics: 140). Schoonover, called "the swamp fox" by his acolytes and possessor of a great 

sense of humor, could work with Hollomon. Indeed, some who were able to work with him found him a 

hard taskmaster but one who could improve their performance. 

340 
Irl C. Schoonover joined the staff of 

the Bureau in 1928 as a junior 

chemist and eventually served in such 

positions as chief of the Dental 

Materials Section, chief of the 

Polymer Structure Section, chief of 

the Mineral Products Division, 

associate director for planning, acting 

director of the Institute for Materials 

Research, and deputy director. 

Schoonover played a pi votal role 

in creating the Bureau's modem 

materials research program. 

Hollomon was very much taken with Astin's NIPS concept, and it influenced his 

thinking with regard to the interaction between Government and industry in stimulating 

innovation and the development of technology as articulated in his CIT proposal. Thus, 

from the very beginning, Hollomon wanted an entity called the Institute for Applied 

Technology (IAn included in NIPS to carry out his aims. The rest of the proposed 

organization was a matter for negotiation. It appears that at one time the proposal was 

made that there be a National Bureau of Standards consisting of essentially all the 

measurement-standards work, and an Institute for Applied Technology containing 

essentially everything else. This view is confirmed in a letter from Kelly to Astin 

following a meeting of the NBS Visiting Committee, which Kelly chaired. He wrote, 

"Y ou will note, especially my letter to the Committee members, that I am somewhat. 

concerned with your report on the planning and progress for new scientific programs in 

the Department of Commerce. I am especially concerned about the possible inclusion 

of the Bureau as a component of an Institute of Civilian Technology. If this becomes a 

matter of serious consideration, I certainly believe that those familiar with the Bureau's 

341 
operations and knowledgeable as to the value of the 'standards' function should have 

opportunity to comment." 147 

Moreover, there was the serious question of the autonomy of the institutes. 

Hollomon appears to have pushed for their total budgetary independence so that they 

would receive separate budgets which he could then control. The skeptical Bureau side 

feared that Hollomon would re-direct the funds so as to continuously enlarge lAT. 

Probably seeing that his concept of a NIPS would not be fulfilled, Astin vetoed this 

idea, and because of the strong position he occupied as a result of the battery additive 

controversy, such a veto could not be argued with. 

As an almost incidental point during the negotiations, the name National Institutes 

for Physical Sciences (NIPS) was changed to National Institutes for Science and 

Technology (NIST), a title more in keeping with what both Astin and Hollomon had in 

mind. While neither of these names was ever adopted, the new acronym would arise 

again twenty-six years later when the National Bureau of Standards itself, with new 

legislation, became the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Many of the 

functions envisaged for NIPS/NIST would be incorporated into the resulting institution. 

What resulted from more than a year of discussions was not the fonnation of the 

National Institutes for Science and Technology, with NBS as a part of them, but 

instead, a Bureau reorganized into institutes. The announcement of the reorganization 

was made on January 30, 1964. 148 There would be an Institute for Basic Standards 

(IBS), an Institute for Materials Research (IMR), and the Central Radio Propagation 

Laboratory (CRPL) with institute status, all of which already existed at the Bureau. An 

addition was the Institute for Applied Technology (lAT), which was Hollomon's 

creation. Each institute would have its own director who, along with a director for 

administration, would report to Astin, the director of the National Bureau of Standards. 149 This name, however, would be subtitled so that the full name of the organization would become "The National Bureau of Standards Institutes for Science and 

Technology." The subtitle, though, would only rarely be used and was soon forgotten. 

The directors of the institutes would have considerable authority. Each would be 

responsible for the direction, execution, and evaluation of the programs of the institute, 

and each would have a deputy who would assist in the direction of the institute and 

"perform the functions of the Director in the latter's absence." The directors of the 

institutes that arose directly from the Bureau's organization were long-standing members of the Bureau staff. Thus, Robert D. Huntoon became director of the Institute for 

Basic Standards, relinquishing his position as deputy director of the Bureau in the process. The director of the Institute for Materials Research was Irl Schoonover, in an 

acting capacity. He also served as deputy director of the Bureau. No change occurred 

in the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory under Gordon Little. The director of the 

147 Letter. M. J. Kelly to A. V. Astin, June 22, 1962. (NIST RHA; Director's Office file; Box 354; Folder 

1962-Visiting Committee) 

148 Department Order 90 (Revised). Manual of Orders Part I, January 30, 1964. (NIST RHA; Director's 

Office file; Box 383; Folder NBS Organization DO 90, 1964-1968) 

149 An organization chart is given in Appendix I. 

342 
Institute for Applied Technology was Donald A. Schon,150 who, however, was new to 

the Bureau, having been brought by Hollomon to this new position from his post as 

director of the department's Office of Technical Services. Rounding out the new slate 

of the leaders of the Bureau was Astin's long-time associate, Robert S. Walleigh, who 

served as director of administration, and Russell B. Scott, who remained as manager of 

the Boulder Laboratories. 

Each of the institutes contained divisions that were generally unchanged in structure 

from what they were before the reorganization, and there were no real surprises in their 

disposition. Besides the six divisions concerned with basic measurement standards, 

Applied Mathematics, the recently formed Physical Chemistry Division, and Laboratory Astrophysics were placed in the Institute for Basic Standards, as were two of the 

Boulder divisions, Radio Standards Physics and Radio Standards Engineering. IBS also 

contained the Office of Standard Reference Data. The Institute for Materials Research 

contained the three materials divisions plus Analytical Chemistry, which dropped 

"Inorganic" from its former title, Boulder's Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory, and the 

newly formed Reactor Radiations Division. It also contained the Office of Standard 

Reference Materials, which was in charge of utilizing the technical resources of the 

Bureau for the production of Standard Reference Materials, the new name for the old 

standard samples. The Central Radio Propagation Laboratory was unchanged but 

achieved institute status. As outlined in DOC Order Number 90, the mission of the 

Institute for Applied Technology was to "provide a variety of industry-oriented technical services to facilitate and promote the use by industry of available technology and 

to facilitate technology innovation." Its main functions were to identify and evaluate 

obstacles to technical innovation by industry; to develop a technical base for the 

evaluation of technological products and services; to maintain cooperation with public 

and private organizations producing technological standards such as codes, test methods, and engineering standards; and to disseminate technical information. It consisted 

of four offices, one center and six divisions. The Office of Technical Services was 

primarily a clearinghouse located in the department for the collection and dissemination of technical information from all sources, making the results of science and technology more readily available to industry, commerce, and the general public. The Office of Industrial Services operated the Bureau's industrial research associate program 

and worked with outside organizations to stimulate innovation. The Office of Weights 

and Measures was responsible for technical services to the states, business, and 

industry in the area of measurements; the design, construction, and use of standards 

of weights and measures and associated instruments; and the training of state and 

local weights and measures officials. The Office of Engineering Standards 

150 Born in 1930 in Boston, Donald Schon received a B.A. degree from Yale in 1951 and °a Ph.D. from 

Harvard in 1955. He taught at the University of California and the University of Kansas City for three years, 

then joined the Arthur D. Little Company as director, New Products Group. He stayed in that position for six 

years, and in August 1963 went to the Department of Commerce as director of the Office of Technical 

Services, from which post he came to the Bureau. An expert on innovation, he authored a book, Displacement of Concepts (London: Tavistock, 1963), on invention and discovery. 

343 
worked with the voluntary standards system of the country, coordinated the Bureau's 

activities in it, and provided a forum in which interested parties could write standards. 

The Textile and Apparel Technology Center operated the residue of the CIT program 

at the Bureau. Three of the institute's divisions were already in existence in the 

Bureau. These were the Building Research Division, the Information Technology Division (formerly Data Processing Systems), and the Instrumentation Division. The new 

arrivals were the Industrial Equipment Technology Division, which had the ambitious 

mission of doing with all industrial equipment what the Data Processing Division did 

with infonnation equipment. The Perfonnance Test Development Division was an outgrowth of the Bureau's product testing and evaluation activities. Finally, the Transport 

Systems Division's mission was to develop "methodology and models to pennit measurement and evaluation of the engineering, economic, and social factors essential to 

the understanding of the transportation function and to decision making on national 

transportation policies.,,151 To many members of the Bureau staff long accust~med to 

an organization based on scientific laboratory work, the new institute was an enigma 

since it was based partly on research (most of it applied), partly on testing and test 

method development, partly on funding work in outside organizations, and partly on 

paper studies. 

The new organization was not well accepted by many members of the staff. A new 

layer of management had been added just above the division chief, thereby removing 

everyone one level further from the director. Of course, reorganizations had occurred 

periodically in the Bureau's history, but these involved no more than reorienting, 

replacing, or adding divisions or sections. This was the first reorganization in the 

Bureau's history that involved a structural change in the institution, and it caused 

apprehension. But the old structure could not continue; the Bureau had simply become 

too big. There were twenty-three divisions just before the fonnation of the institutes. 

To have that many division chiefs reporting to the director clearly placed too great a 

burden on him. Indeed, this situation had been foreseen by the first Kelly Committee 

which recommended that associate directors be given more line responsibilities, 

thereby lessening the burden on the director. That end had been achieved, albeit in a 

then-unforeseen manner. 

Considering that Astin's NIPS/NIST proposal and Hollomon's CIT program had 

different origins, it is not surprising that there were striking differences between the 

two. Astin's proposal was basically structured as a development and expansion of the 

Bureau program, incorporating into it the functions of other agencies of the Department of Commerce. It was thus oriented toward the support of the specific areas of 

science and engineering which Astin viewed as the source of industrial innovation and 

development, and was very much concerned with the stimulation of new industries by 

the support of science and technology. The resulting program was largely laboratorybased. The White House/Hollomon program, on the other hand, was directed toward 

specific older industries that were viewed as lacking in innovation and technological 

151 Department Order 90 (Revised). 

344 
development. While research in these industries would be supported, the main object 

was to change their scientific infrastructure. Even in the provision of information-the 

element common to the two proposals-there were differences. Astin speaks of 

"acquisition and compilation of precision data and scientific information centers," 

while Hollomon speaks of "dissemination of technical information in a useful form to 

the particular industry." That such differences would arise was inevitable. Hollomon 

did not have to concern himself with the maintenance of services provided by the 

Bureau; they would continue after CIT. Yet, despite these differences, both proposals 

had the same goal: to find a means by which Government and industry could interact 

in the realm of science and technology to stimulate economic prosperity. It was a 

theme that had concerned the Bureau since the end of World War 1152 and one that 

would arise continually for the remainder of the period covered in this history. 

THE TECHNICAL WORK 

In the seven years following the sputniks. administrative changes were made in 

response to the recommendations of the two Kelly Committees and to the changing 

face of science and technology. Old divisions were substantially reorganized and their 

directions changed. New types of organizational units-the Office of Standard ReferenceData and the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics-were added. Missions 

were pondered and clarified. Fortunately for NBS, the sputniks triggered substantial 

increases in appropriated funds, and part way through the period directly appropriated 

funds exceeded transferred funds for the first time since World War II. All these 

changes culminated in the first major structural change in the Bureau organization. 

But the value and efficacy of the Bureau to the Nation was not determined by its 

organizational structure, nor by statements of its mission. NBS was, first and foremost, 

a laboratory-based institution, and in the final analysis it was the output of its laboratories that determined its value. This part of the chapter is an account of the technical 

work during the period, emphasizing new directions and accomplishments. Again, 

illustration is by example rather than a complete discussion of the technical work. 

STANDARDS~ATTERS 

Length 

Frank T. Bow, congressman from the industrial state of Ohio and a member of the 

House Appropriations Subcommittee, was interested in the accurate measurement of 

length. At the Bureau's appropriations hearings for FY 1957 he asked Allen Astin, 

"Dr. Astin, as you know, I am interested somewhat in the measurement of tolerances, 

particularly in the bearing industry as they relate to their work on guided missiles 

and other functions. What are you doing at the Bureau now in the development of 

measurement to closer tolerances?" 

152 See, for example, Chapter 5 of Cochrane, Measures for Progress: "The Tide of Commerce and Industry 

( 1920-30)." 

345 
Astin, never loath to seize an opportunity to pUblicize the Bureau's work, replied, 

"Many of our programs could be grouped in this general category .... I think you are 

specifically interested in the area of precise length measurements, particularly in the 

use of precision gage blocks?" to which Mr. Bow replied, "That is right."153 

The Bureau had, in fact organized a program to decrease the calibration tolerance on 

the best grage of gage blocks from :t:2 X 10-6 in/in to (:t:1 X 10-7 or:t:2 X 10-7

) in/in. 

The reason for this new reduction was that industry was anticipating the need for 

measuring to (:t: 1 X 10-6 or 2 X 10-6

) inl in, when it was at that time measuring to 

:t:2 X 10-5 in/in. But gage blocks cannot be used to measure to their indicated tolerance. A factor of lOis allowed to compensate for dimensional instability caused by 

aging and, by wear, and for errors introduced when combining two or more gage 

blocks. Thus the need for blocks with a length tolerance of :t:2 X 10-7 in/in. 

There were two principal problems in developing such ultra-precise gage blocks. 154 

One was simply the problem of measuring their length, and the other was the problem 

of dimensional stability. Because temperature is extremely critical,155 the thermal 

conductivity of the master block should be as close to that of the object being calibrated as possible. Since the latter is either a working block or a measuring instrument, 

both of which are usually made of steel, the master block is pretty much constrained to 

be made of steel. Moreover, block specifications require that the gaging surfaces of the 

block be quite hard, which means that the steel be a hardenable alloy or that the 

surfaces of the block be hardened by some type of special treatment, such as nitriding. 

Because alloy steels are inherently unstable materials, their dimensions may increase or 

decrease with time. Making them stable is a complex metallurgical problem. 

To solve this problem, a joint program involving the Optics and Metrology and the 

Metallurgy Divisions was begun. Sixteen companies, including experienced firms such 

as Brown & Sharpe, General Electric, IBM, Pratt & Whitney and Timken Roller 

Bearing, provided consultation, materials, facilities, and personnel for lapping, as well 

as a portion of the operating funds. ' 

The scheme of the work was simple in concept but not easy in execution. The 

metallurgy team, headed by Melvin R. Meyerson, ordered fully annealed bars of 

various steels with a cross section of 1.5 in X 0.5 in prepared by the manufacturer, 

along with one set of gage blocks made of aluminum oxide. At the Bureau the bars 

were cut into blanks, given heat andlor surface treatments, and manufactured into gage 

blocks with gaging lengths of 2 in. Fifteen different materials were used, leading to 

forty-one combinations of materials and treatments. All machining was done in the 

Bureau shops except the final lapping, which was done by several commercial firms: 

IS3 House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Department of Commerce and Related Agencies, 

Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1957: Hearings Before a Subcommittee 

on Appropriations, House of Representatives, 84th Cong., 2d sess., National Bureau of Standards, 20 March 

1956: 107. The Bureau reported progress on this problem to the Appropriations Subcommittee each year 

until 1962. 

154 Most of this description comes from M. R. Meyerson, T. R. Young and W. R. Ney, "Gage Blocks of 

Superior Stability: Initial Developments in Materials and Measurement," Journal of Research of the National 

Bureau of Standards 64C (1960): 175-207. A shorter version by the same authors is "The Development of 

More Stable Gage Blocks," Materials Research and Standards 1 (1961): 368-374. 

155 A temperature change of 0.03 °C produces a change in length of 10-7 in/in. 

346 
Melvin R. Meyerson of the NBS MetaIlurgy Division removed type 52100 tool-steel 

gage blocks from a chloride bath where they were immersed at ~ 550 OF for 15 min. 

Brown & Sharpe, Dearborn Gage, DoAll, and Pratt & Whitney. Extensive metallurgical 

observations of microstructure and hardness were made by the Bureau staff. These 

blocks were then stored and their lengths measured periodically by members of the 

Optics and Metrology Division. 

The metrology team under the leadership of Theodore R. Young had a different set 

of problems. They had to devise a means of measurement yielding a precisi~n of one 

in ten million without going to absolute determinations, which would be impractical 

with this volume of work. As a result, an optical comparator was built according to a 

design described in the literature. Using as a reference standard an existing block-one 

which absolute measurements over a period of years had shown to be particularly 

stable-it was possible to obtain the desired precision. But even this effective technique 

347 
I 

was not sufficient to handle the measurement load for the program, for a minimum of 

four hours per measurement was necessary to obtain thennal equilibrium. To alleviate 

this problem, an electro-mechanical comparator was acquired and was used along with 

a system by which the master block was used only to detennine the length of one of a 

group of blocks, an of which had received the same thennal history. Even with this 

complex system, special mathematical handling of the data was required. Indeed, it 

was found that it made a difference how the two blocks to be compared were picked 

up in practice and held in the gloved hands of the operator. Results were different 

Grace Chaconas of the NBS Optics and Metrology Division positioned a pair of gage 

blocks in a mechanical comparator. Such comparisons. carried out in accordance with a 

specially designed statistical procedure. provided data on the stability of gage blocks 

being developed by the Bureau. 

348 
when the blocks were held by the narrow, rather than the broad faces. This was ascribed to the temperature effects caused by the position of the operator's palms with 

respect to the two blocks. 

The final result of these various investigations was to show that it was possible to 

produce-and measure-gage blocks with a precision an order of magnitude better 

than was previously possible. Blocks of specially prepared type 410 stainless steel 

measured over a period of more than a year showed a maximum variation in length of 

2 X 10-7 in per year, and in some cases even less. Blocks of specially hardened type 

52100 tool steel were equally good. These results achieved the objectives set out at the 

beginning of the program. 

At the Appropriations Committee Hearings in 1961, Deputy Director Robert D. 

Huntoon-Astin being absent due to illness-was able to announce: "For the first 

time in NBS history, the Bureau has certified the accuracy of length measurements 

on commercial gage blocks to better than 1 part in 5 million." 156 It was a fitting 

conclusion to a well-conceived and well-executed program. 

At the same time that work was progressing with what might be called engineering 

standards for length measurement, momentous events were taking place on the 

primary-standard front. There had long been an effort to replace the venerable 

platinum-iridium meter bar that was the international prototype of length with a 

standard based on the wavelength of light emitted by a suitable element. Such a move 

would make redundant the international standard bar kept at the International Bureau 

of Weights and Measures (BIPM) in Sevres, France. Any suitably equipped laboratory, 

with staff who had the time and the inclination, could have its own primary standard, 

for the prototype artifact of human construction would be replaced with a constant of 

nature available to all. 157 

Consequently, at the 1952 meeting of the International Committee on Weights 

and Measures in Paris, an advisory Committee for the Definition of the Meter was 

appointed. By 1954, the means of defining the meter in terms of the wavelength of 

light was agreed upon. By this time there had been sufficient comparisons of various 

wavelengths from different elements with the international prototype that it was agreed 

that no more would be carried out. Instead, the wavelength in a vacuum of the red line 

of natural cadmium was defined to be exactly 6438.4696 angstroms (10- 10 m, or 

"tenthmeters") and all measurements of the wavelength of other radiations were to be 

made by comparison with cadmium, a relatively easy task. 

There were three serious proposals for the standard radiation. The Bureau proposed 

mercury-198 in an electrodeless lamp; the German Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) proposed the orange-red line from krypton-84, later changed to krypton86 because of easier availability; and the Institute of Metrology of the U.S.S.R. 

proposed cadmium-I 14. The Bureau put lamps with each of these candidates into 

operation. 

156 Appropriations Hearings for 1961: 249. Huntoon's statement is somewhat misleading. While blocks could 

be compared with this precision, the absolute accuracy was not that high. (John Beers, private communication.) 

157 I. C. Gardner, "Light Waves and Length Standards," Journal of the Optical Society of America 45 (1955): 

685-690; "Wavelength of Kr86 Light Becomes New International Standard of Length," Technical News 

Bulletin 44 (1960): 199-200; Annual Report, 1961: 21-22. 

349 
At the 1960 meeting of the General Conference for Weights and Measures in Paris, 

the PTB candidate was accepted, and the wavelength of the orange-red line of krypton86 became the new international standard of length. The new definition of the 

meter was I 650763.73 wavelengths of this light. A relative uncertainty of I part in 

I ()() million was now possible for the measurement of length. 

The Bureau was one of only two laboratories that had carried out a direct comparison of the krypton wavelength with the standard meter bar, the other being Canada. 

The Bureau results were slightly different from the proposed value, but the Bureau 

accepted it because the difference caused no practical problems and the new value 

made the angstrom exactly 10-10 m. The old meter bars would remain as the principal 

means of performing calibrations. They had served the industrial world for almost 

1 ()() years as the primary standards of length. In less than twenty-five years, the new 

standard would be superseded by an even more precise definition of the meter based 

on the speed of light. 

The u.s. delegation to the 1960 General Conference on Weights and Measures took a last look at the 

comparator on which prototype length standards from around the world were compared with the former 

international standard: t.he French platinum-iridium bar. From left to right: Louis Polk, president of The 

Sheffield Corporation; Allen V. Astin, NBS director; ana Elmer Hutchisson, director of the American 

Institute of Physics. 

350 
Karl F. Nefflen of the Engineering Metrology Section assembled a krypton-86 lamp. 

The lamp was maintained at the triple point temperature of nitrogen, 63 K, .to improve 

the reproducibility of the standard wavelength. 

In another aspect of engineering metrology, a method of accurately measuring long 

light paths was being explored. High-accuracy surveyor's tapes such as those used in 

surveying missile tracking sites, were calibrated with a relative uncertainty of 1 part 

per million. The use of lasers was expected to improve the precision of those measurements. For this purpose, a helium-neon laser constructed at the Bureau was made to 

operate in a single mode, thereby providing a single narrow wavelength of light. The 

laser operated in the infrared at a wavelength of 11 523 A, and required an image converter to make it visible. The laser light was passed through a specially designed 

Michelson interferometer whose two reflecting mirrors were placed 100m apart at the 

351 
In 1960 a new definition of the meter, 

I 650763.73 wavelengths of orangered light emitted from a krypton-86 

lamp, was adopted at the General 

Conference for Weights and Measures 

in Paris. The meter, previously 

defined as the length between two 

marks on a platinum-iridium bar 

stored at O°C at the International 

Bureau of Weights and Measures in 

Paris, would in 1983 be redefined as 

the distance travelled by light in a 

vacuum during 1/299792 458 of a 

second. 

ends of the calibrating tape in the Bureau's tape tunnel. Fringes were obtained, and 

by counting the fringes in the span length it was in principle possible to relate the 

measurement directly to the laser waveleQgth. But the fringes were quite unstable 

because of vibrations and other disturbances, and the method required considerable 

352 
development. Nevertheless, the experiment demonstrated one of the first direct applications of the laser to metrology. 158 ' 

Temperatures High and Low 

At the FY 1959 House Appropriations Hearings, Astin, as part of his presentation 

of Bureau achievements, announced the development of a new pyrometer for the 

measurement of temperatures above 2000 °C. This prompted Sidney R. Yates, 

congressman from Illinois, to ask Astin if it was true, as he had heard, that the Soviet 

Union was able to measure temperatures up to 6000°C. Astin said that he had heard 

the same, but that the Bureau could measure reliably only up to 3000°C and "by very 

impromptu means to 4200 °C. This is our current limit.,,159 With the advent of the 

sputniks still fresh in everyone's mind and a technological rocket race with its need to 

measure high temperatures in rocket exhausts and re-entry vehicles well started, the 

committee was horrified that Astin had not been pennitted to ask for facilities necessary for the attainment and measurement of higher temperatures. Thus, along with the 

approval of the full request the Bureau had made that year. came instructions from 

the committee in 1960 to devote $1.16 million to "activities in the field of very high 

temperature" for FY 1961. 160 

The Bureau was in a good position to carry out that instruction. 161 Along with the 

pyrometry work, it had just completed a five-year exchange of platinum resistance 

thennometers with six other nations to detennine the reproducibility of the steam 

point-the reproducibility was ::to.OOI °C-and with Canada of the sulfur point, 

444.60 °c, where the reproducibility was ::to.002 °C. NBS was actively working to 

extend the range of these thennometers to the gold point (1063 °C), thereby replacing 

the inherently less accurate platinum vs 90 percent platinum 10 percent rhodium 

thennocouples. Indeed, in his presentation at the FY 1960 hearings, Astin listed thirtyeight high-temperature projects. Besides projects on the production and measurement 

of high temperatures, he listed such activities as the properties of materials at high 

temperatures, spectroscopy and atomic energy levels, phase equilibria and high-temperature chemical and physical processes. 

For temperatures above 1063 °c, the measuring instrument of choice was the optical 

pyrometer, and the Bureau was deeply involved in improving the accuracy of pyrometer calibrations in the critical range between 2500 °c and 4000 °C. For this purpose, 

both a stable source of high temperatures and an accurate measuring instrument were 

necessary. By 1960, zirconium and carbon arcs had been developed as a source for 

calibrations, but their instability limited the accuracy of routine calibrations to ::t40 °c 

at 3800 °C. Attempts to improve the stability centered on an electrically heated 

graphite tube in an inert gas atmosphere. The improvement in measuring instruments 

15M "NBS Laser Produces Interference Fringes," Technical News Bulletin 47 (1963): 80-82. 

159 Appropriations Hearings for 1959: 417-418,431-434. 

160 Appropriations Hearings for 1961: 262. 

161 Annual Reports: 1957,23; 1958,23-24; 1959,29-30; 1960,51-52; 1961,51-53. 

353 
Came in the fonn of a photoelectric pyrometer, which greatly reduced the human 

element in calibrations. In measurements at the gold point (1063 °C) this new instrument achieved a precision of ±0.02 °c, better by a factor of 15 than a visual optical 

pyrometer. It was subsequently found that most of the problems with this pyrometer 

arose from drift in the tungsten strip lamp used for internal calibration of the instrument. More frequent calibration at the gold point corrected this problem. It was then 

possible to realize the International Practical Temperature Scale with reduced uncertainty. The uncertainty was now 0.07 °c at 1063 °c and only 1.9 °c at 3730 °c, a 

substantial improvement over previous perfonnance. 

At very high temperatures in the 10 000 °c to 20 000 °c range, a wholly new source 

of temperature and the means of measuring it became necessary. The source developed 

was a plasma arc, and the means of measurement was the width and intensity of 

This 15 000 oK plasma arc apparatus was used at NBS to study methods of measuring 

very high temperatures. 

354 
spectral lines. This shows the clear relationship between spectroscopy and atomic 

physics data on energy levels and transition probabilities on the one hand, and plasma 

physics on the other. The new arc utilized electrodes that were shielded by argon 

from the gas to be studied. With nitrogen as the gas, the intensity of the spectral lines 

remained constant within 1 percent for an hour. The most interesting results, however, 

would be with arcs in hydrogen or helium, for then the radiation properties could be 

calculated theoretically, even though these arcs were much harder to stabilize. In any 

case, complex calculati6ns were necessary, so an analog computer was developed and 

built so that they coulcl be made "in real time." By the end of 1964, temperatures in 

the 20 000 °C rang~/<Vere being routinely measured, if a measurement requiring a 

houseful of equip,nent can be considered routine. 

While all this ~ork on measuring high temperatures was going on, low-temperature 

measurement standards were not being neglected. 162 The International Temperature 

Scale was defined down to 90 K, and to extend the range, the Bureau began developing a thermometer based on the velocity of sound in helium. Such an instrument would 

give an absolute measurement of temperature and make it competitive with the 

much-more-cumbersome gas thennometer. At the same time. various semiconducting 

resistance devices were being investigated as secondary thermometers. 

In 1961, the Bureau announced its aim to provide a calibration service in the range 

10K to 20 K. The scale would be based on an acoustical interferometer with helium 

as the working fluid. This provided the necessary absolute measurements. "Doped" 

germanium resistors were to be used as precision secondary standards. When cycled 

between 300 K and the boiling point of helium-approximately 4.2 K-their 

resistances showed a reproducibility within 1/3 J.,LK. Helium-vapor-pressure thermometers would also be used. 

In 1964 the first service was opened, providing calibrations in the range 2 K to 5 K. 

Calibrations could be made every 0.1 K against a group of germanium thermometers 

which in tum had been calibrated against the accepted helium-vapor-pressure temperature scale. In 1965, a facility for the calibration of germanium thermometers in the 

range 4 K to 20 K was opened. The calibration was based on an NBS temperature 

scale obtained with an acoustic thermometer and transferred to six germanium 

thermometers. 

High Pressures 

In late 1958, Allen Astin received a report he had commissioned from consultant 

Leason H. Adams on a survey of high-pressure research at the Bureau. Along with the 

survey, the forty-page report made recommendations regarding future needs in this 

area. 163 The report concerned itself only with high pressures, defined as those from 

162 Annual Reports: 1959,31; 1961,56; 1962,62-63; 1963-1964,75- 76; and 1965, 18-19. 

163 L. H. Adams. "Survey of Current High-Pressure Research Program at National Bureau of Standards and 

Recommendations Regarding Future Needs in this Area," Revised November 19, 1958. (NARA; RG 167; 

Astin file; Box 15; unfoldered) 

355 
1000 bar to 106 bar (approximately 15000 psi, to 15 X 106 psi) and it recommended 

that first priority be given to the establishment of a pressure scale based on suitable 

fixed points, much as are used in the establishment of the International Practical 

Temperature Scale. It also recommended the study of properties of materials at high 

pressures to advance the attainment, maintenance, and measurement of high pressures; 

setting up and promoting pressure-safety regulations; the presentation of selected PVT 

data for liquids and gases; the development of instruments important in the pressure 

field; and the development of methods to extend high-pressure technology. Of all these 

recommendations, the only ones specifically adopted and emphasized were those on 

high-pressure standards and on the attainment of high pressures. 164 All the other 

activities recommended, save perhaps the one on safety, were already actively pursued 

and they apparently needed no special emphasis. 

In 1959, the Bureau provided pressure calibration services over the range 5 psi to 

60000 psi. However, the Mechanics Division was hard at work expanding the scale. 

The main instrument of choice was the dead-weight loaded-piston gage that is not 

packed to prevent fluid from leaking-the so-called freely rotating piston gage. In this 

instrument the clearance between piston and cylinder is so small that the leak rate is a 

negligible 1 in3 or 2 in3 per month. Like the gas thermometer in temperature measurements, this is a first-principles instrument in which the pressure can be precisely 

calculated. It was anticipated that the working range of this type of instrument could 

be extended to 300 000 psi or 400 000 psi. 

At the same time, the division was developing a multi-anvil cell to achieve higher 

pressures, but the pressure in this instrument could not be confidently and precisely 

calculated. The first of these instruments had four anvils in a tetrahedral arrangement 

and could reach pressures of approximately 2 X 106 psi. 165 Moreover, it was a compact 

instrument that could be easily loaded into a mechanical testing machine because it 

was so designed that force needed to be supplied to only one of the anvils. Later a 

modification with six anvils in a cubic arrangement was designed and built. For use in 

these presses, a sample of the material to be studied is placed in either a tetrahedron or 

cube of an easily sheared pressure-transmitting material (liquids would turn to solids at 

these very high pressures) such as pyrophyllite (hydrous aluminum silicate). This 

assembly, along with any leads to measure electrical resistance, is placed between the 

anvils and force is applied. 

There were several materials for possible use in generating pressure fixed points, 

which are basically phase transitions or crystal-structure transitions whose onset could 

be determined by some physical means, such as changes in electrical resistance or 

volume. The primary candidates for fixed points were the pressure at the freezing point 

of mercury at O°C and three crystal-structure transitions in bismuth, two occurring near 

27 kbar and a third at almost 120 kbar. 

164 "High-Pressure Standards Program Expanded," Technical News Bulletin 43 (\ 959): 241; Annual Report, 

1959: 35. 

165 E. C. Lloyd. U. O. Hutton. and D. P. Johnson, "Compact Multi-Anvil Wedge-Type High Pressure 

Apparatus." Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 63C (\959): 59-64. 

356 
Both the mercury and the bismuth points were investigated with the piston gage, 

which had to be carefully and tediously developed to extend its range. By 1963, 

pressure at the freezing point of mercury at 0 °C was determined to be 109 722 psi 

with an uncertainty of ± 30 psi, which was adequate for use as a calibration point. 

Moreover, a pressure measurement gage based on the resistance of manganin wire 

proved to be quite a good working gage. 166 . 

Development of the freely rotating piston gage continued, and by 1965 a gage with 

a tungsten-carbide piston diameter of only 0.080 in, and operated with a maximum 

load of 860 kg, reached the low-pressure bismuth transition. Believed to be the highest 

pressure yet achieved with this type of gage, and using volume change as an indication 

of the transition, the pressure obtained was 25 306 bar (approximately 367000 psi) 

with an uncertainty of 60 bar. 167 It was the most accurate value so far obtained for the 

'transition. 

Thus, in seven years after announcing the pressure-standards program, a new pressure apparatus had been developed, two new piston gages had been built and, most 

important, two new pressures suitable for use as fixed points on the pressure scale had 

been determined. It was an impressive performance. 

While all this "classical" work was going on, Elmer N. Bunting, Alvin Van 

Valkenburg, and Charles E. Weir, of the Mineral Products Division, were developing a 

totally new means of obtaining high pressures in collaboration with Ellis R. Lippincott, 

a guest scientist from the University of Maryland. Their main impetus was not the 

development of a pressure scale, although knowledge of the pressure was important to 

them, but rather the study of materials under high pressure. Specifically, they were 

interested in the determination of the infrared spectra of solids at high pressures as a 

means of studying atomic bonding. This placed an immediate and immense constraint 

on their apparatus, for it had to be transparent to infrared radiation. What appeared to 

be a great hindrance turned out to be an enormous boon. 

From earlier infrared measurements on a large number of gem diamonds obtained 

from the U.S. Customs Service at no cost to the Government, Bunting and Van 

Valkenburg learned that certain rare types of diamonds, known as type II, were 

relatively transparent to infrared light, and, of course, like all diamonds, were very 

hard and strong. 1611 These rare type II diamonds, of which they found several in the 

supply of gems, could be used for infrared microspectroscopy studies. Not much 

material was needed, so a very small portable apparatus for generating load was all 

that was necessary. 

Their first attempt, which was to use a 7.5 carat diamond with a small hole through 

it containing steel pistons to compress the sample between them, was unsuccessful. A 

fundamentally new way to do this had to be found. 

166 Annual Report, 1963: 38-39. 

167 P. L. M. Heydemann, "The Bi I-II Transition Pressure Measured with a Dead-Weight Piston Gauge," 

Journal of Applied Physics 38 (1967): 2640-2644. 

IN! E. N. Bunting and A. Van Valkenburg, "Some Properties of Diamond," American Mineralist 43 (1958): 

102-106. 

357 
Percy W. Bridgman, the father of high-pressure research, had pioneered in the pressing of materials between two flat anvils as a means of applying pressure to them. 169 / 

The Bridgman technique was applied to the new apparatus, and a device was built 

which made use of opposed diamond anvils. For this purpose, two gem-cut type II 

diamonds weighing approximately 0.036 g were selected from their abundant supply of 

contraband brilliantcut stones. The culet (the tip of the conical part) of each stone was 

ground to fonn a facet parallel to the table (the large flat top part of the gem-cut 

diamond). The diamonds, now having become anvils, were placed in a mount with the 

facets facing one another in an opposed orientation. The material to be studied was 

placed between them and the two anvils were driven together with an ingenious 

leverann arrangement compressing a calibrated spring. 

The two anvils were purposely selected to be slightly different in size, with the anvil 

area of the smaller used for calculation of the pressure. The first two devices made had 

anvil areas of 0.000156 in2 and 0.000 182 in2

• It is clear that a pressure of 100 000 psi 

required the small forces of 15.6 Ib and 18.2 Ib, respectively. In fact, one of. the first 

instruments built was estimated to have reached a calculated pressure of 16 GPa. This 

pressure was later shown by the ruby pressure measurement method to be extremely 

overestimated. A pressure of only 5 GPa had been attained. The pressure cell was a 

small device that could be held in the palm of one's hand, and microscopic observation 

of the material under pressure was easy and routine. 

The first pressure cells were used to study infrared spectra of solids, and development of the cell was rapid. 170 Later, Van Valkenburg developed a method to confine 

liquids by using a thin (10 mil) sheet of Inconel 600 metal containing a tiny hole 

(12 mil diameter).171 The liquid was placed in the hole and squeezed between the two 

anvils; it was used to observe pressure-induced phase changes in liquids and also solids 

immersed in liquids. A new hydraulically operated design pennitted taking x-raydiffraction powder patterns. High-pressure single-crystal studies developed as a result 

of a meeting convened by Howard F. McMurdie, chief of the Constitution and Microstructure Section, with Stanley Block, Gasper J. Piennarini, and Charles Weir attending. McMurdie asked the three if they thought that single-crystal x-ray diffraction 

studies were possible at high pressures now that the confinement of liquids in the diamond cell was possible with a metal gasket. Block replied that indeed they were 

possible if a pressure cell could be fabricated from beryllium metal, which is transparent to x radiation. As a result of that meeting, work on the development of the singlecrystal high-pressure x-ray technique was initiated. In a tour de force of apparatus construction, Weir, in collaboration with Block and Piennarini, built one into an x-ray 

precession camera, thus pennitting, for the first time, crystal structure detenninations 

169 P. W. Bridgman, "The Resistance of 72 Elements, Alloys and Compounds to 100,000 kg/cm2,', Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 81 (1952): 167-251. 

170 C. E. Weir, E. R. Lippincott, A. Van Valkenburg, and E. N. Bunting, "Infrared Studies in the 1- to 

15- Micron Region to 30.000 Atmospheres," Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 63A 

(1959): 55-62. 

171 A. Van Valkenburg, "High Pressure Microscopy" in High Pressure M~asurements, eds. A. A. Giardini 

and E. C. Lloyd (Washington, D.C.: Butterworths, 1963): 87-94. 

358 
25b c5a. 

RADJAAIT 

ENERGY 

SOURC~ 

Z4b "Ob 

The high-pressure optical cell invented by Charles E. Weir, Alvin Van Valkenburg, and Ellis R. Lippincott, 

was utilized in the spectrum analysis of solid materials. The drawings above are from Patent No. 3,079,505. 

Top: cross-sectional view of the high-pressure cell. Middle: detailed cross-sectional view taken through the 

diamond holders in the lower portion of the cell. Bottom: System incorporating the cell. 

359 
of single crystals under high pressure. 172 The first single crystal structure determination 

was done on a hig~-pressure phase of benzene at room temperature. 173 

The diamond-anvil cell was a superb instrument, but it remained useful at that time 

primarily for qualitative observation since it lacked a means of pressure measurement. 

Various fixed points had been investigated, including solidlliquid transitions and shifts 

in the absorption band of nickel dimethylglyoxime, but their use was extremely 

cumbersome and subject to considerable error. Van Valkenberg left the Bureau in 

1964. Block, Piermarini, and Weir continued further development of the diamond cell 

and used it in pioneering studies in anisotropic compressibility measurements on 

numerous explosive materials by single-crystal x-ray diffraction, phase diagram 

determinations of sulfur, zirconia, benzene, carbon tetrachloride, and other materials. 

Weir retired in 1970. 

In 1968, John B. Wachtman became division chief and the division had become 

Inorganic Materials. He realized the need to find a better method for the calibration of 

the pressure in the diamond cell in line with the traditional mission of the Bureau. In 

an effort to solve this problem, Wachtman arranged a critical meeting with Stanley 

Block and John D. Barnett, then on leave from Brigham Young University, to discuss 

possible techniques to explore to solve this calibration problem. One of these was 

fluorescent spectroscopy which had not yet been tested. Shortly after that meeting, 

spectroscopist Richard A. Forman suggested testing several materials he had on the 

shelf in his laboratory. These materials included: Ah03 (0.5% Cr), YAI03 (0.2% Cr), 

Y AG (0.38 % Cr203), MgO (Cr) and others. In the tests it turned out that ruby was 

the best fluorescence material as a pressure sensor because it had the optimum characteristics for pressure shift, line sharpness, and line intensity. The idea was tried in a 

pressure cell in the laboratory with ruby dust excited by a filtered super-high-pressure 

mercury arc, and it worked. Using various materials with reasonably well-known 

transitions as fixed points, the shift in the wavelength of the radiation was found to be 

exactly proportional to the pressure. 174 Later, the shift in the ruby fluorescence line was 

calibrated against the compression of NaCl and linked to a pressure through its 

equation of state. 175 Finally, after more than a decade, a means of establishing the 

pressure in the diamond-anvil cell as accurately as the fixed points available was at 

hand. 

172 C. E. Weir, G. J. Piennarini. and S. Block. "Instrumentation for Single Crystal X-Ray Diffraction at High 

Pressures," Review of Scientific Instrument 40 (1969): 1133-1136. 

17.1 G. J. Piermarini. A. D. Mighell. C. E. Weir, and S. Block. "Crystal Structure of Benzene II at 25 Kilobars." Science 165 (1969): 1250-1255. 

174 R. A. Fonnan. G. J. Piennarini, J. D. Barnett, and S. Block, "Pressure Measurement Made by the Utilization of Ruby Sharp-Line Luminescence," Science 176 (1972): 284-285. 

175 G. J. Piermarini, S. Block, J. D. Barnett, and R. A. Forman, "Calibration of the Pressure Dependence of 

the RI Ruby Fluorescence Line to 195 Kbar," }ourlUll of Applied PhYSics 46 (1975): 2774-2780. 

360 
The new ruby technique was used initially to improve the pressure capability of the 

cell by noting the pressures at which distortions of the metal cell components caused 

anvil breakage. By correcting these deficiencies, Block and Piermarini were able to 

extend the pressure range of the diamond cell to 0.6 Mbar, the highest static pressure 

achieved and measured for that time and simultaneously revise the fixed-point pressure 

scale, lowering it by a factor of almost two. The generally accepted value of 50 GPa 

for the gallium phosphide (GaP) transition had to be lowered to 22 GPa as a result of 

their work. 176 At this point, they decided that this pressure range was sufficient for 

their purposes, leaving such scientists as geologists, interested in pressures at the center 

of the earth, to develop the cell for higher pressures. Block and Piermarini went on to 

develop pioneering applications and uses not only for the pressure cell, but also for the 

ruby pressure measurement technique. 

For example, they, along with Barnett, used the physical characteristics of the ruby 

RI lines to measure the onset of stresses in liquids by noting the pressure at which 

the lines broadened. 177 They used this technique to determine for the first time the 

hydrostatic limits in many liquids, i.e., the pressure at which a liquid no longer 

provides a hydrostatic pressure transmitting environment. These data were extremely 

valuable to the high pressure community. They also developed an elegant classical 

Stokes technique to measure the pressure dependence of viscosity of liquids and used a 

ruby sphere as the falling body in the liquid encapsulated in the diamond cell. m The 

ruby sphere also served as the pressure sensor. The viscosity data corroborated the 

ruby line-broadening results and was in agreement with the extrapolated glass transition pressure. The pressure cell was also designed for static heating to over 500°C 

with a resistance coil furnace surrounding the anvil assembly. All of the above were 

pioneering developments at the NBS laboratory. 

The ruby fluorescence pressure scale was subsequently extended by various scientists to 1 Mbar in 1978, and to 5.5 Mbar in observations in 1986. No longer was the 

diamond cell simply a qualitative or semi-quantitative instrument, but a serious 

quantitative research tool for carrying out studies-the quest for metallic hydrogen and 

the investigation of the state of matter at the center of the earth-not possible in any 

other way. It is not, in a general sense, a preparative device, although it has been used 

to synthesize tiny quantities of material and to determine the synthesis parameters for 

scale-up purposes. However, it is the instrument of choice as a research tool. Ind~ed, it 

is so ubiquitous and there are so many publications on its use, that its origi~s ar.c'all 

176 G. J. Piennarini and S. Block, "Ultrahigh Pressure Diamond-Anvil Cell and Several Semiconductor Phase 

Transition Pressures in Relation to the Fixed Point Pressure Scale," Review of Scientific Instruments 46 

(1975): 973-979. 

J77 G. J. Piennarini, S. Block, and J. D. Barnett, "Hydrostatic Limits in Liquids and Solids to 100 Kbar," 

Journal of Applied Physics 44 (1973): 5377-5382. 

178 G. J. Piennarini, R. A. Fonnan, and S. Block, "Viscosity Measurements in the Diamond Anvil Pressure 

Cell," Review of Scientific Instruments 49 (1978): 1061-1066; R. G. Munro, G. J. Piennarini, and S. Block, 

"Wall Effects in a Diamond Anvil Pressure-Cell Falling-Sphere Viscometer," Journal of Applied Physics 50 

(1979): 3180-3184. 

361 
but forgotten. It was the result of the insight of scientists who were trying to do 

something that could not be done by the old, standard methods, and who had to stride 

off in completely different directions. 

Large Forces 

In 1939 the Bureau received fewer than fifty force-measuring devices for calibration. 

By 1959 the number was more than 900 annually. Moreover, spurred primarily by the 

need to measure the thrust of rocket motors and the weight of rockets, there was an 

immense growth in the requests for ~alibrations of devices to measure very large 

forces, some as high as 3 million pounds. In 1962, Astin told the House Appropriations Committee, "One of the most urgent programs we have at the present time is one 

of extending our capability for making large force measurements. This is entirely 

brought about by the need for calibrating the devices which measure the forces on 

large rockets."179 

Along with this was the necessity to obtain higher accuracy. In the previous year 

Astin had told the committee, "Recently, NBS was asked to calibrate a 1.5 million 

pound load cell for Rocketdyne's use on its contract with NASA to develop a 

I-million-pound-thrust rocket motor. In August [the] Air Force ... released the 

estimate ... that an improvement in the accuracy of thrust measurements from the 

present three-fourths of 1 percent to one-fourth of 1 percent would save $100 to 

$150 million in the static test stages of current missile and rocket programs."180 

Before continuing, we should make very clear the distinction between force 

measurement and mass measurement. Every undergraduate mechanics text points out 

that force is equal to the product of mass times acceleration, and that "weight" as 

commonly used in trade, refers to a force, not to a mass. In force calibrations, the 

usual equation is 

where 

F=Kmg (I-alp), 

F.. is force measured, for example, in newtons, dynes, pounds of force, or 

kilograms of force; 

m is mass in grams, kilograms, or pounds of mass; 

g is the acceleration due to gravity, measured in meters per second per 

second, centimeters per second per second, or feet per second per second; 

<X is the density of air; and 

p is the density of the mass used in the measurement. 

If m is thought of as the apparent mass measured against brass standards in normal air, 

then the appropriate values for a and pare 1.2 (kg/m3) and 8400 (kg/m3), respectively. 

179 House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on General Government Matters, Department of 

Commerce, and Related Agencies, General Government Matters, Department of Commerce, and Related 

Agencies Appropriations for 1962: Hearings Before a Subcommittee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, National Bureau of Standards, 3 May 1961: 821. 

180 Appropriations Hearings for 1961: 285. 

362 
The quantity K in the equation is a constant whose value depends on the units used 

for the variables: 

K = 1 if F (newtons), m (kg), and g (m/s2); 

K = 1 if F (dynes), m (g), and g (cm/s2); 

K = 1/32.17405 if F (pounds force), m (pounds mass), and g (ft/S2); 

K = 1/980.665 if F (pounds force), m (pounds mass), and g cm/s2); and 

K = 1/9.80665 if F (kg force), m (kg mass), and g (m/s2). 

Thus the weight of a 1 kilogram mass on the moon, where the force of gravity is 

about one-sixth of its value on earth, would be 1/6 (kilogram force). 

Calibration of such measuring devices as load cells or proving rings can be done 

quite accurately with dead weights, i.e., by hanging a known mass on the device and 

knowing the local gravitational acceleration and air buoyancy correction. In 1958 the 

Bureau had two dead-weight machines, one with a capacity of 111 000 pounds dating. 

from 1927, and a smaller one with a capacity of 10 000 pounds. Force-measuring 

devices with capacities up to this level could be calibrated willi an uncertainty of about I 

0.02 percent. 181 But in calibrating devices with higher capa:cities, several steps were 

required; combinations of proving rings or elastic devices had to be used, and accuracy 

was severely degraded in this process. Load cells up to 3 million pound capacity could 

be calibrated, but the accuracy was only 0.4 percent. Accuracies of 0.1 percent were 

necessary in measuring the thrust of large rocket motors. 182 

In 1958 the Bureau designed a 300000 pound force dead-weight machine. Later, 

with the experience gained in this effort, the staff proceeded to design and build a 

1 million pound force machine. The complement of machines was completed with a 

new 112 000 pound force dead-weight tester and several smaller ones. By 1964, the 

new machines were in operation in a special building at the Bureau's new Gaithersburg 

site, the first building constructed at the new site because of its urgency. They were 

joined by the venerable 111 000 pound force machine, which had been refurbished and 

brought out from the old site. 

It is with the weights that accuracy begins, and they were impressive, to say the 

least. Thick discs of stainless steel, they weighed from 1000 to 50000 pounds. The 

1000 pound weights were 3 feet in diameter, while the heavier ones were 10 foot 

diameter giants. In each machine the weights could be hung incrementally from the 

device to be calibrated to provide a force range from zero to the full range of the 

machine. The machines themselves were not simple devices. Each consisted 9f 

a stack of weights, a loading frame holding the device to be calibrated at the top, and 

a lifting frame, actuated by a hydraulic jack, to lift the weights incrementally and thus 

181 Annual Report, 1960: 46-47. 

182 "Million-Pound Dead-Weight Machine Designed," Technical News Bulletin 43 (1959): 240. 

363 
Deadweight stack of the I million pound force deadweight machi'ne that was installed 

in the Engineering Mechanics Building, the first building completed at the NBS site in 

Gaithersburg (1963). Each 50000 Ib weight was 10 feet in diameter. Most of the 

stack sat below the first-floor level in a 26 foot deep pit. In this photograph, James I. 

Price adjusted the temperature control. 

load them onto the device. The million-pound force machine had twenty 50 000 pound 

weights, and the other two had combinations of smaller weights. And the machines 

were large. The million-pound force giant was 96 feet tall, the 300 000 pound force 

machine was 62 feet, and the old III 000 pound force machine was 54 feet. Access 

was available at various levels, and temperature in the whole assembly was controlled 

within ±O.5 °c. 

To obtain the applied force from the mass of the weights, which is directly traceable 

to the standard kilogram, knowledge of the value of the acceleration due to gravity, or 

364 
Arnold J. Mallinger calibrated a rniIIion-lb capacity proving ring in the I-million-Ibf capacity deadweight 

machine. 

g, at the location of the machines is necessary. To obtain this value, an absolute determination of the acceleration was made. IS3 The value obtained, 9.801018 m/s2, was 

used to adjust the force to a value of g of 9.80665 m/s2, which was the value adopted 

in 1913 by the General Conference for Weights and Measures for the purpose of 

defining such units as pound-force and kilogram-force. Adjustments were also made 

for buoyancy caused by the atmosphere. When all was completed, the force applied by 

the dead-weight machines was accurate to 0.002 percent. It was an impressive performance. 

The calibration of devices to measure forces greater than 1 million pounds force, as 

is necessary with very large rocket motors, is simple in principle. A number of forcemeasuring devices with 1 million pound capacity are first calibrated. Then, to calibrate 

183 D. R. Tate. "Absolute Value of g at the National Bureau of Standards," Journal of Research of the 

National Bureau of Standards 70C (1966): 149; "Acceleration Due to Gravity at the National Bureau of 

Standards," Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 72C (1968): 1-20. 

365 
a larger capacity device with, say, a 5 million pound capacity, five of the calibrated 

I million pound devices are coupled together in parallel, so that each carries one-fifth 

of the applied load. This arrangement is placed in series with the high-capacity device 

to be calibrated and a force is impressed across the arrangement. The force applied to 

the unknown device is the sum of the forces on the calibrated devices, which are easily 

obtained from their output indicators. The output of the unknown device is noted, and 

the first point of the whole calibration curve is obtained. The procedure is repeated 

for other loads until the whole calibration curve is established. While the procedure is 

direct, accuracy is inevitably degraded for a variety of reasons. 

The problem with this procedure is that it requires some kind of machine capable of 

supplying very large forces (5 million pounds force in the above example) and holding 

them steady while the necessary readings are taken. For this purpose, and because 

of its use in measuring the mechanical properties and strength of large structural 

elements, such as bridge columns and beams, the Bureau procured an immense testing 

machine. With the capability of supplying 12 million pounds force in compression, 

6 million pounds force in tension, and 4 million pounds force to a flexural specimen, it 

was a true giant, 101 feet tall, with its lower 23 feet in a pit below ground level. 184 It 

was placed in a special 97 feet tall bay near'its companion dead-weight machines, and 

in 1999 is still the Nation's largest universal testing machine. 185 Alongside its companion dead-weight machines, the whole fonned a splendid new facility for the Bureau 

and the Nation. 186 

IN4 Arthur F. Kirstein, Universal Testing Machine of 12-million-lbf Capacity at the National Bureau of 

Standards, Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Special Publication 355; September 1971. 

185 The story of how the decision was made to obtain the machine is interesting. The main purpose for the 

machine was the calibration of the large devices used in determining the thrust of rocket motors. Although 

the military-the main customers-were not certain what the highest thrust would be, a manufacturer of 

solid propellant motors was considering a 5 million pound thrust engine. But there was also considerable 

interest in the engineering community on large scale structural testing. Huge skyscrapers using immense 

beams were being considered. Norway was planning a testing frame with a 5 million pound capacity for ship 

structures, and Japan was building a 5 million pound machine for testing ships and the guy system for a 

planned inter-island suspension bridge. The largest capacity machine in the United States, located at Lehigh 

University, had a 5 million pound capacity. With these currents flowing, Astin ordered a study to give him a 

recommendation on the type of machine to be built. In due course a presentation was made to Astin by 

Lafayette K. Irwin, chief of the Engineering Mechanics Section of the Mechanics Division, accompanied by 

Bruce L. Wilson, chief of the division. Their recommendation was for a machine with a capacity between 

to million pounds and 20 million pounds in compression, but that it should not be a universal testing 

machine. The machine would be used for force calibration only, although a yoke could provide some testing 

capability as well. Such a machine need not be very tall, and would not be terribly expensive. Astin listened 

to the whole presentation silently, staring off into the distance, as was his custom. At the conclusion he 

turned to Irwin and Wilson and, stunning his audience, said, "The Bureau is going to have the largest testing 

machine in the world," and thus was made the decision to obtain the immense device. (Lafayette K. Irwin, 

private communication.) 

IK6 "New NBS Force-Calibration Facilities Capacity Increased to One Million Pounds," Technical News 

Bulletin 49 (1965): 186-188. 

366 
A 12 million Ibf capacity hydraulic testing machine, believed to be the world's largest, 

was installed in the Engineering Mechanics Building. The machine provided the force 

to calibrate multi-million-lbf capacity force-measuring devices for space and industrial 

applications and to test full-scale structural components. 

Time and Frequency 

Time is one of the fundamental quantities of the physical measurement system. 187 

Thus the Bureau has always been concerned with time and frequency (essentially 

the reciprocal of repeated time interval) standards, and in this area carries out three 

functions: the development of frequency standards, from which clocks can be made 

m More precisely, it is time interval and its unit, the second, that occur in the basic measurement system. Epochal 

time does not. 

367 
by direct (but not necessarily technically easy) counting; the definition of the unit of 

time-the second-and its relation to the standard of frequency; and the dissemination 

of time and frequency signals. During the period covered by this chapter, work in these 

areas produced a veritable cornucopia of results and added to the Bureau's capabilities 

and facil ities. 

Frequency Standards 

In 1949 the Bureau announced the first "atomic clock."ISB Really a "molecular 

clock," it was based on the microwave absorption line of ammonia. At that time the 

second was still defined on the basis of the rotation of the earth. The national standard 

of frequency, which served as the top of a chain for calibrating frequency measuring 

instruments, and controlled the frequency of the Bureau's two time and frequency 

broadcast stations-WWV in Beltsville, Maryland, and WWVH in Maui, Hawaii-was 

a set of quartz crystal oscillators rigorously maintained at a constant temperature in 

50 feet deep wells. Their frequency was calibrated against the rotation of our slightly 

wobbly earth, a long, tedious process. The growth of science, the needs of modem 

navigation, the explosion in communications traffic, and military and space requirements, not to mention the sheer intellectual challenge involved, made the development 

of ever-more-accurate standards imperative, and the ammonia clock was the first 

attempt to build a timepiece based on a natural atomic constant. 

While the idea of using an atomic oscillator as a frequency standard had been 

around for a long time,189 recent advances in radio techniques and fundamental physics 

had made the construction of atomic clocks a real possibility.l90 The ammonia clock 

was based on the control of the frequency of a quartz crystal oscillator by the absorption of radiation by ammonia, which occurs very precisely at a frequency of 

23.870 GHz. In the first model, the crystal oscillator was adjusted manually to keep its 

frequency at the value that would provide maximum absorption by the ammonia, 

which was contained in a 30 foot cell. Later, a feedback loop automatically adjusted 

the oscillator. In either case, the ammonia resonance controlled the frequency of the 

oscillator, and counting the cycles produced a clock. With a stability of 1 part in 

20 mi11ion, it was no better keeper of time than the rotation of the earth, but it pointed 

the way to better instruments. 

IKK Annual Report, 1949: 66-69. 

189 George K. Burgess, the second director of the Bureau, wrote in the Standards Yearbook in 1928, "Any 

radiation frequency emitted by an atom is the ticking of an atomic clock .... " Snyder and Bragaw, Achievement in Radio: p. 292, cite Lord Kelvin as suggesting "the vibrational states of hydrogen and sodium atoms 

as natural standards of frequency and length (wavelength)." 

190 C. H. Townes, "Atomic Clocks and Frequency Stabilization on Microwave Spectral Lines," Journal of 

Applied Physics 22 (1951): 1365-1372. An analysis of the various types of possible atomic clocks, this paper 

was stimulated by Harold A. Lyons, then chief of the Bureau's Microwave Standards Section, under whose 

direction the ammonia clock was produced. 

368 
There was already a better candidate at the time the ammonia clock was announced. 

In 1945, I. I. Rabi of Columbia University had suggested that a magnetic resonance 

atomic beam technique could be used to produce a highly accurate atomic clock. In 

such a technique, the various line-broadening mechanisms, such as Doppler shift and 

pressure broadening, would be largely absent. This suggestion led to the proposal to 

use cesium beams where, in the absence of an external field, the interaction of the 

nuclear magnetic moment with the field at the nucleus produced by the spin of the 

valence electron splits the ground state of the atom into two states-the so-called 

hyperfine splitting. In one of the states, the electron spin is parallel to the nuclear 

moment; in the other it is anti parallel. The transition from one state to the other involves a very precise frequency. In an isolated atom, this is an invariant frequency, 

perfect for a standard. In the cesium beam device, a beam of atoms is produced by 

evaporation in an oven in which molten cesium is kept. A finely collimated beam is 

produced and passed through a short inhomogeneous magnetic field (a Stem-Gerlach 

magnet) which splits the beam into two, one in which all the atoms have their 

magnetic moment up, and one in which it is down. A slit selects one of the beams so 

that it passes into a long cavity in which it is subjected to a radio frequency (rt) field. 

From there it passes into another Stem-Gerlach magnet. If the frequency of the rf field 

is the same as the atomic moment reorientation frequency, then during the passage of 

the atoms through the cavity the magnetic moment of the atoms is flipped in orientation and the second Stem-Gerlach magnet directs them into a detector, which then 

produces a signal. If the frequency is not the same, most of the atoms are lost, and no 

signal comes from the detector. The result is an exceedingly sharp resonance curve 

with a center frequency equal to the reorientation frequency, a constant of nature 

approximately equal to 9.192 GHz for a cesium beam. As with the ammonia clock, the 

observed signal from the detector may be used with a servomechanism to control the 

frequency of the rf field, which is provided by a quartz oscillator with an appropriate 

frequency-multiplier chain. 191 

Research on the first NBS atomic beam clock, with help on the design by Polykarp 

Kusch, who had worked with Rabi, was begun in the same year as the announcement 

of the ammonia clock. Finished in 1952, it was labelled NBS I and had a stability of 

191 There is more to the matter than this simple explanation gives. First, in the cavity the atoms are not subjected only to an oscillating rf field. There is, in this region, a small uniform constant field "applied in order 

to preserve the state identity of the atom" while passing through the cavity (Beehler, Mockler, Richardson, 

"Cesium Beam Time and Frequency Standards," 118). Since in the general case the reorientation frequency 

of the atomic moment is dependent on this constant field, a bad situation for a frequency standard would 

arise, for its accuracy would depend on an accurate knowledge of the strength and uniformity of this constant field. For this reason, the transition (F = 4, mf" = 0) to (F = 3, mf" = 0) is chosen for the standard since 

its frequency has only a second order dependence on the field, and this can be made negligibly small. Second, the atoms are not subjected to an oscillating field throughout the whole region of the cavity. Norman F. 

Ramsey showed that it was necessary only to subject the atoms to the oscillating field over a small region at 

the beginning and end of the cavity, provided only that the rf field in these two regions be accurately in 

phase. This technique also makes the resonance peaks narrower; makes their sharpness independent of nonuniformities in the constant field; and is more convenient to use. (N. F. Ramsey, "A Molecular Beam 

Resonance Method with Separated Oscillating Fields," Physical Review 78 (1950): 695-699). Professor 

Ramsey shared the 1989 Nobel Prize for his discovery. 

369 
The clock known as NBS I, fully operational by 1952, used a beam of cesium atoms to control electronic 

and microwave circuits to better than I part in 100 million. A conventional electric clock connected to the 

atomic clock would vary no more than one second in three hundred years. 

1 part in 1010 and, after modification, it attained a relative uncertainty of 2 parts in 

1010. Built in the Bureau's Washington laboratories, it was disassembled in 1954 and 

shipped to the Bureau's new site in Boulder, where it was reassembled. A relatively 

primitive instrument, it had no servomechanism, and the frequency of the driving 

quartz oscillators had to be adjusted manually, as was necessary with the ammonia 

clock. This feature made its use as a frequency standard or clock impractical. 

Construction began on another cesium beam clock that same year. With a longer 

cavity,192 and with servomechanism control, this was expected to be a far more 

advanced clock. It was completed in 1958 and compared with NBS I, which had been 

rebuilt and had attained "a precision of 2 parts in 101

°."193 A careful evaluation of the 

two clocks "enabled the United States frequency standard to be referred to in tenns of 

atomic resonance with an accuracy of 1.5 parts in 10"."194 On January I, 1960, NBS II 

192 The longer the cavity, the sharper the resonance. Townes, "Atomic Clocks," 1371 -1372. 

19.1 Annual Report, 1959: 123. 

194 Annual Report, 1960: 38; R. E. Beehler, R. C. Mockler, C. S. Snider, "A Comparison of Atomic Beam 

Frequency Standards;' Nature 187 (1960): 681-682. 

370 
NBS II measured frequency and time intervals to an accuracy equivalent to the loss of one second in three 

thousand years. In 1960, it became the National Frequency Standard. As shown in this photograph. Roger 

Beehler adjusted the atomic beam detector wh~le Charles Snider poured liquid nitrogen into a cold trap at 

one end of the instrument. The nitrogen helped to fonn a vacuum so that cesium atoms could be beamed 

through the machine without being deflected by molecules of air. 

became the national standard of frequency, supplanting the quartz oscillators in their 

cool wells. From that day to this, the frequency of a cesium clock has been the 

frequency standard of the United States. 

In 1959, before NBS II became the national standard of frequency, construction was 

begun on NBS III. It was finished in 1963, whereupon it was designated as the 

national standard. It had a resonant cavity 366 cm long-twice the length of NBS II. 

It served until 1969, at which time it had achieved a stability of 1 part in 1013, and a 

relative uncertainty of 5 parts in 10 13 • Another clock, NBS-4, a short 50 cm cavity 

clock built to test new ideas for improving the stability of cesium clocks, took over 

from NBS III in 1969. It was extremely stable, achieving a stability of 7 X 10- 15

• 

To complete the roster, NBS-5 was completed in 1972 and served until 1974, when the 

next model, NBS-6, took over with a relative uncertainty of 9 parts in 10 14, or 1 second in 300000 years. NIST-7 officially replaced NBS-6 in January 1993. It was put 

into service with a relative uncertainty of 4 X 10- 14 that was later improved to 5 X 10- 15 • 

371 
Atomic clocks spawned a new industry. Small, portable cesium-beam and rubidiumbeam clocks are made commercially and sold to organizations that require highprecision clocks, such as broadcasters, the military, and telephone systems. The National Institute of Standards and Technology uses them as wel1. 

To leave the matter here would not do justice to all the effort in time and frequency. 

Many other paths had been travel1ed before selecting the cesium clock as the national 

standard. The original ammonia clock had been highly developed and supplanted by 

the much more precise ammonia maser. 195 In turn the ammonia maser was fol1owed by 

the hydrogen maser, still under investigation at the end of the period. A hydrogen 

cyanide maser had been tried. Oxygen had been explored as a replacement for 

ammonia in an absorption-controlled clock. Thal1ium-beam and rubidium opticalmicrowave double resonances had been investigated, but had not supplanted the cesium 

clock. Quartz crystals at the temperature of liquid helium had been studied. But the 

cesium beam clock became the standard, in large part because it was extensively 

investigated international1y, hence was best understood. 

The Definition of the Second 

Since the unit of time is the second-one of the basic units for quantified characterization of physical standards-NIST has the central responsibility in the United States 

for its definition. To carry out this obligation, NIST serves as the Nation's representative to the international bodies-the International Committee for Weights and Measures 

(CIPM) and the General Conference for Weights and Measures (CGPM)-that promulgate this definition. When the second is compared to units of other quantities, however, 

it has a unique peculiarity. Like the krypton-86 unit of length, it is not a unit that can 

be stored in a vault and periodical1y pul1ed out for calibration purposes; it must be 

generated. In either case, of course, the apparatus may be stored in a vault-at least 

conceptual1y. But the second, or time, has a further peculiarity. If a clock is to be built 

from a frequency apparatus that generates seconds by counting repeated events, then 

the apparatus must operate continuously, for time constantly passes even when the 

clock is stopped. Without this requirement for continuity of operation, a frequency 

apparatus is useful for the generation of time interval, but not for time nor, its more 

fonnal description, epoch. 196 

Before the advent of atomic clocks, the definition of the second was an astronomical 

matter, for the second was defined on the basis of the motion of the earth with respect 

to other astronomical bodies. This provided a good definition of the second and had 

complete continuity. The earth was a good clock but its use was cumbersome for detennining time interval. Thus, in those days the function of the Bureau was primarily 

as custodian of the national standard of frequency with the assurance that this standard 

was in accord with the astronomical definition of the second. 

195 Gordon, Zeiger, and Townes, "The Maser," 1264-1274. 

1% The word epoch is used rather than the word time, because time in its common usage can refer either to a 

time/date point along some timekeeping continuum or to a time interval. Epoch can only be interpreted as 

the time/date point (the reading and logging of the day, date, hour, and minute), and is difficult to confuse 

with time interval. (Donald B. Sullivan, private communication) 

372 
Before 1956 the second was defined as 1/86400 of a mean solar day. This definition 

was not adequate since its basis, the mean solar day, was subject to temporal 

variations in the rotation of the earth. Nevertheless, it was the basis for various time 

scales which denoted Universal Time, or UT. In an attempt to remedy the non-constant 

nature of the second as thus defined, a new definition based on the more constant 

yearly revolution of the earth, was adopted in 1956. 197 Called the ephemeris second, 

this new unit was based on an invariant occurance, but this did not make its realization 

any easier. Even as the new unit was adopted, it was clear that its realization was not 

as accurate as the second generated by atomic-frequency devices, although by its definition it was a constant unit of time. 

In a three-year cooperation between the National Physical Laboratory and the U.S. 

Naval Observatory, the frequency of a cesium frequency generator was determined in 

terms of the ephemeris second with the finding that the cesium frequency was 

9 192 631 770 ± 20 Hz, with most of the uncertainty coming from the astronomical 

observations. 198 By 1964, national laboratories were achieving relative uncertainties of 

about 1 part in 10·· with their cesium-beam devices, and the Twelfth General Conference for Weights and Measures authorized the CIPM to designate an atomic or molecular frequency to be used temporarily for the physical measurement of time. The 

International Committee declared the cesium-133 frequency to be 9 192 631 770 Hz. 

The Bureau had adopted this frequency on January 1, 1960}99 The final step in the 

shift from an astronomical to an atomic definition of the second was taken in 1967 

when the 13th CGPM adopted the unit of time as the second, defined as the duration 

of 9 192 631 770 periods of a well-defined resonance in the cesium-l 33 atom. 200 All 

previous definitions were abrogated. 

The various national laboratories did not wait for this formal action to construct 

atomic clocks and time scales. Even before the adoption of the value of the cesium 

frequency by the CIPM, it was clear what the choice would be, and various time scales 

were developed. 201 All that was necessary was a starting point to define the epoch and 

an arrangement to ensure that the system operated continuously. The most direct way 

to make a clock to generate a time scale would be to divide down the frequency of the 

quartz oscillator that is locked to the cesium frequency standard, and drive a mechanical or electronic clock directly. But that would require that the cesium standard work 

continuously, and this is unrealistic. In fact, in the Bureau system during the period, a 

free-running quartz oscillator drove the clock. Every day the frequency of the oscillator 

was calibrated in terms of the National Frequency Standard and, assuming that any 

observed difference was caused by a linear drift, corrections were made to the time as 

191 Onzieme Conference General des Poids et Mesures (Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1960): 15-16. 

198 W. Markowitz, R. G. Hall, L. Essen, and J. V. L. Parry, "Frequency of Cesium in Terms of Ephemeris 

Time," Physical Review Letters I (\ 958): \05- \07. 

199 Annual Report, 1960: 38. 

200 The official, more-precise definition of the second is given in Barry N. Taylor, The International System 

of Units, Nat\. lnst. Stand. Techno\. (U.S.) Special Publication 330; August 1991: 29. 

201 R. E. Beehler, R. C. Mockler, and J. M. Richardson, "Cesium Beam Atomic Time and Frequency 

Standards," Metrologia I (1965): 127-128. 

373 
kept by the quartz clock. This provided a time scale called NBS-A. Its epoch was set 

to be "approximately equal to that of UT2 at OhOmOs on 1 January, 1958." Other time 

scales based on the cesium standard were also developed, differing mainly in epoch 

and calibration scheme. The Naval Observatory developed a similar scale, called A" 

based on the weighted average of nine laboratory and commercial cesium standards 

throughout the world. The Swiss TAl scale, also set to coincide with Ephemeris Time 

at OhOmOs on January 1, 1958, was based on the cesium standard at the Laboratoire 

Suisse de Recherches Horologeres (LSRH). 

Astronomical time was, however, important for navigation and astronomical purposes, so it was important to reconcile any differences that might arise between time 

kept by the various atomic time scales and that kept by the earth, with its relatively 

erratic motion. As a result various corrections were made periodically to the atomic 

scales to keep them consistent with the "earth clock." Adjustments were made either in 

the broadcast frequency or in the phase of time signals. A typical adjustment of the 

latter kind reads, 202 

An adjustment in the transmission of time signals has been announced 

jointly by the U.S. Naval Observatory and the National Bureau of Standards .... The transmitting clocks at the radio stations were retarded 100 

milliseconds I November 1963 at zero hours Universal Time (7 p.m. EST of 

31 October). 

The adjustment becomes necessary because of changes in speed of rotation 

of the earth, as determined by astronomical observation. Such adjustments are 

made by international agreement, according to a plan whereby the times of 

emission of time signals are synchronized to about I millisecond. The last 

previous adjustment in phase of time signal pulses was made I August 1961. 

The countries participating in the coordination of time signal transmissions 

are Argentina, Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, South Africa, Switzerland, the 

United Kingdom, and the United States. 

In later years "leap seconds" would be either inserted or removed from the time scale 

to maintain consistency. 

Frequency and Time Dissemination 

The Bureau began its radio dissemination of standard frequencies in 1923 with 

broadcasts from its Van Ness site via radio station WWV, which it operated for this 

purpose. 2

0

3 Throughout its history, improvements were continually made to this 

service: in the accuracy of the signals, in the number of frequencies broadcast, by the 

broadcast of I second time pulses, by the broadcast of time in cooperation with the 

Naval Observatory, and by the broadcast of 1000 Hz and 440 Hz (musical A) signals. 

202 "Adjustment in Phase of Time Signals," Technical News Bulletin 47 (1963): 2 19. 

~OJ Snyder and Bragaw, Achievement in Radio: 260-288, give a complete and detailed chronology of the Bureau's 

time and frequency dissemination activities via radio transmission. 

374 
In 1931, the transmitter was moved to College Park, Maryland, for a brief one year 

stay, and then to the Agricultural Research Station of the USDA in Beltsville, Maryland. The location name of WWV was changed to Greenbelt, Maryland, in 1961. The 

frequencies were always controlled by the national standard of frequency (later called 

the USFS). In 1948 another station, WWVH, was established on the island of Maui in 

Hawaii, to better serve the Pacific Ocean area. In 1957 WWV broadcast at 2.5 MHz, 

5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz, 20 MHz and 25 MHz, and WWVH at 5 MHz, 10 MHz, and 

15 Mhz. The broadcasts covered the United States and the Pacific Ocean, and were 

widely received throughout the world. 

While the frequency of the carrier wave as broadcast--controlled as it was by the 

national standard of frequency-was as accurate as possible, the frequency of the 

received signal was far different. Studies carried out in Boulder in the early fifties 

showed that the frequency of the received signal was subject to change, leading at 

times to a relative uncertainty as great as ±3 parts in 107

, while the relative uncertainty of the transmitted signal was approximately 1 part in 109

• It happens that the 

relatively high frequency waves broadcast-so called "sky waves"-are propagated by 

reflection from the ionosphere, which is a variable, movable mirror subject to solar and 

other disturbances. This causes Doppler shifts and other interferences which degrade 

the signal and reduce its accuracy. Comparisons of a given frequency with this varying 

signal can be made more accurate by time averaging over one to ten days, but this was 

too long for many calibration and research purposes. 

It was thought that the best way to solve this problem was to broadcast via a ground 

wave which would travel within the duct formed by the ionosphere and the earth's 

surface, rather than relying on reflection from the ionosphere for propagation. Such a 

signal would not be subject to error-producing reflections. It was well known that such 

propagation occurred at low transmission frequencies. Indeed it had been shown by 

John A. Pierce of Harvard that, for frequencies below 100 kHz and for distances up 

to 5000 km, it took only about ten minutes to compare local frequencies with the 

broadcast standard to 1 part in 109

• As a result, William D. George, acting chief of the 

Radio Standards Laboratory, began experimental low-power broadcasts from Boulder 

at 60 kHz, using the call letters KK2XEI (later WWVB). By June 1956, with the help 

of Pierce, the Bureau broadcasts were compared with British low frequency transmission at 60 kHz and 16 kHz to better than 1 part in 109

, a lower uncertainty than 

could be obtained by comparison with the high-frequency broadcasts with ten-day 

averaging. 204 

The 60 kHz broadcasts were designed to cover the forty-eight contiguous states. To 

serve a greater area, and possibly the whole world, required even lower frequencies, 

and in 1958 experiments were begun on broadcasts at 20 kHz. To provide such broadcasts required international cooperation, for radio waves do not respect national boundaries. In April 1959, acting on a Bureau recommendation, the U.S. group of the International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR) adopted 20 kHz as the most efficient 

frequency for the transmission of standard frequency on a global scale. In December 

1959, this frequency was also adopted by the International Radio Conference. Finally, 

204 "Experimental Standard Frequency Broadcast on 60 Kilocycles," Technical News Bulletin 41 (1957): 99-100. 

375 
in January 1960, the U.S. Government's Interdepartmental Radio Advisory Committee 

(IRAC) approved a Bureau application to operate a 20 kHz standard frequency broadcast. By international agreement on such requests, the Bureau had ninety days to get 

on the air. 205 

The price of transmitting low frequencies is antennas. At 20 kHz the wavelength is 

15 km, and antennas have to be immense if they are to efficiently broadcast this 

frequency. Fortunately, in Four-Mile Canyon near Sunset, Colorado, the Bureau had an 

existing antenna, previously used for low-frequency ionospheric research and other 

purposes. This was modified for the 20 kHz broadcasts. It was an impressive array. A 

copper-coated steel cable stretched 3400 feet between two peaks 900 feet above the 

canyon floor. A feed line from its center dropped down to the 20 kW transmitter; the 

call letters were WWVL. Transmission began in the spring of 1960, and it was gratifying that the signal was received at least as far away as New Zealand. 

It had always been planned that neither the WWVB site in Boulder nor the WWVL 

site near Sunset would be permanent; they were for experimental purposes. The permanent site would be on a carefully chosen 380 acre tract near Fort CoJIins, Colorado, 

Facilities near Fort Collins, Colorado, for stations WWVL and WWVB. The antenna for each station consisted of four steel towers arranged in a diamond 1900 feet long and 750 feet wide. 

205 "New Standard Frequency Broadcasts," Technical News Bulletin 44 (1960): 120-122. 

376 
some fifty miles north of Boulder. The primary assets of the new site were high soil 

conductivity, the availability of electric power, relative freedom from both weather 

extremes and man-made noise, and ease of access. Here 50 kW transmitters and more 

efficient antennas would greatly increase the radiated power, which for WWVL would 

jump from 15W to 1 kW, and for WWVB from 1 kW to 5 kW. A fifty mile cable 

would provide a direct connection, hence frequency control of the transmitters with 

the national standard of frequency at Boulder. When WWVB began broadcasting on 

July 5, 1963, and WWVL in August of the same year, the relocation of the Bureau's 

low-frequency transmitters was complete. The Bureau had a new facility for expanding 

a service it had historically provided. 206 

Calibrations 

The late fifties were a time of ever-increasing demand for calibration services. 

Spurred by the needs of the electrical industry and the military services, the demands 

did not lessen with the tum of the decade. In 1960 the Annual Report states: "The 

demand for improved calibration services based on new or more accurate measurement 

standards continued to grow during the year. Calibration needs were most evident in 

electronics, but requests for greater accuracy and wider range of measurement were 

received in virtually all fields of measurement.,,207 By that time the Bureau was limiting itself insofar as possible to the calibration of reference standards for other standards laboratories, which then calibrated working standards and, finally, the instruments of industry, science, and the military. "To an increasing extent, the Bureau was 

called upon for assistance to the other standards laboratories that have been set up," 

states the Annual Report for 1959. 208 

The need for a wider range of calibration services was well documented. In 1959 the 

Aerospace Industries Association queried seventy member companies in its field and 

found increased needs in microwave, temperature, vibration, and shock measurements. 

More than one hundred of the needs were for services not already provided by the 

Bureau. "Either the Bureau did not provide any service for the particular physical 

quantity involved, or the range of measurement or accuracy required was not available." More basic research was needed. 209 

In no field were these demands for services stronger than in radio standards. In response to this need, the Bureau began the construction of an Electronic Calibration 

Center on the Boulder site in 1956 with support from the military services. Built particularly to provide services to the military standards laboratories, it began operation in 

1958, and FY 1959 was its first full year of operation. This new facility pennitted an 

explosion in the number of calibrations of radio-related equipment. Thus, 508 items of 

radio equipment were calibrated in 1958. The number jumped dramatically in 1959 to 

206 "Frequency and Time Transmission: New LF and VLF Antennas and Transmitters Under Construction," 

Technical News Bulletin 46 (1962): 185-186. 

207 Annual Report, 1960: 15. 

20R Annual Report, 1959: 7. 

209 Annual Report, 1961: 9. 

377 
The Electronic Calibration Center, a new wing of the NBS Boulder Laboratories, was completed in 1958. Its 

27000 square feet of floor space accommodated $2 million worth of equipment for calibration service to the 

electronics industry and the military. 

8594. Through 1964 calibrations averaged 3600 radio instruments per year. In the other 

divisions demand held steady, totaJIing about 75000 calibrations yearly. Yet despite 

this disparity in the number of items, the total fee value of the two groups of items 

was about the same, averaging $969 000 for radio standards and $1.05 million for all 

other types. Clearly, the value per item was much higher for the complex radio equipment, being of the order of $275 per item as contrasted with about $15 per item in 

other ca1ibrations. And business boomed, increasing from a total of $1.58 million in 

1960 to $2.36 million in 1964, an increase that was more than twice the rate of inflation. 210 

The Bureau took several actions to improve the Nation's calibration system. In 1960 

two new advisory committees were fonned, one on Engineering and Related Standards, 

and the other on Calibration and Measurement Services. Unlike the other advisory 

committees, which served individual organizational units, these were concerned with 

the Bureau's entire operation in their assigned fields. Then, as part of its effort to 

divest itself of routine calibrations and limit itself to the calibration of reference 

standards for commercial, private, and military standards laboratories, NBS fonned 

and sponsored the National Conference of Standards Laboratories. The brainchild of 

Harvey W. Lance, head of the Electronic Calibration Center, this organization provided 

2[0 Annual Reports: 1958: 100; 1959: 9; 1960: 16; 1961: II; 1962: 14; 1963: 3; 1964:6. 

378 
a means by which standards laboratories could cooperate and share' infonnation on 

calibration techniques and the operation of standards laboratories. The first meeting of 

this new institution was held at the Boulder site in 1962. For three days, 600 persons 

discussed technical and administrative matters of importance to standards laboratories. 

A record of the proceedings was published. 211 Yearly conferences became the norm. 212 

Other, more specialized conferences were held, particularly in the radio field, and 

new specialized publications were issued, culminating in 1962 in the massive threevolume Handbook 77, Precision Measurement and Calibration. 213 A special column in 

the monthly Technical News Bulletin was initiated in the same year. In 1963 the Bureau also began publishing the schedule of services and fees for calibrations that had 

been published for many years in the Federal Register. 214 The catalog was initially 

issued in sections prepared by the various NIST calibration services, but is now a single volume and has replaced the notices in the Federal Register. 

Standard Samples Become Standard Reference Materials 

The history of standard samples during the period generally mirrored that of calibration services. Starting with a large jump in sales of items from 38 800 in 1957 to 

70500 in 1959, sales leveled off between 66000 and 81 000 items annually. But, as 

with calibrations, the value of sales increased, rising from $188 200 in 1957 to 

$573 600 in 1964---a factor of three, and far greater than the rate of inflationattesting to the increasing sophistication of the items. 215 New samples were added 

periodically and old ones retired as their utility and need decreased. Thus, in 1957 

580 samples were for sale, while in 1964 more than 600 were available. But more 

illustrative is the change in kinds of available samples. In 1957 a wide range of pure 

hydrocarbons and organic sulfur compounds of interest in automotive fuels research 

were available. All had been discontinued by 1964 following the demise of the 

Bureau's automotive research program. To the venerable steel-composition standards, 

which had been the first of the Bureau's standard samples, dating back to 1905, 

zirconium-based alloys had been added because of their utility in nuclear power 

development, and titanium alloys had been added due to aerospace concerns. In 

211 Proceedings of the 1962 Standards Laboratory Conference. Natl. Bur. Stand (U.S.) Miscellaneous Publication 248; August 1963. 

212 In 1985. this eminently successful organization became independent. operating without Bureau sponsorship but maintaining close liaison with it. By that time it had expanded to include foreign members. and over 

900 organizations belonged. Its scope had grown to include all areas of measurement. 

m Precision Measurement and Calibration. Volumes I-III. Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Handbook 77; February 

1961. This handbook was expanded in the late 1960s and early 1970s to a IO volume set. Special Publication 300. of the same name. 

214 Calibration and Test Services of the National Bureau of Standards. Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Miscellaneous Publication 250; December 1970. 

215 The cost of the background research on which standard samples were based could not be charged to the 

customer. Only the costs of preparation and handling were pennitted. 

379 
radioactivity standards, new nuclides were offered, among them americium-241, 

promethium-l 47, cobalt-60, a series of point source gamma ray standards, and, of 

course, maintaining carbon-14 samples for standardization of radio carbon dating. All 

but three of twelve rock samples certified for radium content were removed. The 

changes reflected a moving snapshot of the development of nuclear technology. 

In symmetry with the National Standard Reference Data System, standard samples, 

which had been variously labeled as standard samples, standard materials, and reference materials, were finally labeled Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) in 1963. At 

the same time, an Office of Standard Reference Materials was fonned under Wayne 

Meinke, new chief of the Chemistry Division. This office had the responsibility of 

administering the production and sale of SRMs along with the function of working 

with the outside scientific and industrial community to plan the future directions of the 

activity and the development of new SRMs. With this move the Bureau's SRM 

program was organized and stabilized. 

The End of Product Testing 

In an agreement with the General Services Administration (GSA), the Bureau, 

as a result of the AD-X2 affair and the resulting report of the first Kelly Committee, 

clarified its position with respect to routine testing of Government purchases. Under 

that agreement, it limited itself to the preparation of general test methods and specifications for products where it had specific knowledge and interest, to areas where it 

had unique capabilities, and routine testing in areas where it had developed specifications. Even with these qualifications, while showing a decrease during the period, 

testing remained a significant activity, averaging 54400 samples tested per year at an 

average total fee value of $1.2 million. As was historically the case, cement testing 

accounted for approximately 70 percent of this activity. In addition, a few new specifications were prepared annually, giving the Bureau custody of approximately 200 such 

standards, and for other agencies it reviewed on the order of several hundred specifications per year to detennine their suitability as Government standards. There was even 

an administrative change. Cement testing, historically in the Mineral Products Division, 

was taken over by the Building Technology Division in 1960. 

With the move to Gaithersburg coming ever closer, a more pennanent resolution of 

the Bureau's position in acceptance testing had to be achieved. In 1965, Astin wrote to 

J. Herbert Hollomon: 

The ... Bureau ... expects to maintain a facility for the actual testing of items 

purchased by the General Services Administration and other agencies of the 

Federal Government. This will be operated by the Bureau with the understanding that the GSA, which will pay for the facility, will take over its operation by 

the end of 1969. 216 

216 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to J. H. Hollomon, "Engineering and Commodity Standards Activities," May 

3, 1965. (OOC; Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology; Accession 4O-70A-6988; Box 27; Folder 

NBS-Commodity Standards) 

380 
Thus, in 1966, an organizational unit first called the NBS-GSA Laboratory and later 

the NBS/GSA Test Development Division was formed and headed by Philip J. 

Franklin. As promised, the unit was transferred to the GSA in 1969. "The transfer of 

the laboratory is appropriate," read the Annual Report, "since GSA has responsibility 

for qualified product lists and has the legislative authority to run a laboratory for 

testing products against standards.,,217 Started in 1903 with the testing of light bulbs, 

this program, which had indirectly caused the major furor of the AD-X2 affair, quietly 

left the Bureau in 1969 with only a few members of the staff aware of its demise. Its 

departure was a testament to the changing nature of the Bureau. 

Commodity Standards and a Reversal of Position 

On December 17, 1962, Allen Astin, responding to a request from Assistant Secretary Hollomon, gave his views on the Bureau's role in engineering and commodity 

standards. 218 By "engineering standards" Astin meant "codes, specifications, and 

standards of quality or performance pertaining to technological materials or devices. 

A brief background review is desirable since my recommendations involve a reversal 

of recent trends." Astin pointed out that, spurred by then-Secretary of Commerce 

Herbert Hoover, the Bureau's involvement in such standards reached a peak in the 

mid-twenties. However, with the emergence of the American Standards Association 

(now the American National Standards Institute (ANSI» in 1928, and a "firming-up of 

the concept that the development of engineering standards should be left primarily to 

private initiative," the Bureau's activities began to decline. 219 In the postwar period, a 

report by a committee headed by Charles E. Wilson, president of General Electric, 

recommended that the Government look to the private sector for engineering and commodity standards, and that the Bureau devote itself to data taking and test method 

development. In 1949, the GSA was created and given statutory responsibility for 

specifications and product evaluation for Federal purchases. The Bureau was put into a 

position of providing cooperation, not leadership. Its non-technical work, which was 

principally in providing procedures and a secretariat within which industry could 

develop standards (the same type of services provided by ASA and ASTM), was transferred to the DOC's Office of Science and Technology in 1950. The Bureau was no 

longer in charge of developing commodity standards. 

But things did not work out well in this new arrangement. Many desirable standards 

had not been developed; ASA had trouble getting support from its member institutions; 

and U.S. participation in international standards activities was weak. The commodity 

standards work of the DOC declined in both quality and quantity. 

217 Annual Report, 1969: 3-4. 

218 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to J. H. Hollomon, "Engineering Standards," December 6, 1962. (NIST RHA; 

Director's Office file; Box 381; Folder Chrono 1962); Memorandum, J. H. Hollomon to A. V. Astin, 

"National Bureau of Standards and Commercial Standards," October 17, 1962. (DOC; Assistant Secretary for 

Science and Technology; Accession 4O-70A-6988; Box II; Folder October 1962) 

219 See MFP, 258, 2600, 370, 450 for a good history of these developments. An excellent account of the 

history of commodity standards extending to 1972 is in an unpublished report, "Voluntary Industry 

Standards," by Joan Koenig. (History Project File; Chapter 4; Folder Commodity Standards) 

381 
After giving this history, Astin noted that engineering standards needed to be developed in a technical environment, and because of their importance to the Nation, he 

recommended that the commodity standards program be transferred back to the 

Bureau, and that a competent man be found to operate it. 

This decision to use scarce resources to get more involved in this highly applied 

activity was, in at least a small way, a reversal of the Bureau's postwar emphasis on 

basic science. As stated by William A. Wildhack, associate director for engineering, 

"The center of gravity for NBS must be closer to the forefront of science-to help 

extend the limits of knowledge and the competence of other laboratories by extending 

the precision of measurement and providing improved measurement techniques.,,22o 

But Astin clearly saw a national need that was not being met. In July 1963, the 

commodity standards activity, with its pead Alfred S. Best, was moved from the DOC 

back to the Bureau. First placed in the Polymers Division, upon the reorganization of 

the Bureau in 1964 it became the Office of Engineering Standards in the Institute for 

Applied Technology. 

Weights and Measures 

In the United States, the fixing of standards of weights and measures is a Constitutional responsibility of the Congress, which legislatively delegated it to the secretary of 

commerce and thence to the National Bureau of Standards. The actual control over 

weighing and measuring in the buying and selling of goods and services is, however, 

left to the states, which have the legal responsibility for enforcing those standards. 

From its earliest days, the Bureau has maintained an organizational unit to assist the 

states in carrying out this function and to provide for uniformity in weights and 

measures activities and laws among the states. 

From 1958 to 1964, that unit was the Office of Weights and Measures (OWM). It 

operated a seven-part program to carry out its functions. It provided technical assistance to the states, business, and industry in the technical aspects of weights and 

measures; information on the design, construction and use of standards and associated 

measuring instruments; training of standards officials on technical matters; technical 

assistance with special measurement problems; help in developing laws and regulations; assistance with conference organization; and information dissemination on 

measurement units and systems. 

Perhaps the best known of these activities was the provision of standards for mass, 

length, and volume to the states, along with instruction in their use. During the period, 

two new states joined the union, Alaska and Hawaii, both admitted in 1959. With 

suitable ceremony, sets of standards were provided for the new states. Research in this 

220 "Minutes of Meeting of NBS Advisory Committee on Engineering and Related Standards, May 18, 1962." 

(DOC; Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology; Accession 4O-68B-6087; Box 28; Folder National 

Bureau of Standards) 

382 
Senator Edward L. Bartlett, Secretary of Commerce Lewis L. Strauss, Representative Ralph J. Rivers, and 

Senator Ernest Gruening inspect the measurement standards presented to Alaska at the National Bureau of 

Standards on March 3, 1959. The banner in the background commemorates National Weights and Measures 

Week. 

area was directed at developing a new stainless-steel a110y suitable for the construction 

of new sets of standards for all the states. It was used for standard weights for Latin 

American countries under a program to provide those countries with sets of standards. 

Another advance in this area of physical standards was the design and construction of 

a new length-bench, along with yard and meter end standards, and appropriate stainless 

steel tapes. This new set would make available to the state laboratories for the first 

time sets of various precise-length measuring instruments. A continuing problem was 

the handling of pre-packaged goods, particularly aerosol containers. These required a 

great deal of instruction by the Bureau on how to determine the contents of such 

containers. 

3.83 
NBS designed and established a metrology training center for Latin American countries as part of the U.S. 

State Department's Agency for International Development program. Located at the National University, 

Bogota, Columbia, the laboratory was equipped with length, mass, and volume standards calibrated at NBS. 

At left, mass standards ranging from I mg to 30 kg; on the right, a 30 kg precision one-ann balance, developed for the laboratory. 

In the provision of model legislation, completely new laws based on the model were 

enacted in Washington, New Mexico, and Missouri. For Mississippi, which in 1963 

had no comprehensive weights and measures law, the Bureau carried out an intensive 

survey of the weights and measures activity in the state, and in March 1964, the state 

legislature enacted the model legislation. The model had, in fact, been developed by 

the National Conference on Weights and Measures, a yearly conference arranged by 

the Bureau and attended by most of the states, the District of Columbia, the territories, 

various foreign countries, equipment manufacturers and other interested parties. 

However, only state and local weights and measures officials are permitted to yote on 

issues at the conference. Others present are afforded a good way to communicate with 

the whole weights and measures community. 

Training was another continuing function. Indeed, a laboratory for this purpose was 

constructed, and beginning in 1961 formal courses were given periodically. Other training occurred at the state institutions, and requests for training taxed the facilities and 

personnel available. The office was only a small part of the Bureau's activities but an 

important one in providing for uniformity in the Nation IS measurement system. 

384 
In 1964. Governor Paul B. Johnson of Mississippi signed the state's first weights and measures law. The law 

was based on model legislation that had been provided to the state by NBS. The year before. the Bureau 

carried out an intensive survey of weights and measures conditions in Mississippi. (Courtesy of Mississippi 

Department of Agriculture and Commerce, Weights and Measures Division) 

The International Yard and Pound; SI 

Since it was established in 1901, the Bureau, following the action set in 1893 by 

its predecessor the Office of Weights and Measures of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, 

defined the yard and the pound from the meter and kilogram international standards 

respectively.221 The values adopted by the Bureau's predecessor and thence by the 

Bureau were 3600/3937 meters for the yard, and 0.453 592 4277 kilograms for the 

pound. The fonner fraction is approximately 0.914401 83. These values were consistently adopted by the nations using the English foot-pound system. In the intervening 

years, however, the various users had drifted apart, particularly in the later years, and 

some significant discrepancies appeared. After "study and negotiation, it has developed 

221 National Bureau of Standards. Notice. "Refinement of Values for the Yard and the Pound," Federal 

Register 24, no. 128 (I July 1959): 5348, microfilm. The notice is signed by A. V. Astin, Director, Nationai 

Bureau of Standards, H. Arnold Karo, Director, Coast and Geodetic Survey, and F. H. Mueller, Under 

Secretary of Commerce. 

385 
that most of the discrepancies can be resolved ... " by only slight changes in the definitions. As a result, on July 1, 1959, the Bureau announced that the exact definitions 

1 yard = 0.914 4 meter 

and 

1 pound = 0.45359237 kilogram 

would be adopted. These units would be called the International Yard and the International Pound, and would be used by Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, 

and the United Kingdom. The new yard made the inch exactly 25.4 mm. 

The new units caused only minor changes, for the new yard was smaller by 2 parts 

per million, and the new pound smaller by about 1 part in 10 million. Such changes 

were insignificant except for very precise determinations in the machine tool and 

instrument industries, in some scientific activities, and in surveying. As a result of the 

last fact, the old definition for the survey measure would continue to be used by the 

U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey "until such a time as it becomes desirable and 

expedient to readjust the basic geodetic survey networks in the United States .... " By 

1997 this had still not been done. 222 

*** 

The metric system is the basis for the international system of units. This system is 

not static, but evolves as science and technology progress. Thus, the International 

Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) was instructed by the 9th General Conference for Weights and Measures (CGPM) in 1948 "to study the establishment of a 

complete set of rules for units of measurement ... and to make recommendations on 

the establishment of a practical system of units of measurement . ... ,,223 In 1954 the 

10th CGPM adopted the units of mass, length, time, electric current, thermodynamic 

temperature, and luminous intensity as the six base units for the "practical system." 

Then, in 1960, the 11 th CGPM adopted the whole practical system and the name 

"International System of Units," with the abbreviation SI (from the French Systeme 

International d'Unites), and thus was the SI system born. 224 

The system contains base units, supplementary units and derived units, with stipulation of names and abbreviations. The units of the six base quantities were well 

known: kilogram (kg), meter (m), second (s), ampere (A), kelvin (K), and candela 

(cd). Later, the unit for the amount of substance-the mole (mol)-was added, making 

seven base quantities. Added to these were two supplementary units: plane angle 

(radian; rad) and solid angle (steradian; sr). A third set was comprised of twenty-seven 

222 Barry N. Taylor, Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI), Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol. 

(U.S.) Special Publication 811; April 1995; 2d printing January 1996: 43-44. 

m The International System of Units (SI) ed. Chester H. Page and Paul Vigoreux, Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) 

Special Publication 330; January 1971: I. This translation was approved by the International Bureau of 

Weights and Measures of its publication "Le Systeme International d'Unites." 

224 Comptes Rendus des Seances de la Onzieme Conference Generale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 14-20 

Octobre, 1960: 65-70. 

386 
derived units, many of which have special names and are fonned by combinations of 

the base units. Examples are area (m2), velocity (m/s), force (newton; N, kg . m . S-2), 

energy Uoule; l, N . m, m2 . kg . S-2), power (watt; W, lIs), and potential difference 

(volt, V, W/A). Also stipulated in the 1960 CGPM ruling were the names and abbreviations for powers of 10, ranging from pico (p) for 10-12 to tera (T) for 1012 • The conference also agreed upon rules and style conventions for printing that were designed to 

bring order to scientific notation. 

The number of base units has remained at seven but the number of derived units has 

grown. The 1995 edition of SP 330, the official U.S. document on the SI system, lists 

fifty-four derived units which fonn the "coherent system of SI units." Eleven derived 

units have no special names (e.g., current density, A/m2) and are expressed in tenns 

of the base units; twenty-one derived units have special names and symbols (e.g., 

frequency, hertz, Hz, S-I; pressure, pascal, Pa, N/m2); and twenty-two derived units are 

expressed by means of SI derived units with special names (e.g., surface tension, 

newton per meter, N/m, kg/s2). The two supplementary units, the plane angle (radian, 

rad, m . m-I = 1) and the solid angle (steradian, sr, m2 • m-2 = 1), were eliminated 

as a separate group and are now.included with the other derived units with special 

names and symbols. The powers of 10 were expanded to 10-24 (yocto, y) and 

1024 (yotta, y).225 

The seeming complexity of the SI system is in the details. In fact, it has brought 

considerable order to the expression of quantities in the physical sciences as well as 

engineering and chemistry. 

A TOUR OF THE DIVISIONS 

Optics and Metrology 

The big news in the work of this division was in basic and engineering length standards, as already detailed in the section on Standards Matters. But in a related activity 

in response to industry needs as expressed in a series of conferences held at the request 

of the Aerospace Industries Association, the Bureau established a Gear Metrology 

Laboratory in the Metrology Division in 1962. In work designed to standardize gear 

measurement, equipment was acquired for calibrating involute profile masters, concentricity, and spacing of gear teeth, much of it on loan from industry and interested 

Government agencies. It was believed to be the only laboratory of its kind in the 

world. 

The division also had responsibility for photometric standards, and in 1958 entered 

into a program proposed by the BIPM for international adoption of uniform units of 

luminous intensity and luminous flux for the carbon-filament lamp, the vacuumtungsten lamp, and the gasfilled-tungsten lamp. The units would be based on their 

average magnitudes found by applying the Bureau-developed primary standard of a 

blackbody at the freezing point of platinum. Because of the difficulty of operating 

225 Taylor, Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (Sf): iv, 3-8. 

387 
A master index plate in position for calibration in the Gear Metrology Laboratory at 

NBS. This plate was used, in tum, to calibrate industrial instruments that checked gear 

indexing and deviation from concentricity. The two master gears in the foreground 

could also be calibrated with the equipment shown. 

a high-temperature blackbody standard and of assigning uncertainties to it, it was never 

used for calibrations at the Bureau or anywhere else. Nevertheless, it formed an important conceptual step in relating photometric units to the base units of the measurement 

system. 226 

Other activities carried out in the division included color measurement and standards, mass calibrations (transferred in 1960 from the Mechanics Division), various 

aspects of aircraft and landing field lighting (all on transferred funds), lens design, and 

research in various parts of the photographic process. 

226 Bruce W. Steiner, private communication. 

388 
Mechanics 

In 1908 Charles W. Waidner and 

George K. Burgess suggested the use 

of a blackbody (one which completely 

absorbs all radiation incident upon it), 

totally immersed in a bath of freezing 

platinum, as a primary standard of 

luminance. This was experimentally 

realized 20 years later using fused 

thoria placed at the bottom of a sight 

tube. Molten platinum was contained 

in a thoria crucible. By 1933 the 

International Committee of Weights 

and Measures had accepted both the 

blackbody concept and the freezing 

platinum reference. This model of the 

Waidner-Burgess standard of light 

shows in cross-section the thoria 

crucible, metal in the space occupied 

by the freezing platinum, and a thoria 

tube (the blackbody) in the center. 

Charged with the custody of the measurement standards for mechanical quantities, 

the work of the Mechanics Division needed to develop measurement techniques and 

standards for sound pressure and intensity, shock, vibration, force, strain, pressure~, 

volume, and rate of flow. It provided services for the calibration of measuring 

instruments for these quantities. 

The most notable accomplishments during the period were in pressure and force 

standards. Due to the urgency of calibrating large force-measuring devices essential 

for the Nation's space and military programs, it was the first division to move to the 

Gaithersburg site. In the main, the program for the present period was a continuation 

of work previously discussed. Here we give only a few noteworthy advances to give a 

flavor of the activities. 

With the Nation very much concerned with jet engines, it is not surprising that work 

continued in this area. One of the concerns was the measurement of temperature in the 

jet engine. Work throughout the period on thermocouples of various kinds led to the 

1964 publication of reference tables for several types (primarily 60 percent iridium 

versus 40 percent rhodium-iridium alloy of several compositions) that covered the 

temperature range from -100°C to 2150 °C. 227 

227 L. O. Olsen and P. D. Freeze, "Reference Tables for the Platinelll Thermocouple," Journal of Research 

of the National Bureau of Standards 68C (1964): 263-281; G. F. Blackburn and F. R. Caldwell, "Reference 

Tables for Thermocouples of Iridium-Rhodium Alloys Versus Iridium," Journal of Research of the National 

Bureau of Standards 68C (1964): 41-59. 

389 
In work more in keeping with its scientific disciplines, the division maintained reference flow-rate facilities for the calibration of devices that metered the flow of fuel to 

jet engines. Fuel metering must be very precise for optimum engine performance, and 

metering components require precise adjustment and test prior to installation. First 

operated under the sponsorship of the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, sponsorship of 

these facilities shifted to the Bureau of Naval Weapons in 1963. It was an arrangement 

similar to that of the military in the Electronic Calibration Center. 

A continuing area of study throughout the whole period was infrasonic waves in the 

atmosphere. Practically always present, these waves have periods ranging from one 

second to 30 seconds and are approximately the same intensity as speech, but of 

course, they cannot be heard. Some types were correlated with tornadoes more than 

1000 miles distant, with earthquakes, and with magnetic storms. 228 Others, with periods 

of about 6 seconds, arrived from the east and were thought to be caused by waves 

breaking on the Atlantic shore. The infrasonic waves were complementary to seismic 

waves discovered in the study of earthquakes. 

In the large reorganization of 1960, the Heat Division's Rheology Section was transferred to the Mechanics Division, where it found a more natural home. The section 

was concerned with the properties of viscoelastic substances-polymers are the 

prototypical materials-which it studied by both experimental and theoretical work. 

Concerned with the explanation of the results of stress-relaxation experiments at high 

extensions, three of the investigators formulated a nonlinear theory of viscoelastic 

substances which worked remarkably well. 229 It was a significant advance in a 

recondite area. 

The Electricity Division Stimulates Polymer Science 

One of the divisions most concerned with basic measurement standards and calibrations was the Electricity Division, which started the period as Electricity and Electronics, but reverted to Electricity upon transferring personnel to the Instrumentation 

Division. During the period it continued its work on basic measurement standards, 

notably undertaking another absolute determination of the ampere occasioned by the 

measurement of the gyromagnetic ratio of the proton. Equally notable was the determination by NBS of the unit of electrical resistance based on an approximately 1 picofarad capacitor invented by A. M. Thompson of the Australian National Measurement 

Laboratory. The capacitance of this unit could be calculated accurately simply from its 

dimensions. This capacitor was used to establish the value of a 0.01 microfarad capacitor which, when used with a frequency-dependent bridge, established the value of a 

10000 ohm resistor. When compared with the Bureau's prevailing 1 ohm standard 

resistors, the results showed that the standard resistors used to maintain the NBS unit 

of resistance did so with an estimated accuracy of 2 parts per million. Another effort 

22K "Unusual Recordings of Infrasonic Disturbances in the Atmosphere," Technical News Bulletin 44 (1960): 

206-208. 

22'.1 B. Bernstein, E. A. Kears!ey, and L. J. Zapas, "A Study of Stress Relaxation with Finite Strain," Transactions of the Society of Rheology 7 (1963): 391-410. 

390 
was the redetermination of the Faraday constant by the electrolytic dissolution of 

metallic silver. The new determination gave a value of 96516.5 ± 2.1 coulombs per 

gram-equivalent weight on the physical scale, better by 0.008 percent than the previous 

value. 

In a joint venture with the Atomic Physics Division, the measurement of another 

fundamental constant was carried out when Raymond L. Driscoll of Electricity and 

Peter L. Bender of Atomic Physics made an absolute determination of the gyromagnetic ratio of the proton. This quantity is important both for practical reasons and for 

basic nuclear physics. Since it is the constant of proportionality that connects the 

precession frequency of the proton to the value of the magnetic field in which it is 

placed, its knowledge reduces the determination of magnetic field strength to the 

measurement of a frequency, and since protons are readily available in water, the 

experimental material is always at hand. On a basic-science level, theory gives the 

quantity as the ratio of the magnetic moment of the nucleus to its angular momentum. 

Raymond L. Driscoll with the apparatus he and Peter L. Bender used to redetermine the gyromagnetic ratio 

of the proton in 1958. The solenoid (center) whose magnetic field could be precisely calculated from its 

known dimensions, caused the protons in a water sample to precess with an accurately measurable 

frequency. The proton gyromagnetic ratio was then calculated from the precession frequency and the 

precisely known field strength. The large coils which surrounded the apparatus counterbalanced the earth's 

magnetic field. 

391 
Thus the knowledge of the gyromagnetic ratio in absolute units for the simplest 

nucleus, the proton, penn its the detennination of the magnetic moment of any other 

nucleus, provided only that its spin is known. Moreover, the gyromagnetic ratio is 

given by an expression containing only fundamental constants, so its knowledge and 

accurate measure is a check on their values. 

While the Bureau was not the first to measure the gyromagnetic ratio of the proton, 

it did carry out a detennination in 1950,230 but an iron-core magnet had to be used 

because measurements could not, at that time, be made at low field strengths. As a 

result the uncertain measurement of the magnetic field of the magnet somewhat 

degraded the accuracy. In the intervening years, however, science had progressed to 

the point where measurements at low fields could be made. Hence Driscoll and 

Bender joined forces to make another absolute measurement, this time using as a 

source of magnetic field the same solenoid that had been used by Driscoll for the 

realization of the absolute ampere; it provided the most accurate and best-known field 

available. The value obtained was only slightly smaller than the previous measurement, 

(2.67513 ± 0.00002) X 104 gauss-I sec-I as compared to (2.67523 ± 0.00006) X 104 

gauss-I sec-I

•

231 With the value related directly to the fundamental unit of current, it 

was an experiment that only the Bureau could carry out. Basic science had a new, 

more accurate fundamental quantity whose value, interacting with other fundamental 

quantities would improve all of them. Driscoll and Bender received the first Stratton 

A ward for their work. 

But perhaps more than any other, the division's activities in the study of magnetic 

and dielectric properties of matter led to new directions for the division and the 

Bureau. The fonner study developed almost into atomic physics when investigations 

were begun on the nuclear magnetic resonance of various ferromagnetic alloys. The 

latter study, however, was to have an enonnous effect on materials science both at the 

Bureau and in the scientific community at large. 

It began with the hiring of John D. Hoffman, whose father, James I. Hoffman, a 

renowned analytical chemist, had been a senior scientist in the Bureau's Chemistry 

Division for many years. An expert in the dielectric properties of the nonnal paraffins, 

the younger Hoffman was hired in 1954 to begin a study of dielectric materials in 

the Polymer Structure Section of the Organic and Fibrous Materials Division. He 

assembled a group in the Polymer Structure Section and began an intensive investigation of polymers as prototype dielectric materials. In 1956, in order to consolidate in a 

single group much of the research on dielectric materials and associated standardization 

work at frequencies below 30 kHz, Hoffman's group was moved to the Electricity 

Division as the Dielectric Section. The first polymer chosen for study was polychlorotrifluoroethylene (PCTFE) because it had a dipole moment at right angles to the 

polymer chain, but no side groups capable of reorientation independent of the backbone polymer chain. Thus, any observed relaxation processes could be unambiguously 

230 H. A. Thomas, R. L. Driscoll and J. A. Hipple, "Measurement of the Proton Moment in Absolute Units," 

Physical Review 78 (1950): 787-790. 

231 R. L. Driscoll and P. L. Bender, "Proton Gyromagnetic Ratio," Physical Review Letters I (1958): 413-

414. 

392 
attributed to motions of the polymer chain itself. These ideas led to a thorough study 

of this polymer, for which data over the temperature range from -50°C to +250°C and 

the frequency range from 0.1 Hz to 8.6 GHz were obtained. 232 

The most interesting aspect of the study-and the one that led to interest from a 

community far broader than that simply concerned with dielectrics-is the fact the 

PCTFE is a crystalline polymer and, like practically all such polymers, is a mixture of 

amorphous and crystalline regions, with the same chain generally existing in both 

phases. By applying appropriate quenching techniques during sample preparation, the 

degree of crystallinity could be varied from essentially pure amorphous to about 

80 percent crystalline. It was the attempt to relate the bulk properties of the polymer to 

this variable degree of crystallinity that led the study beyond purely dielectrics and into 

broader aspects of materials science. 

To understand how this came about, a few words have to be said about other events 

in polymer science at the time. In 1957, Andrew Keller at Bristol University discovered the then amazing fact that, in crystallization from dilute solution, single crystals of 

polymers could be formed. They were strange objects indeed: thin lamellae of the 

order of 10 nm in thickness, but with lateral dimensions of several micrometers. But 

most astounding was the fact that the chain axis appeared to be approximately normal 

to the surfaces of the lamellae, and since the polymer chains were several hundreds of 

nanometers long, this meant that the polymer chains folded back on themselves at 

the broad surfaces of the lamellae. A crucial result was the demonstration that the 

thickness of the lamellae depended on the crystallization temperature: the higher the 

temperature, the thicker the lamellae. 

An important problem Hoffman and his associate James J. Weeks addressed concerned the melting of the bulk polymer. It was known that the melting point as 

determined, for example, by volume change, increased as the rate of heating decreased, 

but no limit seemed to be approached. And, for polyethylene, the observed melting 

point was much lower than the melting point of the n-paraffins extrapolated to very 

long chain lengths. Hoffman and Weeks, adopting a model that the crystalline regions 

of the polymer in the solid state also consisted of lamellae, reasoned that such thin 

crystals would have a melting point that depended on their thickness, hence the 

crystallization temperature, and that this melting point would be much lower than that 

of a bulk crystal composed of fully extended polymers chains. Following this reasoning, they produced samples of polymers crystallized at different temperatures. 233 They 

determined the melting point of these samples under rapid heating since polymers 

require a substantial undercooling in order to crystallize (an easy task under the polarizing microscope since the polymer crystals are highly birefringent). This procedure 

232 A. H. Scott, D. J. Scheiber, A. J. Curtis, J. I. Lauritzen, Jr., and J. D. Hoffman, "Dielectric Properties of 

Semicrystalline Polychlorotrifluoroethylene," Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 66A 

(1962): 269-305. 

2JJ J. D. Hoffman and J. J. Weeks, "Melting Process and the Equilibrium Melting Temperature of Polychlorotrifluoroethylene," Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 66A (1962): 13-28. 

393 
precluded structural rearrangement as much as possible. They then plotted these 

observed melting points against the crystallization temperatures. This plot gave them a 

straight line with positive slope, which they extrapolated to the (unobservable) line for 

which the melting point and the crystallization temperature were equal. This gave them 

the equilibrium melting point: a value of 224°C, compared to 218.2 °C for the highest 

melting point obtained directly. This procedure was widely copied and is now the 

standard means for determining polymer melting points. 

Important as that development was, it was by no means the most important one for 

polymer science. In a purely theoretical study, Hoffman and John I. Lauritzen, Jr., his 

long-term associate, proposed a theory of polymer crystallization. 234 Far too complex to 

record in detail here, suffice it to say that it was a nucleation theory. In this model, the 

lamellae grow laterally by deposition along the lateral edges of the crystal. The nucleation barrier is the deposition of a straight segment of polymer chain (called a "stem" 

in the argot of the science) on the lateral edge of the crystal, followed by the subsequent folding of the chain at the surface of the lamella. These processes increase the 

free energy of the crystal and form a barrier to crystallization. More of the chain then 

deposits adjacent to the first-laid stem, folds at the other lamella surface, and 

continues the process. Each of these subsequent events lowers the free energy of the 

crystal, and the rate constant for each of these steps can be determined by standard 

kinetic theory. The full set of kinetic equations is easily written and, with somewhat 

more effort, solved. The rate of growth is obtained, with the lamella thickness as a 

parameter. An ensemble averaging of the growth process yields a value for the 

thickness, and this value can be interpreted as the optimum thickness for the most 

rapid growth. Both the growth rate and the thickness are given by the theory as 

functions of the undercooling: the growth rate as a negative exponential of the reciprocal of the undercooling, and the thickness as inversely dependent on it. This theory and 

its sqpsequent elaborations stimulated an immense amount of theoretical and experimental activity in the field of polymer science. Its predictions, with subsequent 

clarifications, proved largely correct. It has become one of the mainstays of polymer 

science, and its concepts are still the subjects of investigation. 

In June 1964, with the retirement of Gordon Kline, chief of the Polymers Division, 

Hoffman assumed that position. His dielectrics/polymer-science group also was moved 

to the Polymers Division. Thus, in carrying out research on its basic measurement 

mission, the Electricity Division stimulated the birth of a new branch of polymer 

science. 

234 J. I. Lauritzen, Jr., and J. D. Hoffman, "Theory of Formation of Polymer Crystals With Folded Chains in 

Dilute Solution," Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 64A (1960): 73-102. Two 

other theoretical treatments of this phenomenon followed the Lauritzen-Hoffman paper: F. P Price gave a 

quasi-equilibrium treatment in "Markoff Chain Model for Growth of Polymer Single Crystals," Journal 

of Chemical Physics 35 (1961): 1884-1892, and F. C. Frank and M. Tosi in "On the Theory of Polymer 

Crystallization," Proceedings of the Royal Society (London) A263 (1961): 323-339 presented a variation 

of the Lauritzen-Hoffman work. The latter paper gives an elegant solution of the kinetic equations and an 

important discussion of the rate constants. 

394 
Radio Standards 

The most far-reaching activity of the Radio Standards Division was the development 

of the atomic frequency standards discussed earlier in this chapter. But the division 

(later a Laboratory with two divisions) was concerned with a plethora of other standards as well. 235 There were standards, measurement methods, and calibrations for 

attenuation, impedance, power, voltage, current, noise, field strength, pulses, and phase 

shifts. The ever-expanding frequency range made certain that the division did not run 

out of urgent work. In addition, there was research on materials of importance to 

high-frequency radio up to millimeter waves at about 100 GHz. While still assiduously 

developing measurement methods and calibrations, the background work became ever 

more basic and fundamental. In 1962 the division was split into two: Radio Standards 

Physics, where most of the background research was carried out, and Radio Standards 

Engineering, where the standards and calibrations work was done. 

A Bureau scientist makes attenuator and linearity calibrations on a high-frequency 

field-strength meter. 

235 Snyder and Bragaw, Achievement in Radio: 360-402,619-622. 

395 
Much of the work was concerned with microwave frequencies and millimeter waves. 

The latter fonned a relatively unexplored region of the electromagnetic spectrum. With 

such short wavelengths, optical techniques were applicable, and both Michelson and 

Fabry-Perot interferometers were built for use in the millimeter-wave range. The latter 

instrument used ingenious reflecting plates made from highly polished metal or silvered glass flats with accurately spaced and dimensioned holes. In radio parlance, the 

reflecting plates, placed face-to-face as in a Fabry-Perot interferometer, fonned a resonant cavity which, for a given wavelength, could be brought into resonance when the 

spacing between the plates corresponded to an integral number of half wavelengths. At 

this point the output through the holes is a maximum. Thus the device could be used 

both as a source of millimeter waves and as a means of measuring their wavelength. In 

fact, this was done with a relative uncertainty of 0.04 percent. 

With a new means of measuring wavelength, and a world-leading capability in measuring frequency, it was only natural that a redetennination of two fundamental constants be made. The speed of electromagnetic radiation (the same as the speed of light) 

was detennined utilizing the Michelson, rather than the Fabry-Perot, interferometer. 

Using 6 mm waves and a klystron of very well-known frequency, the new detennination produced no surprises. Another measurement was made using gamma rays and the 

Mossbauer effect. And in a microwave study of the spectrum of singly ionized helium, 

the fine-structure constant was detennined. 

A Fabry-Perot interferometer, designed to operate at 3 mm to 4 mm, was used as the 

cavity resonator for a hydrogen cyanide gaseous maser. G. L. Strine was photographed 

in 1961 adjusting the parallelism of the perforated reflectors. 

396 
In an investigation that was not directed at a fundamental constant, but borrowed 

from spectroscopy, the Fabry-Perot millimeter wave interferometer was used to 

measure the Stark shift in a rotational transition in methyl cyanide at a frequency of 

37 GHz. This led to a method for the measurement of high voltages with a high 

precision of 1 part in 108

, albeit with a relative uncertainty of 1 part in 104• 

There were other areas of basic research. Plasmas and their interaction with radiation 

were studied as part of the Bureau's plasma program. Work in materials was 

"primarily directed toward advancing the present understanding of solid state phenomena as well as toward improving and developing standards and measuring techniques 

for detennining material properties."236 In 1963 work on magnetics was concerned with 

the change in elastic modulus of ferrites upon magnetization. Other efforts included 

time dependent magnetization effects; improvement in penneability measurement 

technologies; shape effects in the detennination of gyromagnetic ratios; studies of ferrimagnetic resonance and the losses due to spin waves; and the investigation of electron 

paramagnetic resonance in iron-doped synthetic quartz. 

In dielectrics, the work was more directly concerned with standards. An international 

comparison with Canada and England of the dielectric constant of fused silica, glass, 

and alumina showed close agreement for the real part, but a disagreement on the 

imaginary part, which is much more difficult to measure accurately. Nevertheless the 

results were used to improve knowledge of the dielectric constants of glass and silica, 

and standard samples were made available. 

Along with efforts in applied mathematics and numerical analysis, the division conducted research in mathematical physics-almost a small version of the applied mathematics division. The studies were viewed as end products in themselves, as well as 

providing theoretical foundations on which continued work could be based and providing the background for mathematical and physics consultation. One example of the 

work was the application of a new theory on the quantum statistics of multi-component 

systems to the calculations of the properties of a plasma model which was far more 

realistic than the familiar electron-gas model. 

Lest we leave the impression that the division failed to carry out its main mission of 

providing standards and calibrations in the radio field, we list four topics from the 

1962 report: 

1. The provision of a method for the measurement of pulse power. With a range 

from 0.25 W to 10 kW, a limit of error of ±3 percent, pulse widths as small 

as 5 J.1s, and a frequency range of 3 KHz to 1 GHz, the method fonned the 

basis for a new calibration service. 

2. Radio-frequency voltage-calibration services were expanded to include 

500 MHz, 700 MHz, and 1000 MHz. 

3. The high-frequency impedance calibration service was improved by the 

addition of new instrumentation and hardware. 

1.'6 Annual Report, 1962: 51. 

397 
4. The calibration uncertainty of attenuators for field strength meters was 

reduced from ~0.8 db to ~0.2 db over the frequency range of 400 MHz to 

1000 MHz, and the attenuation range was increased to 150 db. 

Heat 

With responsibility for the temperature scale, the Heat Division was deeply involved 

in basic thermometry research, with activities in extending the range of temperature 

attainment and measurement. In addition, the division did a great deal on the acquisition, analysis, and methods for the measurement of thermodynamic data. During 

the period its work became more basic, and it remained one of the leading scientific 

divisions in the Bureau. 

Perhaps the activity that best illustrates the basic nature of its program is statistical 

thermodynamics. 237 Throughout the whole period there was continuous work on the 

development of calculation programs for the extension of thermodynamic data to an 

ever-wider range of temperature and density. But the effort was deeper than one 

limited to methods of calculation. Plasmas were as important theoretically as they were 

experimentally in the attainment of high temperatures, with studies of the equilibrium 

behavior of a fully ionized plasma in a magnetic field, and the necessary modifications 

of standard treatments of high-temperature gases to take into account the presence of 

long-range coulomb interactions. Theoretical calculations of dense gases were a continuing interest, with an analysis of the underlying assumptions made in traditional 

calculations. A two-year calculation of the pair distribution function in dense gases and 

liquids was carried out, but the application to a hard-sphere model showed no evidence 

of a gas-liquid phase transition-that nirvana of the theory of liquids. Continued work 

in this field would make the Bureau a center of statistical thermodynamics research. 

Two programs illustrate that this emphasis on more basic work did not lessen the 

Bureau's concern with national problems. Both were concerned with the space race 

and military considerations and both were supported by the military, but now the work 

was basic research, not ordnance development as it had primarily been in pre-AD-X2 

days. 

One program was concerned with data on thermodynamic properties. In 1959 the 

recently formed Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the DOD began to 

support the Bureau for a program to determine the thermodynamic properties of 

the light elements and their compounds, using the argument that "one of the most 

effective means of developing more efficient chemically propelled rockets is to select 

particular fuel materials which generate more power per unit mass and lose less power 

in the exhaust products." In principle, such fuel materials should be composed of light 

elements and their compounds, but more data were required before selection for top 

performance could be made. 238 The resulting effort was an interdivisional, multi-disciplinary program coordinated by Charles W. Beckett of the Heat Division. Thermodynamic data on lithium, beryllium, aluminum, and zirconium, and their compounds 

m Annual Report, 1958: 21-22. 

2.18 Annual Report, 1960: 53-54. 

398 
with hydrogen, oxygen, fluorine, and chlorine, were detennined and disseminated. 

Many properties were ascertained. For example, the entropy of lithium aluminum 

hydride by low-temperature thennal measurements was detennined to help in predicting under what conditions this new compound would fonn or decompose, and the 

very-high-temperature aluminum-oxygen gaseous system was investigated. But most 

important were heats of fonnation. Measurements accurately detennined these heats 

for the alkali-metal perchlorates and ammonium perchlorate, an oxidizer used in 

many solid-fueled rockets. Similar data were obtained on compounds of beryllium, 

aluminum, and lithium with oxygen, fluorine, and chlorine. That none of these exotic 

compounds achieved the status of rocket fuels illustrates on the one hand the tenor of 

the times in the military space race and, on the other, the various by-ways that need to 

be explored in a crucial research effort. 

Far better known, and with important effects on the Bureau's development, was a 

complementary, but considerably more exploratory, program on free radicals. 

A Program on Free Radicals 

In 1954, Herbert P. Broida, physicist in the Temperature Measurement Section of 

the Heat and Power Division, and John R. Pellam, chief of the Cryogenics Section of 

the same division, published a paper on certain new and strange phenomena they had 

observed. 239 They had passed a stream of nitrogen through an electrical discharge tube 

and had frozen the resulting gas on the walls of a chamber kept at the temperature of 

liquid helium. They were surprised to see that the resulting deposit gave off a strong 

green glow and, occasionally, small patches erupted with a blue flash, like a miniature 

explosion. They hypothesized that during the discharge, nitrogen atoms-the most 

elementary fonn of free radicals-had formed and then became trapped in the solid 

molecular nitrogen frozen on the chamber walls. The green glow and blue flashes must 

be connected to the presence of these atoms. The green glow persisted for several 

minutes after the discharge tube was turned off. The experiments were continued with 

hydrogen, oxygen, and water vapor and led to similar conclusions about the coexistence of radicals and molecules at these low temperatures. 

The interest in rocketry, hence energetic fuels, in the mid-fifties had made free 

radicals into subjects of interest. 240 Calculations showed that radicals of such gases as 

hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen would far surpass any other fuels for rocketry in terms 

of the immense energy released upon their recombination. Therefore, despite the 

difficulty in fonning and storing them, they were under active study. The great importance of the Broida-Pellam result was that it indicated a possible means of storing 

atomic free radicals, i.e., of stabilizing them, something that was essential before they 

could be used. 

2.1\1 H. P. Broida and 1. R. Pellam, "Phosphorescence of Atoms and Molecules of Solid Nitrogen at 4.2 OK," 

Physical Review 95 (1954): 845-846. 

240 Maurice W. Windsor, "Trapped Radicals in Propulsion," in Formation and Trapping of Free Radicals, 

Arnold M. Bass and Herbert P. Broida, eds. (New York: Academic Press, 1960),387-409. 

399 
With advice from technical committees, and with the results of the Broida-Pellam 

experiment, the Department of Defense-specifically the Anny Ordnance Department, 

with its long history of support of work at the Bureau-in September 1956 began a 

national program on the study of free radicals, concentrating on means of stabilizing 

them. The program involved increased support of existing work at industrial and 

university laboratories and the designation of the Bureau as a central research laboratory, due to its experience and its wide variety of staff and facilities. 241 A special 

section, called Free Radicals Research, was fonned for the program and Broida was 

named its chief, with spectroscopist Arnold M. Bass as assistant chief. Work was also 

carried out in other sections where there was relevant expertise. 

From the start there were unique aspects to the program. There were thirty to thirtyfive senior scientists, about half of them from-and supported by-industry, eight from 

universities (six of which were foreign institutions), and the remainder from the 

Bureau. Three American universities provided consultants. Most interesting was the 

method of choosing projects. Illustrating the support of basic research and the scientific 

freedom of the times-and the personality and philosophy of Broida-the senior scientists were given complete freedom in their research activities, although lack of results 

would lead to a conversation with Broida. The style' was not direction from above, but 

choice from below. All the work was done at the Bureau and the maximum effort took 

place in the latter half of 1958, when sixty-nine persons worked on the program. 

Designed as a three-year program, work began in September 1956 and ended in July 

1959. 

Cohesiveness in this free atmosphere was provided by almost constant interaction 

among specialists from all relevant disciplines at coffee breaks, luncheons, and weekly 

seminars. Many members of the Bureau staff not directly associated with the program 

were active participants in these discussions. Guests and visitors were welcome and 

attended in abundance. A bimonthly newsletter was instituted. It began with a circulation of 90 and ended with 550. The program attracted important and capable scientists, 

a number of whom subsequently joined the Bureau staff and achieved leadership 

positions. In Madison Avenue parlance, it provided advertising for the Bureau that 

could not have been purchased. 

At the end of its three-year life, the program ended; the Free Radicals Section was 

abolished and the guest workers went home to their own laboratories. But the work did 

not cease; it continued in the home laboratories of the scientists, just the way Anny 

Ordnance had designed the program. 

241 James W. Moyer, "Organization and Rationale of the NBS Free Radicals Program," in Stabilization of 

Free Radicals at Low Temperatures, A. M. Bass and H. P. Broida, cds., Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Monograph 

12; August 1960: 1-4. This volume contains papers that give an excellent account of the scientific results of 

the program. Hereafter it wiIJ be referred to as Monograph 12. Administrative Bulletin 56-66, October 29, 

1956, also gives an account of the rationale and organization of the program. 

400 
There was a very substantial scientific output from the program, although no 

"breakthrough" in rocket fuels. At the time the program was closed, eighty-nine 

scientific papers had appeared in the scientific literature or were in preparation. 242 With 

the freedom given to the senior scientists for project choice, it is not surprising to find 

View of the equipment used at NBS in the low-temperature stabilization of free radicals. Arnold M. Bass added liquid nitrogen to the outer Dewar of the cryostat in which 

the free radicals were frozen into solid fonn. The spectroscopic equipment at right was 

used to study and analyze the visible and ultraviolet radiation given off by the frozen 

atoms. 

242 H. P. Broida, "La Recherche sur les Radicaux Libres au National Bureau of Standards," Journal de Chimie 

Physique 56 (1959): 813-816. 

401 
that many scientific areas and methods were explored. 243 Thus, in the production of 

radicals, besides the original method of electric discharge pioneered by Broida and 

Pellam, thermal techniques, electron impact, photolysis, and gamma radiation were 

explored. And again, while nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, and water vapor were the most 

intensively studied substances, a number of others were investigated, including 

diborane, ammonia, ozone, hydrogen peroxide, methane, hydrazoic acid, and hydroxylamme. 

The large number of investigators on the program provided specialized knowledge in 

an abundance of disciplines, so that a whole litany of techniques in various scientific 

areas were brought to bear on the studies. Spectroscopy was an important area, with a 

number of studies in absorption and emission spectra. X-ray diffraction studies on 

various radical-containing solids at the temperature of liquid helium were carried out 

by Bureau specialists, necessitating the development of specialized equipment in the 

process. Thermometric energy-release studies were carried out on a number of 

species and for a variety of processes. A number of studies of chemical reactions and 

their kinetics were performed. The uniquely applicable technique of electron spin 

resonance was applied with illuminating results, particularly with respect to the demonstration that the ground state of nitrogen atoms in the matrix of nitrogen molecules is 

stabilized at the low temperatures used. Theoretical studies formed a significant part of 

the program. 244 They were concerned with the deposition of the radical-molecule 

mixture in the gas on to the cold substrate, with the kinetics of the process, with the 

emission and absorption of energy, with the nature of the forces and structures that 

trap atoms in the lattice, with the thermodynamics of radicals, and with the mechanisms and kinetics of the disappearance of trapped radicals. Not the least of the results 

of the program were the development of methods for handling large quantities of liquid 

helium, the development of new designs of dewars and their commercial availability, 

and the development of more specialized techniques. 

Thus, while no radical rocket propellant ever reached the stage of contemplation, 

the science of molecular stability was given a significant boost, the utility of low 

temperatures in research was made known beyond the confines of "classical" low 

temperature physics, and the Bureau substantially enhanced its reputation in basic 

experimental and theoretical chemistry. 

Atomic and Molecular Physics 

As one of the Bureau's elite scientific units, the Atomic Physics Division continued 

its work on various aspects of spectroscopy, electron physics, solid state physics, and 

other more specialized topics, including the determination of the gyromagnetic ratio of 

24.1 Milton D. Scheer, "Experimental Aspects of the National Bureau of Standards Free Radicals Program," in 

Stabilization of Free Radicals at Low Temperature, A. M. Bass and H. P. Broida, eds., Natl. Bur. Stand. 

(U.S.) Monograph 12; August 1960: 7-20. 

244 C. M. Herzfeld, "A Survey of Theoretical Work on Trapped Radicals at the National Bureau of Standards," in Stabilization of Free Radicals at Low Temperature, A. M. Bass and H. P. Broida, eds., Nat!. Bur. 

Stand. (U.S.) Monograph 12; August 1960: 21-36. 

402 
the proton (described under the Electricity Division), the precision detennination of 

the Rydberg constant,245 and work on a portable rubidium-based atomic-frequency 

standard. From its enonnous outpouring of scientific work, we select three topics to 

give a flavor of the division's work: laboratory astrophysics, synchrotron radiation, and 

electron physics. 

Not surprising for the birthplace of JILA, the division carried out a large effort 

related to astrophysics. Indeed, astrophysics was one of the main applications of the 

work done on atomic energy levels, transition probabilities and collision cross-sections. 

In 1957, at the very beginning of the period, a High Altitude Observatory was established on Mauna Loa in Hawaii, where the oxygen content of the Martian atmosphere 

was measured and the presence of molecular hydrogen in the atmosphere of Jupiter 

was verified. 

Practically all the work was laboratory based and concerned with spectroscopy and 

related studies-hardly surprising considering the division's history. Thus, one of the 

areas of study was in low-energy collision cross sections for "selected processes of 

critical importance to astrophysics and plasma physics." This work was concerned with 

electron collisions with neutral atoms and negative ions, a process thought to "playa 

leading role in detennining properties of the solar atmosphere.,,246 The photo-detachment of electrons from negative ions, particularly H-, 0-, and C-, was featured. The 

experimental work was buttressed with theoretical studies. 

The work in atomic spectroscopy, where NBS had held a predominant position for 

many years, was centered on the rare earth elements. The three volumes of Charlotte 

Moore Sitterly's widely used compilation, Atomic Energy Levels, which were published in 1949-1958, covered all the periodic table except for the lanthanides (rare 

earths) and actinides. 247 Wavelength measurements of spectral lines from improved 

light sources and the use of powerful new computer methods were necessary for 

successful energy-level analyses of some of the most complex rare-earth spectra. Such 

analyses of several of these spectra were first successfully carried out at NBS by the 

early 1960s, and work on these elements continued until the 1978 publication of the 

compilation Atomic Energy Levels-The Rare-Earth Elements. 248 

245 W. C. Martin, "Value of the Rydberg Constant," Physical Review 116, no. 3 (1959): 654. 

246 Annual Report, 1960: 61. 

247 Charlotte E. Moore, Atomic Energy Levels As Derived from the Analysis of Optical Spectra. Vol. I-Vol. 

III. Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Circular 467; 1949-1958. 

24H W. C. Martin, R. Zalubas, L. Hagan, Atomic Energy Levels-The Rare-Earth Elements. The Spectra of 

Lanthanum, Cerium, Praseodymium, Neodymium, Promethium, Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, 

Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium, and Lutetium. Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) NSRDS 60; April 

1978. 

403 
Lewis M. Branscomb inserted a filter into the optical system of the apparatus developed at NBS for studying 

the photodetachment of electrons from negative atomic and molecular ions (1961). The studies had direct 

bearing on ionospheric theory and research and on the study of plasmas. 

Atomic transition probabilities were important for the evaluation of the temperature 

and state of equilibrium of steHar atmospheres, and for determining the reJative abundance of elements in stars. Thus, with support from ONR and ARPA, a data center to 

gather and index all published information on atomic transition probabilities was 

formed in 1961. By 1962, a bibliography of all known publications on these probabilities was produced and published as NBS Monograph 50. At almost the same time, a 

562-page monograph on the transition probabilities of seventy elements was issued. 249 

249 B. M. Glennon and W. L Wiese. Bibliography on Atomic Transition Probabilities, Natl. Bur. Stand. 

(U.S.) Monograph 50; August 1962; C. H. Corliss and W. R. Bozman, Experimental Transition Probabilities 

for Spectral Lines of Seventy Elements. Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Monograph 53; July 1962. The latter monograph was the first Bureau publication produced by completely automatic methods. The computerproduced tape of the calculations was converted to a binary tape in the proper format to drive an automatic 

phototypesetting machine. which produced film positives of the pages ready for producing the final printing 

plates. 

404 
Unquestionably, the most exciting development of the period was the use of radiation from the electron synchrotron for spectroscopy in the far, or vacuum, ultraviolet. 

This research would uncover a host of exciting new phenomena and would lead to 

the nationwide development of new scientific facilities that, at this writing, is still 

continuing. 

A New Light Source 

When the Bureau placed its new 180-MeV synchrotron into operation in the 1950s, 

it was already known theoretically that the circulating electrons in the machine emitted 

light. 250 It was expected that the wavelength of the light would fonn a pure continuum 

with the peak power emitted at a wavelength that would become shorter the higher the 

energy of the electrons. Due to relativistic effects, the light was predicted to be emitted 

in a narrow beam tangent to the electron orbit, and since the beam sweeps across a 

point on the orbital plane as the electrons sweep around their orbit, the radiation on an 

experimental device like a spectrometer slit woul~ be spatially unifonn in the lateral 

direction. Moreover, exactly on the orbit plane, the light would be completely polari'zed with the electric vector in the orbital plane, while in directions making small 

angles above and below the orbital pl<;lne there would be a small admixture of light 

with the perpendicular polarization, the amount depending on the angle. Experiments in 

1948 on the General Electric 70 Me V synchrotron confinned many of these expectations, and a much more complete set of experiments in 1956 on the Cornell 300 Me V 

synchrotron confinned them in greater detail. 251 This analysis, however, was photographic, with consequent limitations in detennining intensity profiles. The later work, 

particularly at the Bureau and DESY (an electron synchrotron in Hamburg, Gennany), 

was photoelectric and supplied the really detailed confinnation. The wavelength of 

the Bureau machine was expected to extend into the vacuum ultraviolet, and it was a 

perfect source for absorption spectroscopy in this difficult wavelength range. 

While interested in such spectroscopy, the Bureau was also interested in synchrotron 

light because it was at least conceivable to develop it into an absolute radiometric 

standard. Thus in 1961 Lewis Branscomb, then chief of the Atomic Physics Division, 

was encouraged by Karl Kessler, chief of the division's Spectroscopy Section, to hire 

Robert P. Madden, a young spectroscopist trained at Johns Hopkins and then working 

at the Engineering Research and Development Laboratories, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to 

fonn a new Far Ultraviolet Physics Section, with the charge to develop radiation 

standards in the far ultraviolet spectral region and instrumentation for the study of this 

region. He arrived in 1961 on the same day and at the same hour as another young 

spectroscopist, Keith Codling from Imperial College, London, who had already 

published some related work. A short time later their collaboration would make the 

250 Robert P. Madden, private communication. 

251 F. R. Elder, R. V. Langmuir, and H. C. Pollock, "Radiation from Electrons Accelerated in a Synchrotron," 

Physical Review 74 (1948): 52-56; D. H. Tomboulian and P. L. Hartman, "Spectral and Angular Distribution 

of Ultraviolet Radiation from the 300-Mev Cornell Synchrotron," Physical Review 102 (1956): 1423-1447. 

The latter paper gives a full list of references on the theoretical work. 

405 
The very short wavelength ultraviolet radiation from the NBS 180 MeV synchrotron was utilized as a source 

of photons in the energy range from 5 eV to 165 eV. These photons interacted with the samples under study 

to give scientists previously unavailable information on the atomic structures of these substances. Robert P. 

Madden (left) adjusted the automatic pressure controller on advice from Keith Codling. who read the 

pressure gage that connected directly with the interaction chamber. After the pressure had reached equilibrium. the synchrotron was operated remotely. At upper right under the dark cover was the 3 m vacuum 

spectrograph speCially constructed at the Bureau for these studies. 

two of them famous. The two worked together from the start until five years later 

when Codling, his visa having expired and not wanting to apply for U.S. citizenship, 

returned to England. 

They began by studying their instrument. A tangent section had already been attached to the glass "doughnut" of the synchrotron by the Bureau's high-energy physics 

staff to sample the radiation. To this Madden and Codling attached first a photometer 

for studying the radiation, and later a grating spectrograph for spectroscopic work, 

and thus was born SURF I (Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility). In operation 

the synchrotron vibrated horribly, and this drove them to design and construct 

a special spectrograph to obtain high resolution in this mechanically hostile 

406 
environment. The spectrograph was aligned and worked perfectly after a focal adjustment of only a thousandth of an inch. The usable radiation range extended down to 

10 nm. 252 

Madden and Codling chose first to study the absorption spectrum of helium. But 

they were not acting willy-nilly. There were results from electron-impact studies which 

indicated that the helium at0rt:I could be excited to an energy far above the singleelectron-ionization energy, which meant that both electrons were excited. This state 

could then "autoionize" by losing one of the electrons into the ionization continuum, 

with the lifetime of the state determined by the strength of the interaction between the 

doubly excited state and the continuum. 253 Two-electron states of this type had been 

considered by theorists, but they·had never been studied by absorption spectroscopy in 

the noble gases. 254 Knowing that they were entering unexplored territory, Madden and 

Codling consulted with Bureau theoreticians, and received mild encouragement. The 

doubly excited resonance had already been detected by electron spectroscopy, but its 

shape would be better determined with the higher resolution of the absorption experiment. It would be a nice experiment, and some higher members of the series might 

also be observed. 

So Madden and Codling continued and carried out the experiments. 255 The results 

were shocking. While theory predicted two series of absorption lines, only one was 

seen. 256 This led to an exciting and intensive period, with the theorists and experimentalists in continuous interaction at seminars, luncheons, and ad hoc meetings. The work 

was extended to other noble gases: neon, argon, and later krypton and xenon, where 

two-electron and subshell single-electron excitations were discovered. The proliferation 

and visibility of the two-electron resonances were a surprise to all. The Electron 

Physics Section, under the leadership of John Simpson, began electron-impact studies, 

and found many optically forbidden transitions in all these noble gases. 257 New results 

252 K. Codling and R. P. Madden, "Characteristics of the 'Synchrotron Light' from the NBS 180-MeV 

Machine," Journal of Applied Physics 36 (1965): 380-387; R. P. Madden, D. L. Ederer, and K. Codling, 

"Instrumental Aspects of Synchrotron XUV Spectroscopy," Applied Optics 6 (1967): 31-38. 

25.l R. Whiddington and H. Priestley, "Note on a New Transition Produced by Electron Impact in Helium," 

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series A 145 (1934): 462-464. 

254 Early on, Ugo Fano studied the spectrum of the noble gases near the ionization limit: Ugo Fano, "Sullo 

Spettro di Assorbimento dei Gas Nobili Presso il Limite Delio Spettro D'arco," Nuovo Cimento, Nuova Serie 

12 (1935): 154-161. Fano further studied the problem in 1961: "Effects of Configuration Interaction on Intensities and Phase Shifts," Physical Review 124 (1961): 1866-1878. 

m R. P. Madden and K. Codling, "New Autoionizing Atomic Energy Levels in He, Ne, and Ar," Physical 

Review Leiters 10 (1963): 516-518. A companion paper by the Bureau theorists J. W. Cooper, U. Fano, and 

F. Prats, "Classification of Two-Electron Excitation Levels of Helium," Physical Review Leiters 10 (1963): 

518-521, appears adjacent to the Madden-Codling paper. 

2.56 Actually the lines were resonances, as indeed they were expected to be. 

m J. A. Simpson, S. R. MieJczarek, and J. Cooper, "Observation of Optically Forbidden Transitions in the 

Continuum of the Rare Gases by Electron Energy Loss Measurements," Journal of the Optical Society of 

America 54 (1964): 269-270. 

407 
seemed to be coming forth daily. In due course, the observations were explained 

theoretically,25!1 but they remained so startling that they were still questioned good 

naturedly at meetings and symposia. 

What had been discovered was a new series of interaction mechanisms between 

the noble gases, radiation, and free electrons, later including the process inverse to 

autoionization, or dielectronic recombination. Clearly these results were of considerable 

interest in astrophysics, for these new processes had to be taken into account in any 

stellar models that involved the interaction of atoms, ions, radiation, and electrons. 

Equally important, this synchrotron was the first to use synchrotron radiation for experimental purposes on a regular basis. The Nation now has, in addition, synchrotron 

radiation facilities at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stanford University, the 

University of Wisconsin, Cornell University, Louisiana State University, and Lawrence 

Berkeley Laboratory, and a large electron storage ring at Argonne National Laboratory. 

There are also many facilities around the world. Moreover, the technology of using 

synchrotron radiation in the soft x-ray region (0.8 run to 4 nm) for lithography in the 

production of ultra-large-scale integrated circuits is on the verge of becoming commercial. 259 The Bureau work was a successful pioneering effort that proved the 

usefulness of synchrotron radiation for research. 

The synchrotron SURF I was converted into a 240 MeV storage ring, called 

SURF II, in 1974. Subsequently its electron energy was increased to 300 MeV and 

with over 300 rnA of injected current, SURF II remains a useful source for far UV 

physics and radiometry. 

*** 

One of the division's major programs was carried out in its Electron Physics 

Section under John A. Simpson. With the ostensible aim of doing everything with 

electrons that could be done with light, the section's work to achieve that aim led it 

into new and interesting directions. The program was many-faceted. It involved polarization studies, with attempts to generate polarized beams by photo-emission from 

magnetic materials; elastic and inelastic scattering from both solids and gases-a 

25M While we cannot enter too greatly into details, the lines formed a series, with the lowest member being 

the state 2s2p. This state is degenerate with 2p2s. The series converges to the n=2 level of He+. However, 

the probability of excitation to 2skp or 2pks, where k is a running integer, was expected to be about the 

same, and thus two separate series were expected. But since only one was observed, it was clear that 2skp or 

2pks were not an appropriate classification of the lines of the series. Now, these states are nearly degenerate, 

and, with electron-electron interaction sufficiently strong, the wave function should be [u (2skp) ::t u (2pks )]1 

\12. Further analysis showed that the + wave function should be the more dominant. Indeed, in due course 

Madden and Codling were able to find the very weak lines corresponding to the minus sign. Since excitations to 2pkd for k=3 and above are also allowed by the selection rules, a third mixed series was also 

expected. This series has subsequently been observed and, as predicted, is very much weaker than the 

negative series. (M. Domke, G. Remmers, and G. Kaindl, "Observations of the (2p, nd)1 pO DoubleExcitation Rydberg Series of Helium," Physical Review Letters 69 (1992): 1171-1174) 

259 "Industry Gambles on Electron Synchrotrons for X-Ray Lithography," Physics Today 44(10) (October 

1991): 17-21. 

408 
continuing activity; and an improved way of studying multiple scattering events by 

measurement of total energy loss. This last-named technique pennitted the calculation 

of the mean free path of the electron within a few percent. And a study of scattering 

from aluminum showed that the angular distribution of the scattered electrons was 

independent of the thickness of the scattering foil, indicating a type of diffraction. This 

result supported a theory of electron scattering proposed by Gregor Wentzel at the 

University of Munich in 1921. Inelastic scattering in the same material proceeded by 

multiple collisions of a type involving long-range interactions with the electrons in the 

foil supported a model proposed by U go Fano in 1956.260 Scattering from vapors was 

also studied and applied to such problems as measuring the velocity distribution in 

beams of metal atoms. 

But the activity that was to provide exciting and unforseen results arose from a 

combination of scattering from gases and instrument development. Always interested in 

instrument improvement, the section staff was constantly concerned with electron 

monochromators, electron diffraction apparatus, energy analyzers, and similar instruments. Beginning in 1961, they began a concerted study of electron optics. The payoff 

was quick and rewarding. From this study there developed a superb electron monochromator and energy analyzer. With electron beams monochromatic within 0.02 e V in 

the range 1 eV to 100 eV, it was superior to anything available elsewhere. 

At the time of the analyzer's completion, the first autoionization results from the 

synchrotron radiation experiments were being obtained and, under Simpson's personal 

leadership, the instrument was immediately turned to studies of the same systems. 

Results were immediate, and they completely confinned and complemented the spectroscopic work. Indeed, they had an advantage in that, with electrons, optica]]y forbidden transitions could be observed. 261 In addition, a measurement of electron transmission in helium showed a sharp increase in transmission at 19.3 eV,262 a window which 

eventua]]y would be used for constructing another type of monochromator. 263 In 

addition, negative ion states could be observed when the instrument was operated to 

display total scattering cross-section. Such states-previously unknown-were found in 

all the rare gases, in molecular hydrogen and deuterium, and in mercury.264 It was a 

startling discovery. 

260 u. Fano, "Atomic Theory of Electromagnetic Interactions in Dense Materials," Physical Review 103 

(1956): 1-202-1218. 

261 Simpson, Mielczarek, and Cooper, "Observation of Optically Forbidden Transitions." 

262 J. A. Simpson and U. Fano, "Classification of Resonances in the Electron Scattering Cross-Section of Ne 

and He," Physical Review Letters II (1963): 158-159. 

263 J. A. Simpson, C. E. Kuyatt, and S. R. Mielczarek, "Electron Monochromator Utilizing the Scattering 

Resonance in Helium," Review of Scientific Instruments 34 (1963): 1454-1455. 

264 "NBS Develops New Tool for Exploring Atomic Structure," Technical News Bulletin 48 (1964): 64-68. 

409 
It was a time of intense coordination among the spectroscopists, the electron people, 

and the theoreticians. New results seemed to come almost daily. Dozens of new-and 

new kinds of-energy levels were observed, studied, and classified. The Bureau had 

become a world center for this area of intermediate-energy physics. And in instruments, beyond synchrotron light, the Bureau had developt(d a new precision electron 

monochromator-analyzer that opened up this new field of experimental physics to the 

whole world. 

Molecular Spectroscopy 

Research on molecular spectroscopy dates from the very early days of NBS when 

William W. Coblentz measured the infrared absorption of various chemical compounds 

and noted the characteristic wavelengths which provided a "fingerprint" for each. 

While it would take twenty-five years for the theory to be developed to the point that 

this characteristic spectrum could be correlated with the structure and chemical bonding in a molecule, Coblentz recognized the potential of infrared spectroscopy for identification of chemical substances. In 1945 Director Condon brought Earle K. Plyler to 

NBS to establish a laboratory for high-resolution infrared spectroscopy. By utilizing 

the new solid state infrared detectors, which were much more sensitive that the thermal 

detectors previously used, he built an instrument of unsurpassed resolving power. In 

the late 1 950s he recruited younger spectroscopists, such as Arthur Maki and Walter 

Lafferty, who used this spectrometer to elucidate the structural details of a host of 

small molecules. They were also among the first to use computers for processing the 

voluminous data produced by high-resolution spectrometers. 

In the 1955-1958 period David R. Lide built up a microwave spectroscopy laboratory, introducing to the Bureau a technique for studying pure rotational spectra of 

molecules. This work was initially located in the Heat Division because of its 

applicability to predicting thermodynamic properties. New techniques were developed 

for using microwave spectroscopy to study internal rotation in molecules and to 

characterize transient free radicals and molecules present in high-temperature vapors. 

The microwave and high-resolution infrared groups were merged into one section in 

the Atomic Physics Division in 1963. The joint application of these techniques led to 

significant advances in the analysis of complex molecular interactions; for example, 

NBS spectroscopic data were a key to understanding the early infrared gas lasers. 265 

Other groups involved in high-resolution spectroscopy in the visible and ultraviolet 

regions were added later. Thus by the mid-1960s NBS had one of the world's premier 

molecular spectroscopy laboratories, which attracted many guest scientists from the 

United States and abroad for sabbaticals and postdoctoral stays. 

265 D. R. Lide and A. G. Maki. "On the Explanation of the So-Called CN Laser," Applied Physics Letters II 

(1967): 62. 

410 
Radiation Physics 

The first Kelly Committee found the Radiation Physics Division (at that time combined with Atomic Physics) one of the stellar scientific organizations of the Bureau. 

The division maintained this position during the period of the present chapter. With 

activities in radiation protection, dosimetry, radioactivity standards, neutron physics, 

high energy radiation, x rays and gamma rays, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics, 

the division was nicely balanced between basic research and directly useful results. It 

provided Standard Reference Materials for radioactivity standards, calibrations of x-ray 

measuring equipment, data for radiation protection, research on dose measuring methods, and research in radiation and nuclear physics as support for all these activities and 

because of its fundamental importance. Four areas of work-nuclear structure, dosimetry, radioactivity standards, and theoretical studies-illustrate well the breadth of the 

work. 

One of the constant themes of the division research program was nuclear structure, 

where the effort was directed at detennining the size and shape of the nucleus. The 

single example we describe arose from the capability to align nuclear moments. This 

capability was exploited in the Heat Division for the parity experiment. For several 

years, studies of the polarizability of the nucleus, as detennined by the scattering and 

absorption of photons, indicated that some nuclei do not have spherical symmetry but 

are different in three orthogonal directions, which indicated that the nuclear polarizability was a tensor quantity. To check this result, photoneutron production was studied in 

a single crystal of holmium ethyl sulfate, holmium being one of the elements with an 

asymmetric nucleus. The yield of photoneutrons was measured as a function of the 

crystal orientation with respect to the photon beam. At 4.2 K and above, where the 

nuclei are not aligned, only slight asymmetry was measured, but at 0.3 K, at which 

temperature the nuclei are aligned, considerably larger asymmetries were found, an 

indication that the nucleus indeed has a tensor polarizability. Its nuclear matter was not 

symmetrically distributed. 

Dosimetry and the study of various ways to measure radiation dose also were continuing activities. Three main areas were covered: ionization chambers, photographic 

films, and solid state devices. In the ionization chamber method-the standard calibration means for x rays-a large chamber was constructed for detennining the total 

energy transported by x-ray beams with energies between 6 MeV and 70 MeV, with an 

uncertainty of 2 percent. A complete description was published as NBS Monograph 48, 

and the calibration was transferred to laboratories in France, Gennany, Switzerland, 

and Yugoslavia. 266 

Photographic dosimetry was actively pursued, concentrating on the extension and 

refinement of the photographic process and broadening the range of its applicability in 

the measurement of radiation. And in solid state dosimetry, it was shown in one 

investigation that it is possible to use silicon radiation cells as photodiodes for x rays, 

particularly at high dose rates. 

266 John S. Pruitt and Steve R. Domen, Determination of Total X-Ray Beam Energy With a Calibrated Ionization 

Chamber, Nat\. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Monograph 48; June 1962. 

411 
A unique and vigorous aspect of the division's program was the production and sale 

of Standard Reference Materials as radioactivity standards. Some twenty new nuclei 

were offered, from tritium-labelled toluene to americium-241. Featured were two redetenninations of the half life of carbon-l 4, with a final value of 5745±50 years. 

The program that perhaps best illustrates the balance of basic research and applied 

output was that in radiation theory. As the division that first emphasized the importance of theoretical research, it always maintained a strong program in theoretical 

studies, with a careful balance between pure and applied research. For example, the 

theoretical analysis of cross sections was a continuing activity, with a study of bremsstrahlung and pair production, and a quantitative theory for calculating the polarization 

of gamma rays from the measured angular distribution of electron-positron pairs was 

developed. 

Another continuing program was in the computer calculation of multiple scattering 

of various radiations, and hence their penetration into various media, both bounded and 

unbounded. I11ustrating the public concern of the time, with support from the Office 

of Civil and Defense Mobilization and the Defense Atomic Support Agency, a study 

was carried out on civil-defense related shielding problems, and published as NBS 

Monograph 42.267 

Up to 1963, the work of the division was built around nuclear physics and what 

might be called the "classical" fundamental particles-protons, neutrons, electrons, 

positrons, gamma rays and, to a lesser extent, pions, or pi mesons as they were then 

called. Particle physics, with its myriad of baryons and mesons, was mostly 

left to laboratories that had machines of sufficient energy to produce and study this 

bewildering (to the average scientist) array of particles. But the so-called "eight-fold 

way" that was developed by Murray Gell-Mann of the California Institute of Technology and Yu'val Ne'eman of Israel promised to be a system that would bring some 

sense of order. In the very next year, the Bureau initiated a small program in particle 

physics, an important step which expanded its interest beyond nuclear physics to 

fundamental particle physics and true high-energy. The step was apparently too big, 

and the new field brought only a slight connection to the Bureau's traditional measurement standards role. No experimental program was ever initiated; the program was 

purely theoretical and even that was haltingly supported. Thus, while other aspects of 

theoretical nuclear physics were pursued vigorously, particle physics was not. Yet the 

program lasted for almost twenty years, and during its continuance provided the 

Bureau with a tiny window to one of the most challenging fields of modem science. 

Perhaps the most important events that occurred during the period were not scientific 

developments, but the procurement of two new radiation sources: a linear accelerator, 

or LINAC, and a nuclear reactor, both of which added a whole new dimension to the 

Bureau's radiation capabilities. 

267 L. V. Spencer, Structure Shielding Against Fallout Radiation/rom Nuclear Weapons, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) 

Monograph 42; June 1962. 

412 
Two New Radiation Sources 

At the House Appropriations Committee Hearings for FY 1960, Astin announced to 

the committee that he had fonned a nuclear reactor study group in late FY 1958 to 

"undertake initial planning for an NBS research reactor.,,268 The group was surveying 

the NBS present and future programs and external scientific organizations as to their 

needs for a research reactor. The areas of study were already known to be neutron 

standards and dosimetry at high flux levels, development of activation analysis as a 

basic and highly sensitive tool in analytical chemistry, neutron diffraction, particularly 

in magnetic and organic materials, and neutron irradiation to produce short-lived 

isotopes. 

In fact, by the time Astin presented this plan, the decision had essentially been made 

to proceed with a nuclear reactor facility. In a long 1957 memorandum to Astin, 

Nicholas Golovin had proposed the fonnation of a group to "launch the reactor 

program,,,269 and Bureau management decided to accept this proposal. It was an 

unusual decision. There was no strong clamor for such a facility from the Bureau staff, 

as would nonnally be expected,270 but this was ascribed to the lack of a facility. If staff 

enthusiasm were to be used as a criterion for the facility, support was not likely, and 

would not be found until the facility existed. It was a chicken-and-egg problem. To 

correct this situation, Golovin recommended that, during the planning and construction 

phase of the reactor facility, appropriate NBS staff work at other institutions, such as 

the Argonne National Laboratory, to begin an NBS research program. CarlO. 

Muehlhause, a nuclear physicist with reactor and research experience at both the 

Argonne and Brookhaven National Laboratories, was hired in 1958 to head the group 

that Golovin had proposed. Muehlhause was assigned to the Director's Office. Thus, 

reminiscent of the way Astin made the decision to acquire the large testing machine, 

Bureau management made the decision to obtain a nuclear reactor facility despite 

the absence of enthusiastic support from the Bureau staff. It proved to be a wise 

decision. 271 

At the FY 1961 hearings, Astin asked for $700000 for design work for the reactor, 

and in 1962 a further $8.15 million for construction of the reactor building and the 

reactor itself. 272 The reactor was meant to be used by the whole Washington scientific 

community. In fact, users were to come from much farther away. The reactor was 

268 House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Department of Commerce and Related Agencies, 

Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1960: Hearings Before a Subcommittee 

of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, 86th Cong., 1st sess., National Bureau of 

Standards, I May 1959: 305. 

269 Memorandum, N. E. Golovin to A. V. Astin, "NBS Requirements and Plans for a Nuclear Research 

Reactor," July 8, 1957. (NARA; RG167; Astin file; Box 18; Folder Reactor Accelerator) 

270 Ibid.; also Memorandum, I. C. Schoonover to A. V. Astin, "NBS Reactor," February 13, 1958. (NARA; 

RG 167; Astin File; Box 18; Folder Reactor Accelerator) 

271 This was not the first time the Bureau considered a nuclear reactor. In 1946, during Condon's tenure as 

director, there was a "Proposal for a National Radiation Institute of the NIH and the NBS." (NARA; RG 167; 

Directors file; Box 16; Folder NIH-NBS (Project on Atomic Pile». Nothing came of it. 

272 Appropriations Hearings for 1961: 238; Appropriations Hearings for 1962: 828-829. 

413 
Charles Ware inserted a fuel element containing uranium-235 into the loading port of the NBS 10 MW 

nuclear reactor just before it became operational (I966). 

designed by Muehlhause, Robert S. Carter, and Harry H. Landon, a small group 

compared to the huge teams used to design reactors in later years. Building construction began in 1963 and was completed in 1966. The reactor achieved criticality 

December 7, 1967. The Bureau had a new radiation source. 

There had been considerable discussion about the type of reactor that should be 

built, specifically on its size. In an analysis of this question, Randall S. Caswell came 

to the conclusion that the reactor should be either a small machine that would provide 

only a few irradiations, but quite cheap, or a large, "really first rate reactor. ,,273 An 

intermediate size reactor would be neither fish nor fowl, and there would be difficulty 

in supporting a solid research program. He estimated that a large reactor with a flux 

of 10 14 neutrons/cm2 • s would cost about $10 million and require a crew of perhaps 

173 Memorandum. R. S. Caswell 10 L. S. Taylor. "Nuclear Reactor Planning:' March 5, 1957. (NARA; RG 167; 

Astin file; Box 18; Folder Reactor Accelerator) 

414 
fifteen persons. Bureau management readily opted for the large, deluxe reactor. 274 They 

selected a 10 megawatt machine with. a flux of 1.7 X 1014 neutrons/cm2 • s, almost twice 

Caswell's planning criterion. Its fuel, enriched uranium-235 and uranium-238, was 

alloyed with aluminum and then clad with aluminum to prevent contamination of 

the coolant. The moderator was heavy water. Cooling water flowed at the rate of 

19 m3/min. Thirteen beam tubes, or ports, running from the heavily shielded reactor 

core transported the neutrons to the working areas for experimental purposes. In 

addition, there were facilities for in-pile radiation studies. A space was also provided 

for a "cold source," in which neutrons could be cooled to cryogenic temperatures. Such 

a source would be added in the late 1980s, putting the Bureau at the forefront of the 

use of neutrons for experimental studies. The total cost at the time of construction was 

somewhat over $9 million, very close to Caswell's prophetic $10 million estimate. 

In 1970 the reactor had its first refueling. By'that time four neutron spectrometers 

were in operation for crystal and liquid structure work, and a time-of-flight instrument 

for inelastic scattering. Under development were a triple-axis spectrometer for crystal 

dynamics studies, and a high-resolution cold neutron facility, which was not completed 

until 1990, by which time the reactor power had been doubled to 20 MW. Bureau 

studies in 1970 were concerned with ternary fission in uranium-235 and plutonium-239 

a-accompanied fission. A technique for neutron-flux measurements using boron-l0 

and cobalt as absorbers was under development. The facilities were used extensively 

for activation analysis, hydrogen-bonding studies in crystals, and phase transitions in 

long chain hydrocarbons. There were collaborative programs with other agencies, 

notably with Los Alamos for the calibration of a uranium-235 fission neutron source. 

Local agencies, such as the Naval Ordnance Laboratory and the Naval Research 

Laboratory, carried out structure determinations on a variety of magnetic materials 

and amorphous silica. An extensive activation analysis program was being initiated, 

and considerable work was being performed in collaboration with university scientists 

in solid state and nuclear physics studies. 

There was never any doubt about enthusiastic staff support for a linear electron 

accelerator, or "LINAC," for short. Such a machine was a natural outgrowth of the 

Bureau's high-energy physics program, in which the main available machines were the 

50 MeV betatron and the 180 MeV synchrotron. But there were other reasons for 

wanting a LINAC. Near the end of the 1959 appropriations hearings, where much of 

the discussion had been on high temperatures, the following exchange took place: 

274 "High-Flux Research Reactor for New NBS Site," Technical News Bulletin 45 (1961): 127-128; "Work 

Begun on NBS Reactor Buildings," Technical News Bulletin 47 (1963): 154-155; "NBS Completes 

High-Flux Reactor," Technical News Bulletin 50 (1966): 212-214; "NBS Reactor Achieves Criticality," 

Technical News Bulletin 52 (1968): 50; "Research at NBS Reactor," Technical News Bulletin 54 (1970): 

174-176. 

415 
MR. YATES: Are there other such fields that you think we should know about? 

DR. ASTIN: Yes there are. Actually, in the things I submitted to the Secretary, 

the high temperature studies were third priority. My first priority was high 

intensity radiation-producing devices which we need for precise measurements 

in the nuclear and atomic radiation field. 

MR. FLOOD: Off the record. 

The remainder of the discussion is not available, but upon coming back on the record, 

the discussion continued: 

MR. YATES: With what you have asked for-and apparently you will getwith $1.5 million can you ... make an ... attack upon the problems you refer 

to in your justifications as your basic research program? 

DR. ASTIN: Yes. 

MR. YATES: I would like the record to show that that would be earmarked and 

pigeonholed and nailed down as a line item, if necessary, despite what the 

glorified clerks masquerading under three stars might have to say. 275 

The line item was the LINAC. Clearly, along with its own specific needs, there 

were classified military reasons for NBS to obtain such a machine, and it was being 

awarded $1.5 million to get the process started. Thus, when funds were appropriated in 

September 1958, the staff of the High Energy Radiation Section began a study on the 

proposed new instrument. 276 The purpose of the study was "the examination of the Bureau's responsibilities in research areas made possible by recent accelerator developments, the specification of a research program, and accelerator and a building design." 

The principal difference between the proposed accelerator and the Bureau's existing 

machines was beam power, not particle energy. Recent advances in accelerator technology had made possible beam powers of 10 MW at electron energies of 1 0 MeV and, 

the report states, these were being investigated commercially for the sterilization of 

pharmaceuticals and foods, for the polymerization of polymers and the vulcanization of rubber, and the curing of tobacco. The Bureau program would provide the 

scientific basis for this emerging technology. However, these applications would 

probably Unot be studied directly by NBS," but Uthe assembly of basic data and measurement techniques that make such applications possible would be the goal." 

None of this could be achieved with the Bureau's existing accelerators. The power 

output of the 50 MeV betatron was 20 mW, and for the 180 MeV synchrotron it was 

100 mW. Commercial practice was absolutely impossible with such low beam-power 

machines. Thus what the Bureau proposed was a linear accelerator which, operating at 

an electron energy of 40 MeV would produce a 40 kW beam. This represented an 

increase in power by a factor of about 100000. And not only would the instrument 

produce the primary electron beam, x rays, positrons, and neutrons could be produced 

with the beam impinging on various targets. 

275 Appropriations Hearings for 1959: 440. 

276 "A Proposal for a High-Intensity Electron Accelerator," NBS Report 6555 (June 1959). 

416 
Electrons were accelerated through LINAC's 100 ft nine-section pipe at a speed that 

approached the speed of light. In the gap after the third section. the electron beam 

could be changed to a positron beam by means of a target interaction. The LINAC 

could generate a 100 MeV electron beam. 

The research would involve studies in nuclear and atomic physics, and the development of dosimetry standards and measurement techniques. The reason for the high 

beam power requirement in nuclear physics was that some of the processes of interest 

occur very infrequently, and some experiments, if possible at all on the betatron and 

synchrotron, would require months of exposure time, whereas they could be done in a 

few hours with the proposed instrument. And the presence of the other radiations 

pennitted studies not possible at all with the older instruments. 

417 
In 1966, the Bureau's powerful linear accelerator (LINAC) went into operation. It was located entirely 

underground in a wing that projected from the Radiation Physics. Laboratory at the NBS site near 

Gaithersburg, Maryland. 

Dosimetry standards, always a major part of the Bureau's responsibilities in the 

radiation field, were carried out at relatively low radiation doses on the order of 

100 rad. and dose rates of thousands of rad per hour. But new advances required 

standards at much higher dose rates for nuclear research, personnel protection, and 

science and industry generally. Indeed, the military projected a need for standards in 

the 10 bi11ion rad range. Related to dosimetry were shielding studies on such materials 

as concrete and lead, and control methods for such intense beams. The addition of the· 

proposed LINAC to the Bureau's array of other radiation sources--cobalt, radium, 

x~ray, and electron beam devices-would give the Bureau an impressive array of tools 

for such studies. 

Funds were appropriated for the construction and the High Voltage Engineering 

Corporation built the LINAC using detailed specifications developed by the study 

group. What resulted was a linear accelerator that produced a beam of 150 Me V 

electrons at low beam power, and 100 MeV electrons at a beam power of 50 kW. It 

consisted of nine 10ft sections of waveguide powered by radar klystrons operating at a 

frequency of 1.3 GHz. This accelerator delivered a 2 mm diameter beam to a beamcontrol room where iron magnets directed it to any of three 45 ft X 35 ft experimental 

418 
rooms. For personnel protection, the whole assembly was 32 ft underground, and the 

experimental rooms were separated from one another by 12 ft of concrete. Along with 

all the other Bureau radiation research devices (except, of course, the reactor), it was 

housed in a special building on the Gaithersburg site. 

The LINAC was accepted from the contractor on October 7, 1965. It had always 

been planned that it would be used by the whole scientific community, and a preliminary meeting of LINAC users was held on October 11, 1965.277 The Bureau had a new 

high energy radiation source. 

Chemistry 

A comparison of the annual reports on chemistry in 1964 with those in 1958 shows 

both continuity and striking changes. This development was only partly occasioned by 

the 1961 reorganization which split the original Chemistry Division into two: one 

called Analytical and Inorganic Chemistry (the "Inorganic" was dropped at the 1964 

reorganization into Institutes) and the other, Physical Chemistry. At the same time, all 

organic coating work was stopped and the Electrodeposition Section was transferred to 

the Metallurgy Division. 

The changes went much further than simple changes in the organization chart. During the seven years of the period, there were many substantive changes. Consider first 

the Analytical Chemistry Division. Where it previously had ten sections, it was now 

left with five: Pure Substances, Spectrochemistry, Solution Chemistry, Standard Reference Materials, and Applied Analytical Research. 

In 1958 the Annual Report lists the following topics as being investigated during the 

year: 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Analysis of small amounts of tungsten in steel. 

Use of flame photometry for the determination of sodium, potassium, 

calcium, and strontium in the presence of other alkali and alkaline-earth ions. 

Purification of titanium halides. 

Automatically controlled equipment for the evaluation of purity. 

Simultaneous spectroscopic determination of eighteen elements. 

Development of an integrating electrochemical coulometer. 

Synthesis of tritium-labeled carbohydrates. 

Preparation of a series of oil-soluble metal analytical standards to be used in 

assessing engine wear. 

Experimental and theoretical studies of boron compounds as potential highenergy fuels for rocketry. 

Development of an apparatus for the controlled sublimation and separation of 

substances at very low temperatures, potentially useful for free 

radicals. 

• Instrument for estimating night vision. 

277 Radiation Physics Division Information Handbook, February I, 1965. A copy of the handbook was provided 

to the attendees of this meeting. It contains NBS Report 6555 and is the source for most of the material used in 

this section. 

419 
• The use of a plasma jet for the analysis of an alloy. 

• Spectrometric identification of trace constituents in complicated gas mixtures 

such as smog. 278 

By contrast, the 1964 Annual Report listing for the Analytical Chemistry Division 

reads: 

• Activation analysis improved. 

• Improved Mossbauer spectrometer. 

• Radioisotopic tracers used for analysis. 

• Clean room constructed. 

• Spark source mass spectrograph acquired. 

• Single reproducible pulse obtained with laser microprobe. 

• X-ray spectrographic analysis of solutions. 

• Electron probe microanalyzer extends capabilities. 

• Spectra excited in controlled atmospheres. 

• Special cast iron standards prepared for the Malleable Research Foundation. 

• Errors in the microscopical measurement of spheres studied. 

• Thennodynamics of solutions in heavy water. 

• pH standards in partially aqueous media investigated. 

• Preconcentration polarography. 

• Magnetic densimeter constructed. 

• Copper-base and white iron standards issued. 

• New uranium and plutonium isotopic standards issued. 

• High-precision coulometry. 

• Analysis and purification services provided. 279 

A short perusal of these lists shows that in both years the division was working in 

its traditional areas of the analysis of metal alloys and the provision of standard materials, the production of pure materials and the development of methods of assessing 

purity, and the development of analytical methods. In 1964, however, the focus was a 

little sharper, the emphasis had changed, and totally new items appeared. Activation 

analysis, spurred by the forthcoming nuclear reactor, was a new area. Trace analysis, 

arising from the division's history in evaluation of purity, had a whole new clean room 

constructed for its study. But perhaps most striking was the number of new, sophisticated, and costly instruments: a spark source mass spectrometer, a laser microprobe, 

an electron microprobe, and a Mossbauer spectrometer. This was part of a concerted 

effort, announced in 1961, to increase emphasis on instrumental methods of analysis. 

In that year alone seven major pieces of analytical apparatus were purchased. These 

new trends would continue. Under the aggressive leadership of its new chief, W. 

Wayne Meinke, the Analytical Chemistry Division would become a world leader in 

activation, trace, and instrumental analysis. 

27K Annual Report, 1958: 35-39. 

27<) Annual Report, 1964: vi, 125-131. 

420 
It is nearly impossible to make the same kind of comparison between the 1964 

Physical Chemistry Division and what existed earlier. Four of its seven sections were 

led by, and consisted of pieces of, sections other than the original Chemistry Division. 280 It was as if Bureau management had taken some of its best people in physical 

chemistry and related areas and thrown them together. The Annual Report for 1962 

gives a good summary of the research. With the stated aim "to develop an understanding of the molecular basis of bulk properties and macroscopic processes," the division 

carried out an extensive set of "studies on synthesis of labeled carbohydrates, isotope 

effects, and confonnations of sugars; spectroscopic detenninations of structural constants of free radicals and simple organic molecules; analysis of elementary processes 

in flames; investigations of radiolysis and vacuum ultraviolet photolysis of organic 

molecules; precise measurements of heats of reaction and fonnation; studies of chemical reactions and ionization processes at crystal surfaces; detenninations of atomic 

weights; and measurements of nuclear spin-spin interactions.,,281 \ 

Cognizant of the need for reference data, in 1962 the division was actively setting 

up a document retrieval system for physico-chemical data. and in 1963 undertook a 

complete revision of Circular 500, Selected Values of Chemical Thermodynamic 

Properties. 282 Groups were also established to compile and evaluate data on gas-phase 

chemical kinetics and ionization energies (appearance potentials) of molecules. The 

division would eventually have four data centers in the NSRDS. and become a world 

leader in the dissemination of thennodynamic and other physico-chemical data. 

Materials 

The three materials divisions-Inorganic Solids, Polymers, and Metallurgy-all 

showed significant changes in the character of the work perfonned during the period. 

Indeed. a few years later the Annual Report was to declare. "Even in specifically 

technological areas such as glass, paper, ceramics. metallurgy, and corrosion, NBS 

programs have changed in the last few years from a craft orientation to a science-based 

orientation. As a result. the output of data, standards, and methodology have much 

280 Specifically, Ralph Klein came from the Electron Physics Section of Atomic and Radiation Physics to 

head the Surface Chemistry Section, along with Vernon H. Dibeler and his Mass Spectrometry Section. 

From the Heat Division's Free Radical Program came Robert E. Ferguson to head the Molecular Kinetics 

Section. along with David E. Mann and his Molecular Spectroscopy Section. The able theorist Robert 

W. Zwanzig from Heat's Statistical Physics Section came into the Office of the Chief of Physical Chemistry. 

Thennochemistry under Edward J. Prosen. Organic Chemistry under Horace S. Isbell. and Molecular 

Structure and Properties of Gases came from the Chemistry Division, as did Merrill B. Wallenstein, the 

chief of the new Physical Chemistry Division. 

281 Annual Report, 1962: 84-85. 

282 Frederick D. Rossini, Donald D. Wagman, William H. Evans, Samuel Levine, and Irving Jaffe, Selected 

Values of Chemical ThermodYfUlmic Properties, Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Circular 500; February 1952. 

W. Reeves Tilley. chief of the Office of Technical Publications, relates that Circular 500 was so important 

that after it was out of print and no longer. available, an industry official asked Tilley to "name your own 

price" for a copy. 

421 
Hideo Okabe prepared equipment prior to the photolysis of deuterated ethane. 

greater precision, meaning and usefulness."283 By the end of 1964, this transfonnation 

was largely complete, although it was more evident in the Polymers Division than in 

the other two. 

There was no revolutionary change in the program of the Inorganic Solids Division 

(named the Mineral Products Division until 1962) but, as indicated by the transfer of 

the Concreting Materials Section to the Building Technology Division, management 

wanted the work to become more basic. The division would no longer have the responsibility for the huge cement testing activity, and the cement and concrete supporting 

research would henceforth be done in Building Technology. But, while there was no 

283 Annual Report, 1967: 5. 

422 
revolutionary change, there were an increasing number of examples of basic research 

carried out during the period. There was, first of all, the diamond anvil (produced, 

incidentally, with little or no encouragement from management) and its use to study 

the effect of pressure on the infrared spectra of solids, and in pressure-induced phase 

transformations. Other noteworthy efforts were: 

• The direct observation of dislocations in ceramics by transmission electron 

microscopy, now common and routine, but at that time an exciting new development, especially for ceramics. 

• The new analysis of experimental data which showed that configurational 

entropy is a criterion for glass transformation. 

• The study of single crystals, including methane as the simplest solid that 

shows a phase change; crystals of the rare gases, because they are the 

simplest solids known; and a program supported by ARPA on the methods of 

growth of crystals of inorganic materials. 

• The theoretical development of a computer-generated "random-network" 

model to get at the "statistical topology and geometry" of such materials as 

silica glass and water. 284 

• The production of glasses of unique morphology by bringing to critical 

opalescence glass compositions that show liquid-liquid separation, followed 

by rapid quenching, forming a random two-phase solid with both phases interconnected. 

Unquestionably the most elegant scientific development resulted from a study of 

internal friction by John B. Wachtman, who would, in 1968, become chief of the 

Inorganic Materials Division. In a material demonstrating this phenomenon, the application of a sinusoidal stress (or strain) results in a sinusoidal strain (or stress) response 

that is out of phase with the applied excitation. This behavior results from the fact that 

some mechanical energy is converted to heat, hence the friction in the name. Similar 

behavior is exhibited by dielectrics excited by a time-varying electric field, and the 

behavior is generally undesirable. 

For some materials, measurement of the internal friction over a wide temperature 

range at a constant frequency indicates a characteristic peak in the internal friction at a 

specific temperature, with this temperature being higher the higher the frequency of the 

excitation. In such materials, a relaxation time for the molecular process responsible 

for the internal friction may be defined as the reciprocal of the frequency at the peak. 

Numerous experiments show that the relationship between the temperature of the peak 

and the relaxation time follows an Arrhenius relationship, suggesting that whatever the 

molecular process, it is an activated one. The question in any given situation is, "What 

specifically is the molecular process?" 

284 Annual Report, 1963: 104. 

423 
Wachtman carried out a complete series of experiments on thorium oxide containing 

1.5 percent calcium oxide, a system that shows an easily observable internal friction 

peak. Now, in this material, the calcium ion replaces a thorium ion substitutionally, 

and because it has only one oxygen compared to thorium's two, an oxygen vacancy 

must perforce exist around the calcium ion. Indeed, there are eight lattice sites the 

vacancy can occupy. Without going into more detail, we can state that Wachtman 

showed that the molecular process responsible for the internal friction was the stressor electric field-induced motion of oxygen vacancies from one site to another. 2R5 Since 

in this movement the vacancy has to sunnount an energy barrier, this is the ·necessary 

activated process. He was able to show that the process occurred with a single relaxation time. In effect, the application of stress or an electric field changed the population distribution of vacancies between sites, and when the frequency of the rearrangement equalled the applied frequency of the applied excitation, a peak in the internal 

friction occurred. 2x6 

As thorough as these investigations were, they did not answer the general question, 

"What is necessary in a crystal containing defects for it to show internal friction?" In a 

series of papers, Wachtman and his associate H. Steffen Peiser were able to give a 

broadly applicable answer to this question. 2R7 They considered a perfect crystal and 

asked what would happen to the symmetry of various sites in the crystal upon the 

application of a homogeneous strain, and what would happen if a point defect were 

placed at these various sites. If such a defect were placed at either of two positions 

which were equivalent before straining, and were still equivalent in the strained crystal, 

no internal friction would result. If, upon straining, the two sites were no longer equivalent, then internal friction would at least be possible, for then it could be advantageous for the defect to jump from one position to the other, thereby changing the 

distribution of vacancies. It is possible, of course, that internal friction might not be 

seen because its magnitude might be too small. What had been derived was a necessary condition, not a sufficient one. 

From this simple, almost self-evident consideration of the change of symmetry of 

perfect crystals on straining came a set of rules for the occurrence of internal friction, 

and in a number of publications all 232 space groups were analyzed. The geometry. if 

not the physics, of the requirements for internal friction was finnly established. 

The Organic and Fibrous Materials Division (to become simply the Polymers 

Division in 1962) began to change its emphasis from products fonned from natural 

polymers (cotton, wool, silk, cellulose, natural rubber) to synthetic polymers. This 

trend continued so that by 1964 the principal focus of the division was on synthetic 

2KS J. B. Wachtman, Jr., "Mechanical and Electrical Relaxation in Th02 Containing CaO," Physical Review 

131 (1963): 517- 527. 

2K6 The relaxation time for dielectric relaxation was predicted-and found-to be twice the value of the 

mechanical relaxation time because only half the relaxation modes are operative. 

m J. B. Wachtman, Jr., and H. S Peiser, "Symmetry Conditions for Internal Friction Caused by Jumping of 

Point Defects in Crystals," Applied Physics Leiters I (1962): 20-22. 

424 
polymers. The actual research directions were toward crystallization phenomena, 

solution properties as background research for the preparation of two badly needed 

molecular-weight standards, adsorption and the study of polymers at surfaces, and the 

degradation of polymers. 

As already mentioned in the discussion of the Electricity Division, polymer science 

was revolutionized by the discovery that lamellar single crystals of polymers could be 

grown, and by evidence that such single crystals, along with an ,amorphous component, 

could exist in the solid state of those polymers that had the necessary regularity to 

crystallize at all. In the division program, these facts were used in attempting an explanation of bulk properties, led to studies of the kinetics of crystallization, and undergirded the study of single crystal fonns and habits of different polymers. For example, 

studies were carried out on the internal friction of polypropylene, as the degree and 

character of the crystallinity were systematically changed. A study of the lattice 

spacings in crystallization of copolymers showed that segments of the minority component were incorporated in crystals of the majority component, a result that was hotly 

contested at the time. 288 A comprehensive study of the crystallization of polypropylene 

from solution led to the detennination of exceptional crystal growth propagation 

characteristics exhibited by this polymer that were still the object of considerable 

research long after the Bureau had stopped working on them. 289 Of course, the 

Polymers Division scientists were in constant contact with the work going on in the 

Electricity Division. 

\In the area of Standard Reference Materials, the effort was devoted to the provision 

of standards for molecular weight-aside from chemical composition, the single most 

important property of polymers. Because synthetic polymers are mixtures of molecules 

of different lengths, their molecular weights are only averages, and for a fuller material 

specification, not only must the molecular weight be specified, the distribution of 

molecular weights must be given as well. There are three principal methods for the 

detennination of polymer molecular weights, all of them based on the behavior of 

polymers in solution: the detennination of the concentration distribution of a polymer 

solution in the enonnous gravity forces obtained in an ultracentrifuge, the scattering of 

light by polymer molecules in solution, and the osmotic pressure of polymer solutions. 

Each of these methods can be analyzed from first principles and yield scientifically 

accurate results (when perfonned properly). The problem is that they are exceedingly 

tedious to carry out. Practically all molecular weight detenninations in industry are 

made via the viscosity of polymer solutions, which is an easy and rapid measurement, 

but one with only an empirical relationship to molecular weight. Because of this state 

of affairs, industry had long requested that the Bureau provide a Standard Reference 

Material that could be used to calibrate these viscosity methods. Thus, in 1957 an ultracentrifuge was obtained and studies in sedimentation equilibrium were begun, along 

2H8 J. P. Colson, R. K. Eby, "Melting Temperatures of Popolymers," Journal of Applied Physics 37 (1966): 

3511-3514. 

289 F. Khoury, "The Spherulitic Crystallization of Isotactic Polypropylene From Solution: On the Evolution of 

Monoclinic Spherulites From Dendritic Chain-Folded Crystal Precursors," Journal of Research of the 

National Bureau of Standards 70A (1966): 29-6\. 

425 
with studies in light scattering and osmotic pressure. By 1964, two polystyrene SRMs 

were available, one with a narrow molecular weight distribution, and another with 

moderately broad distribution, and with average molecular weights of 180000 and 

217000 respectively. In later years, with advances in gel-permeation chromatography, 

samples with certified molecular weight distributions would be offered. 

In a different area, with support from the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, and spurred 

by the concern for the adhesion between glass fibers and the matrix in polymer-glass 

composites, the division in 1958 began a study of the adsorption of polymer molecules 

from solution. The results indicated that far more polymer was absorbed than could be 

explained by the polymer molecules lying flat on the surface. This result could be 

explained if polymer segments separated by bridges of dangling polymer chains were 

the units adsorbed. In effect, this meant that a solvent-swollen film of polymer lay on 

the surface, and the study of this film became important. To carry out this study, an 

instrument called an ellipsometer was obtained. The instrument measures the change 

in the state of polarization of light upon reflection from a surface, and from the measurement the optical constants of a film-free surface may be calculated. Further, if the 

optical constants of the surface are known, and if the surface is overlain by a dielectric 

film, the refractive index and thickness of the film can be determined-just what was 

needed for the polymer experiments. These did indeed show that the polymer was in 

the form of a swollen film, but the details of the situation depended on the polymersurface and polymer-solvent interactions. Nevertheless the results elicited quite a bit of 

attention, and a significant theoretical effort supported the experiments. For a number 

of years, the Bureau was a world center for this type of work. 

Equally important, the use of the ellipsometer was a significant part of other work. 

Jerome Kruger in the Metallurgy Division also used the ellipsometer in investigations 

on passive films in corrosion, and Theodore R. Young used it in work on the role of 

adsorbed films on the measuring surfaces of gage blocks used related techniques. The 

Bureau had become a center for such measurements, and a symposium with international participation on the use of the ellipsometer was held. The resulting proceedings volume was for many years the bible of ellipsometry for any scientist interested in 

the properties of surfaces. 290 

The program on degradation in the Organic and Fibrous Materials Division had 

many facets, and was mainly supported by NASA and various agencies of the DOD. 

The basic aim of the program was to determine the mechanisms of degradation 

and with this information try to synthesize more resistant polymers, or to design 

additives that would prevent degradation. Thermal degradation and degradation by 

radiation were of particular concern, the latter because of the space environment. In 

addition, radiation was used to try to synthesize high temperature elastomers based on 

fluorinated hydrocarbons. 

290 Ellipsometry in the Measurement of Surfaces and Thin Films, E. PassagIia, R. R. Stromberg, and J. Kruger. 

eds., Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Miscellaneous Publication 256; September 1964. 

426 
Jerome Kruger, metallurgist on the Bureau staff, demonstrated an ellipsometer to study corrosion reactions 

on the surfaces of metal single crystals. The instrument was on display during a two-day symposium on 

ellipsometry held at the Bureau in September 1963. 

One particular study, concerned with materials for missile and rocket nose cones, 

illustrates one of the more practical outputs. In this study, three different groups 

of polymers were subjected to pyrolysis up to 1200 °C. One group consisted of highly 

cross-linked materials such as epoxy resins, another of polymers that develop crosslinks by this temperature treatment, and a third which did not cross-link. The first 

two groups gave carbonaceous residues and low-molecular-weight volatile products, 

while the third group yielded only volatile products. The analysis of the results gave 

proof that the energy-absorbing capacity in thermal degradation is inversely propor~ 

tional to the molecular size of the volatile productst and also demonstrated that 

polymers that leave a carbonaceous residue and liberate gas at elevated temperatures 

generally give superior ablation resistance to the heat generated by re-entry to the 

earth's atmosphere in missile nose cones. 

427 
If the changes that occurred in the other materials divisions could be classified as 

evolutionary, then the changes in the Metallurgy Division were revolutionary, as befits 

a division that received a quite critical report from the first Kelly Committee. Simply, 

the division became one based on metal physics rather than one based on traditional 

metallurgy. The change began in 1957 when James I. Hoffman, himself a superb 

analytical chemist who had spent his career in the Chemistry Division, but was now 

acting as chief of Metallurgy, brought physical chemist Lawrence M. Kushner to 

Metallurgy from Chemistry to form a new section called Metal Physics. As explained 

in the Annual Report for 1957: "The objective of the [metallurgy] program has always 

been to increase both theoretical and practical knowledge of metals .... A new metal 

physics laboratory has been instituted to augment the theoretical work carried on" in 

the division. 291 It is clear from the designation of the new unit as a "laboratory" rather 

than a section that it was expected to grow beyond section size, and it is also clear 

from the subsequent history that "theoretical" meant "basic," and not only strictly theory, although that also flowered. 

A comparison of the sections in 1957 and 1964 shows the change in the nature of 

the work. In 1957 there were five sections: Thermal Metallurgy, Chemical Metallurgy, 

Mechanical Metallurgy, Corrosion, and Metal Physics. By 1964, the three metallurgy 

sections had coalesced into one called Engineering Metallurgy, and the Metal Physics 

Section had spawned three new sections: Crystallization of Metals, Alloy Physics, and 

Lattice Defects and Microstructure. Corrosion was still a section, but its program had 

changed dramatically, becoming far more basic than previously. The new division had 

a strong theoretical component, particularly in the areas of crystallization, diffusion, 

and dislocation theory. 

Organizationally the new section structure arrived with the major Bureau reorganization into institutes, but the programmatic changes occurred continuously from the 

beginning of the period. Corrosion research became primarily concerned with the 

growth of passive films. A great deal of the work was concerned with the growth and 

breakdown of these films. A long series of studies was concerned with single 

crystals-primarily copper and iron-and the difference in film behavior on the various 

prismatic surfaces of the crystal. One of the principal aims of the studies was the 

development of techniques for the study of passive films and, as already mentioned in 

the discussion of the Polymers Division, the corrosion scientists, under the leadership 

of Jerome Kruger, joined the polymer group to make the Bureau a leader in the use of 

ellipsometry for measurements on film-covered surfaces. 

Next to be implemented was the study of the growth of metal crystals from the 

vapor. Here the aim was to check existing theories of crystal growth. Experimentally, 

both crystals of normal habit and the perfect but microscopic needle-like crystals 

known as "whiskers" were studied. The reason for studying growth from the vapor 

was, of course, the ease of theoretical treatment, and because of the simple experimen-",-

tal situation. In vapor-phase growth the crystals are visible, whereas in growth from the 

melt they are not. But in 1964, experiments on the growth of high purity aluminum 

291 Annual Report, 1957: 51. 

428 
crystals by pulling from the melt were begun. Later this work would lead to important 

theoretical advances in studies of crystal form, known as morphological stability 

theory. 

In 1959 the division began a program on nuclear magnetic resonance of metals and 

alloys. This was the division's entry into quantum mechanics and the electronic 

structure of metals and how it changed on alloying. Measurements were concerned 

with the Knight shift, which is the normalized difference in nuclear resonance 

frequency between a given metal nucleus in a reference compound and in a metal or 

alloy. Caused by the paramagnetic susceptibility of the s-like electrons at the Fermi 

surface of the metal, which cause a magnetic field at the nucleus, it gives information 

about the electronic density of states at the Fermi surface in the metal, and can be used 

as a complement to traditional methods in the study of crystallographic structure and 

phase transformations. 

The study of electronic structure was reinforced in 1961 with the construction of a 

soft x-ray spectrometer, used to determine the density of electronic states throughout 

the whole conduction band and, in 1962, with a low temperature calorimeter, used to 

give the density of states at the Fermi level. The avowed ambitious aim of this whole· 

effort was to "contribute critical data for the eventual formation of a quantitative 

theory of bonding in metals and alloys.,,292 To further this provision of data, the 

division in 1966, with the help of the OSRD, began a center called simply the Alloy 

Data Center. In 1977 a massive four-volume compendium on Knight shifts, which gave 

a critical analysis of all the data in the literature at the time, was published. 293 

A third new effort, in diffusion, began in 1959 with the hiring of John R. Manning. 

The work was mostly theoretical. It was concerned with diffusion by vacancies and 

investigated such matters as vacancy flow in the presence of external driving forces, 

and correlations between atom motions. Experimental requirements led to the construction of an electron microprobe to measure the composition gradients in experimental 

diffusion samples. Due to the importance of diffusion to the science of metallurgy, an 

NSRDS data center, called simply the Diffusion Data Center, was opened in 1965. Its 

first publications were on diffusion in copper alloys, prepared with help from the International Copper Research Association. 294 

The final new effort was essentially electron microscopy coupled with x-ray diffraction. A great deal of the work was concerned with the direct electron microscopical 

observation of dislocations, a new capability eagerly pursued at the time in many 

laboratories. Beginning with the effect of dislocations on second phase precipitation 

292 Annual Report, 1961: 94. 

293 Gesina C. Carter, Lawrence H. Bennett, and Daniel J. Kahan, Metallic Shifts in NMR (Oxford: Pergamon 

Press, 1977). 

294 Daniel B. Butrymowicz, John R. Manning, and Michael E. Read, Diffusion Rate Data and Mass Transport Phenomena for Copper Systems, Part I (New York: International Copper Research Assoc., 1977), and 

Part II, 1981, with the same title but with Butrymowicz as the sole author. 

429 
(wherein the precipitate particles were initiated on dislocations) and the production of 

dislocations by plastic flow, the work developed into a study of stacking faults. These 

are caused in face centered cubic (FCC) metals by the splitting of a dislocation into 

two partial dislocations connected by a "stacking fault." This is a region of misfit 

between two crystal planes. The ultimate configuration is a strip of stacking fault with 

partial dislocations at its lateral edges, much like a street between curbs. The width of 

the fault increases as the energy of misfit between the atomic planes, or simply the 

stacking fault energy, decreases. Stacking faults are important since they have important effects on mechanical properties. 

In an FCC metal, the stacking fault corresponds to a layer of close packed hexagonal (HCP) crystal. Now, some alloys of copper, silver, and gold show a phase transition from FCC to HCP at a given concentration of the alloying constituent. It follows 

that at the phase boundary the stacking fault energy should go to zero. Electron microscope studies in silver-tin alloys, extending well beyond the period, were consistent 

with this reasoning. 295 Begun during a period when direct observation of dislocations 

was a new science, it was a forward-looking piece of work. 

Applied Mathematics 

The Applied Mathematics Division continued with its mission to carry out basic and 

applied research and to provide assistance and advisory services to the Bureau staff 

and other Government agencies. Much of the work was built around the use of computers, and the division had responsibility for the Bureau's computation laboratory, 

which provided computation service and technical assistance. This phase of its 

operation expanded during the period. Its IBM 704, obtained in 1957, was replaced in 

1962 with a 7090-140 1 system, with the 7090 in tum replaced by a 7094 in 1964. 

While most of its scientific work continued in the areas of numerical analysis, 

statistical engineering, and mathematical physics, the actual problems undertaken 

reflected the changing nature of science and Government programs. Thus, in mathematical physics for example, a considerable amount of work sponsored by NASA was 

done on the theory of satellite orbits. This project was concerned with the motion of a 

satellite around an axially symmetric, but oblate planet, an approximation to the actual 

figure of Earth. Ramifications included taking into account equatorial asymmetry. 

Plasma physics was another mathematical physics area where the Bureau had a larger 

program. Part of this work was supported by the Bureau and was concerned with the 

transport properties of plasmas interacting with a magnetic field. Another aspect, 

supported by NASA, was concerned with the use of plasmas for rocket propulsion, and 

included plasma dynamics and the study of plasma oscillations. 

" 

295 L. K. Ives and A. W. Ruff; Jr., "Extended Dislocation Nodes in a Silver-Tin Alloy," Journal of Applied 

Physics 37 (1966): 1831-1837; A. W. Ruff and L. K. I ves, "Stacking Fault Energy Determinations in Hep 

Silver-Tin Alloys," Acta Metallurgica 17 (1969): 1045-1055. 

430 
EffEtTS Of EARTH$' OBLATENE3S 

PLANE OF 

EQUATOR 

LINE OF 

NODES 

\ 

PERIGEE 

REGRESSION OF NODES 

NE OF APSIDES 

PROGRESSION OF 

LINE OF APSIDES 

APOGEE 

PERIGEE 

PERIGEE 

APOGEE COMBINED MOTION 

Previous efforts to calculate the effects of the earth's oblateness had used perturbation theory. In 1959, the 

Applied Mathematics Division at NBS devised a more direct approach to the problem which took into 

account the full oblateness of the earth at the very start of the calculation. (Courtesy of the National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration) 

New areas came not only from mathematical physics, but also from mathematics 

and from the existence of the computer. These new areas were operations research, 

combinatorial analysis, and machine translation. Both basic and applied research were 

carried out in operations research. In the basic effort, there were studies in game 

theory, graph theory, weapons simulation, Boolean functions, and mathematical models 

of distribution networks. U.S. Post Office operations was a continuing area of application where, for example, studies of distribution networks had the aim of optimizing 

the location of mail distribution centers. A considerable amount of work was devoted 

to defense problems, such as the analysis and simulation of missile system operation, 

of electronic countermeasures, and optimal radar site distribution. 

In mathematics, a new area of investigation was combinatorial analysis, the branch 

of mathematics concerned with the arrangement of finite sets of objects. It is essential 

in probability theory and in statistical mechanics. Us use was applied to the selection 

of the best pattern of linkages in transportation and distribution networks, in the 

determination of the most efficient method of encoding messages to provide automatic 

correction of transmission errors, and in the design of experiments to yield the 

431 
maximum amount of infonnation with the least effort. On a more theoretical note, the 

concept of abstract spaces was introduced into combinatorial analysis. 

The other new area, carried on from 1959 to the end of the period, was machine 

translation. The project was concerned with the translation of Russian into English. 

Featuring a Bureau developed system called "predictive analysis," in which a Russian 

word in a sentence predicts "certain other grammatical fonns, as transitive verb predicts an object," and a procedure called "profiling," by which clause or phase 

boundaries are recognized, the system was tested in 1964 with success as far as the 

limited amount of storage in the computer pennitted. Some progress had been made on 

this very difficult problem, but the project ended before complete success. 

At the very end of the period, the division acquired a new function. An Interagency 

Committee on Data Processing had been fonned in 1957 to serve as a forum for 

departments to discuss ADP problems of mutual concern and to serve as a medium 

for the exchange of infonnation. In 1962, the committee recommended the fonnation 

of an Advisory Council to advise the Bureau of the Budget (BOB) on "plans, policies, 

and guidelines for the ADP program of the executive branch.,,296 Astin, asked to 

appoint a member, named Samuel N. Alexander to the pOSt. 297 In 1963, the Council 

recommended the fonnation of a Computer Sharing Exchange (the Exchange) and 

Computer Service Center (the Center). In addition, the Bureau was recommended as 

the logical place to house the activity since it was already carrying out many functions 

of the same type. With some minor provisos, Astin accepted the assignment. 298 Acting 

quickly by means of Bulletin 64-9, January 2, 1964, the BOB announced the establishment of such an operation at NBS.299 Astin followed immediately with an announcement to heads of all executive departments and establishments on "Plans for Operation 

of an Experimental Computer Sharing Exchange and Computer Service Center.,,300 

Essentially, the Exchange part of the experiment was to facilitate the sharing of computers between Government organizations, and the Center part was the provision of 

actual computation. For the latter, the Bureau provided the facilities of the Computation Laboratory in the Applied Mathematics Division, placing .the Exchange and Center 

in that division, which had been carrying out nearly the same function for many years. 

It was nothing completely new, but Astin now had solid justification for it. 

2% Letter. D. E. Bell, Director, BOB, to A. V. Astin, October I, 1962. (RHA; Director's Office file; Box 

381; Folder Chrono. 1962) 

2'J7 Letter, A. V. Astin to D. E. Bell, October 18, 1962. (RHA; Director's Office file; Box 381; Folder 

Chrono. 1962) 

298 Letter, A. V. Astin to H. Seidman, August 21, 1963. (RHA; Director's Office file; Box 381; Folder 

CHRONO 7/63-12163) 

299 Executive Office of the President, Bureau of the Budget, Bulletin No. 64-9, January 2, 1964 . 

.'00 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to the Heads of Executive Departments and Establishments, "Plans for Operation of Experimental Computer Sharing Exchange and Computer Service Center," January 17, 1964. (RHA; 

Director's Office fi Ie; Box 381; Folder CHRONO 1/64-4164) 

432 
Data Processing 

One of the Bureau's "special central missions" that accrued to it during and after 

World War II, the Data Processing Systems Division (renamed Information Technology in 1964) was a direct outgrowth of the Bureau's computer program. It served 

"both as a central research and development agency and as a readily available source 

of technical information for other Government agencies. The advisory services 

strengthen the basic program, which ranges from research in components and systems 

to advanced work in new computer applications.,,30' Its work could be classified into 

four categories: the design and construction of new computers for special purposes; 

the study, analysis, and development of new components; the development of both 

general purpose computer programs and programs for specific purposes; and advice 

and assistance to other Government agencies. 

The computer construction work was a direct result of the experience of designing 

and constructing the SEAC and SW AC computers. By the beginning of the period 

SEAC was seven years old, still going strong, and used for research on computer components. Nevertheless, this phase of the division's work would gradually lessen because of the explosive growth of the computer industry. New computers were constructed, particularly PILOT -a fast computer built specifically for data processing 

problems encountered in such Government operations as air-traffic control and patent 

searching. Another such special computer, AMOS IV, was constructed for the Weather 

Bureau to use in processing sensor data in an experimental automatic weather station. 

It was the fourth in a line of computers built for special Weather Bureau programs. A 

third computer was a portable analog device built for the Army Signal Corps that 

could predict radioactive fallout for a selected locality after a nuclear explosion. 

The evaluation and development of components was a continuing activity. As early 

as 1957, transistors and solid state diodes were under active investigation for switching 

and other circuits. Memories were a constant source of study, and in a 1959 example 

of the work, the need for large random-access memories with read-write times of 

less than one microsecond led to the investigation of thin magnetic films as storage 

elements. By 1964, the computer field had exploded to the point where two staff 

members "were directed to maintaining current awareness of the latest components, 

devices, and circuit techniques.,,302 The work on components had developed into a full 

scale research effort, with studies on ultra thin ferromagnetic films, the quantitative 

analysis of thin film by x-ray fluorescence, and the simulation and characterization of 

tunnel diodes and epitaxial transistors. It was solid state physics applied to computer 

components. 

Two important general purpose computer programs-OMNIFORM I and 

OMNITAB-were produced during the period. The former, written by Joseph 

Hilsenrath of the Thermodynamics Group and Gerald M. Galler of the Computation 

Laboratory, was based on a general program for generating sixteen types of functions, 

and could generate tables of such calculations as anharmonic corrections for diatomic 

JOI Annual Report, 1960: 14. 

302 Annual Report, 1964: 184. 

433 
A view of the rotating m;lgnetic drum. the main storage unit of the AMOS IV computer. 

• 

• 

· • 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

molecules virial coefficients for nitrogen gas, and negative exponentials corresponding 

to certain atomic energy levels. The related OMNIT AB, developed by Hilsenrath, and 

Guy C. Ziegler and Philip J. Walsh of the Applied Mathematics Division, was a 

second generation general purpose program that pennitted the user to instruct the 

computer by using simple sentences with familiar English words, such as "multiply a 

by b." It was written primarily for persons who would nonnally carry out computations on a desk calculator and a multicolumned worksheet, but who did not use 

Fortran. The Statistical Engineering Laboratory adopted OMNIT AB and produced a 

number of publications. 

434 
Other special programs, generally developed with other Bureau scientists or for other 

agencies, included: 

• Rapid calculation of color differences. 

• Collaboration with the Patent Office to develop programs for the comprehensive search of chemical patent literature, and for general searching, but with 

emphasis on the mechanical arts. 

• Analysis of data on human heartbeats for the· Veterans Administration. 

• A program to produce a magnetic tape which could instruct a photocomposition machine under current development by the Merganthaler Linotype 

Company and IBM. Developed because of the the need to publish extensive 

tables of atomic transition probabilities, this program brought the division into 

contact with the emerging field of computer-driven typesetting. 

One of the rolls of 8 in wide photographic film positive from which printing plates 

were made for the Bureau's tables of experimental atomic transition probabilities. 

435 
A host of other agency projects were carried out, a number having already been 

mentioned. One of the most interesting was the formation with the National Science 

Foundation of a Research Information Center and Advisory Service on Information 

Processing in 1959. Located at the Bureau, the service was "designed to bring together 

research and development data on methods and equipment for the automatic processing 

of scientific information. ,,303 By 1964 it had collected 15 000 bibliographic references 

on information storage, selection, and retrieval. A few additional other-agency-funded 

projects in 1961 give a flavor of the work: assistance to the Bureau of Naval Weapons 

on problems of weapons-systems evaluation and test-range instrumentation of the 

Pacific Missile Range, studies of a future airtraffic control system for the Federal 

Aviation Administration (FAA), research for the Navy on computer methods for translating aerial photographic information into elevation profiles, and the development of 

a program for simulating municipal traffic flow by high speed computers for the 

Bureau of Public Roads. Unquestionably the biggest other-agency program was a 

continuing one with the Post Office Department on the development of methods for the 

most efficient handling of mail. 

Instrumentation 

What began in 1950 as a small office operating a program on instrumentation 

became a full scale division with five sections in 1960. This change was prompted by 

the transfer of the electronics experts from the Electricity and Electronics Division to 

form the technical staff of an Instrumentation Division. The Electricity and Electronics 

Division again became the Electricity Division, as it had been previous to the merger 

in 1953. The old Office of Basic Instrumentation became a true technical research 

division. 

As one phase of its operation, the new division developed instruments for specific 

purposes, primarily for other agencies. A few examples illustrate the nature of this 

work: 

• The development of automatic weather stations, under Navy sponsorship, to 

measure and broadcast meteorological information. and the installation of a 

chain of such stations in Antarctica. 

• The study of hygrometry and the development of new hygrometers. 

• The study of pressure and displacement transducers. A calibration service for 

these devices was provided. 

• An electronic scanning microscope for automatically scanning spectrographic 

plates. 

• FOSDIC (Film Optical Scanning Device for Input to Computers), the 

most famous of the devices invented by the division, was developed for the 

Census Bureau's 1960 decennial index. FOSDIC read responses collected 

during the census and converted them into electronic signals for direct 

input to the computer. Later versions were developed for the Weather Bureau, 

JOJ Annual Report, 1959: 6. 

436 
This ocean-based weather station developed by NBS automatically reported local weather data by radio. It 

could be anchored in a remote location and left unattended for as long as six months. 

the Office of Emergency Planning, the Department of Defense for its National 

Fallout Shelter Survey, again for the Census Bureau for its monthly collection 

of employment and unemployment statistics, and for NASA, for its conversion of personnel records to magnetic tape storage. This diversity in applications required new versions of the device, and by 1964 FOSDIC IV had been 

developed. 

Interesting and useful as these instruments were, perhaps more important was the 

more general research. In 1960 the new division recognized that modem instrumentation relied on electronic techniques, even when the initial measurement was not electrical but converted to electrical signals by speCialized sensors. The division announced 

an electronics program which included the investigation of materials used in "vacuum 

and semiconductor electron devices," and the ~~characteristics and capabilities of 

electron devices themselves."304 A large part of this program was the study of semiconductor materials, leading the division into applied solid state physics. Characterized 

by working with actual industrial materials, one of the first projects was a new 

,104 Annual Report. 1960: 100. 

437 
method for the measurement of minority carrier lifetimes in silicon, silicon carbide, 

and boron phosphide. The method was applicable in the millisecond lifetime range in 

small samples of arbitrary dimensions. This was followed by a study of the important 

problem of second breakdown in transistors, a failure mode of great concern to 

industry. No specific cause was found, but guidelines were developed for the mode of 

operation where such failure would not occur. 

Other studies were concerned with the contacts to semiconductors and, under sponsorship of the Bureau of Naval Weapons, standards and measurement methods for 

Hall effect devices. Such a standard developed by the Bureau was proposed to the 

International Electrotechnical Commission as an American standard. 

Perhaps the most important program in this area was begun in 1964 to improve the 

fundamental accuracy with which the electrical properties of semiconductors could be 

measured. Sponsored by ARPA, the program concentrated chiefly on the measurement 

of resistivity at room temperature, which industry indicated was their most important 

need. Various types of probes were investigated, concentrating on the effects of surface 

finish and on probe materials. The investigation was continuing. Indeed, it and its 

derivatives would continue for the remainder of this history. By contrast, the effort 

in basic semiconductor research carried out in the Atomic Physics and Analytical and 

Inorganic Chemistry divisions, which at this time was concerned with Ti02, would 

eventually be curtailed. 

The whole effort in this area of electronic materials was characterized by a close 

interaction between the Bureau, industry, and the voluntary standards system, particularly ASTM. The Bureau carried out its mission of providing measurement methods 

and data, and of working with the standards societies in ensuring the technical soundness of their standards. This phase of its work would have increasing importance. 

Central Radio Propagation Laboratory 

As befits an organization whose work was described by the second Kelly Committee 

as being "of the highest quality,,,305 there was no need for the character of the work 

of the CRPL to change. Nicely balanced between basic and applied work, between 

science and engineering, it changed as science developed, and it grew. In 1957 appropriated funds were $2.12 million,306 but increased to $4.28 million in 1964307 plus an 

approximately equal amount transferred from other agencies, primarily the military. 

Organizationally, in 1958 the laboratory had two divisions, Radio Propagation Physics 

and Radio Propagation Engineering. By 1964 it had grown to four, with field stations 

spanning the planet either directly operated, on contract, or cooperatively manned with 

other countries. 

The most famous program the laboratory was associated with in the period was the 

International Geophysical Year, of which we now give a brief account. 

305 Second Kelly Committee Report: 90. 

306 Appropriations Hearings for 1959: 412. 

307 Appropriations Hearings for 1965: 600. 

438 
The International Geophysical Year 

On July 1, 1957, as many as 20000 scientists from 67 nations began the International Geophysical Year (IGY), a concerted and coordinated study of the earth and its 

atmosphere. For eighteen months, until December 31, 1958, they were to make observations and measurements of the earth's interior, its crust, its oceans, its atmosphere, 

and its sun, in an effort to achieve a better understanding of mankind's home. Earlier 

concerted studies of this kind had occurred during the Polar Year of 1882-83 and the 

Second Polar Year, which began on August 1, 1932, they were dwarfed by the magnitude of the IGY effort. 308 

The idea for such a year appears to have occurred spontaneously in April 1950. 

British geophysicist Sydney Chapman, who had participated in the discovery of various 

layers of the ionosphere during the Second Polar Year, visited Washington. He and a 

number of other scientists visited the Silver Spring home of James A. Van Allen of the 

Carnegie Institution of Washington on what started out to be a social occasion. The 

group came to the conclusion that further advances in the earth sciences required an 

intensive coordinated worldwide effort. and that new instrumentation and techniques 

and the advent of rocketry made such an effort propitious. Their ideas were submitted 

to Lloyd V. Berkner, then president of the International Conference of Scientific 

Unions (ICSU), who warmly embraced the concept and pressed the effort. Seven years 

later the IGY began. 

The choice of the period July 1, 1957, to December 31,1958, was not arbitrary. A 

maximum in the eleven-year sunspot cycle was expected during this period, offering an 

unexcelled opportunity to study the effects of the Sun on the earth's atmosphere and 

climate with modem instruments and techniques. The ICSU invited all nations to 

participate, and forty-six accepted the invitation, twenty-one more would join later. 

Illustrating the growing technological capabilities of the period, the ICSU passed a 

resolution "urging that the participating nations study the possibility of launching 

artificial satellites which would [give] scientists their first sustained view of this planet 

from outside its atmosphere .... Both of the leading world powers had indicated their 

intention to launch such satellites.,,309 In fact, the United States planned on twelve 

satellites to be launched in conjunction with the IGY.31O It will be recalled that the 

sputniks were launched only a few months after the beginning of the IGY, and the 

U.S. satellite Explorer I shortly thereafter. 

Following a request from the ICSU, and with the concurrence of Congress, in March 

1955 the NAS appointed a committee to guide the national effort for the IGY, and to 

maintain liaison with the NSF, which administered the $39 million appropriated by 

308 An excellent account of the International Geophysical Year is given in three papers by Hugh Odishaw, all 

entitled "International Geophysical Year," (I) Science 127 (1958): 115-128; (2 ) Science 128 (1958): 1599-

1609; (3) Science 129 (1959): 14-25. 

3~ Walter Sullivan, "The IGY -Scientific Alliance in a Divided World," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 14 

(1958): 69. 

310 Senate Committee on Appropriations, International Geophysical Year: A Special Report Prepared by the 

National Academy of Sciences for the Committee on Appropriations of the United States Senate, 84th Cong., 

2d sess., 1956, S. Doc. 124: 17. 

439 
Congress for the effort. Called the United States National Committee, it was chaired 

by Joseph Kaplan, Professor of Physics from UCLA, and it had many parts: an 

Executive Committee, Committees on the Antarctic and the Arctic, Data Processing, 

a Continental Committee, and an Equatorial Committee. In addition, there were 

thirteen technical panels, ranging alphabetically from Aurora and Airglow to World 

Days. The Bureau was well represented on the committee. Alan H. Shapley of the 

Radio Propagation Physics Division was vice chainnan of the main committee and also 

served on three subcommittees, chairing two technical panels (Solar Activity and 

World Days). Hugh Odishaw was executive director of the main committee, having 

taken a leave of absence from the Bureau to join the NRC staff specifically for this 

purpose. Allen Astin and Director Emeritus Lyman Briggs were members of the main 

committee. A number of other Bureau staff members served on subcommittees and 

technical panels. 311 

While the Bureau's effort in the IGY was only a small fraction of its activities, 

involving only about 100 staff members, primarily from the Radio Propagation Physics 

Division of the CRPL, it nevertheless played a significant role in the whole IGY 

effort. 312 Its two aspects might be called support, or staff functions and, of course, 

research functions in those areas where it had special competence. In the support 

functions, it operated as a World Warning Agency. Since the IGY had been chosen to 

coincide with a period of maximum sunspot activity, the Sun was under visual, optical, 

photographic, photometric, and radio observation for every minute of the IGY. The 

World Warning Agency, located at the Bureau's Fort Belvoir, Virginia, radio forecasting center, received all these data from all over the world, and processed them to 

maintain a constant account of the state of the Sun. During any periods of unusual 

activity, alerts were sent to scientists all over the world. In particularly interesting 

cases, "Special World Intervals" were declared during which scientific observations 

throughout the whole world were accelerated. Indeed, one such interval was declared 

even before the IGY fonnally began. A major solar flare was observed on June 28, 

1957, two days before the official start of the IGY. The arrival on Earth of the particles associated with solar flares creates immense electrical disturbances in the earth's 

ionosphere. with radio signals being absorbed rather than reflected. thereby blacking 

out long range radio communication. Immediately on receipt of the news of the flare, 

an Alert was announced, and eight hours later, a World Interval was declared. Observations on the ionosphere, the Northern and Southern Lights, and the earth' s magnetic 

field were intensified, and balloons and rockets were sent up to measure ultraviolet 

emissions, x rays, and cosmic rays. Observations, some by rocket, showed that a new 

layer of ionization was produced some twelve miles below the nonnally lowest point 

of the ionosphere, which remained otherwise undisturbed. 3\3 

311 Ibid. This document gives a complete listing of all the parts of the committee and their membership. "The 

International Geophysical Year," Technical News Bulletin 39 (1955): 139, gives a listing of all Bureau representatives on the various parts of the committee . 

.lI2 D. M. Gates, "Preliminary Results of the National Bureau of Standards Radio and lononspheric Observations During the International Geophysical Year," Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 

630 (1959): 1-14. 

m Odishaw, "International Geophysical Year," Science 127 (1958): 115. 

440 
Kent D. Boggs of NBS, one of the IGY World Warning Agency forecasters, entered 

solar data on a globe representing the Sun. The white chalk circles showed the location 

and size of sunspots. 

The other support function was the operation of a data center. For the storage of the 

raw data accumulated during the IGY, three data centers had been instituted, 

labeled A, B, and C. Data center A was operated by the United States, with eleven 

sub-centers; center B was in the Soviet Union, with two sub-centers; and center C, 

with nine sub-centers, was operated by several European and Pacific Ocean nations. 

The Bureau operated a sub-center devoted to airglow and the ionosphere. The principal 

function of the centers was to store and index the data they received from all over the 

world, and to make them accessible to research workers. 

The Bureau's scientific efforts were naturally concentrated in those areas in which it 

had the greatest research interests and competence. The most intensive effort was in 

the study of the ionosphere. The Bureau normally operated twenty sounding stations, 

441 
Reels of 35 mm film were kept in a humidified storage vault at the NBS Boulder Laboratories, forming a large part of the data cataloged and stored as the IGY World Data 

Center A for Airglow and the Ionosphere. Frances Stryker was photographed returning 

a reel to the rack. 

but during the IGY it operated thirty-four, either directly or in cooperation with other 

nations. 314 The interest was in the study of the ionosphere in the region of the equator, 

for which a closely spaced chain of sounding stations (operating on a fifteen-minute 

314 The customary way of studying the ionosphere is by a process called "sounding," in which radio signals 

are sent vertically upward from a pulsed transmitter while slowly sweeping the radio frequency. A signal is 

reflected from the ionosphere when the frequency of the signal and the electron density in the ionosphere are 

appropriately related. Thus by observing the echoes from the ionosphere, it is possible to map out the electron density of the ionosphere as a function of the height. Based on such studies, the ionosphere is customarily divided into four layers: D (the lowest), E, F I , and F2 (the highest), although the layers overlap. It is this 

reflecting ability that makes long-range radio communication possible. 

442 
cycle) was instituted; the measurement of electron density profiles along the seventyfive degree meridian, from essentially the equator to Fort Monmouth in New Jersey; 

and vertical incidence sounding at five stations in Antarctica, where for the first time 

studies were made over either of the two poles. Surprisingly, these showed that there 

was a weak diurnal variation during the polar winter. 

Another area of interest was the propagation of VHF signals in the Far East. It was 

known that propagation by the sporadic E layer315 of the ionosphere was enhanced 

more in this area of the world then in comparable regions in the Western Hemisphere. 

Hence comparable propagation circuits were established in both hemispheres. Studies 

showed that the sporadic E enhancement was indeed greater in the eastern circuit, but 

that the F region also contributed. 

Other areas of interest to the Bureau workers were the comparison of the propagation of VHF signals in the Far East and those in the Western Hemisphere; VHF 

forward scatter in the equatorial regions, which had never been studied systematically; 

the study of radio noise by a special network of IGY stations which showed that local 

conditions were important in determining the noise level; and airglow observations, 

where one of the attempts was to determine if there was any relation between this 

phenomenon and the aurora, with undecided results. Finally, there were some satellite 

observations. Within twelve hours of the announcement of Sputnik I, workers for the 

CRPL had modified existing pieces of equipment to receive the 20 MHz and 40 MHz 

signals from the satellite. By setting up interferometers at these frequencies, the "radio" 

direction of the satellite could be obtained and compared to the visual direction. Differences in these two directions could be attributed to refractive index gradients in the 

ionosphere at the radio frequencies, and thereby giving an idea of the structure of the 

ionosphere which could be compared to the sounding data. Similar and more extensive 

studies of this type continued with other satellites. 

The CRPL participation in this type of international program did not end with the 

IGY. In 1964-1965, the IGY was followed by the International Year of the Quiet Sun 

(lQSY), chosen because the Sun was expected to be in a quiet phase. The interaction 

of the CRPL with this new program was much the same as it had been for the IGY, 

and consisted of coordination and direction of ionosphere and airglow projects, operation of a Western Hemisphere Radio Warning Service, and operation of the World 

Data Center-A for Airglow and Ionosphere. 

*** 

There is perhaps no better way to illustrate the development of the CRPL program 

than its interaction with the Nation's space activities. The interaction was of two 

types: the use of rocket and satellite capabilities to carry out CRPL's own programs, 

and the provision of data and consultation for other parts of the Nation's program. 

The utilization of space capabilities employed rockets and satellites to study the 

ionosphere from above-for sounding in the downward direction. The problem is that 

ground-based sounding cannot measure the electron density above the height of its 

maximum (approximately 300 km). Pulses that penetrate this region are not reflected, 

315 This is a portion of the E layer that appears and disappears intermittently. 

443 
Four-stage Javelin rockets were used to carry instrurnentation above the ionosphere in 

suborbital tests of topside-sounding satellite payloads. 

but are lost to space. To study the ionosphere above this height, soundings need to be 

taken from above. hence the name "topside sounder.,,316 

Both rockets and satellites were used for this purpose. All launchings and flights 

were, of course, under the control of NASA. First, two Javelin rockets were launched 

from Wallops Island to a height of approximately 1000 km, the first on June 24, 1961, 

and the second on October 3 of the same year. With the aim of testing the system 

316 w. Calvert, R. W. Knecht, and T. E. Van Zandt, "Ionosphere Explorer I Satellite: First Observations from 

the Fixed-Frequency Topside Sounder," Science 146 (1964): 39\-395. 

444 
that would be used later on satellites, the first rocket obtained pulse reflection for 

thirteen minutes. The second also worked flawlessly, and it detected local ionization 

irregularities about 20 km in diameter' and an east-west spacing of 1 km to 30 km. 

The flight data also yielded infonnation that led to a modification of the instrumentation. 

The next experiment was not really a Bureau effort, but a Canadian one. This was a 

top-sounding satellite named Alouette I, launched September 29, 1962, which gave a 

considerable amount of new data, with the CRPL participating in its analysis. But the 

experiment was not completely satisfactory. The sounder was a swept-frequency device 

which required eighteen seconds per sweep, during which time the satellite moved 

130 km, hence the technique was unsuited to studying irregularities in the ionosphere. 

The final experiment was Ionosphere Explorer 1 (also called Ionosphere Explorer A, 

$-48, Fixed Frequency Topside Sounder Satellite, TOPSI, 1964 51 A, and Explorer 

XX), which took soundings at six fixed frequencies. With a time of only 0.105 seconds 

between successive soundings at the same frequency, the satellite moved only 

800 meters between readings, making it much more suitable for studying lateral ionospheric irregularities. Like Alouette I, it was in a nearly circular orbit approximately 

1000 km high with an inclination of 79.9°, so that it could study the ionosphere from 

the tropics to the arctic regions. It began yielding infonnation from the start. 

Not only did the CRPL use space technology to further its own program, it provided 

NASA with advice and consultation on communications problems. In a 1962 study 

begun before President Kennedy's announcement of a planned lunar landing, it 

provided infonnation to help plan communications between points on the lunar surface, 

predicted the power required, and analyzed ground-proximity losses and noise sources. 

During the Project Mercury flights of astronauts Walter M. Schirra, Jr., and L. Gordon 

Cooper, special hourly forecasts of radio propagation conditions were issued for the 

high frequency circuits that comprised the ground communications network. And 

during the period between orbital flights, forecasts were issued weekly with daily 

updates as necessary. All of this was done to ensure reliability of communications in 

obtaining data from the astronauts and spacecraft equipment, and telemetering it to 

tracking stations and the Mercury Control Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The 

CRPL was in a central position to assure reliable communications for the space effort. 

Cryogenics 

As its name implies, the Cryogenic Engineering Division was a fully integrated 

engineering laboratory. Begun as a means of producing liquid deuterium for the hydrogen bomb, it became an essential part of the Nation's missile and space programs, 

concerned with all the problems involved in the production, transport, and use of the 

cryogenic liquids-primarily hydrogen and oxygen-that were crucial for those 

programs. Indeed, it was the sole supplier of those liquids in the early days. But it also 

provided measurement methods, data, and equipment design for science and the 

Nation's fledgling cryogenics industry. As an engineering laboratory, it was interested 

in producing things, not merely studying them, and as an integrated laboratory it 

developed the scientific and engineering background infonnation necessary for the 

445 
effort. Its work can be classified into four categories: materials, processes, equipment 

and instrumentation, and production of cryogenic liquids. 

Materials studies were concerned with materials of construction, materials for sensing elements, and with the cryogenic liquids themselves. A long series of studies addressed the mechanical properties of stainless steels at temperatures as low as that of 

liquid helium, approximately 4 K. Chosen for their ductility at these low temperatures, 

some alloys showed the formation of the embrittling martensite phase upon storage and 

cycling to the low temperatures. However, detailed studies showed that the resulting 

two phase structure was quite well behaved mechanically. 

One set of studies on sensor materials was concerned with thennocouples. Because 

thennocouples used at these low temperatures can be affected by heat conduction, the 

thennal conductivity of a gold-cobalt alloy widely used in such thennocouples was 

measured down to 4 K, which pennitted the errors caused by conduction to be 

estimated. To round out the project, the temperature-emf relationship for this same 

alloy against copper and silver-gold alloys was detennined down to 20 K for these 

widely used thennocouples. While no substitute for the platinum resistance thennometer, these thennocouples were much easier to use and provided an uncertainty of 

about 0.1 K, which was sufficient for most engineering purposes. 

Cryogenic insulation was, of course, a constant concern. In 1959 a new insulation 

consisting of a laminate of alternate layers of aluminum foil and thin fiberglass batt or 

paper, provided a ten-fold improvement over the customary powdered insulation when 

properly handled and applied. Cryogenic liquids also received considerable attention. 

The PVT relationships for para-hydrogen over the temperature range 20 K to 100 K at 

pressures up to 350 atmospheres were detennined, tables of thennodynamic functions 

computed, and dielectric constants and viscosity detennined-all essential design 

properties for the use of liquid hydrogen in rocket propulsion systems. 

Later in the period some of the work changed from this intensively applied character 

and became very basic. Thus, investigations were carried out on the superconducting 

energy gap in thin films, and experiments were underway in 1964 on the the Fenni 

surface of niobium which, alloyed with tin, fonns a high-field, type II superconductor. 

A number of processes peculiar to cryogenics were under constant investigation. 

Fluid flow, important for the design of flow meters, received considerable attention. 

For cryogenic liquids, flow is complicated by the fact that both liquid and vapor are 

generally present. This causes "choking" (or, in automotive parlance, "vapor lock") at 

constrictions such as valves, which greatly limits the flow rate. Idealized theoretical 

solutions for predicting the upper and lower limits for such flow were obtained and 

could be used as broad design guides. Refrigeration was another process under 

continuous investigation, and notably led to the development of an expansion engine 

rotating at 9000 revolutions per second to 10000 revolutions per second. The 0.3116 in 

diameter turbine, which could be held in the palm of the hand, could produce 200 W at 

21 K to 30 K, and 8 W at 4 K. In heat transfer, a problem develops when a very cold 

surface is exposed to the atmosphere, as occurs in vaporizers, uninsulated transfer lines, 

air dryers, and missile tanks. In such cases, frost fonns, and studies on the frost fonnation and heat and mass transfer on such surfaces were carried out. Wind velocity, temperature, and humidity of the atmosphere on a surface at a temperature of 77 K were 

446 
investigated. An interesting conclusion was that condensation which takes place in the 

boundary layer, but does not contribute to frost formation, is important in heat transfer. 

It is not surprising to find an engineering division producing equipment. In fact, the 

division worked on pumps, bearings, transfer systems, containers, magnets, couplings, 

pressure transducers, flow meters, storage and transport equipment, and a liquid hydrogen bubble chamber. This equipment was produced primarily for the military missile 

programs and the civilian rocket and satellite programs, and included such items as 

a truck transport vehicle for 6000 gallons of para- hydrogen, and a distillation column 

for separating liquid hydrogen and deuterium. Perhaps most notable was the assistance 

provided to the University of California Radiation Laboratory in the construction 

of a liquid hydrogen bubble chamber to be used in fundamental particle high-energy 

physics. Successfully operated in 1958, the 72 in chamber contained 550 L of liquid 

The 72 in liquid hydrogen bubble chamber at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. (Courtesy of Lawrence 

Berkeley National Laboratory) 

447 
hydrogen, and a Bureau-designed hydrogen refrigeration system provided continuous 

cooling and temperature control. Unlike the rest of the division's output, this was a 

direct service to fundamental science, rather than to engineering programs. Another 

notable program somewhat out of the mainstream for the division at that time was 

in magnets. Here the aim was to produce very-high-field magnets for use in particle 

accelerators in high-energy physics, in magnetohydrodynamics studies, and for 

plasma containment in nuclear fusion reactors. Two routes were available, one via 

high-field superconductors, and the other via cryogenically cooled normal-metal 

magnets. In the former area, in collaboration with the Metallurgy Division, a magnet 

wound with niobium-clad superconducting Nb3Sn wire produced in the Metallurgy 

Division was built and produced fields up to 190000 gauss (19 tesIa). It was a precursor of what would become standard magnet technology. The other route 

In 1'963, scientists at NBS helically wound alternate layers of aluminum foil and capacitor paper to form the 

coil of a high-field cryogenic magnet. This photograph shows slabs (center front) that were cut from the 

cylindrical coil, machined to a smooth surface (center rear), and etched with sodium hydroxide (right) to 

prevent metallic short-circuiting at the edges of the turns. Fourteen such slabs, stacked alternately with 

polyester separators (left), were connected in series by copper wires. The separators provided electrical insulation and channels for liquid hydrogen cooling medium. 

448 
led to the production of a solenoid magnet using aluminum as the conductor. Made up 

of a stack of "doughnuts" formed of aluminum foil separated by paper, the magnet was 

cooled by liquid hydrogen and produced a field of 70 000 gauss (7 tesla) in a hole 

cavity 3 in in diameter and 8 in long. It was an impressive achievement, but such technology would be superseded by the superconducting magnet. 

The division operated a production plant that produced cryogenic liquids shipped 

throughout the whole Nation. The peak production was in 1959 when the division 

produced 280 000 L of liquid para -hydrogen, 1 200 000 L of liquid nitrogen, and 

4800 L of liquid helium, about half of which was air-shipped to Washington for use in 

the free-radicals program. With the ending of that program and the expansion of commercial production, this phase of the division's activities began to decrease. By 1963 

all the liquified gases used in the Boulder Laboratories were procured from commercial 

sources; none was produced by the division. However, the helium liquefier was maintained in a standby mode in view of the uncertainty of commercial availability. The 

liquid hydrogen plant was still used for research purposes, but the liquid nitrogen plant 

was declared surplus. While any ending is sad, there was the consolation that it was 

the success of the division's program that ran it out of the cryogenic liquid business. 

Finally, we should mention another important part of the division's activities. In 

1958 it began a Cryogenic Engineering Data Center, which periodically published 

compendia of data and bibliographies. In 1962 it began emphasizing thermophysical 

properties, and in 1964 it became part of the recently-formed NSRDS. From input to 

output, the division was a complete operation. 

Building Research 

As a central agency in the Government for the advancement of knowledge in the 

building sciences, the Building Technology Division, renamed the Building Research 

division in 1961, carried out a broad program on building systems, components, and 

materials. From plumbing systems to roofs, from concrete beams to heat pumps, 

from thermal insulation to asphalt, there was hardly a portion of building science not 

covered by its work. During the period most of the work was a continuation of that 

done from 1950 to 1957, but there was one important new phase. In 1960, the cement 

testing program was moved from the Mineral Products Division to the Building 

Technology Division, along with the associated research on cement. There concrete 

was added to the testing function, and the study of cement and concrete became the 

single most intensively studied area in the division's total program. Some of the work 

was, indeed, on the basic side. For example, in a study of how the cement-aggregate 

bond in concrete was affected by shape and chemical factors, polished aggregate 

specimens of various materials were partly imbedded in cement and the shear strength 

of the bond determined. In another area, the study of crack growth in concrete beams 

indicated that fracture mechanics could be applied to the problem. 

449 
A test setup at NBS for loading reinforced concrete beams, A number of beams were 

loaded to failure to study the redistribution of stress as the beams cracked. 

Another area that received considerable attention was the measurement of thermal 

conductivity in thennoelectric materials used for direct conversion of heat energy to 

electricity. Here the work was concerned with developing new methods of measure:A 

ment and providing specimens of the right shape and size to be used as thermal 

conductivity reference standards for investigations of solid semiconductor materials. 

Thus, in 1960, an apparatus using small specimens (0.5 in by I in diameter discs) was 

developed for determining the steady-state thermal conductivity of semiconducting 

materials. In 1963 a new method of measurement using radial heat flow was devel ~ 

oped. Thermal conductivity reference standards over a range of conductivities and 

temperatures were made available through the Standard Reference Material activities. 

As in the previous period. asphalt was a material of continuing study. A particularly 

interesting result showed that the asphaltene fraction (the dispersed phase) of asphalt 

carries a positive electric charge and shows electrophoretic mobility when suspended in 

nitromethane. However, attempts to correlate electrophoretic mobility with durability 

were unsuccessful, indicating that the polar bonding forces had little effect on this 

important property. 317 

317 Annual Report, 1963: 189; J. R. Wright, R. R. Minesinger, "Velocity-Depth Relationship in Microelectrophoresis Cell for Asphaltenes in Nitromethane:' Journal of Colloid Science 18 (1963): 802-804. 

450 
Joseph J. Loftus placed specimen container and firebrick support in a muffle furnace for firing. This was one 

step in the procedure developed at NBS for measuring the potential heat of materials in building fires. 

Fire was, of course, an important part of the division's program, with studies of the 

fire hazards of common combustible materials, of fire retardants for fabrics, of the 

mechanisms of fire extinguishment, of surface flammability, and of the potential heat 

of materials in building fires. 

Two other projects show directions in the development of fire research. In the first, 

the electron attachment coefficient of gaseous flame-inhibiting agents was studied. 

Coefficients considerably greater than that of oxygen were observed for twenty-three 

halogenated hydrocarbon agents. A qualitative correlation with flame inhibition was 

found. but electron attachment was not a sufficient condition for flame inhibition since 

some substances with high coefficients showed no flame inhibition. 3lR 

318 T. G. Lee. "Electron Attachment Coefficients of Some Hydrocarbon flame Inhibitors," Journal of Physical Chemistry 67 (1963): 360-366. 

451 
Finally, there was a project in the area of structural endurance in fires. In it, James 

V. Ryan and Alexander F. Robertson attacked the problem of finding a criterion for 

the onset of collapse of a structure in a fire, i.e., the condition at which a test assembly 

exposed to a fire fails to sustain the applied structural load. In a concise and straightforward way, they provided an analysis and a simple load-failure criterion for floors 

and beams based on both a limiting deflection and a limiting rate of deflection. 319 

While not extensively used in the United States, this criterion has been adopted rather 

widely elsewhere. 32o 

.119 J. V. Ryan and A. F. Robertson, "Proposed Criteria for Defining Load Failure of Beams, Floors, and Roof 

Constructions During Fire Tests," Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 63C (1959): 

121-124 . 

.120 Daniel Gross, private conversation. 

452 
CHAPTER FIVE 

TECHNOLOGICAL TRIUMPH: SOCIAL TURMOIL, 1964-1969 

THE VIETNAM AGONY 

When Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson assumed the presidency after John F. 

Kennedy's assassination, he inherited Vietnam. In 1963, the South Vietnamese were 

assisted by 16 000 Americans acting as "military advisors" or conducting "combat 

support" missions. Americans were already dying; seventy-seven died in that year.' 

However disturbing the situation, Johnson felt that he could not disengage. As he was 

later to say, "if I left that war and let the Communists take over South Vietnam, then I 

would be seen as a coward and my nation would be seen as an appeaser and we would 

both find it impossible to accomplish anything for anybody anywhere on the entire 

globe."2 While the president did not want to be called a coward untrue to Kennedy's 

commitment, he also feared deeply that Vietnam might escalate into a third world 

war.3 Johnson thus began a forced-step by forced-step, start-and-stop escalation of 

the war. 

Johnson took the first major step on August 2 and 4, 1964, in the Gulf of Tonkin. 

There, in international waters, three North Vietnamese patrol torpedo boats fired on the 

American destroyer Maddox. The president ordered reprisal bombing of North Vietnamese patrol boat bases and oil depots. At Johnson's request, the Congress passed a Joint Resolution on August 10 that approved and supported "the determination of the 

President, as Commander in Chief, to take all necessary measures to repel any armed 

attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression."4 The 

resolution, a tacit declaration of war, was passed with a House vote of 414-0 and a Senate vote of 88-2. The Congress was solidly behind the president. Early in 1965, 

communist insurgents in South Vietnam—known to themselves as the National 

Liberation Front but derisively referred to as the Viet Cong—attacked a U.S. Air Force 

barracks at Pleiku, killing 8 American soldiers and wounding 126 others. Johnson 

resumed bombing and committed U.S. ground troops to fight. Thus began a cycle of 

battles, bombing halts, ignored proposals for peace conferences, and resumptions of 

bombing. The targets and scale of the bombings were personally chosen by the 

president, who was inhibited by the possibility of provoking Chinese or Soviet 

retaliation. Troop strength was increased periodically. By the end of 1965 American 

James MacGregor Bums, The Crosswinds of Freedom: From Roosevelt to Reagan—America in the Last 

Half Century (New York: Vintage Books, 1990): 390-391. 2 Johnson quoted in Doris Keams, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream (New York: Harper & Row, 

1976): 252. 

Kearns, Lyndon Johnson: 253. 

4ioint Resolution To promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia, U.S. 

Statutes at Large, 78(1964): 384. 

453 
troop strength was 180 000. It rose to its maximum of almost 550 000 troops by the 

end of 1967. 

In April 1965 the undercurrent of protest that had been present since the beginning 

of American involvement in Vietnam became a rushing torrent. Tens of thousands of 

young people, along with intellectuals, teachers and entertainers, came to the Nation's 

capital to picket the White House and march to the Washington Monument for songs 

and speeches protesting the war. Similar marches by large and small groups were 

occurring ever more frequently throughout the Nation. Coupled with these anti-war 

protests were student revolts against university administrations. Anti-war demonstrations, sit-ins, and teach-ins took place at many of the Nation's finest educational 

institutions. Unrelated to the Vietnam War but even more destructive were riots that 

took place in the black sections of the Nation's largest cities. In the hot July of 1964 

major riots broke out in Harlem and Brooklyn and then spread to Rochester, Jersey 

City, Paterson, Chicago, Cleveland, and Philadelphia. In August 1965 the predominantly black Watts section of Los Angeles erupted into six days of rioting and arson.. 

In July 1967 riots in Detroit killed forty-three people; a situation so serious that 

President Johnson was forced to call out the 18th Airborne Corps. In the words of Paul 

Johnson, "large-scale riots by blacks in the inner cities became a recurrent feature of 

the Sixties, in sinister counterpoint and sometimes in deliberate harmony with 

student violence on the campuses."5 The self-immolations at the Pentagon and outside 

the United Nations building, and the tragic events on the campus of Kent State 

University, where rookie soldiers fatally shot students who had vandalized the ROTC 

building, epitomized the chaos. Together, the triple stridencies of war protest, rebellion 

against racial discrimination, and student unrest—all catalyzed and heightened if not 

caused by aversion to the war—sounded a shrill note in the second half of the decade. 

The revolt against the war was not confined to anti-war activists. Noted columnist 

Walter Lippman turned against the Johnson policy. Martin Luther King broke with the 

president, calling his own Government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world 

today."6 Antagonism spread to the halls of Government. Senator Richard Russell of 

Georgia and lawyer/statesman Clark Clifford, both formerly close to the president, now broke with Johnson and his policies. In Congress, Senator Fulbright, who had 

guided the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution through the Senate, became a strong opponent 

of the war. 

In February 1968, in the midst of this turmoil, the Viet Cong and the North 

Vietnamese Army attacked. In an operation called the Tet Offensive because it came 

during the normally festive and peaceful Lunar New Year celebration, or "Tet," more 

than one hundred cities in South Vietnam, including Saigon, Hue, and Khe Sanh, were 

attacked. The attackers achieved early success, but after a month of bitter fighting, the 

United States and South Vietnamese defenders regained all lost ground and inflicted 

Paul Johnson. Modern Times: The World From the Twenties to the Nineties (New York: HarperPerennial, 

1992): 646. 6 King quoted in Barbara Tuchman, The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam (London: Cardinal, 1990): 

426. 

454 
huge losses on the enemy forces. It was a serious loss for the Viet Cong, and they 

were thought to be essentially finished as a fighting force. National Security Advisor 

Walter W. Rostow said, "The other side is near collapse." But the mere fact that 

the North Vietnamese forces could mount such an attack gave them a psychological 

victory. The prevalent media perception was aptly expressed by Walter Cronkite, who, 

having gone to Vietnam to see the results of Tet, was said to have declared, "What the 

hell is going on? I thought we were winning the war!"8 

The Tet offensive occurred at the beginning of an election year, and less than a month later the New Hampshire primaries were held. The vigorously anti-war Senator 

Eugene McCarthy entered the presidential race and in the primary garnered 42 percent 

of the vote. This was an amazing achievement against a sitting president, particularly one as politically skilled as Johnson. The president won the majority of the votes, but 

McCarthy won the headlines. It was Johnson's own Tet.9 Sensing Johnson's weakness, 

Robert F. Kennedy entered the race. 

On March 31, 1968, President Johnson took to the airwaves to announce a unilateral 

halt to naval and air bombardment above the 20th parallel and to call for peace talks. 

Historian James MacGregor Burns, aptly describes what happened next: 

Then, as his listeners stared speechless at their television screens, the 

President said at the end of his talk, 'I shall not seek, and I will not accept, 

the nomination of my party for another term as your President.' He had 

had enough, he told Doris Keams later. He was being stampeded from all 

directions—' rioting blacks, demonstrating students, marching welfare 

mothers, squawking professors, and hysterical reporters.' Then the thing he 

had feared most—Bobby Kennedy back in the fray, embodying the Kennedy 

heritage. '° 

Yet only three days after Johnson's speech, to the surprise of everyone, Hanoi 

announced that it was ready to meet with U.S. representatives to begin preliminary 

negotiations. Talks did begin, but they were about "where to hold the talks, about 

protocol, about participation by South Vietnam and the NLF [Viet Cong], about seating 

and even the shape of the table." The United States maintained its bombing halt 

above the 20th parallel, but the fighting continued, killing 14 000 Americans in 1968.12 

As if to underscore the mindless suicidal tenor of the times, two calamitous assassinations occurred in quick succession. Less than a month after Johnson's speech, Martin 

Luther King was shot by escaped convict James Earl Ray. Riots exploded in cities 

and towns across the Nation. Heaviest hit was Washington D.C., which experienced 

700 fires and 10 deaths. Then, in early June, after speaking out against violence, 

James Trager, The People's Chronology: A Year-by-Year Record of Human Events From Prehistory to the 

Present (New York: Holt, Reinhart & Winston, 1979): 1119. 8 Burns, The Crosswinds of Freedom: 411. 

"Ibid., 412. 

'°Ibid., 413. 

"Tuchman, The March of Folly: 448. 12 Ibid. 

455 
Robert Kennedy was shot while leaving a Los Angeles hotel. As he took what was 

presumed to be the safer route through the kitchen, he was killed by a bullet from the 

pistol of a disaffected Jordanian-American, Sirhan Sirhan. 

Later that summer at a stormy Democratic nominating convention, young war 

protestors fought pitched battles with the Chicago police. These demonstrators were perhaps more intent on disrupting the proceedings than on forcing the nomination of 

their chosen candidate, George McGovern. Despite their agitation, the moderately 

liberal Vice President Hubert Humphrey was nominated. The Republican candidate was Richard Nixon. Aided by the third-party candidacy of Alabama Governor George 

Wallace, who siphoned off almost 14 percent of the vote, Nixon won the election with 

31.8 million votes as compared to Humphrey's 31.3 million. It was a meager victory, 

but Nixon was the new president. Vietnam was now his problem. 

A SPATE OF LEGISLATION 

In comparing his feelings toward the Great Society with those for his inherited 

Vietnam problem, President Johnson told biographer Doris Kearns, "If I left the 

woman I really loved—the Great Society—in order to get involved with that bitch of a war on the other side of the world, then I would lose everything at home. All my 

programs. All my hopes to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless. All my dreams to 

provide education and medical care to the browns and the blacks and the lame and the 

poor."3 Although he did become more and more deeply involved with "that bitch," 

Johnson did not entirely desert his beloved. During his administration, laws were 

passed that permanently changed the social and political landscape. Some of those laws 

also had a direct impact on the National Bureau of Standards. 

In his first year, Johnson saw the Food Stamp Act of 1964 passed and he skillfully 

guided the epochal Civil Rights Act of 1964 through Congress followed by the equally 

important Voting Rights Act of 1965. In the same year, Congress passed a momentous 

group of Johnson's proposals—the Social Security Amendments of 1965 (Medicare), 

the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the Higher Education Act of 

1965, and the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965—and also created the 

National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities. The Child Nutrition Act of 1966 

followed and later in 1968 the Handicapped Children's Early Education Assistance 

Act. 

Throughout the Johnson administration environmental concerns were constantly 

addressed by periodic amendments and revisions of the "Clean Water" and "Clean Air" 

acts. The most important of these came in the 1965 with the Motor Vehicle Air 

Pollution Control Act, which gave the Government the authority to control emissions 

from motor vehicles. 

In this spate of legislation there now arose a new theme that was to have important 

consequences for the Bureau's program. The theme was consumer protection. Of 

course, the Federal Government had a long history of protecting the economic and 

Johnson quoted in Kearns, Lyndon Johnson: 251. 

456 
physical safety of consumers. In 1872, Congress made it a crime to use the mails to 

defraud the public, and in 1887 the Interstate Commerce Commission was formed to 

regulate interstate carriers: railroads, barges, buses, and trucks. Most notable among 

this class of laws was the Pure Food Act passed in 1906 to regulate food, drugs, 

medicines and liquor. In support of this act, specific language in the Department of 

Agriculture's appropriations law allowed the Bureau of Animal Industry to regulate the 

cattle and other livestock industries. Catalyzed by the publication of Upton Sinclair's 

dramatic novel The Jungle, with its exposure of horribly unsanitary conditions in the 

Chicago stockyards, these laws were the first to protect consumer health. 

However, between those early years and the New Deal years, there was little progress in consumer protection. In 1911, the Supreme Court ruled that the 1906 Pure 

Food Act did not prohibit false therapeutic claims. In 1912 Congress responded by 

passing the Sherley Amendment, which specifically forbade such deceptions. Other 

notable events during this period were the establishment in 1914 of the Federal Trade 

Commission (FTC), formed to prevent unfair or fraudulent trade practices, and the 

Food, Drug, and Insecticide Administration in 1927. Later known simply as the Food 

and Drug Administration (FDA), this agency took over the administration of the Pure 

Food Act from the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Chemistry. During the New 

Deal years, under the advocacy of Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Rexford G. 

Tugwell, consumer protection in the sphere of food and drugs again became an issue. 

The main point of contention between manufacturers and advocates of consumer 

protection was the prohibition of false advertising. Consumer advocates wanted advertising held to the same standards as package labels. However, their legislative 

proposals went nowhere until jurisdiction over advertising claims was transferred from 

the FDA to the more cooperative FTC, and until 107 persons died tragically from 

taking a solution of sulfanilamide in the poisonous diethylene glycol, advertised as an "elixir." These two events set the stage for the passage of the Federal Food, Drug, and 

Cosmetic Act in 

Although there were two consumer protection laws passed in the early fifties—the 

Flammable Fabrics Act in 1953, and the refrigerator safety devices legislation in 1956 

requiring safety devices on household refrigerators—new consumer-protection legislation did not arise as an important issue until the early sixties. Then, partly as the result 

of a more complex marketplace with new, unknown, and dangerous products, and 

partly, one can hypothesize, as the result of the emergence of an affluent society 

whose members had the leisure to be concerned with such issues, consumer protection 

became good politics. Thus, in 1962, President Kennedy sent to Congress a consumer 

message enunciating four "consumer rights": the right to safety, the right to choose, 

the right to be informed, and the right to be heard. This initiated a custom of yearly 

presidential consumer messages that lasted well into the Nixon years. Kennedy also 

formed the Consumer Advisory Council as part of the Council of Economic Advisors, 

composed of persons outside the Government. President Johnson made this council 

Mark V. Nadel, The Politics of Consumer Protection (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Memll, 1971): 16-19. 

457 
part of the President's Committee on Consumer Interests, composed of high-level 

Government officials and designed to coordinate consumer issues in the Government. 

It was headed by a special assistant to the president, a newly created post first 

occupied by Esther Peterson. Consumer interests were now represented at the highest 

levels of the Executive Branch. 

Consumer advocacy was not limited to the president. In the Congress, a number of 

members—all northern Democrats—also became advocates. Senators Philip Hart, 

Warren Magnuson, Joseph Montoya, Gaylord Nelson, Walter Mondale, Paul Douglas, 

William Proxmire, and Abraham Ribicoff, and House members Thomas Foley, 

Benjamin Rosenthal, Richard Ottinger, Harley Staggers, Leonor Sullivan, and Neil 

Smith all became champions of consumer causes.'5 

In 1964 legislation was passed that required vehicles purchased by the Government 

to pass certain passenger safety standards. However, in order to make consumer 

protection an important congressional issue, a "breakthrough" was needed. In a manner 

reminiscent of the events that occurred sixty years earlier with the publication of The 

Jungle, Ralph Nader catalyzed the Nation's interest in automobile safety with the 

publication of Unsafe At Any Speed in late 1965. Nader's book identified known 

design flaws in automobiles as the cause of traffic accidents. When it was learned that 

General Motors was investigating Nader's personal life, the book became a best seller. 

Both houses of Congress, which had been holding hearings on automobile safety, 

quickly joined forces and passed the important National Traffic and Motor Vehicle 

Safety Act of 1966.16 The act gave the secretary of commerce authority to set minimum safety standards for automobiles, including standards for brake fluid and tires. On 

the same day, the Highway Safety Act of 1966 was also passed. 

As if flood gates had been opened, a rash of new consumer safety legislation was 

passed in the next few years: 

• The Department of Transportation Act in 1966 established the department, took 

over all transportation safety regulatory authority, and formed the National 

Transportation Safety Board, which was given authority to investigate all transportation accidents and report recommendations to the secretary of transportation. 

Its members would become fixtures in the investigation of aircraft accidents. 

• The Clinical Laboratories Improvement Act of 1967 required that laboratories be 

licensed and operated in accordance with standards designed to assure consistent 

performance of accuracte laboratory procedures and services. 

• The Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 provided for Federal safety standards for the transportation of natural and other gas by pipeline and for pipeline 

facilities. 

• The Fire Research and Safety Act of 1968 amended the Organic Act of the 

National Bureau of Standards and authorized a fire research and safety program. 

• The Child Protection Act of 1966 banned hazardous toys and articles intended 

for children, and other articles so hazardous as to be dangerous in the household. 

'5lbid., 108-109. 6 Ibid., 137-143; National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, U.S. Statutes at Large 80, (1966): 718. 

458 
Ralph Nader, consumer advocate, 

critic of automobile safety standards, 

and author of Unsafe A: Any Speed, sat motionless in Washington traffic 

in 1970. (AP-Wide World Photos) 

• The Child Protection and Toy Safety Act of 1969 expanded the 1966 law and 

included mechanical, electrical, and thermal hazards. 

• A Joint Resolution on November 20, 1967, established the National Commission 

on Product Safety. 

• The Flammable Fabrics Act, amendment of 1967 amended and extended the 

Flammable Fabrics Act of 1953. 

• The Radiation Control for Health and Safety Act of 1968 reduced the exposure 

of the public to all unnecessary hazardous radiation from electronic prodicts. 

These laws showed a widening Government concern for consumer protection. 

Whereas previous legislation had been primarily concerned with foods, drugs, and 

cosmetics, the new laws were concerned with a wide variety of products, from toys 

and apparel to motor vehicles. And old areas were not overlooked. In 1967, the 

Wholesome Meat Act was passed, followed in 1968 with the Wholesome Poultry Products Act. Both stiffened existing laws. 

Finally, the Government interest was expanded beyond safety to economic protection 

with the passage in 1966 of the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and in 1968 of the 

Consumer Credit Protection Act, which required the disclosure by the lender of all 

costs associated with repayment of loans. While the total effect of these consumer laws 

did not match the momentous impact of the medicare and civil rights acts, they formed a notable part of the Great Society and initiated new duties for NBS. 

459 
TECHNOLOGICAL TRIUMPH AND 

While thousands watched in person and millions more watched via television, on Wednesday, July 16, 1969, at 9:32 a.m. EDT, Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape 

Kennedy. Carrying astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., and Michael 

Collins, Apollo 11 was launched in an attempt to achieve President Kennedy's goal of 

"landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth." After a flawless threeday journey, the command ship and its attached lunar module went into orbit around 

the moon. Eleven orbits and some twenty-two hours later, Armstrong and Aldrin 

crawled into the spidery lunar module. On the twelfth orbit they separated the lunar 

module from the command/service modules. The astronauts made another orbit in the 

lunar module and then began their descent to the Sea of Tranquility. At 4:17 p.m. 

EDT on Sunday, July 20, 1969, Armstrong announced to mission control, "Houston, 

Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Six hours later, while millions throughout the world stared captivated at the somewhat fuzzy television images, Armstrong 

descended the lunar module's ladder, stepped onto the powdery surface of the moon, 

and uttered the now-famous words, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for 

mankind." Twenty-one and a half hours later, after emplacement of a U.S. flag and 

scientific equipment, the astronauts blasted off the Moon. Docking with the orbiting 

command/service modules was readily accomplished, and two and a half hours later a course was set for home. Splashdown took place on July 24 at 12:50 p.m. EDT—eight 

days and three and a half hours after launching. It seemed too easy. 

THE RISE OF RELEVANCE 

When President Johnson took office, science was in its glory years. Funds for 

research were plentiful and science stood high in the eyes of policy makers and the 

general public. Between 1956 and 1966, helped of course by the sputniks and the 

"space race," Federal Government funds for research and development, grew from 

$17.3 billion to $40 billion in constant 1982 dollars. This whopping increase meant an annual average growth rate over those years of 9.8 percent. While not increasing as rapidly, industrial support for R&D over the same period nearly doubled—from 

$1 1.9 billion to $21 billion, for an annual growth rate of 6.5 percent. The total funding, which included university and non-profit funds, reflected these figures, increasing 

from $29.8 billion to $62.6 billion, or an annual growth rate of 8.6 percent. The 

figures for basic research are even more dramatic. For the same period, Federal 

Government support of basic research showed an average growth rate of 18 percent. 

Industrial support of basic research grew by an annual average of 5.5 percent. It was 

the continuation of a trend started at the end of World War II. Everything seemed rosy 

for science and technology. 

However, the trend did not last long. In the next ten years things changed drastically. Between 1966 and 1976, Federal Government R&D expenditures (in constant 

dollars) decreased from $40 billion to $31.8 billion, yielding a growth rate over those 

years of negative 2.5 percent. While not quite so drastic, total U.S. funding also 

dropped. Industrial funding, while not dropping, slowed significantly to an annual 

460 
growth rate of 3.3 percent. Funding specifically earmarked for basic research mirrored 

these results.'7 It was as if the brakes had been suddenly applied to a speeding truck. 

What happened? 

Public support for science dwindled during the decade 1966-1976 for a complex set 

of reasons. A review of the decade, however, suggests that three forces dominated the 

crunch on Federal support of science and technology. One issue was the enormous 

financial drain of the Vietnam War. A second was a gradual fading in the public 

perception of science as a panacea for social ills. A third force could be characterized as "show me that your science has a rapid payoff." 

Since the end of World War II, before things changed in 1966-1967, science had 

been in ascendancy. It was generally viewed as a benevolent activity, very helpful if 

not crucial to the social and economic well-being of the Nation. Furthermore, according to a commonly accepted belief the key to the productivity of science was basic 

research. Basic research, it was thought, would provide the "advances that would sus- tain the pace of inventions and applications."8 But there could be a long lead time 

between basic advances and the resulting benefits, and few institutions could make 

such a long-term investment. The one organization with sufficient resources and time was the Federal Government. Hence the Government needed to be the principal 

supporter of basic research. And the Government had its own needs for science, panicularly in the military and in space, so it would also carry applied research and development. These basic research, applied research, and development activities were viewed as more or less automatically leading to new products and better lives for us all. 

Who was to decide what basic research to carry out? The prevalent view was 

expressed in 1959 by a White House panel on high energy physics: 

It is not possible to assign relative priorities to various fields of science. 

Each science, at any given time, faces a critical set of problems that require 

solutions for continued growth. Sometimes these solutions can be acquired at 

little cost; sometimes larger expenditures of funds are needed. Hence the cost 

may not reflect the relative value but rather the need. Each area must be 

funded according to these needs.'9 

And what is to determine the size of the research budget? Speaking before Congress 

in 1964, Lee A. DuBridge stated, "It is adequate when, and only when, every competent research scholar in our universities is finding adequate support for the research 

program he is able to carry out."2° 

'7National Patterns of R&D Resources: 1987 (Washington, D.C.: National Science Foundation, 1988). The 

changes are more startling than described above. Funding generally rose until 1967, then dropped to a minimum in 1975. The figures for those years makes the changes seem more dramatic than for the equal 

ten-year periods chosen, but do not affect any conclusions. 8 Bruce L. R. Smith, American Science Policy Since World War 11 (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings 

Institution, 1990): 36. 

D. S. Greenberg, "Money for Research: LBJ's Advisers Urge Scientists to Seek Public Support," Science 

156 (May 19, 1967): 920. 20 DuBridge quoted in Greenberg, "Money for Research": 920-92 1. 

461 
When Johnson assumed office in 1963, this "bottoms up" model in which new 

advances welled up out of the laboratories of researchers pursuing their own scientific 

ends, controlled only by peer pressure and peer review, seemed to have worked quite 

well. The Nation was the unquestioned technological leader of the world; its industrial 

productivity far surpassed that of any other country. 

With the expansion of the Vietnam War came austerity and divisions within the 

society at large that carried severe consequences for the scientific community. The cost 

of the war was an enormous drain on the Treasury. Faculty and student protests against 

ROTC units and military research on campuses led to a split between liberals and 

conservatives in the scientific community. In-house dissent was matched by the 

layman's disenchantment with science. Books like Rachael Carson's Silent Spring and 

Ralph Nader's Unsafe At Any Speed convinced many that science did not automatically 

lead to beneficial results. 

These changes had a profound effect on President Johnson. He was reputed to have 

"cursed the 'draft dodgers' who hide in graduate school while seeking advanced 

science degrees.. . and [to have] 'hit the roof' when George B. Kistiakowsky, who 

served as science advisor to former President Eisenhower, severed his long-standing 

advisory ties with the Defense Department in protest over Vietman [sic]."2' A politician to the core, the president could not understand the attitude of scientists who took 

Government funds for research and at the same time criticized the policies of his 

administration. He had problems with which he needed help. He had a war to fight and a Great Society to build in the midst of burning cities, protest demonstrations, and 

campus unrest. Why could not science be directed to solve these problems? He made 

his feelings clear when, on October 15, 1966, speaking at the dedication of the 

Institute of Medicine, he stated, "A great deal of research has been done. . . . But I 

think the time has now come to zero in on the targets to get our knowledge fully 

applied. .. . Presidents, in my judgement, need to show more interest in what the 

specific results of medical research are during their lifetimes, and during their 

administrations."22 

The new position of science was forcefully articulated by Donald F. Hornig, who 

had been appointed science advisor by Kennedy and served throughout the whole 

Johnson Administration. Speaking before the American Physical Society on April 26, 

1967, he said: 

The scientific community is going to have to learn to articulate its hopes, 

to describe the opportunities which are before us for practical advance, to 

express the excitement of the new intellectual thrusts—but to do these in 

terms which the American people, who are expected to pay the bill, will 

generally understand and have faith in. There is no alternative.23 

21 Philip M. Boffey, "The Homig Years: Did LBJ Neglect His Science Adviser?" Science 163 (January 31, 

1969): 454. 22 Johnson quoted in Smith, American Science Policy: 75. 23 "Hornig on Research Policy: Public Understanding Essential to Scientific Progress," Science 156 (May 5, 

1967): 629. 

462 
Donald F. Homig was appointed science advisor to President Kennedy and remained in 

that position throughout the Johnson Administration. In this photograph (1966), Hornig 

(left) reported to President Johnson on his recent visit to Europe. The Europeans had 

acknowledged a "technological gap" between that continent and the United States. 

(UPlICorbis-Bettmann) 

While implying no decreased interest in basic research, Hornig continued, "We are determined that the knowledge and understanding we have gained from science will be 

put to use to meet the needs of our people and the world as expeditiously as possible... . To this end the Federal Government supplies research and development funds 

where the results are technically feasible and economically or socially worthwhile."24 

Two years later, DuBridge, appointed science advisor by President Nixon, had much 

the same message: 

The day is past when scientists and other scholars can sit quietly in their 

ivory towers unaware of and unconcerned with the world outside their laboratories. Science is now a part of society, is a part of politics, is a part of the 

social and economic system. Scientists must carefully ponder the relevance of 

their work to the problems of human beings, and they must ponder the ways 

in which this relevance can be clearly explained to the public at large.. 

The members of Congress are apparently not convinced that the continued 

growth and virility of basic science in this country is essential to the national 

interest, and to the national welfare."25 

24 Ibid. 25 DuBridge quoted in Robert Reinhold, "Scientists Urged to Stay Relevant," New York Times, November 2, 

1969. 

463 
It was not only the administration that determined the new course for science funding. The Congress took action as well. In complementary bills, Congressman Emilio Q. 

Daddario and Senator Edward M. Kennedy introduced legislation to revise the charter 

of the National Science Foundation. The two bills were combined and signed into law 

by President Johnson on July 8, 1968. The most important new authority given to the 

NSF was to conduct applied as well as basic research. The crucial phrases read, "the 

Foundation is authorized to initiate and support scientific research, including applied 

research, at academic and other nonprofit institutions. When so directed by the 

President, the Foundation is further authorized to support, through other appropriate 

organizations, applied scientific research relevant to national problems involving the 

public interest."26 In response to this, the Foundation formed the Interdisciplinary 

Research Relevant to the Problems of our Society Program in 1969. A new era of 

scientific relevance had begun. 

In the midst of these tribulations, new and important advances were made in all the 

fields of basic science and in technology as well. In astronomy, for example, Arno A. 

Penzias and Robert W. Wilson discovered background radiation that had filled the 

universe since about 300 000 years after the "big bang," when matter and radiation were decoupled. Now cool, the radiation corresponded to a temperature of about 3 K, as predicted by theory. Penzias and Wilson's discovery occurred in 1964. Two years 

later, Raymond Davis, Jr., opened a "neutrino observatory" deep in South Dakota's 

Homestake gold mine. With a telescope that consisted of a 100 000 gallon tank of 

perchloroethylene, the instrument was designed to detect neutrinos by their conversion 

of chlorine-37 to argon-37. 

In biology, Charles T. Caskey, Richard E. Marshall, and Marshall Nirenberg showed 

in 1967 that "identical forms of messenger RNA are used to produce the same amino 

acids in bacteria, guinea pigs, and toads, suggesting that the genetic code is a universal 

system used by all life forms."27 

Two massive installations were established to study particle physics. On the West 

Coast, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center went into operation in 1965, and in 

Batavia, Illinois, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory was established in 1969. 

In theoretical particle physics, Steven Weinberg, Abdus Salam, and Sheldon Glashow 

independently showed how two forces, the weak and the electromagnetic, could be 

unified. Called the electroweak theory, it offered insight into the fundamental laws of 

nature. 

The premier technological accomplishments came as part of the space race. Step by 

carefully planned step, the United States worked its way to Apollo 11 and the moon 

landing. While never landing a man on the moon, the Soviet Union preceded the 

United States in some of the forerunner experiments. Both nations sent several space 

probes to Venus, and the United States sent two Mariner probes close to Mars. All were examples of technological virtuosity. 

26National Science Foundation Act of 1950, amendments, U.S. Statutes at Large, 82 (1968): 361. 27 Alexander Hellemans and Bryan Bunch, The Timetables of Science (New York: Simon and Schuster, 

1988): 554. 

464 
Yet while these space spectaculars were dramatic and newsworthy, other space 

advances were of more immediate use to the public. In 1965, an Early Bird satellite 

went into synchronous orbit around the earth, and real time communication between all 

points on earth was at hand. Then an Environmental Science Services Administration 

(ESSA) weather satellite went into polar orbit so that all parts of the globe could be 

observed. Weather patterns and their movements were to become a constant feature of 

television news broadcasts and their prediction of severe weather conditions were to 

add considerably to public safety. 

In 1969 a development occurred that strikingly extended the capabilities of the 

normal research laboratory. In that year the scanning electron microscope became a practical laboratory instrument. A new dimension was added to the views of the 

microscopic world. 

TOWARD A NEW LEADERSHIP 

As its institute structure was put in place in early 1964, NBS was in the middle 

of a period in which its direct appropriations grew substantially. The Bureau had also 

significially increased the amount .of basic research it was performing and, most 

importantly, had enriched its staff with new, vigorous scientist-leaders. Now it could 

look forward to busy years for the remainder of the decade with an impressive array of 

tasks before it. It had to learn how to manage a new organization and to develop it into a smoothly functioning entity. It had to complete the construction of its new home in 

Gaithersburg and the relocation of all of its Washington laboratories. Since the formation of the institutes, it had already acquired a new set of functions and would acquire 

more. In the introduction to the 1965 Annual Report, Director Astin labelled the 

Bureau "An evolving institution." He wrote: 

The exponential growth of U.S. scientific and technological activity has 

increased the Bureau's workload in measurement and related fields many 

fold. At the same time, several new responsibilities have recently been 

assigned to it. 

Among these are: • To serve as the focal point within the Federal Government for stimulating 

the application of science and technology to the economy.... 

• To set up and operate the National Standard Reference Data System.... 

• To establish and expand a Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information. 

• To set up and operate a central technical analysis service to conduct costbenefit studies for our own, and other Commerce bureaus and Federal 

agencies on request. 

• To establish a central and major Government resource in the automatic 

data processing field.... 28 

28 Annual Report for 1965: 2. 

465 
In combination with its traditional activities, these new functions—all dictated within 

the Executive Branch and some by the Bureau itself—would have filled the Bureau's 

plate to overflowing. But then, from the Legislative Branch came a whole new set of 

mandates—mostly concerned with public safety—that would sorely strap the Bureau's 

abilities to carry out their demands. These were the National Traffic and Motor 

Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, the Fire Research 

and Safety Act of 1968 (a law sought by the Bureau), the flammable Fabrics Act, 

amendments, the Standard Reference Data Act (also sought by the Bureau), the Metric 

System Study, the Federal Property and Administration Services Act of 1949, amendment (the Brooks Act) in 1965 to include automatic data processing equipment, and 

the Radiation Control for Health and Safety Act of 1968. The Bureau, which since 

1901 had basically lived with one piece of authorizing legislation, was now involved in 

carrying out the dictates of eight new laws. 

During the period covered in this chapter, the Bureau decreased in size. In 1965 the 

Central Radio Propagation Laboratory, a part of the Bureau for twenty years, was transferred to the Environmental Science Services Administration, although the CRPL 

continued to occupy its quarters in Boulder. By the end of the period, all of the 

old-guard leaders, who had been with NBS since before World War II and had guided 

it through those trying war and post-war years, had retired from the Bureau. They were replaced by a new, equally dynamic set of younger leaders. It was truly a time of 

evolution for the institution. 

BUDGET, PERSONNEL, AND MANAGEMENT MATTERS 

In the years 1966 to 1976, Federal research and development budgets showed a re- versal from the healthy increases experienced in the immediate post-sputnik years. A 

peak in overall Federal R&D expenditures occurred in 1966-1967, and funding (in constant dollars) then decreased until 1975. This was not the case for the Congressional 

appropriation for NI3S. While not increasing at the high rates of the early sputnik 

years, its appropriation continued to increase in the period 1964 to 1970. However, 

there is more to this increase than meets the eye. 

Total Congressional funds to NBS, in constant 1972 dollars, increased for the period, except in 1966. The decrease in 1966 was not a per capita decrease because it was occasioned by the divestiture of the CRPL. Figures for an analysis of the Bureau's 

support are shown in Appendix A, Table 3•29 The table gives four columns of figures 

for the years 1961-1970. The first column is the Research and Technical Services 

(RTS) appropriation in current dollars. This is the appropriation allowed by the 

Congress for the Bureau's base program. It does not include such items as the special 

foreign currency program, the short-lived Civilian Industrial Technology (CIT) 

program, or other special programs. 

29 These figures are taken from the Annual Reports. 

466 
It also does not include income produced by the sale of Standard Reference Materials 

(SRMs) or from calibration charges. The second column lists the same figures in 

constant 1972 dollars.30 The third and fourth columns give other appropriated and nonappropriated funds available to the Bureau and do include special foreign currency, 

CIT, Federal agency and non-federal funded research and development, calibration, and 

SRM income, etc., in current and constant 1972 dollars, respectively. 

All the columns show a precipitous drop between 1965 and 1966, but this decrease 

is illusory and has only to do with the divestiture of the CRPL. While total Federal 

funds for research were showing a decrease, the Bureau was receiving an increase in 

real inflation-adjusted dollars, at least for inflation as measured by the GNP. 

That the story is made somewhat more complex by the employment figures for the 

period as shown in Appendix A, Table The five columns shown are: Full-Time 

Permanent (FTP); Other Staff which includes post doctoral associates, summer help, 

part-time employees, temporary employees, and consultants; Total Paid Staff, which 

includes FTP and Other Staff; Research Associates and Guest Workers; and Total NBS 

Staff. In 1965 total employment reached 4793, approximately the same as the Bureau's 

previous high achieved during the Korean War before the divestiture of the ordnance 

work. The present high also occurred just before a divestiture, but in this case, the total 

personnel decrease was slightly over 650 as compared to the 2000 of the ordnance 

divestiture. 

Most interesting is the number of FTP employees—the core of the Bureau's staff. 

After showing a rise of 525 between 1962 and 1965, followed by a drop of 433 upon 

the divestiture, there was a steady decline of about 200 employees over the next five 

years, while other paid and non-paid workers showed small increases. That this should 

happen when the Bureau appropriations were increasing at slightly over the inflation 

rate implies that the inflation rate for science was greater than in the general economy. 

However, it was during this period that, in order to decrease spending in the Government, controls were placed periodically on hiring, total permanent employment, average grades, and expenditures such as travel. These controls affected mainly the size of 

the full-time permanent staff and came at a time when the Bureau was receiving a host 

of new responsibilities. It was not a good trend for long-range institutional health.32 

Data for the conversion to constant 1972 dollars are from the Economic Report of the President Transmitted to the Congress, February 1998. 

These figures are taken from the Annual Reports. 32 Three documents among many others illustrate the nature of these controls: (I) Memorandum, A. V. Astin 

to Institute Directors, Associate Director for Administration, and Manager, Boulder Labs, "Moratorium on appointments and promotions to the GS-14 and higher grade levels," December 19, 1964. (NIST RHA; 

Director's Office; Box 381; Folder 11/1/64—12/31/64); (2) Memorandum, I. C. Schoonover to Institute 

Directors, Associate Directors, Division and Office Chiefs, "Freeze on Employment," October 4, 1966. 

(NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 380; Folder Chrono File, Sept. & Oct. 1966) This memo begins: "As 

most of you know the President has directed agencies to hold employment in full-time permanent positions for the remainder of fiscal year 1967 to a level at or below that prevailing as of July 31, 1966." 

(3) Memorandum, A. V. Astin to J. H. Hollomon, "Employment Versus Ceilings," January 15, 1968. (NIST 

RHA; Director's Office; Box 386; Folder Chrono File 1/1/68—2/28/68) 

467 
When the institutes were formed in 1964, In C. Schoonover became deputy director 

of the Bureau, Robert D. Huntoon became director of the Institute for Basic Standards 

(IBS), Donald A. Schon became director of the Institute for Applied Technology 

(IAT), and C. Gordon Little remained head of CRPL. The Institute for Materials 

Research (IMR), however, had no director, although Schoonover acted as one. But 

Bureau management had a plan and a candidate. The plan was to bring in a senior 

person, well-established and well-known in the materials community, as director for a stay of a few years to get the new institute established and recognized. The candidate 

was Gordon K. Teal, at the time assistant vice president and international technical 

director of the semiconductor electronics giant Texas Instruments. Teal had been with 

Texas Instruments for eleven years and had built up a strong research capability, 

producing the first commercial silicon transistor and a chemical reduction process for 

the production of ultra-pure silicon. He had come to Texas Instruments from Bell 

Telephone Laboratories where he had produced the first high-quality single crystal 

germanium for use in transistors and, with Morgan Sparks and William Shockley, 

developed the junction transistor.33 Astin and Patrick E. Haggerty, president of Texas 

Instruments, exchanged correspondence, and on December 12, 1964, Teal was appointed director of IMR.34 Teal stayed three years and, during his tenure, built up a 

cohesive and renowned group. He also brought back Howard E. Sorrows from Texas 

Instruments as his special assistant. Sorrows, who began his career at NBS in 1941, 

would have great influence on Bureau management. 

Bringing the new Bureau organization under control was to prove more taxing than 

the hiring of Gordon Teal had been but was to bring to the surface a cadre of new, 

young leaders. In due course, they would take over the leadership of the Bureau. A 

long series of personnel moves began when, in the spring of 1966, Schon announced 

his intention to resign his position as director of IAT effective July 1, to head a new non-profit organization that would study innovation.35 John P. Eberhard, who had been 

IAT deputy director, was elevated to director, and Lawrence M. Kushner, another of 

the young Bureau leaders, left his position as chief of the Metallurgy Division to become Eberhard's deputy. With the departure of Teal at the end of 1967, another duo of 

young leaders arose. On January 2, 1968, Huntoon was reassigned from his position as director of lBS to chief of the Office of Program Development and Evaluation.36 

Ernest Ambler, of parity fame, was appointed director of IBS, and polymer scientist 

National Bureau of Standards press release, December 12, 1964. (NIST History Project File; Chapter 5; 

Folder Leaders) 

Letter. A. V. Astin to P. E. Haggerty, July 22, 1964. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 381; Folder 

5/64—8/64) 

Memorandum, A. V. Astin to J. H. Hollomon, "Director of the Institute for Applied Technology," March 

30, 1966. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 380; Folder Chrono 3-1-66 to 4-30-66) 36 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to J. F. Kincaid, "Reassignment of Dr. Robert D. Huntoon from the position of 

Director, Institute for Basic Standards, GS-18, to the position of Chief, Office for Program Development and 

Evaluation, GS-18," January 2, 1968. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 386; Folder Chrono 1-1-68 to 

2-28-68) 

468 
John D. Hoffman was appointed director of IMR. Then, to complete the moves, 

Eberhard announced his resignation effective May 1, 1968, at which time Kushner took 

over his position.37 

Preceding both these moves was an important one indeed. In 1967 J. Herbert 

Hollomon resigned his position as assistant secretary of commerce for science and 

technology to assume the post of president of the University of Oklahoma. He had 

stayed for more than five years and had brought significant changes to the Bureau. 

Hollomon was succeeded by the more relaxed John F. Kincaid, vice president for 

research and development of the International Minerals and Chemicals Corporation. 

Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Science and Technology J. Herbert Hollomon, 

and wife, Margaret Hollomon (left), chatted with Representative Carl Albert (right) 

and Commerce Secretary Alexander B. Trowbridge at a reception honoring the departing Hollomons. (copyright Washington Post; reprinted by permission of D.C. 

Public Library) 

Memorandum, A. V. Astin to J. F. Kincaid, "Appointment to Directorships of the Institute for Basic 

Standards, the Institute for Materials Research, and the Institute for Applied Technology," January 19, 1968. 

(NIST RHA; Director's Officel; Box 386; Folder Chrono File 1-1-68 to 2-28-68) 

469 
Then came the departure of two of the Bureau's grand old leaders. The senior scientist, Robert D. Huntoon, who had come to the Bureau in 1941, retired on July 30, 

1968, and In C. Schoonover, who had come in 1933 and was now deputy director, 

retired in January 1969. Kushner was appointed deputy director of the Bureau, and 

Howard Sorrows was made acting director of TAT. At the end of the moves, all the 

major management positions at the Bureau, except that of the director and that of 

associate director for administration, Robert S. Walleigh's position, had been assumed 

by new, young leaders who had spent all or most of their careers at the Bureau. 

Kushner was deputy director of the Bureau; Ambler was director of IBS; Hoffman was 

director of IMR; and Sorrows was acting director of IAT. The stage was set for the 

final act: Astin's retirement on August 31, 1969. For this, Lewis M. Branscomb waited 

off-stage in Boulder. 

For an organization in which tenure in senior positions had been measured in 

decades rather than years, these moves seemed tumultuous. In reality, they were caused 

by the resignation of two IAT directors and the aging of two senior leaders, 

Schoonover and Huntoon. Nor were these personnel moves the only ones. Of particular 

importance was the Boulder situation. All the Boulder divisions except those in the 

CRPL were placed in IBS, and Bascom W. Birmingham was named deputy director of 

lBS for Boulder. He was also named executive officer for the Boulder Laboratories, 

with the authority to "plan and supervise the administrative programs required to 

support the Bureau's scientific and technical program at Boulder" and to "act as the personal representative of the Director in all matters at Boulder requiring a spokesman."38 

Not only was the period characterized by personnel moves. New types of organizational units—offices and centers—were formed as the need arose, and later, a new 

form of management called matrix management was initiated. Despite these changes, 

division chiefs were still the interface between upper management and laboratory 

scientists, and it was difficult for them to keep up with the changes. 

*** 

The enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 threw the efforts to ensure equal 

opportunity throughout the whole Government into high gear, and the Bureau was no 

laggard. However, the first few years after the passage of the act were more a time of 

organizing for what would be a long campaign rather than actual accomplishment of 

major changes. The Bureau did not act autonomously; it had to coordinate its activities 

with those of the Department of Commerce (DOC) and the White House, and had to 

be consistent with the law. Thus, in late 1965, Astin, in response to Secretary Connor's 

request for the Bureau's plan for expanding EEO, announced his intention to form a two-man Office of Equal Opportunity. This office would report to Astin's assistant, 

George E. Auman, who would be named equal opportunity coordinator.39 In the same memorandum, Astin announced a plan to appoint a qualified minority person as chief 

"Birmingham Appointed Executive Officer at Boulder," Technical News Bulletin 52 (March 1968): 53. 

Memorandum, A. V. Astin to J. T. Connor, "NBS plan for expanding equal employment opportunities," 

December 15, 1965. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 381; Folder Nov. I—Dec. 31, '65) 

470 
of one of the administrative divisions and pointed out that the situation with the technical divisions was far more complex because of the scarcity of trained AfricanAmerican scientists and engineers. However, to "ensure affirmative action," he 

promised to evaluate the "potential value of increased training" for each minority 

person in grades GS-5 and above. 

Until October 1967, Auman carried all the EEO functions. At that time, new appointments were made. In particular, Donald G. Fletcher was appointed deputy equal 

employment opportunity officer, a post required by Executive Order.4° Now things began to get more systematic. In early 1968, Astin asked the Bureau's personnel 

officer to form an advisory committee composed of minorities and women which 

would meet with him quarterly to review progress in hiring.4' This was the first 

Bureau EEO Committee. Shortly thereafter, in a memorandum to all employees, Astin 

established a contact person for anyone who had "experienced or observed acts of 

discrimination," and the procedures to be followed for responding to discrimination 

occurring outside the Bureau.42 In early 1969, the EEO Committee, which had 

advised the personnel officer, was changed. The new nine-member committee was 

placed under the chairmanship of chemist Avery T. Horton. The committee advised top 

management directly "concerning programs which must be undertaken to make equal 

employment a fulfillment rather than a promise." At the same time an affirmative 

action plan covering "recruitment, training, information dissemination, skills utilization 

surveys, and all aspects of the incentive awards program" was adopted. Progress in 

execution would be monitored by the EEO Committee.43 The Bureau finally had an EEO structure in place, but progress was slow. 

Not only was the Bureau concerned with EEO within its confines, it also had to be 

concerned with possible discrimination in the surrounding community. In 1966, Astin 

and James A. Shannon, director of the National Institutes of Health, sent a firmly 

worded letter to Kathryn E. Biggs, President of the Montgomery County Council, to 

make her aware of their "concern over the need for more aggressive and positive 

action to make suitable housing available to all members of our staffs. . . . " The letter 

4° Memorandum, R. S. Walleigh to D. R. Baldwin, "Designations of Responsibility for Equal Opportunity 

Programs," October 12, 1967. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 386; Folder Chrono Sept. I to Oct. 31, 

1967) 41 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to Deputy Director, Associate Director for Administration, Institute Directors, 

Director Center for Radiation Research, Division Chiefs, "Reaffirmation of Equal Employment Opportunity 

Policy and Practices," May 16, 1968. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 386; Folder Chrono File May I Through June 30, 1968) 42 For incidents within the Bureau, the contacts were Donald G. Fletcher and Karl E. Bell, both blacks, and 

Robert F. Bain. For incidents outside the Bureau, a written complaint was to be lodged with the executive 

secretary of the County Commission on Human Relations. Memorandum, A. V. Astin to All Employees, 

"Equal Opportunity," July 12, 1968. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 386; Folder Chrono File 7/1/68 

thru 8/31/68) 

'° "NBS Moves to Insure Equal Opportunity For All Employees," NBS Standard 14 (June 1969): 1. 

471 
continued, 

It is essential that we be able to assure prospective employees that they and 

their families will have full and equal opportunity to participate in the 

economic, social, educational and cultural life of our community, State and 

Nation. It is equally imperative that such assurance be afforded our present 

employees, so that we may retain both quantity and quality of personnel. 

Their employability must not be hindered by customs, traditions, and 

practices which would deny them the opportunity to enjoy the natural 

benefits of their earnings.... 

By mid-1968 Montgomery County, Maryland, had a Public Accommodations 

Ordinance applicable to all places of public accommodation to ensure their use without 

discrimination. 

THE PLANNING-PROGRAMMING-BUDGETING SYSTEM 

At a news conference on August 2, 1965, President Johnson told of a new administrative system about to be installed in the Federal Government. 

This morning," he said, "I have just concluded a breakfast meeting with the 

Cabinet and with the heads of Federal agencies and I am asking each of them 

to immediately begin to introduce a very new and very revolutionary system 

of planning and programming the budgeting throughout the vast Federal 

Government, so that through the tools of modern management the full 

promise of a finer life can be brought to every American at the lowest possible cost.45 

What the President was talking about was installing in the Federal Government a Planning-Programming-Budgeting (PPB) system. Generally thought to have been born 

in the Department of Defense in the early sixties, PPB had, in fact, a much longer 

It was an activity intended to coordinate the planning of agency programs 

with the budgeting necessary to achieve the objectives of those programs. Installed in 

every agency, it was expected to give the President, through his Bureau of the Budget 

(BOB), greater input into the budgeting process. It was to have a profound effect on Government management systems. 

Two months later, BOB issued to all agencies Bulletin 66-3, which explained what 

had to be done to install the new system.4' It set target dates, culminating on May 1, 

1966, when the system would be essentially installed. Managers in the Federal Government hurriedly began attempting to implement the system. 

A draft of this letter dated 9-1-66 is attached to: Memorandum, A. V. Astin to J. H. Hollomon, "Issuance 

of Joint NIH-NBS Statement on Open Housing," September I, 1966. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 

380; Folder Chrono File Sept. & Oct. 1966) 

Johnson quoted in "The Origin and History of Program Budgeting," in Program Budgeting: Program 

Analysis and the Federal Budget, David Novick, ed. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967): xv. 

Novick, The Origin and History of Program Budgeting, xvi-xxi. 

° Executive Office of the President, Bureau of the Budget, Bulletin No. 66-3, October 12, 1965. Revisions were made in 1967 (Bulletins 68-2, 68-3) and in 1968 (Bulletin 68-9). 

472 
Essential to the system was a program structure which reflected each agency's objectives. Included in this structure was an analysis of alternative objectives and alternative programs which could meet those objectives. An analysis would compare the costs 

and the benefits of the alternative programs. 

It was clear to the Bureau that this new system required a major staff effort. In 

1966, the Bureau opened an Office of Program Development and Evaluation, but it 

remained vacant for some time. Most of the work was apparently carried out by the 

institute offices, with Astin's long-time associate George Auman the focal point in the 

director's office. In 1967, Huntoon took over the Office of Program Development and 

Evaluation in an acting capacity, joined in 1968 by Merril B. Wallenstein and Robert 

E. Ferguson. By 1969 Ferguson became Astin's special assistant for program planning. 

A program office of this kind would continue to exist far into the future—even after it 

was no longer directly associated with PPB—and would have a major impact on the 

Bureau's management operations. 

The development of a program structure to describe the Bureau's work was not 

accomplished immediately. All-day meetings were held among Astin and his top 

leaders. Proposed program categories and program issues were communicated to Assistant Secretary Hollomon.48 By April 1, the deadline for submitting the program financial plan, the Bureau's programs had been segregated into three PPB categories: 

"advancement of industry and commerce" with three subcategories, "basic measurement system" with four subcategories, and "general administration and special 

services," with two subcategories. 

In June 1966, Astin sent Hollomon a memorandum to be used in briefing the 

secretary on the FY 1968 budget—the first budget developed using the PPB system.49 

The Bureau's base RTS appropriation was initially broken up among the three PPB 

categories given above, but eventually a program structure containing just two 

categories—the physical measurement system and general administration and special 

services—was agreed upon and used for the preparation of a PPB analysis.5° It proved 

difficult to apply the principles of the PPB system to NBS. Despite considerable effort, 

the system seemed overly complicated and not very helpful to management. 

The PPB system as a Government-wide activity disappeared in the early 70s, but 

it left an important legacy. The agencies of the Government had set in place a structure 

for the justification of new and existing programs, and this was not easily abandoned. 

In science, it was now the age of relevance, and agency programs had to be justified 

on the basis of their value to the agency's customers, using such techniques as cost-benefit analysis for these justifications. The Bureau itself had now set up a Program Office to assist the director in deciding which of the programs sponsored by 

the institutes, centers, and divisions should be pursued. Gone were the days when a A. V. Astin to J. H. Hollomon, "Revision of NBS Planning-Programming-Budgeting Categories," January 

21, 1966; A. V. Astin to R. D. Huntoon, Teal, Schon, "Definition of NBS Program Category Structure," 

February 24, 1966. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 380; Folder Chrono 1-1-66 to 2-28-66) 

A. V. Astin to J. H. Hollomon, "Briefing Memorandum," June 7, 1966. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; 

Box 380; Folder Chrono May I to June 30, 1966) 5° A. V. Astin to J. H. Hollomon, "Program Memorandum and Program Financial Plan for Commerce 

Program Category V, The Physical Measurement System," June 12, 1967. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; 

Box 386; Folder Chrono May 1, 1967—June 30, 1967) 

473 
division chief in conference with the director decided what to do in the forthcoming 

year—science and technology had grown too big and too costly for such a manner of 

operating. While the PPB system proved unworkable, it was perhaps inevitable that 

some type of program analysis should have arisen. 

THE GAITHERSBURG RELOCATION 

By the end of World War II, the Bureau facilities at the Van Ness site were on the 

verge of becoming totally inadequate. Already considered for major rehabilitation in 

the mid-thirties,5' the physical plant had suffered greatly from overuse and lack of 

Left: Demolition of the Industrial 

Building at the old NBS campus. 

(copyright Washington Post; 

reprinted by permission of 

D.C. Public Library) 

Below: All that remains of the Bureau in 

Washington, D.C. is the Newton 

apple tree, a direct descendent of 

the tree said to have inspired Newton's 

first throughts on the law of universal 

gravitation. On March 15, 1957, the 

NBS tree was appropriately planted 

beside the East Building where the force 

of gravity was soon re-measured with 

modem precision. 

House Committee on Appropnations, Subcommittee on Department of Commerce and Related Agencies, 

Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1957: Hearings Before a Subcommittee 

of the Committee on Appropriations, 84th Cong., 2d sess., National Bureau of Standards, 20 March 1956: 

139. This testimony is an almost verbatim repeat of: Memorandum, A.V. Astin to George T. Moore, "Policy 

Considerations. Relocation of the National Bureau of Standards," July 14, 1955. (NARA; RG 127; Astin 

Files; Box 35; Folder Gaithersburg Site and Relocation) 

474 
proper maintenance during the war. Indeed, William I. Ellenberger, newly appointed 

Plant. Division chief shortly after the war, declared the facilities a "sordid mess." Not 

only did the buildings suffer from years of lack of proper care, but records of what had 

been built and the location of power, steam, water, and electrical lines had been lost.52 

In the early fifties, $2 million were spent on "extraordinary maintenance to rehabilitate 

the electrical system," and by 1955 it was already showing inadequacies.53 By 1956 

the Bureau was completing a $1.3 million program to rehabilitate the mechanical 

systems, but it was anticipated that because of their age the systems would require 

additional large expenditures to keep them in "minimum operating conditions."54 

Moreover, in its more than fifty years, the Bureau had grown manyfold, but the physical plant to accommodate all of its added responsibilities had grown haphazardly. In 

1955, there were eighty-nine buildings at the Van Ness site, of which fifty-three were temporary structures. The average age of the permanent buildings was thirty years, and 

the temporaries had already largely exceeded their life expectancies. With this diversity 

of buildings, closely related.research• units were widely separated. The average division was scattered in eight buildings. Lacking the stimulation brought about by close association of related groups, the conglomerate was inefficient and managing it was a constant headache. Worse, what in 1901 had been a rural location had by the fifties 

become an urban one. A residential area of the city now surrounded the Bureau. Noise, 

electrical disturbances, air pollution, and the dangers in this setting associated with 

the potentially hazardous nature of some its own operations constrained the Bureau's 

freedom. A new rural setting was needed.55 It is small wonder that in 1953 the second 

recommendation of the first Kelly Committee was the modernization of the physical 

plant.56 

Added to these considerations was the newly formulated policy of dispersal. With 

the Van Ness site. only 3.6 air miles from the White House,NBS was extremely 

vulnerable to atomic attack. In addition to the potential for loss Of life, there was the 

possible loss of the national standards. Astin estimated that it would require more than 

ten years to replace the Bureau's laboratories and technical personnel if they were to 

be lost.57 Thus in mid-1955 when James Worthy, assistant secretary of commerce for 

administration and a strong Bureau supporter in the AD-X2 affair, told Astin that the 

Bureau had been chosen as a possible agency for relocation and asked if he were interested, Astin answered "yes" with alacrity. Worthy asked Astin to obtain an estimate 

on how much the relocation would cost. There were only about two weeks left for the 

52 MFP, 503. 

Appropriations Hearings for 1957: 134. 

54lbid. 

55Ibid., 135. 56A Report to The Secretary of Commerce by the Ad Hoc Committee for the Evaluation of the Present 

Functions of the National Bureau of Standards: A Report on the Present Functions and Operations of the 

National Bureau of Standards With Their Evaluation in Relation to Present National Needs and Recommendations for the Improvement and Strengthening of the Bureau, October 15, 1953, Mervin J. Kelly, chairman: 

19. 

Appropriations Hearings for 1957: 135. 

475 
preparation of the President's budget for FY 1957, so the Bureau asked the General 

Services Administration (GSA) for a rough estimate of the cost of such a relocation.58 

In retrospect, asking this of the GSA was a mistake that was to cause considerable 

discomfiture for the Bureau.59 The GSA had plenty of experience with office buildings 

but little or none with laboratories. Their first estimate was for $40 million, a figure 

which proved to be woefully and embarrassingly low. 

Before any move could be contemplated the Bureau had to decide where it wanted 

to move. Bureau management was very conscious of the fact that the move of the 

CRPL to Boulder caused a loss of approximately 50 percent of the relevant senior staff 

and they wanted to make this new move as convenient for the employees as possible.6° 

To decide what to do, a study was made of the residential distribution of the work 

force. The study found that the center of gravity of the whole staff was the Van Ness 

site itself, but for the professionals the center was farther out Connecticut Avenue, at 

Chevy Chase Circle on the Maryland-District of Columbia boundary. It was therefore 

decided that the move would be northwest into Maryland, as close as possible to the 

District of Columbia consistent with a rural location and with the dictates of dispersal. 

A distance of twenty miles from the center of Washington was deemed sufficient for 

purposes of dispersal. A move into the Washington-Baltimore corridor might have 

provided a rural setting, but this was ruled out by the administration as being a prime 

target area.6' 

It was estimated that a site of 500 acres was necessary to maintain isolation and 

allow for long-term expansion. Fortunately, as part of its own relocation to Germantown, Maryland, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) had recently had a number 

of sites investigated by the Public Buildings Service (PBS). For this agency, the Corps 

of Engineers had prepared a Site Investigation Report. Astin requested and received a copy of this report, and the Bureau investigated several of the listed sites. Besides the 

location and the size, other considerations were topography, accessibility by road and 

railroad (a requirement later removed), and cost. Aerial and topographic maps were 

studied by senior Bureau staff and several possibilities selected.62 

The relocation plan was placed before the Congress on March 20, 1956, at the 

House Appropriations Committee Hearings for the FY 1957 budget. This was just 

nine months after Assistant Secretary Worthy had broached the subject with Astin. 

The figures on the cost of the relocation and the submission, prepared in July of the 

previous year, were greatly underestimated. 

58 A. V. Astin Oral History, July 12, 1983, P. 35. 

R. S. Walleigh, who took over direction of the relocation, was to state, "I think the biggest mistake we ever made in connection with the Gaithersburg planning was bringing GSA into it at all and if I had it to do over again I certainly would rather have kept them out of it." Astin Oral History: 44. 

39. 61 Ibid., 40-41. 62 "Summary of Files on Gaithersburg," 2.00: 1-2. (NIST Historical File). Prepared by the NBS Management 

Planning Division in May 1958, this document gives a summary of many of the files on Gaithersburg up to 1958. Not all of the original files cited in the summary were investigated for this history. 

476 
Now a reason for quick action arose. When the Senate reported on the FY 1957 

appropriations bill, Senator Carl T. Hayden, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, wrote to Secretary Weeks on May 23, 1956, asking that a specific site be 

identified.63 Thus, on May 24, 1956, Associate Director for Administration Robert S. 

Walleigh took Astin to see what he considered to be the best of the favored candidates. 

It was near the small, sleepy town of Gaithersburg, bounded by U.S. 240 (soon to 

become Interstate 70S and later renamed Interstate 270), State Highway 124, and 

Muddy Branch Road. It contained an estimated 575 acres of mostly open, quite level 

ground, and the area was relatively unpopulated. Proximity to tracks of the B&O 

railroad provided for the possibility of a spur (subsequently dropped because of cost) 

and also for commuter access via a station in Gaithersburg (again, never used). Astin 

chose the site, the selection was approved by Secretary Weeks, and the appropriations 

committees of both houses were notified.M The Bureau had taken the first tangible step 

toward finding a new home. It was to be a long road. 

At that time, the Bureau was requesting $2.75 million for preliminaries including 

soil tests, the site survey, purchase of the land, preparation of plans and specifications, 

general expenses, and contingencies. As of yet, no money was being requested for 

construction.65 The committee was willing to help but was concerned with the cost. 

Perhaps with tongue in cheek, Chairman Prince H. Preston said to Astin at the beginning of the session, "Doctor, you had better put on your top hat and your patent leather 

shoes now, and give us a good sales talk on this one." Later, after some figures had 

been presented, the following exchange took place: 

MR. PRESTON: Naturally, our first reaction would be we feel it is a matter of 

national pride in having a splendid scientific laboratory set up for the Bureau 

of Standards, but at the same time, $50 million is a large sum. 

At this point, Congressman Albert Thomas of Texas uttered the prophetic and remarkably accurate words: "It will probably be 85 to 100 before you get through." Astin 

then returned to the Bureau's plans, "Mr. Chairman, I felt in terms of our responsibility, we should make some long-range plans for our program.. . . If they are shocking, 

then we are shocked, too."67 

What the GSA had developed in response to Astin's original request was a plan 

which provided I million square feet of space (as compared to the Van Ness site's 

840 000 square feet) in a six-story-plus-penthouse square building—the least expensive 

63 Ibid. 

64Ibid 3. 65 Appropriations Hearings for 1957: 134-136. 

66Ibid 137. 

67lbid., 141. The reader will recall that this was a little more than a year and a half before the sputniks. 

477 
form of construction.68 In addition to the cost of this building, there was $750 000 for 

the land and further costs for a powerhouse, radioactivity building, nine miscellaneous 

buildings, underground vaults, parking, a cafeteria, protection equipment, roads, walks, a fence, a guardhouse, and street lights. Costs associated with design and construction 

supervision brought GSA's total to a round $40 million.69 

But these could not be the only costs associated with the relocation. There would be 

costs for equipage and moving. The GSA could not estimate these; that was a Bureau 

responsibility. Astin allowed, "We don't have any estimates on those. Those would 

come out of the study, but I don't know whether my budget officer would want to 

make a wild guess Budget Officer Wilbur W. Bolton did not hesitate. "Without 

regard to special facilities that might be added to our building, our experience has been 

that equipage and moving costs may run 50 percent of the structure cost."7° What the 

Bureau was asking for was $2.75 million to begin the process of construction of 

facilities whose cost, arrived at partly by a suspect estimate and partly by a wild guess, was about $60 million. The House voted no funds. 

The Senate was more lenient. It voted to grant $930000 and the House concurred. 

This amount was transferred to the GSA "[for acquisition of necessary land and 

to initiate the design of the facilities to be constructed thereon for the National 

Bureau of Standards outside of the District of Columbia to remain available until 

expended The Bureau relocation effort was haltingly underway, but at least it 

was started. 

With the appropriation in hand, the Bureau's management went into high gear. 

Nicholas E. Golovin, Astin's associate director for planning, was placed in charge of 

the relocation effort. Golovin worked closely with Robert Walleigh, who took over the 

assignment in May 1958. Two main problems were identified: the acquisition of the 

site, and the design of the laboratories. Two committees were formed. A Gaithersburg 

Planning Group with eight persons under Hylton Graham, chief of the Plant Division, 

provided liaison between the technical staff and the architects, and a Laboratory Planfling Committee composed of outstanding younger scientists provided direct input from 

the scientific staff.72 

65 On July 7, 1955, the Bureau advised Fred S. Poorman of the GSA "that a wing-type structure similar to the Boulder Laboratory is desirable. Poorman seemed inclined towards a block-type structure with few 

windows, a high lighting level and air conditioning." "Summary of Files on Gaithersburg," 3.21: 3-4. 

Appropriations Hearings for 1957: 136. 

70Ibid., 139. 71 Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriation Act, 1957, U.S. Statutes at Large, 70 

(1956): 321. 72 Lewis M. Branscomb was chairman of the committee until he resigned in June 1959. John D. Hoffman 

replaced him. The other members of the committee were Herbert P. Broida, Alan D. Franklin, F. Ralph 

Kotter, Lawrence M. Kushner, and Leo A. Wall. (Memorandum, L. M. Branscomb to A. V. Astin, 

"Laboratory Planning Committee," June 19, 1959. Memorandum, A. V. Astin to J. D. Hoffman, 

"Chairmanship of the NBS Laboratory Planning Committee," August 31, 1959. (NARA; RG 167; Astin File; 

Box 35; Folder Gaithersburg Site and Relocation, 1955-61)) 

478 
Robert S. Walleigh began his career at NBS in 1943 as an electrical 

engineer in the Ordnance Development Division. Walleigh's talent for 

management was recognized, and 

after promotion to assistant chief for 

administration of the Ordnance 

Division, in 1955 Walleigh was 

appointed associate director for 

administration of the Bureau as a whole. In the latter position, Walleigh 

expertly directed the planning, 

construction, and move of the 

Bureau's faailities from the District 

of Columbia to Gaithersburg, 

Maryland. 

Having selected the site and received the appropriation, NBS left to the Public 

Buildings Service the actual mechanics of acquiring the land from its owners. Condemnation was the procedure followed to obtain the property. It was Astin's desire to file a declaration of taking as soon after July 1, 1956, as possible.73 A survey was begun 

on July 18, and the completed boundary and topographic surveys were completed on September 13, The declaration of taking was accomplished, and though the 

final price was not agreed upon, $325 000 was deposited with the court. In January 

1957, a number of appraisals had been made, and the land was valued at an average of 

$850 per acre.75 With money appropriated piecemeal by Congress, the final cost of the 

land was $574 000, although this included twelve more acres needed to provide extra 

space around the reactor building, as required by the AEC. The final size of the site was 560 acres.76 

"Summary on Files of Gaithersburg," 2.00: 4. 

74Ibid., 6. 

75lbid., 8, 10. 

House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Departments of State, Justice, Commerce, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations, Departments of State, Justice, Commerce, the Judiciary, and relatd 

Agencies Appropriations for 1967: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, 89th 

Cong., 2d sess., National Bureau of Standards, 14 March 1966: 711. The size was provided by the Plant Division 

in June 1992. 

479 
Of great immediate interest to the Bureau staff was the style of the whole emplacement and the facilities to be provided in the laboratories. In late 1956, the architectural 

firm of Voorhees, Walker, Smith, and Smith, a firm with experience in the design of 

laboratories, was retained for this preliminary phase. Input from the staff came from 

three sources: an attitude survey conducted in late 1956, the Laboratory Planning 

Committee and, of course, from the division chiefs. 

The attitude survey showed that a campus-like atmosphere with more than one 

building was important in attracting scientists and engineers.77 In fact, in a letter to the 

mayor of Gaithersburg on October 16, 1956, Walleigh wrote, 

The Bureau wishes to develop on its new site a university-campus-type 

atmosphere similar to the one which has been achieved on the present site. It 

has been found that such surroundings are an asset in attracting and retaining 

scientists and in producing the environment which stimulates scientific 

A little more than a year later, the Laboratory Planning Committee wrote Golovin with 

the same sentiments, but the committee was not sure that such an atmosphere required a multi-building structure. 

While it was a little early to decide completely the matter of services, the GSA 

recorded the following NBS requirements for all general-purpose labs: compressed air, 

vacuum, natural gas, oxygen, 110 volt and 208 volt alternating current, direct current, 

and other special voltages and currents in some cases.79 Chemistry labs would in addition receive distilled water. And, as an important corollary to these services, it was 

urged by the Laboratory Planning Committee that the construction should be such that 

laboratories could be easily expanded at minimum cost. Other requirements communicated to the architects were that the property should be completely fenced, that a railroad spur to the site should be planned, and that while blast protection was not necessary, there should be personnel bomb shelter areas. The architects visited Boulder since they had been told that it had the general 

character that the Bureau would want in the new site. Finally in December 1956 Astin 

and Golovin, meeting with the architects, agreed: 

I. That probably a number of structures would be preferable to one or two large 

buildings. 

2. That the general motif would be austere but austerity would not be carried to 

the point where additional costs would be involved. 

3. The general atmosphere of the facilities would be that of a college campus 

and perhaps the general style of structure would be wing-type with adjacent 

parking areas. There will be many entrances rather than one or two.8° 

The last was a remarkably apt description of the site that resulted. 

""Summary of Files on Gaithersburg," 3.21: 1. 78 Ibid. 

The general services finally distributed were cold water, hot water, laboratory waste drain, chilled water 

(55 °F), burner gas, compressed air, vacuum (20 in to 22 in mercury), steam (15 Ibs), 120 V AC, 208 V AC 

single and 3 phase, and standard frequencies. 

"Summary of Files on Gaithersburg," 3.21: 5-6. 

480 
In January 1957, Astin, Golovin, Walleigh, and the architects visited laboratories at 

DuPont, Bell Telephone, Argonne, Midwest Research Institute, and Lincoln Laboratories. This trip seemed to have reinforced their concept, which was reflected in the 

interim plan that was presented to the House Appropriations Committee in the hearings 

for the FY 1958 budget. Gone was the monolithic rectangular parallelepiped, now replaced by four wing-like structures, one housing administration and the other three 

providing laboratories for chemistry, physics, and engineering. The construction would 

be of the modern modular type with movable partitions that would allow flexibility and 

convertibility in space configuration. 

At these hearings, the Bureau requested $2 million "to undertake the design and 

specifications for most of the construction Astin gave a good sales talk, 

stating, "I feel strongly that the fulfillment of these plans will mark a major turning 

point in the history of the National Bureau of Standards." He followed with a remarkable statement which articulated the aim of his administration as well as his 

feelings about what had happened to the Bureau during and after World War II: "I 

believe the laboratories now contemplated, when completed, will help to raise the 

National Bureau of Standards to the stature which it had in world science before World 

War 

Astin, however, had a serious problem. The rough estimate made earlier had 

increased alarmingly. What was once $63.583 million had jumped to $85.81 million. 

Most of the increase was in the buildings, which had jumped $17.7 million—from 

$33.627 to $51 .325 million. Interestingly, Bolton's "wild guess" of $20 million for 

equipage had increased by only $0.4 million. When increases for site development, 

utilities, a railroad spur, and a number of smaller increases were added, the total 

increase was $21.68 million or just about one-third of the original estimate.84 It turned 

out that the bulk of the increase was in the ratio of usable or assignable area of the 

buildings to the total area. The GSA had used a ratio of 70 percent which was typical 

for the kind of buildings (offices, courthouses) that it was familiar with. Visits to other 

laboratories and questionnaires sent by the architect to twenty-seven firms specializing 

in designing laboratories showed that for this type of facility, a ratio of 50 percent to 

55 percent was more the norm because of the space needed to provide services to the 

laboratory areas. With an increase of 70 000 square feet of assignable area in Bureau 

requirements, this lower ratio added 555 000 square feet of space.85 

" House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Department of Commerce and Related Agencies, 

Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1958: Hearings Before a Subcommittee 

of the Committee on Appropriations, 85th Cong., 1st sess., National Bureau of Standards, 12 March 1957: 199. 82 Ibid. 83 The original $60 million estimate ($40 million for site acquisition and construction plus $20 million for 

equipage and relocation) settled down to $63.5 million which included funds for reinstalling equipment and 

site development. 84 Appropriations Hearings for 1958: 208. 85 Ibid., 206, 208-2 10. 481 
The committee was not pleased. Fred S. Poorman of the PBS was firmly admonished, and Chairman Preston did not spare Astin: "I am fearful, doctor, since you got 

the green light on the purchase of the land you may have modified your plans and 

made them more elaborate than you had in mind when you appeared before us last 

year." Assured that the only major increase was the 70 000 feet of space, Preston 

nevertheless continued, "I am not sure if we had known it was going to cost $85 

million we would have approved the $930 000 last year. This is an amazing 

increase."86 It is possible that without Astin's reputation for rectitude developed during 

the AD-X2 affair and his subsequent appearances before the Appropriations Committee, the committee might have considered the low estimate to be a subterfuge to get 

money appropriated and the project underway. The Congress did not appropriate the 

requested $2 million, but at the same time, it did not veto the project. It merely 

postponed it. 

Now began a fallow period in the appropriations area.87 Redesign of the basic 

laboratory and other savings, such as cancellation of the railroad spur, reduced the 

estimate to $82 million, and the Bureau asked that the FY 1959 budget include a request for design and construction funds. The president, however, did not request any 

such funds. Nevertheless a supplemental appropriation request for $3 million was 

allowed, and the funds were appropriated. The Bureau could now begin serious design 

work. 

During 1958, with the flight of the sputniks, two new pieces of equipment—a linear 

accelerator and a 1 000 000 pound dead weight machine—had become paramount. The 

Bureau requested that construction funds be sought in the 1960 budget, particularly for 

the critical Radiation Physics and Engineering Mechanics Laboratories. This request 

was disapproved because of the president's "no new construction starts" policy. 

Nevertheless, work did not completely stop. An architectural design contract was negotiated with Voorhees, et al., and detailed architectural work was begun. 

Finally, five years after the relocation project was initiated, construction funds were 

included in the FY 1961 budget request. Ironically, the first funds were not for the 

general purpose laboratories, but for the Radiation Physics Laboratory and the 

Engineering Mechanics Laboratory, facilities which had not even been considered at 

the beginning of the relocation project. Along with funds for these facilities were requests for the boiler plant, initial site development, and utilities. The total request was for $23.5 million, with $9.27 million for the Radiation Physics Laboratory and 

86 Ibid., 202. 

The chronology given here is from: Memorandum, A. V. Astin to the Secretary of Commerce [F. H. 

Mueller], "Planned relocation of NBS laboratories at Gaithersburg, Maryland," Feb. 2, 1961. (NARA, RG 

167, Astin File, Box 35, Folder Gaithersburg Site and Relocation 1955-1961.) The chronology is printed 

verbatim in House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on General Government Matters, Department of Commerce, and Related Agencies, General Government Matters, Department of Commerce, and 

Related Agencies Appropriations for 1962: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, 87th Cong., 1st sess., National Bureau of Standards, 3 May 1961: 879. 

482 
$6.49 million for the Engineering Mechanics Laboratory. The remainder was for the 

more general work.88 

Part of the FY 1961 budget request also included funds for a nuclear reactor. This 

request was for $9.1 million,89 but it was part of the Plant and Facilities request, not 

the Gaithersburg relocation. This caused no little amount of confusion. The reasoning was that while the radiation and mechanics laboratories• were replacements of facilities 

already existing at the Van Ness site, the reactor was a completely new facility with no 

counterpart at the old site. Undeniably, the Bureau maneuvered to keep down the cost 

of the Gaithersburg move. 

In the meantime, design of the new facilities proceeded apace. In June 1960, just 

six months after the FY 1961 hearings, the architects produced a model of the 

proposed facilities. On June 1 the model was presented to the associate directors and 

the following day to the press. Pictures appeared in the local papers on June 3•90 

By now the total estimated cost of the Gaithersburg relocation was $94 million. The new estimate included funds for the radiation and mechanics laboratories, some new 

funds for a cyclotron laboratory, and funds for a fallout shelter. The increase in costs 

due to inflation was not an inconsiderable part of the price rise. Indeed, economies had 

reduced the original $85 million to $81.58 million by 1959, but inflation had 

increased the estimate to $87.14. The $85 million estimate proved remarkably accurate. 

Only the addition of $9 million for the nuclear reactor increased it. 

Congressman Elford A. Cederberg was not upset by the $94 million figure. "If you 

can do that you are doing reasonably well," he said. "I doubt if you can stay within 

that $94 million figure when you start to consider it cost almost $68 million for one 

office building here on the Hill. If you can do it I think you are doing well."91 

Chastened by the success of the Soviet space effort, the Congress appropriated the 

full $23.5 million requested for FY 1961. Groundbreaking for the Engineering 

Mechanics Building took place on June 14, 1961. Secretary of Commerce Luther 

Hodges wielded the same gold-plated shovel that had been used in the groundbreaking 

ceremony for the Chemistry Building in 1915 at the old site. The log jam was broken, 

and both appropriations and construction progressed steadily. 

The final design was very different from the original. If one counts buildings connected by corridors as wings, then in the administration/general-purpose-laboratory 

complex there were nine wings. By the time the new facilities were dedicated in 

88 House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Department of Commerce and Related Agencies, 

Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1961: Hearings Before a Subcommittee 

of the Committee on Appropriations, 86th Cong., 2d sess., National Bureau of Standards, 14 January 1960: 

286. 89 The final cost was $8.85 million for the reactor and $490 000 for an isotope separator. Letter and attachments, A. V. Astin to J. H. Hollomon, February 8, 1965. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 381; Folder 

1/1/65—4130/65) 

9°Robert S. Walleigh, "The Gaithersburg Site," in NBS/NIST, A Historical Perspective, A Symposium in 

Celebration of NIST's Ninetieth Anniversary, March 4, 1991, Karma A. Beal, ed., NatI. Inst. Stand. Technol. 

(U.S.) Special Publication 825; April 1992: 52. 

Appropriations Hearings for 1961: 304. 

483 
November 1966, the main administration/laboratory complex and three special-purpose 

laboratories—Engineering Mechanics, Radiation Physics, and the Reactor—were 

completed. Five more—Industrial, Non-Magnetic, Sound, Concreting Materials, and 

Hazards—were under construction.92 

Besides laboratories, there were a number of service buildings all completed by 

1964. A power plant with an adjacent electrical substation installed by the Potomac 

Electric Power Company and a special gas inlet station provided the power and heat 

services. A supply and plant building provided facilities for purchasing and maintenance, and the Bureau's motor vehicles and equipment were maintained in a garage 

service building. One of the wings of the administration-laboratory complex contained 

the instrument shops. 

The focal point of the whole site was an eleven-story high-rise office building containing all the activities, administrative and otherwise, that required only office-type 

space. The director's office was located at the southwest corner of the eleventh floor, 

and the view from there was little short of spectacular. Attached to the high-rise 

building were the library, the cafeteria, a meeting complex containing four small 

auditoria-meeting rooms, the 289-seat Green Auditorium, the large 756-seat Red 

Auditorium, and the instrument shops. These wings were arranged to provide a 

Eleven stories high, the Administration Building towers above the other buildings in the laboratory complex. 

The building houses the director and his staff as well as other activities that do not require laboratory space. 

The Red Auditorium to the left. and the Technology Building to the right, flank the Administration Building. 

92 Appendix J lists the Gaithersburg site buildings with the dates of construction, occupancy. and square 

footage for each building. 

484 
In 1948 a sundial of unusual design and high 

degree of accuracy was erected on the terrace 

east of the Chemistry Building by members 

of the NBS staff in honor of Lyman J. Briggs. 

In January 1966, R. Newton Mayall, designer 

of the sundial, advised the Bureau that moving 

the sundial to Gaithersburg would introduce an error of 0.002 feet, "a negligible amount except 

for the purist. The dial should be raised at an angle of 0.003 feet in I foot to correct for 

latitude. Again a negligible amount, except 

for the purist." The sundial was moved to its new location in the Administration Building 

The original gates of the Bureau's main entrance to the former site—Connecticut Avenue and Upton Street 

—with their background of trees and azaleas, became a symbol of the Bureau. The gates were relocated to the Gaithersburg campus on the occasion of the Bureau's 75th anniversary in 1976. 

485 

courtyard. 
Aerial view of the Bureau's Gaithersburg campus taken August 12, 1969. The arrangement of buildings in a spacious, park-like setting had antecedents in forms such as the corporate research park, the American 

college campus, and the Bureau's former site in Washington, D.C. 

II 1 

111 

Interior of the NBS Library showing the helical white terrazzo staircase to the mezzanine. 

486 

I 
courtyard, delimited by the huge ground-level windows of the cafeteria on one side, 

and glass corridors around the remaining three sides. 

The general-purpose laboratories were also wings of the Administration Building 

complex but further removed from it. A long, multi-level corridor on a north-south 

axis formed the main spine of the complex and connected the Metrology, Physics, 

Chemistry, and Materials Buildings with the western edge of the Administration 

Building. These buildings, each 96 ft. X 300 ft., alternately branched from this spine. 

A similar corridor on the west side of the laboratory buildings ran parallel to the main 

corridor and connected three more general-purpose laboratories (Polymers; Instrumentation, later renamed Technology; and Building Research) and the instrument shops 

with the west end of the Materials Building. The linear system made all buildings in 

the main complex easily accessible from all the others without creating a need to go 

outdoors. At the outside end of each of the attached buildings was a parking lot. All 

the other buildings on the site were similarly supplied with parking. 

The general-purpose laboratories were the heart of the system. All rose three stories 

above the ground. Three (Technology, Physics, and Metrology) also had an underground level. Along the north and south sides of the buildings were windows. The rooms along these sides were basically designed to be offices, although they could be 

arranged for some light experimental work. Thus, each of the above-ground offices had a large window. All construction was modular, 11 ft. X 16 ft. for the basic office 

module and 11 ft. X 24 ft. for the laboratory module.93 The office and laboratory 

modules could be lengthened in increments of 11 feet, and in addition, if a very large 

laboratory was required, the wall between the back-to-back laboratory modules could 

be removed to create a 48 foot wide space. A cross-section of the building showed an office module (16 feet), a corridor (8 feet), a laboratory module (24 feet), another 

laboratory module (24 feet), a corridor (8 feet), and another office module (16 feet). 

The design had the flexibility requested by the staff and the advantage that each 

scientist could have an office just across the corridor from his laboratory. 

Because of its complexity the whole construction sequence was divided into four 

phases:94 

Phase I: Engineering Mechanics, Power Plant, and initial site work. 

Phase II: Radiation Physics, Administration, and service buildings. 

Phase III: Seven general purpose laboratories, 

Phase IV: Sound, Hazards, Industrial, and Concreting Materials. 

A fifth phase was added for the Fluid Mechanics and Non-Magnetic Buildings, and a gate house. The schedule was followed very well and work was completed by 1970. 

The Reactor was not included in the phases listed above since it was not officially part 

of the Gaithersburg relocation. 

The II foot dimension was a compromise between the architects, who wanted 10 feet, and the Laboratory 

Planning Committee, which wanted. 15 feet. 

House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, The 

Judiciary, and Related Agencies, Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, The Judiciary, and Related 

Agencies Appropriations for 1964: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, 

88th Cong., 1st sess., National Bureau of Standards, 28 February 1963: 1098. 

487 
On March 27, 1962, the first permanent employees moved to the site, forming a skeleton crew from the Plant Division. By October 1963, the steam and chilled water 

generation plant was continuously manned. In April 1963 work was begun on the 

Reactor Building and, a month later, the first scientific staff moved to Gaithersburg to 

supervise its construction. The building was completed in August 1965, but the reactor 

(NBSR) itself was finished in late 1967. This supervisory group of staff was followed 

in October by the Office of Weights and Measures and the Engineering Mechanics 

Section staff. Almost two years later, on September 13, 1965, the Administration 

Building was occupied,95 and a month after that, the Radiation Physics Building staff 

and equipment completed a difficult move to their new building. 

Logistically, the most difficult moves were those to the seven general purpose 

buildings. The complicated assignment of space to the various divisions was carried 

out by the Gaithersburg Planning Group. After conferences with the division chiefs, 

the planning group assigned space for the divisions' laboratory and office needs and 

relayed the requirements to the architects.96 Then, on floor plans of the offices and 

laboratories assigned to the divisions, the location of each item of equipment and 

furniture was marked. The items themselves were tagged and coded to correspond to 

the locations on the plans. Books, files, and small pieces of equipment were placed in 

cartons and similarly marked. When the time arrived for a division's move, the division staff stayed home for as many days as necessary to complete the move. When 

staff reported to their new quarters in Gaithersburg, they found their desks, bookcases, 

and equipment where they had requested them to be placed. The system worked 

remarkably well. 

The American flag last flew at the Van Ness site on September 10, 1965. The same flag flew once at Gaithersburg two days later, and then was presented to Astin as a memento. Since Astin's office after that 

date was located at Gaithersburg, he wanted a flag to be raised at the site, but there was no flagpole. The 

GSA had not planned on constructing one until the completion of the site. Using the GSA plans, the Bureau 

let its own contract for the flagpole. The $44 768 contract called for a 90-foot stainless steel flagpole, the 

removal of a small building, the leveling and sodding of the site in front of the administration building, the 

provision of a granite walkway, and a circular granite base for the pole incised with George Washington's 

words, "Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair." Alas, at the next House Appropriations Committee hearing on April 19, 1967, Astin, not having been thoroughly briefed, did not know the 

details of the contract, and was under the impression that it included only a 90-foot pole. Thus, when 

Congressman Andrews of West Virginia declared that the cost of the flagpole was $500 a foot, Astin had no comeback and was embarrassed. Although the cost of the pole itself was $100 per foot, the 

number stuck and Astin was constantly reminded of this by the acidulous committee chairman John Rooney. 

Added to the original woeful Gaithersburg cost underestimate, the incident was only partly humorous. (NBS/ 

NIST, A Historical Perspective: 53) was a definite hierarchy in space allocation. Institute directors and division chiefs were provided a double office module adjacent to a double module for secretarial and administrative staff, and beyond this a single module for an assistant division chief or lower aide, or a double module for the deputy, institute director. Section chiefs had a single module adjacent to a secretary in a single module. Access to these officials was past a secretary. Scientists of grade GS- 15 or above had private offices, but lower grades shared office 

space. There were also distinctions in furniture. Institute directors, their deputies, and division chiefs were 

allowed a couch and handsome wooden desks, credenzas, bookcases, and comfortable upholstered chairs. 

Section chiefs were permitted older wooden desks and other furniture, but grey steel was more the norm. But 

while these furnishing rules were stipulated, they were not followed slavishly. Window plants became com- mon and often elaborate. 

488 
The move into the general-purpose laboratories began in March 1966 and was 

finished by the end of the summer. During the same period the library was moved, 

completing the bulk of the relocation. Still left to finish, however, were the Sound, 

Hazards, Industrial, Concreting Materials, Non-Magnetic, and Fluid Mechanics 

Buildings. All were completed in 1968 except the Fluid Mechanics Building which 

was finished in 1969. 

Plans for the dedication of the Gaithersburg installation began in By 1965, it was proposed that President Johnson be asked to dedicate the new facilities, and the 

Visiting Committee was asked to plan a special symposium. A letter inviting the president for the date of June 14, 1965, was prepared for the secretary's signature, but this 

plan fell through.98 In a second attempt, the president was invited and the date planned 

for November 15, 1966. According to the agenda, Secretary John T. Connor would 

preside, and the formal ceremonies would be followed by a special luncheon. The next 

two days would feature a symposium on "Technology and World Trade," followed by a day of open house for the general publicY9 The dedication was held on the stipulated 

date in the courtyard facing the library. Speaking to some 3000 distinguished guests, 

Connor called the facilities "a blue-chip investment. . . which will pay dividends to 

American science, industry, and commerce." The president was unable to attend, but 

he did send a message, stating, "This eminent institution now has the resources for 

even greater service to America and the '°° The two-day symposium, attended 

by over 500 international dignitaries and leaders in industry, education, and commerce, 

went on as scheduled. On the fourth day of the festivities, 20 000 guests toured the 

facilities and visited the newly opened laboratories. The Bureau had formally dedicated a new home. 

The total cost of the Gaithersburg relocation is somewhat difficult to estimate, for it 

is hard to know when to stop counting. The costs were reviewed at the FY 1967 House 

Appropriations Hearings. At the time of the dedication, funds had been appropriated 

for all four phases, but the fluid mechanics facility was excluded because the construction bids were higher than expected. The appropriated funds totaled $105.94 million. 

The Bureau asked for a final $1.2 million to cover moving and occupancy expenses, 

bringing the Gaithersburg relocation cost to $107.14 million. However, when $8.85 

million for the reactor and $490 000 101 for the isotope separator were added, the total 

became $1 16.48 million. It was almost twice the $63.5 million estimated at the first 

hearing, but the Bureau now had a fine and completely adequate new home. 

Memorandum, A. V. Astin to J. H. Hollomon, "Dedication Ceremony, Gaithersburg," July 14, 1964. 

(NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 381; Folder 5/64—8/64) 

Memorandum, Assistant Secretary Hollomon to the Secretary, "Dedication of New Facilities for the 

National Bureau of Standards," prepared January 25, 1965; Letter, Secretary of Commerce to the President, 

prepared January 25, 1965. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 381; Folder 1/1/65—4/30/65) 

Memorandum, I. C. Schoonover to J. H. Hollomon, "Dedication of NBS Gaithersburg," July 13, 1966; 

Letter, John T. Connor to the President, July 18, 1966. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 381; Folder 

Chrono File, 1/1/65—4/30/65) re "NBS Gaithersburg Dedicated Nov. 15; Symposium, Open House Held," NBS Standard 11(9) (December 

1966): 1. °' Appropriations Hearings for 1967: 712-716. 

489 
It is the rare visitor who, being driven around the Gaithersburg site, does not remark on its beauty)°2 Indeed, with its 400 acres of well-mowed lawns; 67 acres of woods in 

two lots; two 4 acre ponds occupied by mallards, black ducks, and large flocks of 

Canada geese; and the hundreds of strategically placed and well-maintained trees and 

shrubs, the site has more the aspect of a park than a workplace. The numbers of 

trees and shrubs planted are impressive: approximately 1800 large deciduous trees of 

38 varieties, 926 small and flowering trees of 32 varieties, 1548 coniferous trees of 

9 varieties, and hundreds of shrubs. The azaleas and rhododendrons of the pre-1990s 

have been replaced with deer-resistant varieties of shrubs, plants, and ground covers. 

Included in the collection and planted as a grove between the two ponds, in 37 varieties, are the 53 officially designated trees of the states, the District of Columbia, 

Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Elsewhere on the grounds are individual specimen 

trees, such as a spectacular weeping beech which, along with other trees and shrubs, 

and flowers is planted in the courtyard near the cafeteria. Not counted in the collection, 

but planted in the large courtyard next to the library, is the Newton apple tree. 

This tree is reputed to be a direct descendant (via the British East Mailing Research 

Station and the U.S. Beltsviile Agricultural Research Station) of the tree that revolutionized physics by dropping one of its apples alongside the young Sir Isaac. Beneath 

it is a plaque bearing the inscription, SCIENCE HAS ITS TRADITIONS As WELL AS ITS 

FRONTIERS.'°3 Artfully planted to soften the otherwise austere facade of the buildings, 

the trees and shrubbery provide pleasing color from spring through fall. 

Upon entering the Administration Building, the feeling of spacious aesthetic design 

is not lost. The large reception area is floored in black terrazzo, and its walls are white or black marble. When entering, one sees on the far wall an inscription taken from a May 14, 1900, House Committee 'report on the bill to establish the Bureau. In gold 

letters, incised into black marble, the quotation states: 

IT IS THEREFORE THE UNANIMOUS OPINION OF YOUR COMMITI'EE 

THAT NO MORE ESSENTIAL AID COULD BE GIVEN TO MANUFACTURING, COMMERCE, THE MAKERS OF SCIENTIFIC APPARATUS, 

THE SCIENTIFIC WORK OF THE GOVERNMENT, OF SCHOOLS, 

COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES, TI-IAN BY THE ESTABLISHMENT OF 

THE INSTITUTION PROPOSED BY THIS BILL. 

It forms an impressive greeting. 

Upholstered furniture is scattered throughout the reception area, and ample corridors 

lead to the auditoria, cafeteria, and library. With an immense glass wall on its north 

side, the cafeteria is bright and spacious, a great improvement over the one at the Van 

Ness site. Much use is made of wood paneling in the auditoria and on the rest of the 

ground floor of the Administration Building complex. Glass walls are abundant and 

provide a sense of spaciousness. The north wall of the library's main reading room is 

all glass, but the most striking architectural feature of the library is a helical white 

102 All the numbers given in this paragraph were provided by the Plant Division in 1992. 03 One of its siblings, still fronted by a similar plaque, is the only remnant of the Bureau at the Van Ness site. 

490 
terrazzo staircase leading up to a mezzanine of stacks which look down on the reading room beneath them. Again, a sense of spaciousness is achieved. An employees' lounge was placed across the hail from the cafeteria and the Green Auditorium, and a slightly 

longer walk from the larger Red Auditorium. The lounge is used as a gathering place 

during official functions, such as meetings and symposia, and paintings of all the 

former directors hang in it. A corridor leads from the lounge to wood-panelled private 

dining rooms and to the senior lunch club. No longer serving a fixed menu boarding 

house style, the Gaithersburg club operates buffet style with an ample variety of food. 

491 

Below: The wall, built in 1948 to study the action of various weathering 

agents on structural materials, was 

moved intact on May 18, 1977. The 

wall contains 2059 samples of stone in 

the front face, and 293 in the back and 

ends; of these, 2032 are domestic stones 

supplied by 47 states, and 320 are foreign samples supplied by 16 countries. The wall is approximately 

37 ft. 9 in. long, 12 ft. 10 in. high, 2 ft. 

thick at the bottom and 1 ft. at the top, 

and weighs 39.6 tons. 

Left: A workman welds the framework 

of the apparatus that will carry the test exposure wall from the old site to Gaithersburg. 
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE SERVICES ADMINISTRATION 

In September 1963, meteorologist Robert M. White came to the Department 

of Commerce as chief of the Weather Bureau from his position as president of the 

Research Center of the Travelers Insurance Company. Along with his duties as Weather Bureau chief, he became deeply concerned with "the problem of how we have organized our geophysical or environmental scientific, engineering, and service 

activities in this country, particularly in the Federal Government. Have we organized 

ourselves so that we can attack the problems of man's natural environment effectively? 

And will our present organizational forms prove adequate to the tasks of the years that 

lie ahead?"°4 With the assistance of meteorologist Edward S. Epstein, then a consultant to the assistant secretary of commerce for science and technology, White 

prepared a report for the assistant secretary, giving his views on the organizational 

problems in environmental science and the role of the Department of Commerce in that 

field. He presented arguments that since "there is an essential unity linking the environmental sciences... . [m]any benefits will accrue to the Federal Government and to 

the Nation at large by establishing a single organizational entity to conduct research 

and provide services dealing with man's total environment." Moreover, Commerce, 

with its Weather Bureau, its Coast and Geodetic Survey, and its CRPL at the Bureau, 

uniquely among Government agencies possessed the "experienced nucleus of scientific 

and technological capability including the necessary service apparatus covering the 

full spectrum of environmental sciences." He proposed that all the relevant units of the 

department be pulled together into a National Environmental Services Administration. 105 White sent the proposal to Astin and Admiral H. Arnold Karo, director of the Coast 

and Geodetic Survey, for their comments. After receiving enthusiastic assurances of 

support from both, White sent the proposal to Assistant Secretary Hollomon with the 

recommendation that the secretary appoint a distinguished committee "for their 

comments and recommendation."°6 Hollomon, however, continued the process a little 

differently. He formed a three-person committee of Astin, Karo, and White, with White as Chair, to "review. . . the Environmental Scientific Activities of the Department of 

Commerce."°7 In the meantime, the assistant secretary kept the White House—particularly Science Advisor Donald Hornig—apprised of what the DOC was doing. On 

104 Speech, Robert M. White, "The Organization of the Environmental Sciences in the Federal Government," 

April 23, 1964. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 382; Folder ESSA 1964-1965.) White delivered this 

speech before a joint banquet of the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union. 105 Memorandum, Chief, Weather Bureau to Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology, Department of 

Commerce, "Environmental Services in the Federal Government," January 24, 1964. (NIST RHA; Director's 

Office; Box 382; Folder ESSA 1964- 1965) 06 Ibid. The reader will recall that the Environmental Protection Agency was established in 1970. 07 Memorandum, J. H. Hollomon to Director, National Bureau of Standards; Director, Coast and Geodetic 

Survey; Chief, Weather Bureau, "Review of the Environmental Scientific Activities of the Department of 

Commerce," May 18, 1964. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 382; Folder ESSA 1964- 1965) 

492 
January 15, 1965, the committee issued a report which had been reviewed by a distinguished advisory group. It showed no basic difference from the original White report, 

except for a change in the name of the proposed agency to National Environmental 

Science Service and small changes in its structure.'°8 

On July 13, 1965, Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1965 became effective, and a new 

agency called the Environmental Science Services Administration, or ESSA, came into 

being.'°9 On October 11, all 592 CRPL staff members were transferred to the new 

agency but remained in ESSA became a joint tenant with NBS in what 

became the U.S. Department of Commerce Boulder Laboratories. Within ESSA, the 

CRPL was renamed the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences and Aeronomy. 

None of the staff concerned with radio standards—who had never been part of 

CRPL—were transferred. However, fifteen members of the Bureau's Sound Section 

formed a Geoacoustics Group in the new institute, and they did move to a new location. The Bureau had lost, at least administratively, one of its elite units and valued 

members of another. Astin's reaction to this divestiture is not recorded. It can, however, be assumed that he probably felt some relief at the loss of the foremost of 

his special central responsibilities for which he had had difficulty in obtaining authorization. 

A NUMBER OF NEW RESPONSIBILITIES 

New legislation gave the Bureau a number of additional responsibilities during the 

period. Most of these laws arose from heightened public concern for consumer product 

safety, but some of them responded to other considerations. A list of the laws that 

involved NBS is given in Appendix C. Though they were the most numerous, the 

safety-related laws were not the only ones that provided the Bureau with new responsibilities. There was the automatic data processing equipment legislation (the "Brooks 

Act"), the Metric System Study legislation, the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, and 

the Standard Reference Data Act, which gave the Bureau's existing program a sound 

legal basis. 

Mention should also be made of the 1967 Joint Resolution to Establish a National 

Commission on Product Safety, and the 26-page omnibus Consumer Product Safety Act 

of 1972. The first act mandated the formation of a temporary commission to conduct a study of product safety and write a report to the president and the Congress. The second act formed the Consumer Product Safety Commission. A far different body from 

the first commission, it was given complete regulatory responsibility for consumer 

product safety as spelled out in the act. The law reassigned responsibility for administering the Flammable Fabrics Act and the old refrigerator safety devices legislation, 

Chief, U.S. Weather Bureau; Director, National Bureau of Standards; Director, U.S. Coast and Geodetic 

Survey, "Report of the Committee for Review of the Environmental Science and Service Activities of the 

Department of Commerce," January 15, 1965. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 382; Folder ESSA 1964- 

1965) 

Appropriations Hearings for 1967: 490. 

"° Handwritten notes, "ESSA File," undated. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 382; Folder ESSA 1964- 

1965) 

493 
thereby removing the burden of these two laws from the secretary of commerce and 

hence from NBS. Moreover, the act stipulated that, to the extent possible, the commission should use the "resources and facilities of the National Bureau of Standards, on a reimbursable basis." It was an important law for the Bureau. 

The principal problem with these new responsibilities was finding the resources for 

them. With the Bureau appropriations rising at a mere 2 percent above the GNP 

inflation rate, expansion funds were scarce. Funds and people had to be taken from 

existing programs and placed on the new ones, a recourse to "reprogramming" that 

could only be partly successful. Astin, seeking money for NSRDS and ADP at the FY 

1967 House Appropriations Hearings, complained of "enlarged responsibilities" that 

"have been added to the Bureau without a corresponding assignment of the resources 

to carry out those responsibilities At the 1968 hearings, he asserted, "[Belt 

tightening] does not provide enough. We have made available through this reprogramming process about $1 million. We need to carry out these responsibilities that have 

been assigned to us in excess of $7 At the 1969 hearings, Astin protested: 

Let me emphasize that in the last few years especially, we have done everything possible to reprogram or to curtail programs—and this includes 

people—so as to transfer the available money to the highest priority ones. 

But reprogramming has been made very difficult because of the new responsibilities assigned to the Bureau in the past few years by both the administration and the Congress; namely standard reference data, fair packaging and 

labeling, automatic data processing, flammable fabrics, and fire research. 

However, requested increases for these new responsibilities were not fully 

granted. At the same time we have tried to keep abreast of the rapid technological advances requiring basic standards and data services. This reprogramming has seriously hurt our longer established programs. We have little or no flexibility left.TM3 

The passage during 1969 of the Metric System Study would compound the problems 

pointed to by Astin. The glory days were over. 

Automobile Safety 

NBS had worked in the automotive field for many years with both Congress and 

groups representing various aspects of automotive development or safety coming to the 

Bureau for help with such problems as tire quality. Two public laws that predated 

the current period involved the Bureau in work on brake fluids and seat belts. 

Appropriations Hearings for 1967: 649. 

2 House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, 

The Judiciary, and Related Agencies, Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, The Judiciary, and 

Related Agencies Appropriations for 1968: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, 90th Cong., 1st sess., National Bureau of Standards, 19 April 1967: 715. 

"3 House Committee on Apropriations, Subcommittee on Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, the 

Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations, Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, the Judiciary, 

and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1969: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, 90th Cong., 2d sess., National Bureau of Standards, 28 March 1968: 1193. 

494 
Public Law 87-637 and Public Law 88-201 directed the secretary of commerce to 

prepare specifications for brake fluids and seat belts, respectively. In each case, the 

secretary of commerce turned to NBS for technical assistance. Working with outside 

groups, principally the Society of Automotive Engineers, the Bureau adopted and/or 

modified the existing standards. The first brake fluid standard was published on December 4, 1962, just three months after the enactment of the law, thereby complying 

with the 90-day deadline set by the legislation."4 The standard was modified on July 

31, The properties standardized for the various types of brake fluids available 

were boiling point, flash point, viscosity, pH value, stability at high temperatures, 

corrosion, fluidity and appearance at low temperatures, evaporation, water tolerance, 

compatibility, resistance to oxidation, and the effect on rubber. Brake fluid was also 

required to pass a simulated service test. 

The seat belt standard followed a similar course, but plans were made for it even 

before the law was passed."6 Again, the plans were basically to adopt SAE standards 

and modify them as required. The law, enacted on December 13, 1963, required 

that standards be promulgated before one year had passed. On September 9, 1964, 

Secretary Hodges issued a "Notice of Proposed Rule Making for a Seat Belt Standard," 

where he announced, "Notice is hereby given that the standards for seat belts for use in 

motor vehicles as set forth in tentative form below are proposed to be prescribed and 

published as required under Public Law 88-201, approved December 13, 1963, on or before December 12, 1964." On that date, having received comments, the secretary 

pointed out that the standards were essentially the same as existing SAE standards and 

that their purpose was "to provide the public with safe seat belts so that passenger 

injuries in motor vehicle accidents can be kept to a minimum" as the legislation 

required. 1114 The standards themselves consisted of a set of requirements and associated test 

procedures for all the components of seat belts for adults and children: the webbing (or 

strap), the hardware, and the assemblies. In both these cases, after the issuance of the 

first two versions of the standard, the secretary delegated to Astin the authority to 

"perform the functions vested in the Secretary of Commerce" under the appropriate 

law."9 From then on, the notices in the Federal Register pertaining to the two laws 

were signed by Astin. While his authority was subject to policies and directives from 

both the secretary and the assistant secretary for science and technology, it appears that 

for the first time in its history, the Bureau's director was responsible for changes in 

mandatory standards. 

114 Federal Register 27 (December 4, 1962): 11941-11943. 

Federal Register 28 (July 31, 1963): 7773-7775. 116 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to J. H. Hollomon, "Plans for Developing the Seat Belt Standard Required by 

Public Law 88-201," January 9, 1964. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 381; Folder Chrono 1/64—4/64) " Federal Register 29 (September 9, 1964): 12736. 118 Public Law 88-201 quoted in Federal Register 29 (December II, 1964): 16973. 

Federal Register 29 (February 28, 1964): 2779-2780 and Federal Register 30 (April 24, 1965): 5802. 

Quote is contained in the second of these. 

495 
Far more important for the Bureau than this delegation of authority was the question 

of policing the marketplace. Both laws were silent on this issue; no responsibility was 

given to anyone, but neither was this activity forbidden. In a memorandum to Robert 

E. Giles, general counsel of DOC, Astin took up the issue. He wrote, "With respect to 

brake fluids, it was agreed that the National Bureau of Standards would (a) test brake 

fluids which were sent to it on complaint, and (b) see to it that samples were collected 

under standard procedures on some regular basis and then tested by NB S." He then 

stated that the Bureau would try to get the General Services Administration or the 

Federal Trade Commission to do the actual collection of brake fluid samples. The 

procedure for seat belts would be similar. Astin then summarized: 

The seat belt and brake fluids cases pose an issue of policy for the Department of Commerce. Both laws leave ambiguous the question of the agency 

responsible for inspection procedures. It is my view that the Department of 

Commerce should not attempt to put itself into the position of inspecting and 

policing industry, both because the Department is not equipped to perform 

these regulatory functions and because these functions are in conflict with the 

services to industry and the general relationship to industry that we now have 

and that we are attempting to promote... . Future laws such as the Automotive Tire Safety proposal should contain a section in which responsibility for 

inspection is made to reside with a regulatory agency such as FTC.'2° 

With respect to these laws, the issues eventually resolved themselves. The National 

Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-563) specifically 

repealed the brake fluid and seat belt laws since the broader law made the old laws 

redundant. Under this law, the secretary of commerce was given the responsibility to 

"establish by order appropriate Federal motor vehicle safety standards. Each such.. 

standard shall be practicable, shall meet the need for motor vehicle safety, and shall be 

stated in objective terms." Introduction into commerce of any vehicle not conforming 

to these standards was forbidden and punishable by fine or imprisonment. The law 

provided for a National Motor Vehicle Safety Advisory Council to guide the secretary. 

Important for the Bureau, the secretary was directed to "conduct research, testing, 

development, and training" and was given the authority to make grants for this 

purpose. Title II of the law took up the difficult problem of tire safety, and Title III 

authorized the secretary to "make a complete investigation and study of the need for a facility or facilities to conduct research, development and testing in traffic safety. . . Finally, a 1960 act providing for a register in the Department of Commerce listing the 

names of persons who had their motor vehicle operator's licenses revoked was 

amended in Title IV to include in a National driver register each individual whose 

license had been denied, terminated, or temporarily withdrawn. 

20 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to R. E. Giles, "Inspection Procedures—Seat Belts and Other Safety Standards," 

September 24, 1964. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 381; Folder 9/1/64—10/31/64) 

496 
Director Allen Astin had been prepared for the passage of Public Law 89-563. In 

September 1965 he had written to Assistant Secretary for Administration David R. 

Baldwin, "in anticipation of the passage of the Traffic Safety Act of 1966, we request 

approval to establish a Center for Vehicle Safety Standards, to report to the Institute 

for Applied Technology." A shortened version of its functions was, "conducts research, 

development, testing and evaluation directed at reducing the occurrence of automotive 

accidents and the deaths and injuries which result."2' 

With the actual passage of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 

1966, definition of the Bureau's role became necessary. An internal memorandum of 

understanding between the Office of the Undersecretary for Transportation and the 

Bureau was drafted,'22 but before it could be agreed to, the Department of Transportation (DOT) was formed. All DOC activities in transportation were moved to the new 

department. In particular, the DOT act required the secretary of transportation to form a National Highway Safety Bureau (NHSB) to carry out the provisions of the 1966 act. 

The Bureau would have to consult with this new agency if it was to have a part in 

implementing the law. 

It found its role quickly. William Haddon, Jr., M.D., who had moved from Commerce to Transportation to head the NHSB,'23 informed Astin that "certain tasks in the 

field of vehicle safety would be assigned to NBS." As a result, Astin again wrote to 

Baldwin asking that a new unit which he now called the Office of Auto Safety 

Research be formed in IAT.'24 This time Astin's request was granted, and the new unit 

was formed. Its name became the Office of Vehicle Systems Research (OVSR). In 

March 1967, Secretary of Commerce Alexander B. Trowbridge and Secretary of 

Transportation Alan S. Boyd signed an interagency agreement. The Bureau had a new organizational unit, which was completely supported by the Department of Transportation and which provided that agency continued technical support. 

Organized and operated under the direction of Paul J. Brown, the office had 

programs in three areas: tires, occupant restraint systems, and braking systems. The 

main aim of the tire program was to develop a uniform quality grading system, which 

by law was to be in operation by 1968. This system was "one of the biggest challenges 

to the Safety Laboratory."25 Rating tires on the basis of treadwear, traction, and 

temperature resistance, the system was opposed by the tire industry. The industry 

21 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to D. R. Baldwin, "Amendment to Department Order No. 90-B as Amended," 

July 19, 1966. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 380; Folder Chrono File; July & Aug. 1966) 22 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to J. H. Hollomon, "Implementation of the National Traffic & Motor Vehicle 

Safety Act of 1966," September 16, 1966. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 380; Folder Chrono File Sept 

& Oct) 2' Called the National Traffic Safety Agency while it was in the Department of Commerce.. 124 Memorandum, A. V. Astin to D. R. Baldwin, "Amendment to Department Order No. 90-B as Amended," 

January 17, 1967. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 386; Folder Chrono 1-1-67—2-28-67) 125 Paul J. Brown, "Automotive Safety Laboratory," in NBSIN!ST, A Historical Perspective: A Symposium in 

Celebration of NIST's Ninetieth Anniversary, March 4, 1991, Karma Beal, ed., NatI. Inst. Stand. Technol. 

(U.S.) Special Publication 825; April 1992: 65-67. 

497 
fought the rule-making all the way to the Supreme Court, where the Government's 

position was upheld. In an about face, "one of the tire companies that strongly opposed 

the rulemaking is now citing the grading of its tires under the Government system in 

its advertising."26 

The study of occupant restraint systems led to some dramatic movies. The main 

thrust of the work was to improve the dynamic performance of anthropomorphic 

dummies used in the study of humans under crash conditions. Working with a decelerator at Holloman Air Force Base, tests that simulated a 17 mph auto crash into a 

Robert Christian held "Sandy Bagg," as Earl Cooke belted Sandy in place on the sled 

of the NBS dynamic testing machine. Sandy was one of the contenders for the 

"standard dummy" for dynamic testing of automobile occupant restraint systems. 

66. 

498 
An airman volunteer underwent tests in a Daisy Decelerator, a sled-and-track device at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. In 1967, NBS carried out tests on twentythree human subjects in which physiological responses, sled velocity and deceleration, 

and displacement and loading of belt and shoulder harnesses were recorded. 

499 

Earl Cooke belted in an anthropomorphic dummy. 
barrier were held with human volunteers. The subjects first used lap belts alone, and 

then, in later tests, shoulder harnesses were added. High-speed motion pictures of these 

tests were compared with similar tests that had used dummies. The goal was to 

improve the fidelity of the latter tests. Once their fidelity had been established, these 

tests were cited as "justification for mandating shoulder harnesses in motor 

vehicles."27 

Braking systems were studied with an inertia-disk dynamometer. The disks could 

represent anything from a small car to a 40-ton GVW vehicle. Studying such braking 

properties as repeated stops, fading, and brake wear, correlations were obtained with 

instrumented vehicles in road tests. 

NBS contiuned its cooperative work on automotive safty throughout the 1964 to 

1969 period. 

Automatic Data Processing (ADP) 

On October 30, 1965, the 89th Congress amended the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949. More specifically, the new legislation, Public Law 

89-306, added to Title I of the 1949 act a new section entitled "Automatic Data 

Processing Equipment." 

Public Law 89-306 was introduced by Congressman Jack Brooks of Texas and has 

come to be famous as the "Brooks Act" in spite of its unprepossing brevity (slightly 

more than two pages of text) and tone. In the addition, the administrator of general 

services was "directed to coordinate and provide for the economic and efficient 

purchase, lease, and maintenance of automatic data processing equipment by Federal 

agencies." 

Section III (1) of the Brooks Act authorized the secretary of commerece to provide 

scientific and technological advice on ADP and to recommend to the President 

"uniform Federal ADP standards." The secretary also was authorized to undertake 

necessary research as required by his responsibilities under the act. These responsibilities of the secretary immediately became responsibilities of the National Bureau of 

Standards. The "Brooks Bill" (H. R. 4845) introduced by Congressman Brooks in 

February 1965 was the culmination of years of activity within the Executive Branch 

concerning ADP. 

In the late fifties and early sixties, with the rapidly expanding use of computers by 

the Federal Government, management and coordination of ADP activities was a serious 

concern. Therefore, in September 1958, the Bureau of the Budget, the logical agency 

to worry about such Government-wide management questions, began a study "[t]o 

identify and clarify the Government-wide functions performed, or to be performed, in 

the utilization of Automatic Data Processing (ADP) equipment and to propose assignments of these functions to specific agencies."28 The report listed fourteen separate 

127 Ibid. 128 "Report of Findings and Recommendations Resulting from the Automatic Data Processing (ADP) Responsibilities Study, September 1958, June 1959," reprinted in Subcommittee of the House Committee on Government Operations, Hearings Before A Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations on 

H.R. 4845, 89th Cong., 1st sess., 30, 31 March and 7 April 1965: 571. 

500 
actions that the BOB, with the help of other agencies, should undertake, such as "fostering, promoting, and coordinating the interagency sharing of ADP equipment," 

and "fostering and promoting desirable standardization in ADP systems which are common to all agencies."29 

All the while, ADP activities continued to grow. In 1963, it was reckoned that the 

Federal Government used 1,767 computers, around 10 percent of all the computers in 

the Nation. Thus, upon a request from Congress, in 1963 President Kennedy directed 

BOB to conduct a comprehensive review of the subject and prepare a report. By 1965, 

expenditures associated with the procurement and operation of ADP equipment 

amounted to $3 billion per year, which at that time represented 3 percent of the total 

Federal budget.'3° 

Completed on March 4, 1965, the Bureau of the Budget report, which was presented 

to President Johnson, repeated "[t]o a significant degree" the recommendations of the 

1959 report.'3' Two of the twelve recommendations made in the BOB report specifically mentioned NBS. Recommendation 8 advised the President to "[g]ive increased 

attention to the coordination and evaluation of research and development programs in 

the field of computer sciences. Expand the resources of the National Bureau of 

Standards to advance the development of computer technology and systems oriented 

primarily toward Government needs." Recommendation 12 (b) asked the President to 

"strengthen the authorities for the development, testing, and implementation of 

standards; the performance of research in computer sciences and the provision of 

advisory services by the National Bureau of Standards; and the establishment of a revolving fund to finance arrangements for the joint utilization of computer 

facilities."32 

The Bureau was again specifically mentioned in a section of the report on the need 

for expanded research on special activities. The following suggestion appeared: 

The National Bureau of Standards has pioneered in the development and use 

of computers since 1946. It currently emphasizes research and development on common use aspects of computers and, on a reimbursable basis, it assists 

other Federal agencies in systems research... . The Department of Commerce 

should determine the extent to which the resources of the National Bureau of 

Standards need to be expanded to serve as a research center on computer 

science and technology, primarily oriented toward Government applications, 

and to serve as an advisory service and consulting center for all Government 

agencies."33 

129 Ibid., 575. 

Hearings on HR. 4845: 9. The $3 billion figure is from the testimony of Joseph Campbell, Comptroller 

General of the United States. This figure includes the use of computers by Government contractors. 

131 Report to the President on the Management of Automatic Data Processing in the Federal Government, 

prepared by the Bureau of the Budget and submitted by John L. McClellan, Chairman, Committee on Government Operations, United States Senate, March 4, 1965. Prepared under the general chairmanship of 

BOB Director Kermit Gordon, the report was often called the "Gordon Report." Automatic Data Processing 

Report of the Con,mittee on Government Operations on H.R. 4845: 14. 32 Report to the President on the Management of Automatic Data Processing: 7. Ibid., 55. 

501 
The report also proposed legislation. Indeed, recommendation 12 (a) urged that the 

president "[p]ropose the enactment of legislation by the Congress which would... 

constitute an expression of congressional policy and interest with respect to effective 

and economical use of automatic data processing equipment."34 

The BOB study was made under the direction of Carl Clewlow, who was on leave 

of absence from Arthur Young and Company. Howard Gammon, Astin's special 

assistant for ADP, was a member of the five-person staff. Because of the presence of 

Gammon on the Clewlow study staff (and of the Bureau's Samuel N. Alexander on the 

BOB's Advisory Council on ADP), the Bureau was well aware, even before publication of the report, that new responsibilities were likely to be given to it. Thus, three 

months before the report to the President was issued, acting upon a request from BOB, 

Astin wrote a short report to Hollomon: "Augmentation of Computer Related Activities 

in Partial Implementation of the 'Gordon Report."35 In it, Astin asked for an augmentation of the Bureau's budget request for FY 1966 by $700 000. He noted that "[un the 

course of the study on which the Gordon Report was based, there was general agreement that the increased effort by NBS should be undertaken in three areas: 

1. ADP standards development. 

2. Assistance to other areas. 

3. Research in the computer sciences.'36 

Astin also noted that "[ajdditional activities to fully implement the recommendations of 

the Gordon Report will require additional legislative authorization." Along with new responsibilities, legislative authorization would be forthcoming. 

Delegation of the Bureau's new activities was not slow in coming. On March 6, 

1965, BOB issued Circular A-71, "Responsibilities for the Administration and Management of Automatic Data Processing Activities." While laying responsibility on all 

agencies, the BOB singled out itself, the General Services Administration, the Department of Commerce, and the Civil Service Commission for special responsibilities. The 

DOC was directed to help achieve increased cost effectiveness in the selection, acquisition, and utilization of ADP equipment. It was given four specific functions. In shortened form, they were: I. Provide consultant and advisory services. 

2. Undertake research on computer sciences and techniques as related to 

Government applications. 

3. Provide day-to-day guidance of an executive branch program for development and testing of voluntary commercial standards for ADP. 

4. Improve compatibility in Federal Government ADP equipment. 

Ibid., 7. 35 Memorandum, Director National Bureau of Standards to J. H. Hollomon, "Proposed Augmentation of 

NBS 1966 RTS Budget Submission," December ii, 1964. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 381; Folder 

11/1/64—12/31/64) 136 This broad scope of research is not reflected in either A-7 I or the Brooks Act. Both of those limit the 

research to Government-related applications. 

502 
Given the contributions already made by NBS to ADP standards, it was natural for 

the secretary of commerce to turn to the Bureau to perform the new functions delineated in BoB Circular A-71. The implementation of these new responsibilities by NBS, 

however, would require more resources as well as organizational change. Thus, just 

over a month after the issuance of Circular A-7 I, Astin proposed the formation of a new organizational unit that he called the Computer Science and Technology Center. 

Incorporating the Information Technology Division and "those portions of the Applied 

Mathematics Division which are primarily in support of the functions assigned by 

A-71," the center would initially comprise three divisions and would report to the 

director. Left open was the possibility of moving the remainder of Applied Mathematics into the center and "perhaps redesignat[ing] the Center as the Institute for 

Mathematical and Computer Sciences."37 

The proposal was adopted but not exactly in its original form. The new unit was called the Center for Computer Sciences and Technology (CCST) and was placed in 

the Institute for Applied Technology. It consisted of the Information Technology Division and the Computation Laboratory of the Applied Mathematics Division, which was carrying out the Bureau's responsibilities under BOB Bulletin The plan was carried through expeditiously. Personnel from the Applied Mathematics Division transferred on September 15, Norman J. Ream, a computer standards expert from 

industry, was hired to direct the new unit. 

CCST remained in IAT until 1969 when it became a separate unit, reporting to the 

director. As a "Center" it joined the Center for Radiation Research which, in 1968, had 

combined the Reactor Radiations Division and the Radiation Physics Division into the 

Reactor Radiation Division. Beginning in 1969, both centers reported to the director. 

From 1901 to 1964, the Bureau had operated with an unchanging organizational structure based on divisions and sections. In the 1964 reorganization, the structure was 

changed by imposing an institute level. Now, just five years later, a new type of unit 

somewhere between an institute and a division was formed. The face of 

science, which provided new obligations for the Bureau, required a rapidly changing 

organizational structure that was previously unknown at NBS. 

131 Memorandum, Dr. A. V. Astin to J. H. Hollomon, "ADP Report to the President," April 15, 1965. (NIST 

RHA; Director's Office; Box 381; Folder 1/1/65—4/30/65) 

Memorandum, A. V. Astin to D. R. Baldwin, "Plan to Create a Center for Computer Sciences and 

Technology in the Institute for Applied Technology: Proposed Revision of D.O. 90 (January 15, 1965)," 

August 20, 1965. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 381; Folder 8/1/65—10/30/65); Executive Office of 

the President, Bureau of the Budget, Bulletin No. 64-9, January 2, 1964. 

Memorandum, A. V. Astin to 0. R. Porter, "Transfer of Employees in the Computation Laboratory From 

the Applied Mathematics Division to the Information Technology Division," September 14, 1965. (NIST 

RHA; Director's Office; Box 381; Folder 8/1/65—10/30/65) 

503 
As noted at the outset of this section, the legislation recommended in the BOB report to the president was actualized in the form of a bill, H.R. 4845, introduced by 

Congressman Jack Brooks of Texas, a member of the House Committee on Government Operations. Cast as an amendment to the Federal Property and Administrative 

Services Act of 1949, it specified a new section entitled "Automatic Data Processing 

Equipment" for Title I of that act. Public Law 89-306, the "Brooks Act," primarily 

concerned itself with GSA and DOC. To the former it gave the authority and direction 

to "coordinate and provide for the economic and efficient purchase, lease, and maintenance of automatic data equipment by Federal agencies" and went on to spell this out 

in some detail. The authorization for the secretary of commerce was short: 

The Secretary of Commerce is authorized (1) to provide agencies, and the 

Administrator of General Services in the exercise of the authority delegated 

in this section, with scientific and technological advisory services relating to 

automatic data processing and related systems, and (2) to make appropriate 

recommendations to the President relating to the establishment of uniform 

Federal automatic data processing standards. The Secretary of Commerce is 

authorized to undertake the necessary research in the sciences and technologies of automatic data processing computer and related systems, as may be 

required under provisions of this subsection.'4° 

The law was basically an authorization to carry out the requirements of Circular A-71. 

To implement these new activities at NBS required either new appropriations or 

reprogramming. In fiscal years 1965 and 1966, about $2 million of reprogramming was 

carried out; that was felt to be the limit.'4' For FY 1966, the Bureau asked for 

$548 000 for ADP standards, bringing the total base for ADP in FY 1966 to $1.33 

million. This was the starting point for implementation of A-71 and the Brooks Act. 

At the House Appropriations Committee Hearings for FY 1967, the Bureau presented a five-year estimate of funding requirements for these new legislated responsibilities. According to the Bureau's estimate, appropriatiOns would have to reach 

$5.49 million in 1970 and $7 million in FY 1971.142 For 1970, the actual appropriation was $1.85 million, an increase of 39 percent over the 1966 base but hardly what the 

Bureau felt was necessary for a first-class program. Nevertheless, NBS once again had 

provided expert assistance to a Federal need. 

Fire Research and Safety 

When a special NAS-NRC panel recommended that a fire group be formed in the 

Federal Government, the Federal Council for Science and Technology (FCST) designated the Bureau as "a central agency for fire research" and DOC made plans to form a National Center of Fire Technology, reporting to Hollomon. This recommendation 

40An Act To provide for the economic and efficient purchase, lease, maintenance, operation, and utilization 

of automatic data processing equipment, by Federal departments and agencies, U.S. Statutes at Large, 79 

(1965): 1127-1128. 

Appropriations Hearings for 1967: 663. 42 Ibid., 681. 

504 
and designation was not surprising since NBS had conducted research on fire problems 

for many years. At the House Appropriations Committee Hearings for FY 1964, the 

Bureau asked for $1.2 million to begin a new fire research program. The objectives of 

the proposed program were to educate the public on fire dangers, assist academic institutions in providing better education to engineers in fire prevention, support 

research institutions, and provide better support for the existing NBS program.'43 

Although supported by the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the proposed new program was strongly opposed by industry, particularly the insurance industry, as well as by the National Fire Protection Association, the leading private organization 

dedicated to fire protection. It was charged by these groups that the program was 

As a result of this opposition, Congress appropriated no funds. Indeed, 

the next year, when the Bureau asked for only a small increase in its $215 000 existing 

program, Chairman Rooney had to be reassured several times that nothing in the whole 

budget request had anything to do with the previous year's fire proposal.'45 

But this reversal did not stop Astin's attempts to respond to the increasing need for 

fire research. Astin began by convening a meeting of representatives of all Federal 

agencies concerned with fire research problems to "explore ways of encouraging 

greater support for fire research work." He had in mind the formation of an Interdepartmental Committee on Fire Research. Such a committee would establish a coordinated policy on fire research and see that the policy was implemented in each 

participating department or agency. The FCST requested that the secretary of commerce establish such an entity. The secretary complied, and an interagency committee was established on August 5, The committee heightened awareness in the 

Federal Government concerning fire research and safety problems but does not appear 

to have done much beyond this. 

More significant progress in obtaining a full-scale fire program came from the 

legislative side. In early 1966, James V. Ryan, assistant chief of the Bureau's Fire 

Research Section, was detailed to Hollomon's office as part of the department's 

Commerce Science Fellowship Program. His assignment was to develop the rationale 

for a fire safety program and its content. Citing the enormity of the fire safety 

problem, which in 1965 cost the Nation 12 100 fatalities and at least $1.6 billion in 

material losses, Ryan found six problem areas: insufficient and inadequate data on the 

"" Appropriations Hearings for 1964: 978-980. 

Ibid., 955, 957-959. 

On reading the record, one can conclude that the fact that Hollomon's name was associated with the 

request was partly responsible for Rooney's opposition. 

Letter, A. V. Astin to W. A. Schmidt, Feb. 17, 1965. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 381; Folder 

1/1/65—4/30/65); Memorandum, J. H. Hollomon to Donald Homig, "Interdepartmental Committee for Fire 

Research," Aug. 31, 1965. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 381; Folder 8/1/65—10/30/65) 

'4' Memorandum, A. V. Astin to J. H. Hoflomon, "Establishment of Interdepartmental Committee on Fire 

Research," Aug. 5, 1966. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 380; Folder Chrono File July & Aug. 1966) 

505 
nature and magnitude of the problem, lack of knowledge of basic mechanisms of 

flammability and fire countermeasures, lack of knowledge and awareness of fire safety 

in the general public, insufficient training of fire fighting personnel, lack of national 

standards on fire safety in building construction, and problems of coordination and 

mutual assistance for coterminous fire departments. To correct these problems, a sixpoint program was developed, consisting of: 

1. Collection, analysis, and dissemination by a national organization of fire data on a uniform, national basis. 

2. Research to improve understanding of fire prevention and control. 

3. Improved and expanded education of fire professionals. 

4. Development and encouragement of nationwide use of nationwide, uniform 

fire safety standards. 

5. Establishment of minimum mandatory standards for performance and compatibility of fire fighting equipment. 

6. Expansion of research in such areas as treatment of burn injuries, and 

economic recovery from fires for business and commercial areas. 

This report was used by the Department of Commerce to prepare a suggested law, the 

Fire Research and Safety Act of 

On February 16, 1967, in his consumer message, President Johnson asked the 

Congress to pass ten bills into law. Among these were three that had important consequenses for the Bureau. One concerned the formation of a National Commission on Product Safety, another provided amendments to the Flammable Fabrics Act, and the 

third was the Fire Research and Safety Bill of 1967. About the latter, Johnson said that 

it should be one early step in a major national effort to reduce the shameful loss of life 

and property resulting from fires. 

Things happened rapidly. The bills were introduced in both the Senate and House. 

The National Commission on Product Safety was created by a joint resolution on November 20, 1967 (Public Law 90-146), and the Flammable Fabrics amendments 

were passed on December 14, 1967 (Public Law 90-189). The fire legislation, 

however, took a little longer. It was finally enacted on March 1, 1968, as the Fire 

Research and Safety Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-259). Except for the fact that it au- thorized $5 million, rather than $10 million, for a two-year program, Title I of the act as passed was identical to the 1967 bill. It was in the form of an amendment of the 

Bureau's enabling legislation, and it called upon the secretary of commerce to "provide a national fire research and safety program including the gathering of comprehensive 

fire data; a comprehensive fire research program; fire safety education and training 

programs; and demonstrations of new approaches and improvements in fire prevention 

Memorandum, J. H. Hollomon to J. A. Califano, Jr., November 17, 1966. In the memo Hollomon specifically cites non-uniform adoption of building construction standards and the compatibility of fire fighting 

equipment, as serious problems. The Ryan report was sent along with the memorandum. (J. V. Ryan, private 

communication.) 

506 
and control, and reduction of death, personal injury, and property damage." According 

to the act, it was "the sense of Congress that the secretary should establish a fire 

research and safety center for administering this title and carrying out its purposes, 

including appropriate fire safety liaison and coordination."49 The Bureau had been 

given new authorities, and it had also been told how to change its organization to 

manage them. It had obtained a legal basis for one if its special central responsibilities. 

Title II of the act established a twenty-member National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control to study the fire problem and report in two years with recommendations on how the Nation could reduce the destruction of life and property caused by 

fire. 

Implementation of the legislation proceeded on both the appropriation and organizational fronts. Signed into law too late to be included in the FY 1969 House appropriation request, it was appended to the later Senate request. The Senate recommended 

$500 000 for Title I and $160 000 for Title II, but in the Senate-House conference, the 

funds were dropped.'5° However, by means of reprogramming, funds were obtained to 

set up an Office of Fire Research and Safety in IAT under John A. Rockett. It was 

purely a program planning office; the technical work on fire research continued in the 

Fire Research Section of the Building Research Division. Only in 1972 was fire work 

at the Bureau given division status under Joseph E. Clark. While not yet a center, the 

Fire Technology Division had achieved independence and had at last obtained legal 

underpinning. 

SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND THE TECHNICAL ANALYSIS DIVISION 

With the development of computers and the mathematical modeling of physical and 

social systems in the fifties and early sixties, the disciplines of operations research 

and systems analysis flourished. The Bureau's Applied Mathematics Division had a sizable program in operations research.'5' Upon the reorganization into institutes, the 

Bureau's activities in this area expanded. In FY 1965, the Bureau received a new responsibility to conduct a cost-benefit analysis service for the DOC bureaus and for 

other Federal agencies, and in 1967 it undertook responsibility "for developing data on decision making on.. . systems problems involving a combination of technology, 

economics, logistics and sociology."52 

By the time the first of these announcements was published, action in this sphere 

had already occurred at DOC. In March 1964, all the bureaus of the department 

"concurred in the Inter-Bureau Agreement" to establish a Technical Analysis Group 

which would analyze the effect of science and technology on the programs of the 

"i Fire Research and Safety Act of 1968, U.S. Statutes at Large, 82 (1968): 34-39. 

John A. Rockett, private communication. 

"Data Processing and Operations Analysis on a Scientific Computer," Technical News Bulletin 44 

(January 1960): 14- 18. 152 Annual Report for 1967: 5. 

507 
science-oriented agencies in the Department. This group would "conduct technicaleconomic analyses and develop analytic processes" which could facilitate policy 

making. The group, however, would not engage in policy decisions. The responsibility 

for establishing the group was given to the Bureau. Funds would be provided jointly 

by the Patent Office, the Weather Bureau, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and NBS, 

all of which reported to Hollomon. The group was to be located in the Institute for 

Applied Technology, and was meant to be concerned solely with DOC programs.'53 

It did not take long for the Bureau to implement this new activity. A Technical 

Analysis Division (TAD) was created in IAT. Astin wrote, "It has long been clear that 

such an activity—an internal 'IDA' [Institute for Defense Analysis] for the Department—would be of very great value."54 W. Edward Cushen, trained in logic and 

metaphysics and experienced in operations research, was hired to head the new 

organization. 

The first project the TAD worked on followed very naturally from the role envisioned for it. It was a study of transportation in the Northeast Corridor, i.e., the region 

stretching from Washington, D.C., to Boston, Massachusetts. Entered into cooperatively with DOC's Office of Transportation, the project aimed at providing a computer 

simulation of transportation in the corridor to permit a systems analysis evaluation of 

the effect of the introduction of new technologies, such as high-speed rail, automated 

highways, and vertical take-off aircraft. The aim of the model was to "determine the 

flow characteristics of the transportation system." The division also developed a computer model for cost-benefit analysis to aid in "decisions concerning [the] relative 

benefit and cost of transportation technologies for the corridor."55 This, its most 

famous project, was to continue for almost a decade, with support shifting from the 

DOC to the Department of Transportation when the latter agency was formed in 

1967.56 

Other early projects were also undertaken with support from DOC agencies: modeling of patent activities to predict backlogs, examiner workload, and monthly output in 

1965, a study of earthquake protection with the Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1966, 

and the study of the World-Wide Seismology Net operated by the Environmental 

Science Services Administration in the same year.'57 Later, the work of the division 

expanded beyond the confines of the DOC to encompass system analysis for other 

Memorandum, J. H. Hollomon to A. V. Astin, "Technical-Economic Analysis," July 30, 1964. (NIST 

RHA; Director's Office; Box 381; Folder 9/1/64—10/31/64) 

Memorandum, A. V. Astin to W. F. Rapp, "The Technical Analysis Division in the Institute for Applied 

Technology in the National Bureau of Standards," Oct. 28, 1964. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 381; 

Folder 9/1/64-10/31/64) 

Annual Report for 1965: 103. 

156 "Computer Model Simulates Northeast Corridor," Technical News Bulletin 53 (January 1969): 8-9, 20. 

"Transportation in the Northeast Corridor," Technical News Bulletin 56 (August 1972): 186-187. 

Annual Report for 1966: 94-95. 

508 
Federal agencies and even local governments. In 1967, TAD noted that it was the 

largest systems analysis group "[w]ithin the civilian agencies of the Government" and 

that it assisted "other agencies in the solution of their specific systems analysis 

problems." It also conducted "research on cost benefit analyses for Government 

This represented a significant expansion of its original mandate, and 

work for other agencies flourished. Projects were undertaken for the Agency for 

International Development, the Department of the Interior, the Post Office Department, 

the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Atomic Energy Commission, 

the Coast Guard, and even Montgomery County, Maryland—working with that locality 

"to determine an optimal school districting plan."59 In 1970, the NAS-NAC-NRC 

evaluation panel, a very strong supporter of the TAD, wrote: 

TAD has helped: the Interstate Commerce Commission evaluate its plan for an adequate national freight-car supply; the Maritime Administration determine a preferred deployment of inland cargo consolidation centers; the Post 

Office with its mail-handling and processing systems; the Weather Bureau by 

evaluating the performance of its Miami hurricane warning center; the 

Atomic Energy Commission with its problem of controlling the supplies of 

nuclear material.'60 

Soon the work for other agencies overshadowed the work for DOC agencies, and the 

division grew to a size of almost 150 persons. Many of these, however, were not in the 

full-time permanent category. 

But Bureau support for the division lagged. Astin was strapped for funds to carry 

out mandated responsibilities and did not support the division, despite his praise for it. 

After praising the work of the division at the Bureau oversight hearings in 1971, the now director emeritus noted, "But this activity receives only 10 percent of its funding 

through direct appropriation, far too small a percentage to provide for the planning and 

techniques development that are necessary to achieve the potential benefits."6' 

The lack of RTS support became a bone of contention with the Evaluation Panel. In 

its 1970 review, the panel noted "despite continuing emphasis on this matter by the 

Panel, the Bureau's support to TAD in the form of RTS funds remains far below the 

desirable level." It recommended that RTS funds be increased to at least one third of 

the total budget.'62 Then, in the following year, the panel almost rebelled. When 

156 Annual Report for 1967: 99. 

'59Annual Report for 1968: 134-135; Annual Report for 1969: 156. 60 National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, National Research Council, "Annual 

Report of the Panels for the Evaluation of the Research, Development and Technical Service Activities of 

the National Bureau of Standards 1970-1971": 368. 

161 Subcommittee on Science, Research, and Development of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, National Bureau of Standards Oversight Hearings: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Science, 

Research, and Development of the Committee on Science and Astronautics, 92d. Cong., 1st sess., 22 September 1971: 222. 62 NAS, NAE, NRC, "Annual Report of the Panels for the Evaluation": 372. 

509 
the Bureau did not increase RTS support for TAD, the panel noted that "this absence 

of response to the most mature and significant communication the Panel had ever 

addressed to the Bureau left the Panel in something of a quandary."63 One of its 

members proposed that the Bureau take one of three specified courses of action: 

I. Reduce the scope of TAD to service NBS alone. 

2. Arrive at a clear understanding that the TAD exists for the benefit of all 

Government agencies, and that the Bureau simply become its manager. 

3. Remove it from NBS and attach it to another agency, or make it into a private corporation or institute. 

The source of the problems experienced by TAD in the Bureau is not hard to understand. The TAD had only a tenuous relation at best to the Bureau's measurement 

standards mission. As long as it was small and as long as it was providing a service to 

NBS and other DOC agencies, this could be tolerated. However when it became. 

primarily a contractor for other Government agencies, then TAD was open to the 

criticism that its work could be done as well or better by the private sector. In fact, 

these were exactly the conclusions that DOC came to. In August 1974, DOC abolished 

the program, citing the fact that TAD's work appeared to compete with services 

offered by the private sector, that 60 percent of its work did not relate to the NBS 

mission, and that all the DOC agencies operate under tight personnel ceilings. Bureau 

management went to great pains to relocate TAD personnel either in or outside of the 

Bureau. By March 1975, most of them had been The official abolishment 

date was July 22, 1975.165 It was an unfortunate situation that such a competent 

organization had been located in the wrong place. 

THE NATIONAL MEASUREMENT SYSTEM 

The use of systems analysis at the Bureau was not limited to the sophisticated computations of TAD and the Applied Mathematics Division. Ever concerned with the role 

of the Bureau in the society at large and doubtless spurred by his appointment as director of the Institute for Basic Standards, Robert D. Huntoon applied the concepts of 

system analysis to what he called the "national measurement system." In his analysis, 

Huntoon saw all the Nation's measurement activities as forming a social system 

similar to the communications, transportation, defense, education, medical, and legal 

The analysis was undertaken "partly because of a growing realization of the 

National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, National Research Council, "National 

Bureau of Standards—An Evaluation—1971—1972": 118. 

Richard W. Roberts, State of the Bureau—Gaithersburg, March 11, 1975. 

U.S. Department of Commerce. National Bureau of Standards. "Organizational and Staffing Changes as Provided in DOO 30-2B," Administrative Bulletin, 75-49, September 10, 1975. 

Annual Report for 1967: 7. 

510 
all-pervasive nature and great economic importance of the nation's measurement activities, and partly because of the challenge to NBS in putting its splendid new facilities 

to optimum use for the benefit of the nation."67 

Huntoon demonstrated that measurement was big business. He estimated that each 

day something on the order of two billion measurements were made.'68 Rather more 

meaningful was the calculation that in 1963, five economic sectors, contributing $396 

billion to the $591 billion gross national product, spent $13.9 billion and 1.3 million 

man years in measurement. He also estimated that the Nation had investments of 

$25 billion in measurement instruments and $20 billion in data and that these were increasing at yearly rates of $4.5 billion and $3 billion, respectively. 

Huntoon's analysis of the national measurement system began by recognizing that, as in many other social systems, it consisted of two subsystems, an "intellectual 

system" and an "operational system." The intellectual system consisted "of the set of 

rules and conventions that govern the operation of the system... . [It] is universally 

applicable, much like the laws of physics. . . . An example of an intellectual system is 

the International System of Units (abbreviated SI for Système International)—an 

intellectual concept, a set of rules regarding units. This system in [sic] universal; not 

only is it international, but it could be used on other planets if we ever succeed in 

communicating with them."69 

The operational subsystem, on the other hand, consisted of the people and organizations which were actually involved in measurements and insured "proper linkage of 

the U.S. system to the international measurement system." The operational system also 

had to "analyze and work on the pool of unmet needs" and "maintain and disseminate 

information on the reservoir of capability" that a user might call upon. This second 

subsystem consisted of three networks: an instrument network, a data network, and a techniques network. The instrument network provided "calibrated traceable instrumentation, consistent and compatible with the national standards." Since the national standards were part of the intellectual system, the instrument network was directly tied to 

that system. The data network provided critically evaluated data on the properties 

of materials so that more often than not, the system user did not need to make a measurement. The National Standard Reference Data System was clearly central to 

this network. The techniques network disseminated knowledge on how to make 

meaningful measurements.'7° 

The overriding rationale for the whole system was to provide assurance that all 

measurements, wherever made, were compatible. Compatibility provided a firm quantitative basis for the interchange of goods and services in commerce, of machine parts 

and devices in industry, and of scientific and technical information. The system also 

167 Robert D. Huntoon, "Concept of a National Measurement System," Science 158 (October 6, 1967): 67. 

This estimate included such passive activities as reading a clock or a speedometer. 

Robert D. Huntoon, "The Measurement System of the United States," in Proceedings of the 1966 

Standards Laboratory Conference, Nat!. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Miscellaneous Publication 291; July 1967: 89. 

70Annual Report for 1967: II. 

511 
provided a quantitative basis for a safe course of action. For example, an aircraft pilot 

made essential decisions during flight based on the readings of "measurement output 

dials." These readings had to be compatible with similar readings by other pilots and 

air controllers if the flight was to be safe and on schedule.'7' 

Compatibility was assured by having all measurements traceable to the units for the 

basic quantities, as embodied at present in the SI.'72 Because the Bureau developed and 

maintained its own versions of these basic units, it had the central role in the national 

measurement system. NBS also provided calibration services and standard reference 

materials for the instrument network, operated the NSRDS which generated and 

evaluated data for the data network, and developed measurement methods for the 

techniques network. 

But the Bureau did not work alone in implementing the national measurement 

system. Even in providing calibration services, it had—and needed—help. The 

Bureau was instrumental in the development of a chain of standards laboratories and 

the organization of the yearly meetings of the National Conference of Standards 

Laboratories. In turn these became a new part of the national measurement system. 

Moreover, laboratories in industry, government, and academia, at one time or another, 

inadvertently or by design, provided information to the instrument, data, and techniques networks, and there were special laboratories devoted solely to one or more of 

these networks. Scientific societies, via their publications, were disseminators of 

instrument design information, data, and techniques. Of particular importance were the 

standardizing societies like the American Society for Testing and Materials, American 

Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, and the Society of Automotive Engineers, which provided forums in which test methods or special purpose 

measurement methods were developed. Indeed, the concept of the national measurement system was so all-encompassing that all scientific and engineering laboratories were both providers to and users of the system. 

For the Bureau, the national measurement system was a very natural way of defining 

its role in the economic and scientific life of the Nation. Thus, the concept was widely 

promulgated in publications, symposia, and conferences. Internally, the national 

measurement system concept was most useful in analyzing the programs of the 

Institute for Basic Standards, since it had responsibility for the basic national standards, 

and the NSRDS was one of its units. In 1974, there were eighteen "microstudies" or miniature planning-programming-budgeting-type issue studies of the national measurement system in relation to each institute program area. 

Huntoon, "The Measurement System of the United States": 91. 172 Ibid. Huntoon recognized four such quantities—mass, length, time, and temperature—along with their base units. He points out that the SI recognizes two other base units, the ampere and the candela. 

512 
TaE CLEARINGHOUSE FOR FEDERAL AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION 

We saw how the Bureau, largely on its own initiative but strongly supported by the 

Federal Council for Science and Technology (FCST), created the National Standard 

Reference Data System, a new program for the collection, production, critical evaluation, and dissemination of scientific data. In February 1964, as part of its reorganization into institutes, the Bureau inherited another program for the dissemination of scientific and technical information. 

That the Federal Government should be involved in such an information activity had 

been accepted for a long time. In 1945, by Executive Orders 9568 and 9604, President 

Truman established an interdepartmental board called the Publication Board to collect 

and declassify World War II technical data—including German and Japanese data— 

and make it available to industry. The following year the Department of Commerce 

established the Office of Technical Services (OTS) to consolidate the activities of the 

Publication Board and other organizations. Then the 81St Congress became involved. In 

1950, it enacted Public Law 776, which directed the secretary of commerce to 

"establish and maintain within the Department of Commerce a clearinghouse for the 

collection and dissemination of scientific, technical, and engineering information." 

Such information was to be collected, coordinated, and otherwise analyzed "from 

whatever sources, foreign and domestic, that may be available." It was to be made 

available in various forms to the whole Nation.'73 These mandated activities became 

the Technical Documentation Center in the OTS. 

In 1964, the Bureau inherited the OTS and placed it in the Institute for Applied 

Technology. Then in February, following endorsement by the FCST, a clearinghouse of a somewhat different character from the one described in Public Law 776 was 

established. This one was called the Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical 

Information. It would be concerned solely with Federal information, but it would be 

the "national center for the dissemination of Government-generated information in the 

physical sciences, engineering, and related technology." It was "established as the 

single point of contact in the Executive Branch for supplying the industrial and 

technical community with unclassified information about Government-sponsored 

research and development in defense, space, atomic energy, and other national 

programs." The clearinghouse made accessible inexpensive research information that 

could "aid in the development of a new product, solve a processing problem, or 

increase productivity through technical improvement." 

'73An Act To provide for the dissemination of technological, scientific, and engineering information, U.S. 

Statutes at Large, 64 (1950): 823. 

Letter, A. V. Astin to J. L. McClellan, January 25, 1965. (NIST RHA; Director's Office; Box 381; Folder 

1/1/65—4130/65). Senator McClellan was a sponsor of Public Law 776. 

513 
Using rented space in Springfield, Virginia, the clearinghouse was in operation by 

July 1, and was dedicated in January 1965. 176 It had a broad program. During 

its first year, employment increased from 236 to 316, and its activities expanded. In 

that year the clearinghouse sold approximately 1.5 million copies of documents at the 

cost of reproduction and handling. It collected 60 000 documents, expanding its 

activities with the Atomic Energy Commission, NASA, and other agencies. The 

clearinghouse consummated an interagency agreement with the Department of Defense 

whereby it would do the processing on that department's research and development 

reports and distribute them to contractors as well as to the general public. It also 

provided more than a dozen more general services, including journals such as Government-Wide Index to Federal Research & Development Reports, U.S. Government Research and Development Reports, and Technical Translations. There were even 

activities designed to improve the efficiency of clearinghouse operations. For example, a demand-prediction model was developed whereby a report could be printed in 

quantity prior to any requests being received. This precluded the need for expensive 

individual handling.'77 

Astin considered the clearinghouse to be one of his special central responsibilities, 

along with the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory and automatic data processing. 

He sought to obtain increases in appropriations for it, although not as ardently as he 

did for the NSRDS. A large part of the clearinghouse was self-supporting through 

sales, but there were some services which were not. The Government-wide index, 

referral services, reports on research in process, and the development of focused and 

targeted industrial dissemination needed appropriations. Increases were not major, but 

they did come. In 1964, the appropriation was $940 000. 178 By 1969 it had increased to 

$1.28 million.'79 

Until 1969 the clearinghouse was administratively located in IAT where it clearly 

served the function of assisting industry in the application of new research findings to 

the development of technology. In 1969, the Bureau's information programs were collected in a new organization called the Office of Information Programs. In the new 

post of associate director for information programs, Edward L. Brady directed the or- ganization. Along with the clearinghouse, the office contained the Office of Standard 

Reference Data, the Office of Technical Information and Publications, the Library, the 

Office of Public Information, and the Office of International Relations. This placement 

under an associate director who reported to the director attested to the importance 

Astin placed on information dissemination. 

'"Memorandum, A. V. Astin to W. F. Rapp, "Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information," October 28, 1964. (NIST RHA, Director's Office, Box 381, Folder 9/l/64—l0/31/64) 

"Dedication of Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific & Technical Information," Technical News Bulletin 

49 (April 1965): 60. 

'"Annual Report for 1965: 96-100. 

House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Departments of State, Justice, Commerce, the 

Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations, Departments of State, Justice, Commerce, the Judiciary, and 

Related Agencies Appropriations for 1966: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, 89th Cong., 1st sess., National Bureau of Standards, 16 March 1965: 538. 

'"House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Departments of State, Justice, Commerce, the 

Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations, Departments of State, Justice, Comnierce, the Judiciary, and 

Related Agencies Appropriations for 1970: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, 91st Cong., 1st sess., National Bureau of Standards, 13 March 1969: 960. 

514 
However, this arrangement did not last long. Since the clearinghouse was not a technical or research operation, there was no advantage to its being located in the Bureau. 

On September 2, 1970, it became a separate agency within the Department of Com- merce known as the National Technical Information Service, one of the Department's 

primary operating units. 

INVENTION AND INNOVATION 

In 1940, at the suggestion of scientists and engineers, the secretary of commerce 

formed the National Inventors Council (NIC) to—in the words of Jacob Rabinow— 

"get the lay inventors (that is, the non-professionals, and perhaps the professionals who 

are not part of large organizations) to submit inventions to the Government to help the 

war effort." The NIC also provided advice to the secretary with regard to. the field of 

invention. Serving without pay, the Council received over 500 000 submissions during 

the war years, 106 of which actually went into production.'8° Then, in 1964, the 

Bureau formed a small group concerned with invention and innovation in the Office 

of the Director of the Institute for Applied Technology. Placed under Daniel V. 

De Simone, an engineer/lawyer who had been a consultant to J. Herbert Hollomon and 

the Office of Technical Services and was an expert on innovation, a primary function 

of the group was to reconstitute and serve as secretariat for NIC. In the same year, in 

his Economic Report to the Congress, President Johnson directed DOC "to explore new ways for speeding the development and spread of new technology." To help carry 

out the president's directive, the secretary of commerce formed a Panel on Invention 

and Innovation, and "[b]ecause one of the ways a government can accomplish this end 

[the spread of technology] is to improve the climate for technological change," the 

secretary asked the panel "to explore the opportunities for improving such climatesetting policy areas as anti-trust, taxation, and regulation of industry."8' De Simone's 

group in IAT provided a secretariat for the panel. In February 1965, the NBS group 

became an office. So was born the Office of Invention and Innovation (011). 

The aim of the Office was to "help develop an environment more conducive to 

technological change." It did this in three separate ways: by "providing a more rational 

basis for the formulation of climate-setting Federal policies," by offering programs to 

help inventors, and by education.'82 In 1965, OIl reconstituted NIC, which adopted a new charter and appointed De Simone as its executive director. Composed of fourteen 

outstanding inventors from the private sector and fourteen observers from various 

Government agencies, NIC was now "concerned with the processes of invention, the 

work of inventors, and ways to provide more effective assistance to them through state, 

'80iacob Rabinow, "Diamond Ordnance Fuze Laboratory and National Inventors Council," in NBS/N!ST, A 

Historical Perspective; A Symposium in Celebration of NISTs Ninetieth Anniversary, March 4, 1991, Karma 

Beal, ed., Nati. Inst. Stands. Technol. (U.S.) Special Publication 825; (April 1992): 59. 

The fifteen-member panel was under the chairmanship of Robert A. Charpie, President of Union Carbide 

Electronics, and De Simone was the Executive Secretary. The panel wrote a report entitled, Technological 

Innovation: Its Environment and Management, Daniel V. Dc Simone, ed. (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1967): 1. 182 Annual Report for 1966: 93. 

515 
regional, and Federal invention programs." It served "as a forum for the views of 

inventors on issues concerning creativity and the conception, development, and 

application of inventions to the needs of society."83 

In 1965, OIl organized and then published the proceedings of a conference on creative engineering education, one of the types of activities it took on as an arm of 

NIC. The conference was inspired by MC, and support for it also came from the 

National Academy of Engineering and the National Science Foundation.'84 The MC 

also issued reports. For example, a report for the President's Commission on the 

Patent System gave the inventor's view of that system.'85 

Another of the main activities of the office was helping the states to assist inventors. 

The office encouraged states to hold expositions and congresses at which inventors 

and industry could meet and explore the value of specific inventions. With direct 

advice and assistance from 011, twelve states held such congresses in 1965, thirteen 

did in 1966, and twenty-one did in 1967. The office also provided assistance to the 

Organization of American States in designing a "strategy for the technological development of Latin America."86 

Perhaps the most constant concern of 011 was education, an area of great interest to 

the inventor's council. Oil and the council's concern was that the necessary factual 

content of traditional engineering education should not stifle original or unconventional 

approaches to solving problems. The 011 cooperated with universities, holding 

seminars and symposia with the aim of stimulating changes in the engineering curricula to emphasize the process of invention and innovation.'87 

In 1967, the Panel on Invention and Innovation issued its report. Concerned with 

taxation, finance, and competition, the panel found "no need to recommend any major 

changes in the present laws governing these three areas." It did, however, make 

seventeen specific recommendations, ranging from the handling of financial losses 

incurred by small technology-based companies to the application and clarification of 

anti-trust laws. It also recommended that DOC serve as the Federal spokesman for 

technology-based enterprises. Clearly, Oil was an effort in that direction.'88 

All this time, in keeping with its original role, NIC continued to receive inventions, 

and the Bureau staff analyzed each one. Most of the 625 000 submissions received by 

the MC during its lifetime were of no value. There was, for example, the occasional 

perpetual motion machine. But if an invention seemed to have merit, the inventors were directed to possible avenues for development.'89 

183 Memorandum, A/S for Science and Technology to the Secretary, "Renewal of Charter for the National 

Inventors Council as Required by Departmental Order No. 114 (Revised)," May 12, 1969. (NIST RHA; 

Director's Office; Box 388; Folder May—June 1969) 184 Education for Innovation, Daniel V. De Simone, ed. (Oxford: Pergamon Press. 1968): vii-ix. 85 Annual Report for 1967: 107. 

'86Annual Report for 1969: 164. 187 For an in-depth analysis of the education problem see Daniel V. De Simone, "Education for Innovation," 

IEEE Spectrum 5 (January 1968): 83-89. 

Ad Hoc Panel on Invention and Innovation, Technological Innovation: 34-57. 

'89Rabinow, "Diamond Ordnance Fuze Laboratory and National Inventors Council": 59. 

516 
Oil grew from a small group to an organization of twenty persons in 1969, but then 

dropped to half that size as the office undertook Department-wide PPB functions. In 

1974, Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology Betsy Ancker-Johnson abolished 

NIC, feeling that its work was largely completed and that she could obtain sufficient 

advice from other sources.'9' The dissolution of MC removed one of the prime reasons 

for the existence of OIL But almost immediately a reason arose for the enlargement of 

one type of the activities carried on by 011. On the last day of 1974, the president 

signed into law the Federal Nonnuclear Energy Research and Development Act of 

1974. In a very short section entitled "Energy-Related Inventions," the Bureau was as- signed a new function, or perhaps it can be said that an old activity was given a legal 

basis. The section read: 

The National Bureau of Standards shall give particular attention to the evaluation of all promising energy-related inventions, particularly those submitted 

by individual inventors and small companies for the purpose of obtaining 

direct grants from the Administrator [of the Energy Research and Development Administration, now the Department of Energy]. The National Bureau 

of Standards is authorized to promulgate regulations in the furtherance of this 

section. 

On March 30, 1975, the Office of Energy-Related Inventions was established in the 

Office of the Director of IAT, with George P. Lewett as director. The original 011 

continued operating, but not for long.'93 On July 22, 1975, the day that the Technical 

Analysis Division was abolished, the 011 was abolished as well. The sole responsibility 

of the Bureau with regard to inventions was now the evaluation of those related to 

energy. The program continued in collaboration with the Department of Energy and was known as the Energy-Related Inventions Program in the Office of Technology 

Innovation. From 1975 to the program's demise in 1998, over 33 000 inventions were 

evaluated with more than 700 considered sufficiently promising to be recommended to 

the Department of Energy for commercialization support. Of these, more than 130 

achieved commercial success with gross market sales of more than $1 billion.'94 

Appropriations Hearings for 1970: 96 1-962; Annual Report for 1969: 163. 191 Rabinow, "Diamond Ordnance Fuze Laboratory and National Inventors Council": 59. 92 Federal Nonnuclear Energy Research and Development Act of 1974, U.S. Statutes at Large, 88 (1974): 

1894. 

Department of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards, "Organizational Changes—Divisions 129 and 

400," Administrative Bulletin 75-12, March 27, 1975. 

Computations of social rates of return (SRR) from data collected over the period 1980-1994 by Oak 

Ridge National Laboratory show that ERIP's SRR compares favorably with those of other NIST programs. 

Data and citations used in computation of SRR are found in R. B. Braid, Jr., M. A. Brown, C. R. Wilson, C. 

A. Franchuk, and C. 0. Rizy, The Energy-Related Inventions Program: Continuing Benefits to the Inventor 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Report ORNLICON-492 (October 1996). Table of SRR for 

twelve NIST technology areas is found in Gregory Tassey, Rates of Return fron, Investments in Technology 

Infrastructure, NatI. Inst. Stand. Technol. (U.S.) Planning Report 96-3; June 1996: 21. 

517 
In its budget submissions for FY 1970, the Bureau placed both the Clearinghouse 

for Federal Scientific and Technical Information and the Office of Invention and 

Innovation in its special central responsibilities category of obligations that had no direct relationship to its measurement standards mission. While many inventions were 

byproducts of its measurement mission, most occurred as part of its regular research or as part of its work for other agencies. The aim of trying to increase innovation by 

stimulating and easing the processes of invention did not seem to follow from the 

measurement standards mission.'95 However, the aim of improving technology development and its diffusion would become an increasingly important part of the Bureau's 

activities, eventually transfonning it into a wholly different institution. 

A DIRECTOR RETIRES 

In 1967, Allen Astin turned 63 and was looking forward to retiring at age 65. By 

then, he would have served as director for seventeen eventful years, from the traumatic 

AD-X2 events of his first years to the rewarding ones during the building and occupancy of the Gaithersburg facility. The institution he would be leaving was far different from the one he had inherited. No longer did 85 percent of its income derive from 

work for other agencies; now it was a more reasonable 40 percent. Astin had seen the 

Bureau through the most sweeping organizational change in its history and had given it a new definition of its mission. Whole organizational units had been spun off, but the 

institution was not materially smaller. Most important, all major organizational units 

were headed by new young leaders whom, as director, Astin had led throughout their 

years at the Bureau. It was an opportune time to yield the reins to a younger person. 

Astin had chosen that person. He was Lewis M. Branscomb, founder of JILA and 

chief of the Laboratory Astrophysics Division. Branscomb had already had an illustrious career. Born in Asheville, North Carolina, on August 17, 1926, he attended Duke 

University, from which he received an A.B. degree summa cum laude in 1945. He 

served as an officer in the Naval Reserve with one year of duty in the Philippines. 

After the War, Branscomb entered Harvard University, earning an M.S. in 1947 and a Ph.D. in physics in 1949. After two years as a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of 

Fellows, the young scientist came to the Bureau as one of Condon's new minds. 

Branscomb was eventually appointed chief of the Atomic Physics Section of the 

Atomic and Radiation Physics Division, and upon the split of that entity, became chief 

of the Atomic Physics Division. He was the founder of JILA and, as Astin contemplated his retirement, was serving as chief of the Laboratory Astrophysics Division in 

Boulder. 

The aim of the program was not actually to develop technology. This would have put it into competition 

with the private sector. The perception that this competition existed was the reason for the difficulties 

encountered by the Civilian Industrial Technology (CIT) program. Although not directed at particular industrial sectors, both the inventions and innovation program and the clearinghouse activity were, in fact, the 

types of activities envisaged for CIT. 

518 
But listing Branscomb's Bureau accomplishments does not do him justice. He was 

widely known and active in the scientific community. He served on the President's 

Science Advisory Committee. Although he served as an independent person, not an official representative of an agency, he was the first civil servant to serve on that 

committee. Branscomb served on the Defense Science Board in 1968 and 1969, resigning when he became director of the Bureau. He served as a special consultant to the 

secretary general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and 

participated in the International Union for Geodesy and Geophysics, the International 

Union of Pure and Applied Physics, and the International Astronomical Union. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, served on the Board of 

Directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and, upon 

becoming director of the Bureau, served on the board of the American National 

Standards Institute. Branscomb then became a member of the National Academy of 

Sciences. He had been chairman of the Division of Electron and Atomic Physics of the 

American Physical Society and was now the editor of Reviews of Modern Physics. He 

had been an instructor in physics at Harvard (1950-51), lecturer in physics at the 

University of Maryland (1952-54), visiting staff member at the University College, 

London (1957-58), and adjoint professor of physics at the University of Colorado 

(1962-69). He was the recipient of many awards, among them the Rockefeller Public 

Service Award, the Arthur Fleming Award of the D.C. Junior Chamber of Commerce, 

the DOC Gold Medal, and the Bureau's own Stratton Award. He was married to the 

former Anne Wells and had two children, Harvie and Katharine. 

As early as September 1967, Secretary of Commerce Alexander B. Trowbridge and 

Assistant Secretary Kincaid, doubtless spurred by Astin, were anxious to get 

Branscomb nominated as director. It was known that Astin would retire upon reaching 

his 65th birthday in 1969, after the 1968 election with the possibility of loss by the 

incumbent Democratic administration. The Branscomb partisans had to take some 

action before the forthcoming elections. One possibility was to have Astin accept a "senior advisory role" for several months in order that Branscomb might be made 

director before that time.'96 Astin, however, adamantly refused. He would retire from 

the position of director. 

Another possibility was that Branscomb could be appointed deputy director, either 

before or after the retirement of In Schoonover, which was expected in 1968. In a memorandum to Trowbridge, Kincaid concluded, "I suggest that we try to interest 

Dr. Branscomb in the Directorship, but it looks as though we will have to put it on the basis that he will have to take his chances with respect to becoming Director in 

1969, if he starts as Deputy Director in 1968." Responding to a note from Kincaid, 

Branscomb indicated that he did not want any part in such schemes. "I think it is not 

Memorandum, John F. Kincaid to The Secretary, "Directorship of NBS," September 26, 1967. (DOC; 

Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology; Accession 40-72A-7166; Box 8; Folder Chron File (AugustSeptember 1967) JFK) 

Schoonover's retirement did not actually occur until 1969. 

519 
useful to the Bureau of Standards for me to make a commitment at this time which 

might serve to tie the Secretary's hands should there be a change in administration or 

for any other reason in the departmental leadership." More correspondence followed. 

Yet Branscomb's position regarding the deputy director position remained unchanged. 

However, despite his disapproval of the particular strategy that Kincaid proposed, 

Branscomb was not totally opposed to the idea of assuming the directorship. Even 

though his daughter, who suffered from asthma, might not be able to "live in good 

health for continuous periods in the Washington climate," Branscomb and his wife 

were prepared to try to work it out. He regarded his "possible appointment as NBS 

Director with the utmost seriousness."98 The secretary told Branscomb, "I share his 

[Kincaid's] faith in NBS, and his desire that it obtain the type of top flight leadership 

you can provide when the time becomes 

The time never did become propitious. Nixon defeated Humphrey in 1968, and the 

Republican Party took over the White House. Although it was customary that political 

affiliations did not bear greatly on decisions concerning the appointment or retention of 

the Bureau director, they were not completely ignored. Certainly they were not in 

Branscomb's case. In particular, Anne Branscomb, a lawyer by profession, had become 

state chairwoman of the Democratic Party in Colorado and hence a member of the 

Democratic National Committee.2°° Branscomb himself, while a Democrat, was basically apolitical. His wife's affiliation, however, was to prove somewhat of a stumbling block. 

Astin did not let the change in administration stand in the way of having his chosen 

successor become the next director of the Bureau. Whether he did it himself or via the 

visiting committee or by some other means is not known, but somehow Branscomb's 

name found its way to the White House. That Branscomb had served on one of 

Nixon's transition teams—the Technology Transition Group—apparently had nothing 

to do with it. Shortly after Christmas 1968, Astin told Branscomb that he was "trying 

to rig this" for him to become director. Branscomb, still ambivalent about assuming the 

post and quite happy with being a division chief and with his JILA/University position, 

said, "Look, I don't want to be the Director, but if you rig it, I owe you so much, I 

won't turn it down. I'll do it." 

But the problems caused by Anne Branscomb's affiliation still had to be overcome. 

As Branscomb recounted it in an interview, "they [the White House] looked me up and 

discovered not only was I a Democrat, my wife was on the DNC [Democrat National 

Committee]. That didn't go down too well. The reason it didn't go down too well is 

because the chairman of the Republican Party in Colorado was a man named John 

Flanigan. .. . His brother was Peter Flanigan, the investment banker. Peter Flanigan 

Letter, L. M. Branscomb to J. F. Kincaid, January 27, 1968. (DOC; Assistant Secretary for Science and 

Technology; Accession 40-70A-6988; Box 35; Folder National Bureau of Standards—General 1966-68) 99 Letter, A. B. Trowbridge to L. M. Branscomb, February 7, 1968. (DOC; Assistant Secretary for Science 

and Technology; Accession 40-70A-6988; Box 35; Folder National Bureau of Standards—General 1966-68) 

with Lewis M. Branscomb, July 12, 1988: 45-51. (NIST Oral History File) 

520 
was a close Nixon confidante." John Flanigan, at the insistence of the White House, 

had reluctantly agreed to the appointment in the Nixon Administration of a Democrat 

from Colorado and was smarting as a result. He would have no more Democrats. 

Branscomb continued, "Whoever was trying to engineer my appointment, whether it 

was [newly appointed Secretary of Commerce Maurice] Stans or whoever Astin's 

intermediaries were, went to Peter Flanigan and persuaded Peter to persuade his 

brother. I later became a good friend of Peter Flanigan, and he told me that that's what 

happened." 

With that stumbling block out of the way, Branscomb was called to meet with 

Secretary Stans. He remembered, "I went into his big office and sat down. Marty Stans 

said to me the following thing, more or less in these words. He said, 'Dr. Branscomb, 

you have a fine reputation and a lot of people have told me you're a great scientist 

and so forth, and that you are not only qualified to be the director of the Bureau of 

Standards, but that you are the best qualified person anywhere to be the director of the 

Bureau of Standards, and that I'd be making a terrible mistake if I didn't appoint 

you director of the Bureau of Standards.' He said, 'I'm prepared to do that, but you 

and I need to have an understanding.' I said, 'Sure, what's that?' He said, 'I'm sure what the Bureau of Standards does is very important. I don't really know much about 

what it is. I don't really expect to get very involved in what the Bureau of Standards 

does. If you will run the Bureau of Standards competently, keep it out of trouble, do 

whatever it's supposed to do and do it well, and you will recognize that the reason 

I'm here and the only reason I'm here as secretary of commerce, is to raise money for 

Nixon's re-election in 1972, and you don't get in my way in this task, we'll get along 

fine.' I said, 'Mr. Stans, you've got nothing to worry about.. . . We'll get along just 

fine.' " In fact, Branscomb recalled that "Stans, once in office, took considerable pride 

in the Department and vigorously defended its interests."20' 

Lewis Branscomb was nominated by President Nixon on June 17, 1969 and con- firmed by the Senate on August 7, 1969, more than three weeks before Astin left 

office on August 31. Branscomb became the Bureau's sixth director on September 1. 

STANDARDS MATTERS 

The standards activities of the three institutes illustrate well the differences in 

emphasis among them. Thus, as its name implies, the Institute for Basic Standards 

(IBS) had responsibility for the basic units—standards of mass, length, time, temperature, the ampere, the candela—and the quantities derived from them. Then, in the 1964 

reorganization, the Office of Standard Reference Materials (OSRM) was placed in the 

Institute for Materials Research (IMR) which also inherited the Analytical Chemistry 

Division, by far the largest producer of SRMs. The Institute for Applied Technology 

(IAT) took over the commodity standards program and, via the Building Research 

Division, took on the building codes and standards activities, as well as fire standards 

201 Letter, Lewis M. Branscomb to Elio Passaglia, March 8, 1993. (NIST History Project File; Chapter 5; 

Folder "LMB Director") 

521 
work. With passage of the Brooks Act, IAT was given the responsibility for the development of what came to be called Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS). 

This is not to say that the work was completely compartmentalized. Development and 

production of SRMs took place throughout the Bureau, as for example in the Polymers 

Division, which produced molecular-weight SRMs. And in the Cryogenics Division, 

even while it was part of IMR, studies on the use of the Josephson effect for the extension of the temperature scale to the millikelvin range took place.202 It should be borne 

in mind further that representatives from virtually all NBS units served on one or more 

of the numerous committees of standardization organizations such as ASTM and ASIvIE. 

In this section on standards matters we give illustrations of noteworthy work that 

was carried out in these different areas, with emphasis on the basic standards activities, 

which was the Bureau's unique function. 

Lasers and New Vistas in Metrology 

The very high coherence and brightness of lasers makes them practically ideal 

instruments for length measurements. Thus the work on length during the period took 

three different directions: the use of continuous-wave lasers for measuring moderately 

long (50 m) lengths by interferometry with direct counting of fringes; the use of pulsed 

lasers for the measurement of very long distances by the use of radar-like techniques; 

and a study of the wavelength stability and reproducibility of lasers as possible re- placement of the krypton-86 wavelength standard for the meter. Alongside these three 

lines of activity was a related effort to make an absolute measurement of the frequency 

of laser light. In due course that effort, along with the stabilization of laser wavelength, 

would lead to a definition of the meter based on the velocity of light. 

We now take up the use of lasers for the interferometric determination of length.203 

We saw in Chapter 4 how an interference pattern using a helium-neon laser was 

obtained over a 100 meter path. But that laser was unstable due to several technical 

factors and, as a result, so was the interference pattern. For further experiments it had 

to be improved. This was done by keeping the laser operating in a single mode by 

adjustment of the power supply, by making the cavity rugged and rigid, and by tuning 

the cavity length piezoelectrically to keep the resonance at the center of the neon line. 

There was no electronic feedback stabilization. 

The laser was then turned to a very practical problem. The calibration of graduated 

length scales (really nothing but very fancy and precise rulers) was a very tedious and 

lengthy process. In the proposed method, the laser would be used as the light source 

202 The Cryogenics Division, located in Boulder, was first placed in IMR, but because all other Boulder units 

(except for the CRPL, which was lost in the formation of ESSA in 1966) were in IBS, it also was moved to 

lBS for administrative simplicity. 203 There are quite a few publications on this topic. Those that were found useful in preparing this account are: K. D. Mielenz, H. D. Cook, K. E. Gillilland, and R. B. Stephens, "Accurate Length Measurement of 

Meter Bar With Helium-Neon Laser," Science 146 (1964): 1672-1673; K. D. Mielenz, "Length Measurement 

and Laser Wavelength Stability," ISA Transactions 6 (1967): 293-297; "Line-Standard Interferometer: For 

Accurate Calibration of Length Scales," Technical News Bulletin 51(1967): 43-45; "International Study of 

Laser Wavelength," Technical News Bulletin 52 (1968): 95-96. 

522 
for a Michelson interferometer to be used for the automatic calibration of such scales. 

Due to the high coherence of the laser light, it would be very easy to obtain an interference pattern over the whole one-meter length of these precision rulers. Then, counting the interference fringes as one of the mirrors in the interferometer was moved from 

one end to the other of the item to be calibrated, would give the total length of the 

item. Calibration could also be accomplished at any intermediate position. 

To carry out this process, the item to be calibrated was firmly fastened to the 

carriage of a massive way-bed—really the frame for a linear dividing engine. One 

mirror of the interferometer was fixed near a stationary microscope and the other was located on a movable carriage driven by a long screw and carrying the scale. The 

fringes were produced at a photoelectric counter. As the carriage moved, the interference fringes passed across the photoelectric cell and were counted. There was built 

into the instrument an automatic pause and centering option (by feedback from the 

microscope) at each graduation on the ruler, and an automatic recording of the fringe 

count, interpolated to 0.01 fringe. An automated system was at hand. All that was 

necessary now was to accurately determine the wavelength of the laser. 

Herbert D. Cook (left) of the NBS Electronic Instrumentation Laboratory controlled the automatic operation 

of a fringe-counting interferometer (not shown). The count was shown on the monitor console (center). 

523 
Comparison with a mercury-198 light source (a primary standard of length used in 

place of krypton-86) by counting fringes over a calibrated decimeter line standard gave 

the wavelength of the laser. The practicable length over which an interference pattern 

could be obtained with such a source was about three decimeters. Then, counting 

fringes with the laser source over the length of a standard meter bar reproduced the 

length of the bar to 1 part in ten million. It was excellent accuracy, and all produced 

automatically. 

On the basis of these results the Bureau offered an improved and much less costly 

calibration service for graduated length scales. If the graduations were sufficiently fine, 

the calibration relative uncertainty offered was ± I (I part per million). 

Improvements in the measurement process had reduced the relative uncertainty to 

± 60 nmlm (6 parts in 100 million) by 1998. 

To check the stability and reproducibility of the helium-neon laser, an international 

study involving the Bureau, the British National Physical Laboratory, and the German 

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt was carried out. While the study showed that 

the different laboratories agreed within 5 parts in in wavelength measurements 

when they measured the same laser—even though they used different methods— 

measuring different lasers of the same type could give quite different results. The 

wavelength for an uncalibrated laser could not be presumed to have a relative uncertainty of less than 1 part in ten million. Regular calibration was called for, and the 

Bureau considered offering a laser calibration service. 

524 

In the measurement of length with a laser to better than I pan in 10 million. Klaus D. 

Miclenz matched the impedance of the rf-power supply to that of the laser. 
When the Apollo 11 astronauts left the lunar surface they left behind a 46 cm X 

46 cm aluminum panel in which 100 carefully crafted 3.8 cm in diameter fused-silica 

corner-cube retroreflectors were mounted. These were to be used to reflect back to its 

orgin a very short laser pulse sent up from Earth. The plan was to measure very precisely the travel time of the pulse and from this to calculate with great precision the 

earth-moon distance.204 From the determination of this distance it would be possible to 

refine such lunar orbital parameters as mean distance and eccentricity, and such 

geophysical data as the earth's period of rotation, the motion of the pole and, after five 

years of observation, to determine the east-west rate of continental drift. The initial 

uncertainty of the lunar distance determination was expected to be ± 15 cm. 

The Apollo 14 mission in 1971 left a second corner-cube retroreflector array on the lunar surface. The 

Apollo II and Apollo 14 retroreflector packages were deployed at well-separated sites near the lunar equa- tor. These arrays were expected to yield an extended sequence of high-precision earth-moon distance 

measurements and thus provide a variety of information about the earth-moon system. 

information presented here comes from two publications: J. E. Faller, 1. Winer, W. Carrion, T. S. 

Johnson, P. Spadin, L. Robinson, E. J. Wampler, and D. Wieber, "Laser Beam Directed at the Lunar 

Retro-Reflector Array: Observations of the First Returns," Science 166 (1969): 99-102; and C. 0. Alley, 

R. F. Chang, D. G. Currie, S. K. Poultney, P. L. Bender, R. H. Dicke, D. T. Wilkinson, J. E. Faller, 

W. M. Kaula, G. J. F. MacDonald, J. D. Mulholland, H. H. Plotkin, W. Carrion, and E. J. Wampler, "Laser 

Ranging Retro-Reflector: Continuing Measurements and Expected Results," Science 167 (1970): 458-460. 

525 
It was a conceptually simple, though in practice complicated, experiment in which 

the Bureau had been involved from the beginning—indeed, from the origin of the 

idea.205 Briefly, in December 1962, James E. Faller, recent Princeton graduate, came to 

work with Peter L. Bender at JILA as a post-doctoral research associate. Faller, having 

used corner-cube retroreflectors in his thesis work, brought to NBS the draft of a paper on how corner-cube retroreflectors on the moon could be used to measure the distance 

to the moon by timing the round-trip travel time of reflected laser pulses. But laser 

technology in those early days was primitive, and Bender discouraged Faller from 

publishing his paper. However, as laser technology progressed, Faller's idea became 

more attractive, and a group of seven people published an article on the topic and 

made a proposal to NASA.206 By then, all space for experiments on all planned Apollo 

flights had been committed, but some of the tasks assigned to the astronauts were thought to be too tiring. However the emplacement of the retroreflector holding plates 

was easy, and through this fortunate circumstance, Apollo 11 carried the retroreflector 

package and the astronauts emplaced it on the moon. 

It did not take long for results to come. On August 1, 1969, just eleven days after 

the astronauts left the lunar surface, the first laser return signals were observed. To 

accomplish this, 7-joule pulses of light from a ruby laser were transmitted through the 

120-inch telescope at the Lick Observatory. Even with a telescope of this size, the 

diameter of the beam at the lunar surface was still approximately 3.2 km, and the 

reflected return signal amounted to only slightly more than one photoelectron per pulse 

at the photomultiplier detector. The range accuracy on this first experiment was about 

15 m. By October, regular data were coming from the McDonald Observatory, which was instrumented to be this country's lunar laser-ranging station. The initial range un- certainty was ± 30 cm. This subsequently improved to ± 15 cm and now—some years 

later—to ± 2 cm. The other laser-length activity carried out during the period was not concerned with 

measuring length, but on the ambitious aim of replacing the krypton-86 wavelength 

as the international length standard with radiation from a laser.207 From the early 

days of lasers it was shown that the intrinsic bandwidths of essentially all gas 

lasers were one Hz or less, and observable bandwidths of a few tens of Hz were 

obtainable, limited primarily by mechanical and thermal disturbances. Such widths 

correspond to an uncertainty in the frequency of about one part in iOfl. 

205 Interview with Peter L. Bender, May 12, 1987. (NIST Oral History File). 206 c• 0. Alley, P. L. Bender, R. H. Dicke, J. E. Faller, P. A. Franken, H. H. Plotkin, and D. 1. Wilkinson, 

"Optical Radar Using a Corner Reflector on the Moon," Journal of Geophysical Research 70 (1965): 2267- 

2269. Falier left the Bureau in 1966 to accept a position at Wesleyan University. He remained very active in 

the lunar laser-ranging experiment and returned to the Bureau in 1972, rejoining the JILA staff. 207 The physics background on why this was an attractive possibility and the problems of implementing it 

were reviewed by J. L. Hall, "P-i—The Laser Absolute Wavelength Standard Problem," IEEE Journal of 

Quantum Electronics QE-4 (1968): 638-641. 

526 
But this is for an operating laser. Resetting the laser, or constructing another one, 

could only be done with an uncertainty of one part in This is about four decades 

worse than the resolution limit, and not better than the performance of the krypton-86 

standard. To make good use of lasers, the resettability problem had to be solved. 

As seen above, an uncalibrated helium-neon laser is likely to have an intolerable 

uncertainty of one part in and, if calibration is required, such a laser cannot be a primary standard. Hence servomechanism methods of self stabilizing to the center of 

the emission line were tried, but the presence of Stark shifts, Zeeman shifts, Doppler 

shifts, and pressure broadening and shifts could cause problems for a primary standard. 

Various other schemes were tried to stabilize the laser, but the most promising was "based on the sharp-line absorption of laser light by suitable molecules." Molecules 

have rich vibrational-rotational spectra, so that the probability of finding a line within 

the tuning range of the laser (2 to 3 parts per million) is relatively high. 

The methane absorption line at 3.39 was the one chosen for study by Richard L. 

Barger and John L. Hall at JILA for the stabilization of a 3.3 He-Ne laser.208 It is a line that has a number of good features, such as being thermally well populated, 

and having a long natural lifetime and a high absorption. Its frequency is 100 MHz 

higher than the center of the 3.9 He-Ne laser line center, but the laser line can be 

pressure-shifted to be in exact coincidence with the methane absorption. Perhaps most 

important, when saturated by the laser field, the linewidth obtained can approach the 

very sharp natural linewidth without Doppler broadening. 

Experiments were set up in an underground vault to minimize environmental disturbances, using a three-ton cast-iron table for further stability. Three lasers were used in 

the experiments. Two contained the methane absorption cell in their cavity, while the 

third served as a local oscillator. Using a feedback system too complex to be described 

here, Barger and Hall found that their two lasers containing the methane cell, independently locked to the methane frequency, differed in frequency by only I part in 10", 

about 2.5 orders of magnitude better than the krypton-86 primary standard. One of the 

keys to opening the door to a completely new primary standard of length was in hand. 

One basic standard activity that involved lasers dealt not with length, but with time. 

More precisely, it was concerned with the measurement of the frequency of laser light. 

Again, this was not merely a display of experimental virtuosity—it had a very specific 

purpose. If the measurement of frequency—the most accurate measurement available to 

science—could be extended without too great a loss in accuracy to a region in which 

the wavelength of the radiation could also be compared to the krypton-86 standard, 

then a value of the velocity of light could be determined in which the principal uncertainty was that in the length standard. This in turn would lead to the possibility—or 

necessity—of redefining the meter. 

R. L. Barger and J. L. Hall, "Pressure Shift and Broadening of Methane Line at 3.39 Studied by LaserSaturated Molecular Absorption," Physical Review Letters 22 (1969): 4-8. 

527 
The first determination of the absolute frequency of a laser line was made with the 

311 and 337 transitions of a CN gas laser.2°9 What was done was to beat the 

laser output against the 12th or 13th harmonic of a klystron operating near 75 GHz, the 

12th harmonic for the 337 line and the 13th for the higher-frequency line. Heterodyning was carried out on a commercial cat's-whisker/silicon-rectifier harmonic crystal 

mixer. The fundamental frequency of the 75 GHz klystron was measured by comparing 

it to the frequency of another klystron locked to a signal generator, and the observed 

frequencies of the CN laser were determined as 890.7595 GHz and 964.3123 GHz with a relative error of "a few parts in 

In rapid order, the frequencies of shorter and shorter wavelength lasers were determined: 1578.279 GHz for a 190 D20 laser, 1539.756 GHz for a 194 C2N2 

laser, and 2527.9528 GHz for a 118.6 water vapor laser.21° To go beyond this 

frequency a new method had to be devised. Such high harmonics of the klystron 

frequency had to be used that the signal-to-noise ratio suffered greatly. Something new was required. Since the absolute frequencies of some lasers were now known, they 

could be used in a frequency multiplier chain.21' To this end, the harmonics of a 337 laser could be mixed with the laser to be measured, and a microwave signal 

supplied to make up the difference between the two. This technique was first tested on the known 118 water-vapor laser and then extended to the frequency of the 84 

D20 laser.212 

Up to this point, all the cited work had been done outside the Bureau. But now work 

at the Bureau went ahead on two fronts. The first, under the direction of Kenneth M. 

Evenson of the Radio Standards Division in Boulder, followed the paths already 

described, while another effort under the direction of Zoltan Bay in Gaithersburg took 

another direction. It did not achieve the accuracy of the Evenson group effort, and did 

not lead to new standards, but it is included here for historical completeness. 

The Evenson group reached the highest frequency measurement obtained up to that 

time using an experimental arrangement similar to that used by L. 0. Hocker, James 

G. Small, and Au Javan, but a metal-on-metal diode—a small but critical item—replaced the metal-on-silicon diode. The results were 3.821 775 ± 0.000 003 THz and 

10.7 18 073 ± 0.000 002 TI-lz for the 78 line and the 28 p.m line respectively.213 

2(a L .0. Hocker, A. Javan, D. R. Rao, L. Frenkel, and 1. Sullivan, "Absolute Frequency Measurement and 

Spectroscopy of Gas Laser Transitions in the Far Infrared," Applied Physics Letters 10 (1967) 147-149. 210 L. 0. Hocker, D. R. Rao, and A. Javan, "Absolute Frequency Measurement of the l90p. and l94p. Gas 

Laser Transitions," Physics Letters 24A (1967) 690-691; L. Frenkel, T. Sullivan, M. A. Pollack, and T. J. 

Bridges, "Absolute Frequency Measurement of the 118.6-p.m Water-Vapor Laser Transition," Applied 

Physics Letters 11(1967): 344-345. 211 L. 0. Hocker and A. Javan, "Laser Harmonic Frequency Mixing of Two Different Far Infrared Laser 

Lines up to 118 p.," Physics Letters 26A (1968):255-256. 212 L. 0. Hocker, J. 0. Small, and A. Javan, "Extension of Absolute Frequency Measurements to the 84 p. Range," Physics Letters 29A (1969): 321-322. 213 K. M. Evenson, J. S. Wells, L. M. Matarrese, and L. B. Elwell, "Absolute Frequency Measurements of 

the 28- and 78-p.m cw Water Vapor Laser Lines," Applied Physics Letters 16 (1970): 159-162. 

528 
Almost immediately this frequency record was broken.214 Despite severe difficulties 

with the diode detectors, Evenson and his group were able to measure the frequencies 

of the 10.6 urn lines of the CO2 cw laser. For this experiment, the CO2 radiation was mixed with the just-measured 78 and 28 urn radiations of the water-vapor 

laser, and again the difference made up with a klystron. The results for the two CO2 

lines were 28.359 800 THz and 28.306 251 THz, with an uncertainty of ±0.000 025 THz. 

The frequency reached was still a long way from the visible region of the electromagnet spectrum, but progress had by no means slowed. 

The Bay effort was based on a quite different method. In it, a crystal of potassium 

dihydrogen phosphate was placed in the laser cavity and used to modulate the laser 

beam at a microwave frequency. The sum and difference sidebands were passed into a Fabry-Perot interferometer and, using a method involving simultaneous servoing of 

the laser cavity length and the interferometer length for maximum output, Bay and 

Gabriel G. Luther were able to measure both the frequency and wavelength of the 

laser light. With this apparatus and the 632.8 nm He-Ne laser, they made the first 

measurement of the frequency of visible light.215 But the method was incapable of the 

accuracy of the Evenson-Hall method, largely because of the latter's incorporation of 

the methane-stabilized laser. 

Time Dissemination 

In mid July 1963, the Bureau began disseminating time and frequency signals from 

its two new low-frequency stations—WWVB at 60 kHz and WWVL at 20 kHz— 

located on a special site at Fort Collins, Colorado. With the low-frequency stations 

operating, the time was propitious for the relocation to the Fort Collins site of the 

high-frequency WWV, broadcast from Greenbelt, Maryland, since 1931 at 2.5 MHz, 

5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz, 20 MHz, and 25 MHz. It was a move that had long been 

planned. In 1964 Congress appropriated $970 000 for the move, and by late 1965, 

building construction and the purchase of new equipment were well under way. A set 

of eight new transmitters, four for 10 kW operation at 5 MHz, 10 MHz, and 15 MHz, 

and four for 2.5 kW operation at 2.5 MHz, 20 MHz, and 25 MHz, left two transmitters 

always in a standby mode. The broadcast powers were half the rated power of the 

transmitters. When the newly relocated WWV began operation at 0000 hours on December 1, 1966, the Bureau's continental time and frequency broadcast facilities 

were consolidated.216 

214 K. M. Evenson, J. S. Wells, and L. M. Matarrese, "Absolute Frequency Measurements of the CO2 cw Laser at 28 THz (10.6 ji.m)," Applied Physics Letters 16 (1970): 251-253. 

215Z. Bay, 0. 0. Luther, and J. A. White, "Measurement of an Optical Frequency and the Speed of Light," 

Physical Review Letters 29 (1972): 189-192; "Experimental Measurement of Optical Frequency," Technical 

News Bulletin 57 (1973): 14, 17. 216 Wilbert F. Snyder and Charles L. Bragaw, Achievement in Radio: Seventy Years of Radio Science, 

Technology, Standards, and Measurements at the National Bureau of Standards, NatI. Bur. Stand. (U.S.). 

Special Publication 555; October 1986: 282; "WWV To Be Relocated," Technical News Bulletin 49 (1965): 

215. 

529 
Amateur radio operators making contact with each other exchange "QSL' cards to verify the contact and 

obtain useful information on propagation conditions. On the occasion of WWV's first broadcast from its new facilities in Fort Collins. Colorado, a special first day card was issued to amateurs and shortwave listeners 

who reported reception. 

530 

Beginning on July 1, 1966, WWV, Fort Collins, Colorado, transmitted the services formerly provided from 

WWV, Greenbelt, Maryland. The facility was partly underground to affect as little as possible the omnidirectional characteristics of its antennas. 
Radio station WWVH, on the island of Maui in Hawaii. This station broadcast continuous time and 

frequency standards to the Pacific area with an accuracy of I part in 100 million. Technical services included 

standard radio frequencies, time announcements, standard time intervals, and standard musical pitch. 

But in the Hawaiian Islands, WWVH, the Bureau's time broadcast, was in bad 

shape. Located on a man-made peninsula on the island of Maui, it had been operating 

since 1948, and now the site on which it was located was being eroded away by the sea. By 1968, the shoreline was only ten feet from the headquarters building and 

twelve feet from the antenna. Relocation was imperative.217 

Sites were first investigated inland on but the search was extended to all the 

other islands of the Hawaiian chain, and then extended to Guam, the Marshall Islands, 

Wake, and American Samoa. A site on the Hawaiian island of Kauai was chosen as having the best physical characteristics and availability of services. While near the 

ocean, it was a natural site little affected by the sea. It was owned by the Navy, so no land purchase was necessary.219 

For FY 1969, the Bureau requested and received $700 000 to begin the relocation, 

and with further appropriated funds, the relocation was completed and broadcasts 

began July 1, 1971. The new station broadcast on five frequencies, 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, 

10 MHz, 15 MHz, and 20 MHz, and frequency control was provided by broadcasts 

from WWVL. The broadcasts covered Alaska in the North, New Zealand in the South, a number of the major cities of the Orient, and most of the Pacific Ocean.22° 

217 Appropriation Hearings for 1969: 1200. 218 Ibid., 1374-1376. 

Appropriations Hearings for 1970: 905. 220 "New WWVH Facility," Technical News Bulletin 54 (1970): 137. 

531 
Along with this modernization of facilities came research on dissemination of time 

signals. Both WWV and WWVH could provide millisecond accuracy with their 

time signals, but for some users—television and radio stations, power companies, 

airlines, satellite communications, the military, universities—higher accuracy would be a boon. These latter users typically carried a portable clock from station to station to 

synchronize their clocks—a cumbersome, slow procedure which could only synchronize one clock at a time. Another system was highly desirable.22' The Bureau took two 

paths toward the provision of clock synchronization in the microsecond range. 

The primary reason that WWV or WWVH could not provide such high accuracy was a lack of knowledge regarding the path of the radiation.222 The reason for this was 

that the propagation of signals from these medium-high frequency sources was via 

reflection from the ionosphere, the position of which varied from time to time. Hence 

the high accuracy of the time signal as transmitted was degraded by this lack of 

knowledge of the path—both its length and the refractive index in it. 

Two approaches were taken to solve this problem, one using a satellite in geosynchronous orbit, and the second using the television broadcast system. In both cases 

the problem was the same. A signal is transmitted from a station controlled by a master clock, such as WWV and WWVH which are both controlled by the Bureau's 

atomic clock. The time at which this signal is received by a remote "slave" clock is 

unavoidably delayed, and the accuracy with which the slave clock can be synchronized with the master depends upon how well this delay is known. The delay in turn 

depends upon the location of the slave, the path length between the master and 

slave, the refractive index along the path, and the time delay inherent in equipment 

electronics. 

The use of a geosynchronous satellite for the accurate synchronization of clocks was 

attractive because the bulk of the path is line-of-sight through interstellar space, and 

because the satellite can service any slave clock in sight of the satellite transmission.223 

In such a system, a signal from the master clock is sent to the satellite where it is 

received by a transponder and then re-broadcast. Comparison of the time the signal is 

received with the local (slave) clock gives the difference in time between the slave 

and master, and the synchronization is completed. The question is the accuracy with 

which this synchronization—really a form of calibration—can be performed, which 

in turn "reduces to predicting the propagation delay."224 The elements that cause the 

propagation delay, with their estimated uncertainties in microseconds, as determined 

by Lawrence E. Gatterer, Paul W. Bottone, and Alvin H. Morgan in a series of 

experiments, are equipment delays on the ground and on the satellite (± 2 and ± 1, 

221 "Time Dissemination and Clock Synchronization via Television," Technical News Bulletin 54 (1970): 

125-126. 222 L. E. Gatterer, P. W. Bottone, and A. H. Morgan, "Worldwide Clock Synchronization Using a Synchronous Satellite," IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement IM- 17 (1968): 372-378. 223 The height of the satellite is approximately 23 000 miles. 224 Gatterer, Bottone, and Morgan, "Worldwide Clock Synchronization Using a Synchronous Satellite": 372. 

532 
respectively), location of the master and slave (± 0.7 each), satellite range (± 0.15 for 

both the up-link and down-link), propagation through the ionosphere for both up-link 

and down-link (± 6 each), troposphere delays (0.6), and noise (± 5). The total computed uncertainty was 10.4 microseconds, which means that by this system the time of 

the slave clock could be compared with the master with this uncertainty. It was about 

100 times as good as could be obtained with WWV. 

Another system for the accurate dissemination of time was to use broadcast television as the dissemination mechanism.225 This system was attractive because the bulk of 

the path carried by network TV broadcast signals was via microwave repeater 

stations. The transmitter was line-of-sight with the location of the repeaters, and hence 

the path, accurately known. In this system, a master clock at the originating transmitter 

encoded the TV signal with the time. At the receiving TV set, this time was compared 

with that of the local "slave" clock and the difference fed to a decoder which, once 

each second, displayed on the TV screen the master time and the difference, in 

nanoseconds, between that time and the time kept by the slave. Measurement of the 

path delay between the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., and the Bureau's 

Boulder Laboratories in 1969 showed that, for all three networks, the variation over a few months averaged out to somewhat less than one microsecond. Using synchronized 

clocks at each of the major network broadcasting centers in New York, the technique 

could potentially be used over most of the United States by an already existing 

system.226 

Mass and Measurement Assurance Programs 

By themselves, calibrations are not sufficient to ensure sound measurements. In a typical mass calibration for example, a set of weights is sent to the Bureau and the 

calibration personnel determine the difference between the nominal values of the 

weights and their actual mass.227 This calibrated set of weights is then typically kept by 

the using laboratory as a "master set," used for calibrations of its working sets, or 

customer sets if the laboratory is in the calibration business. The master set is perhaps 

returned to the Bureau periodically for recalibration. This procedure really gives only 

one unambiguous number—the mass of a weight when it is calibrated by the Bureau. 

In particular, it does not give the expected uncertainty for any mass measurements us- ing the weights, unless the laboratory's measurement process happens to be identical to 

the Bureau's and is kept under control. 

The reason for this is quite clear. Measurement involves much more than a set of 

calibrated weights, or, more generally, some other calibrated item or instrument. 

Measurement is first and foremost a process consisting of a set of operations, perhaps 

using instruments. It is influenced by such factors as operators, temperature, and other 

environmental factors, and other unknown influences. This process generates a number, 

225 D. D. Davis, J. L. Jespersen, and G. Kamas, "The Use of Television Signals for Time and Frequency 

Dissemination," Proceedings of the IEEE 58 (1970): 93 1-933. 226 Ibid., 933. 227 "Measurement Analysis Program in Mass," Technical News Bulletin 54 (1970): 202-203. 

533 
much as a manufacturing plant yields a product, with the added complexity that 

repeated measurements yield slightly different results. To ensure the validity of such a number, the whole process generating it must be kept under control, not simply the 

weights. 

The whole question of the reliability of measurements was addressed by Churchill 

Eisenhart, who carried through the analogy between a production process and the 

process of making a measurement, adopting the analytical techniques of industrial 

quality control.228 He described and analyzed such concepts as a process which is in a state of "statistical control," or, in lay words, one in which "the amount of scatter in 

the data from repeated measurements of the same item over a period of time does not 

change with time and if there are no sudden shifts or drift in the data."229 Only if a measurement process is in such a state can a meaningful analysis of it be carried out. 

Eisenhart went on to describe his Postulate of Measurement, originally enunciated by 

N. Ernest Dorsey as the law of the limiting mean: "The mean of a family of measurements—of a number of measurements for a given quantity carried out by the same 

apparatus, procedure, and observer—approaches a definite value as the number of 

measurements is indefinitely increased."230 This concept is important because the value 

of the limiting mean can be inferred (within calculable bounds) by statistical means 

from a limited set of measurements. He then discussed at length the concepts of 

systematic error, or "bias," or "offset"; of the true value of a quantity; of precision and 

accuracy; and the uncertainty of a measurement. From this analysis it became clear 

that not only the weights had to be calibrated to ensure reliable measurements, but also 

the laboratory itself. 

Along with this and previous analyses came Bureau experience. Results on weights 

that were routinely calibrated over and over again during the course of the Bureau's 

calibration business, when plotted against time, showed that all the results clustered 

around one value. This indicated both that the measurement system was in a state of 

statistical control and that the results tended toward the limiting mean. From this 

analysis it became clear that, given enough experience, any laboratory can assess and 

establish its own performance. 

How this could be done was developed over a period of years by Paul E. Pontius 

and Joseph R. Cameron, with the able assistance of Robert C. Raybold.23' The effort 

was not simply driven by intellectual curiosity; there were very serious practical considerations.232 In the early sixties, driven by military and aerospace requirements, the 

2211 C. Eisenhart, "Realistic Evaluation of the Precision and Accuracy of Instrument Calibration 

Systems," Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 67C (1963): 161-187. 229 Brian Belanger, Measurement Assurance Programs Part I: General Introduction, Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) 

Special Publication 676-I; May 1984: 64. 

230N. Ernest Dorsey quoted in Eisenhart, "Realistic Evaluation": 168. 231 P. E. Pontius, Measurement Philosophy of the Pilot Program for Mass Calibration, NatI. Bur. Stand. 

(U.S.) Technical Note 288; May 6, 1966; P. E. Pontius and J. M. Cameron, Realistic Uncertainties and the 

Mass Measurement Process: An Illustrated Review, Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Monograph 103; August 15, 

1967; J. M. Cameron, M. C. Croarkin, and R. C. Raybold, Desi gns for the Calibration of Standards of Mass, 

Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Technical Note 952; June 1977. 232 Much of this general background comes from an interview with Robert C. Raybold on October 9, 1992. 

534 

measurement process. If it did, then the process was under statistical control. If it did 

not, then either the measurement was an unexplained individual excursion, or a shift in 

the average-value baseline had occurred. Subsequent measurements would clarify the 

cause, and sometimes it was necessary to send the check standard to the Bureau for 

deeper investigation, and possibly for cleaning. 

Note that, except for the last part, the Bureau's presence was not necessary in any of 

the process. All of it could be carried out by the laboratory itself, independently of the 

Bureau, and it would yield a measure of the laboratory's internal consistency. Where 

the Bureau did come into the process was in monitoring the process and in determining 

how the laboratory's results related to the national standard, thereby providing traceability. While there were various ways of assessing this, typically a weight (or a set of 

weights) referred to as a "transfer standard," with a value unknown to the laboratory, 

would be calibrated by the Bureau and sent to the laboratory for its calibration. The 

results and the weight would be returned to the Bureau for re-measurement and further 

analysis. Upon evaluation of all the results, the Bureau would then issue to the laboratory a report stating the "offset" or systematic error in the laboratory's results 

compared with the national standards. Combined with a measure of the laboratory's 

standard deviation, the total uncertainty of the laboratory's measurement process could 

be determined.235 Alternatively, an extensively calibrated set of weights could be sent 

to the laboratory. Since these would become the laboratory's primary standards, special 

care was to be taken with them. In this manner the Bureau's role in the calibration 

process was reduced to assessing the performance of the laboratories participating in 

the Measurement Assurance Program, leaving the bulk of the routine calibration effort 

to the participating laboratory. 

Participation in the MAP was, of course, voluntary, but after inauguration of the 

program the Bureau only did calibrations under unusual circumstances, instead sending 

calibration requests to a commercial laboratory participating in a MAP. And the 

Bureau's participation in a MAP could be deep or shallow, including in some cases personnel training, equipment investigation, suggesting weighing schemes, and carrying 

out the calculations necessary to determine both standard deviation and systematic 

error. 236 At the introduction of a new laboratory into a MAP, the Bureau generally 

worked with it to make sure it was under statistical control. 

Mass measurements were the first to utilize the MAP, and by 1970 sixteen laboratories participated in the mass MAP. Other areas soon followed. By 1984 MAPS were 

available for electrical standard cells at the 1 V level, gage blocks, electrical resistors 

from I ohm to ohms, capacitance, watthour meters, platinum resistance thermometers from —183 °C to 630 °C, and laser power and energy. Some of these areas, particularly gage blocks and temperature, involved measurements in actual production, but the 

235 Ibid., 3. 236 Weighing is preferably done by comparing weights of approximately equal size, working with the differ- ence in the weights. This yields a better measurement of the sensitivity. And redundant measurements are necessary in order to arrive at a standard deviation. Some of the schemes and the mathematics involved can be quite intricate. See Cameron, Croarkin, and Raybold, "Designs for the Calibration of Standards of Mass." 

536 
MAP philosophy could be adapted to those cases as well. The MAP program markedly 

reduced the amount of routine calibration the Bureau had to carry out while at the same time improving the Nation's measurement capabilities. 

The Josephson Effect and Maintenance of the Volt 

In 1894 an international electrical congress defined the unit of electrical resistance 

on the basis of the resistance of a column of mercury of specified dimensions, and 

defined the ampere on the basis of the rate of electrodeposition of silver. Since then, 

workers in the field of electricity had wanted to do away with these so-called international units and return to the absolute units, which are defined on the basis of mass, 

length, time, and the equations of physics, rather than on some arbitrary artifact.237 

But there is a difference between how a unit is defined and realized, and how it is 

kept, or maintained in the standards laboratory. Thus, in the United States, the representation of the volt was maintained on the basis of the mean electromotive force 

(emf) of a bank of standard cells, and the ohm was maintained in the form of a bank 

of wire-wound standard resistors, some of which had at some time been calibrated 

against the mercury column international standard. Realizations of the absolute ohm 

were carried out using calculable inductors and capacitors, and the frequency of an alternating current. The realization of the absolute ampere basically involves the 

measurement of the force between current-carrying coils of very accurate construction 

and dimensions. Knowledge of the permeability of free space is also required, and this 

is defined as 4'rr X 1 henries/meter. An absolute realization of the volt was not 

attempted until the coming of the Josephson effect. 

By the beginning of World War II absolute realizations of the ampere had become 

sufficiently accurate to warrant their consideration as a basic standard for electricity.238 

The considerations, including reference to Ohm's law—I (amperes) X R (Ohms) = V 

(Volts)—led the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) in 1946 to 

recommend a conversion from the "international" electrical to the "absolute" units, and on January 1, 1948, the changes were adopted. The results showed that there were significant differences between the mean international units and the absolute units as follows: 

1 mean international ohm = 1.00049 absolute ohms 

I mean international volt = 1.00034 absolute volts 

237 F. B. Silsbee, Establishment and Maintenance of the Electrical Units, Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Circular 

475; June 30, 1949; Announcement of Changes in Electrical and Photometric Units, Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) 

Circular 459; May 1947; "Reference Base of the Volt to be Changed," Technical News Bulletin 52 (1968): 

204-206. 

The "international" units were originally designed to be as close to the absolute units as possible at the 

time of their definition. It is also important to recognize the "mean international" units, which were the 

average of the units maintained by France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, the Soviet Union, and the United 

States. 

537 
For the United States the results were: 

I international ohm (U.S.) = 1.000495 absolute ohms 

I international volt (U.S.) = 1.00033 absolute volts. 

By the late sixties, the determination of the absolute ampere had progressed to the 

point where a re-definition of the "maintained" volt was recommended by the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) to the BIPM. Under this redefinition the volt maintained by the BIPM was decreased by 11 parts per milliom on January 1, 1969. In view of its relationship to the BIPM volt, the Bureau-maintained 

legal U.S. volt, as realized by the group of standard cells, was increased by 8.4 parts 

per million, and beginning in 1969 all Bureau calibrations were done on this new 

basis. The new basis was not occasioned by drift in the standard cells used to maintain 

the volt, but by new, more accurate realizations of the absolute ampere. It was not a large change for practical work, but a necessary one for precision measurements.239 

The Bureau had not allowed the volt to drift willy-nilly without checking. In fact, 

during the six years from 1961 to 1967, the volt was under continuous surveillance. 

The monitoring was accomplished via the precession frequency of the proton (in water) 

in the field of a solenoid magnet in which the current was defined in terms of the NBS 

volt and the ohm. These measurements showed that the ratio of the volt to the ohm 

had not changed as much as 1 part per million over the six years.24° Since other experiments showed that the ohm had changed less than this, it was concluded that the volt 

had also remained constant to better than 1 part per million. But this surveillance was 

difficult, complex, and expensive. The measurement of the dimensions of the solenoid 

limited the accuracy of the magnetic field to I part per million, and was furthermore 

affected by the magnetic environment. As a result, none of the other national laboratories had carried on such monitoring.24' But triennial comparisons between the standard 

cells of the national laboratories with those maintained by the BIPM showed differences of the order of a few parts per million, some positive and some negative. It was 

hard to tell what was drifting. 

In 1962, Brian D. Josephson at Cambridge University predicted the effect that 

would bear his name. He showed that if two superconductors were "weakly coupled," as for example two crossed superconducting film strips separated by a nanometer thick 

film of oxide, then a current could tunnel through the barrier. Further, impressing a voltage across the superconducting sandwich (called a "junction"), was predicted to 

produce radiation of a specified frequency. The ratio of the frequency to the voltage 

239 "1968 Actions—International Committee of Weights and Measures," Technical News Bulletin 53 (1969): 

12-13. 240 Annual Report for 1967: 22. 241 B. N. Taylor, W. H. Parker, D. N. Langenberg, and A. Denenstein, "On the Use of the AC Josephson 

Effect to Maintain Standards of Electromotive Force," Meirologia 3 (1967): 89-98. 

538 
was equal to twice the ratio of the electronic charge to Planck's constant, or 2e/h—a 

fundamental constant now known as the Josephson constant. The effect was predicted 

to be independent of the superconductor, the nature of the "weak coupling," the magnetic environment, and other factors. The relationship was exact. 

Even more important for metrological purposes was the inverse of this phenomenon. 

In this case, impressing a microwave-frequency electromagnetic wave across the 

junction caused its current-voltage characteristic curve to show a series of steps. 

Increasing the current through the junction produced steps in which the voltage 

remained sensibly constant until the current reached a critical value at which point the 

voltage suddenly increased to a new level, i.e., a series of constant-voltage steps was 

produced. If n is the step number (an integer), V,, the voltage of the n th step, and f the 

frequency, then the ratio was predicted to be exactly 2e/h, which, for orientation 

purposes, is about 484 

This relationship is a metrologist's dream. The integer n is determined simply by 

counting, e.g., from the characteristic curve of the junction displayed on an X-Y 

recorder, and the frequency can be determined so accurately that any uncertainty in it 

is negligible. As a result, the voltage can be determined in absolute units with an uncertainty determined solely by that in the fundamental constant 2e/h. It was another 

case in which there arose the possibility of a fundamental constant replacing an artifact as a basic standard. 

As pointed out by Barry N. Taylor, the effect has three uses:242 

1 .To check on the constancy of reference standards of emf over a long period of time. 

2.To infer the relationship between reference standards for voltage of different national 

laboratories. 

3.To calibrate reference standards for emf in absolute units. 

Note that only the last one requires an accurate knowledge of 2e/h; the first two 

require only that it be a constant. 

Since superconducting junctions are relatively cheap and easy to produce, are easily 

portable, and all the other needed pieces of equipment are readily available (except 

perhaps one, as we shall see) in any reasonably equipped national laboratory, the 

effect is particularly useful for the comparison of the voltage standards of various 

laboratories, and for the monitoring of one nation's standard-cell maintained volt. 

The one piece of apparatus that was not so readily available was the one needed to 

compare the voltage across the junction with the voltage of the standard cell. The maximum voltage of a single junction is of the order of a few millivolts, while that of a standard cell is about a volt. To relate one voltage to the other with a high degree of 

242 Ibid., 90. At the time this work was done Taylor was at the RCA Laboratories in Princeton. His coauthors were at the University of Pennsylvania. Taylor joined the staff of the Electricity Division of the Bureau in 

June 1970. 

539 
accuracy required special equipment. To solve this problem initially, the Bureaus 

resident expert on such measurement matters, Forrest K. Harris, and two associates, 

Howland A. Fowler and P. Thomas Olsen, developed a special potentiometer which 

could compare a signal of 2 millivolts to 10 millivolts against the U.S. "legal" volt 

with an accuracy and precision of a few parts in 107.243 

Using this instrument and one with an even smaller uncertainty, the Bureau began 

experiments using the Josephson effect to monitor any changes in the standard cells 

maintaining the U.S. legal Assuming that 2eIh was a constant, it was found that 

the mean emf of the group of standard cells decreased linearly by about 4 parts in 

over the one-year period, beginning in July 1971. To compensate for this drift, the 

Bureau adopted the value of 483 593.420 GHZJVNBS for 2e/h, which was consistent 

with the existing U.S. volt, and used this value to assign a mean emf periodically to 

the bank of electrolytic cells. This assignment became the definition of the new as-maintained unit of emf for the Nation, and it could be maintained with a precision 

of about 2 parts in 108.245 It was a major step in the shift to an absolute volt realized 

by the Josephson effect. 

To take a further step, the value of 2eIh had to be defined internationally, and a more accurate comparison of the volt as maintained by the various national laboratories 

had to be carried out. In a comparison made under the auspices of the BIPM, the 

Bureau, with the support of the U.S. Air Force, transported standards cells in temperature-controlled containers and compared them with the cells used for maintaining the 

volt by the BIPM, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and The "main 

purpose was to provide a sound basis for intercomparing values of 2e/h obtained by 

the various laboratories via the Josephson effect." By the use of temperaturecontrolled enclosures and techniques used in the Measurement Assurance Program, it 

was found that, converted to a common unit, most of the values of 2e/h agreed with 

one another to I to 2 parts in This was another major step toward the use of the 

Josephson effect for the realization of the absolute volt. The quantum Hall effect 

would subsequently provide a means of realizing the absolute ohm directly from a physical phenomenon. With this development, and the development of Josephson 

junction arrays, absolute volt and ohm standards would become commonplace. 

243 F. K. Harris, H. A. Fowler, and P. T. Olsen, "Accurate Hamon-Pair Potentiometer for Josephson 

Frequency.to-Voltage Measurements," Metrologia 6 (1970): 134-142; Annual Report for 1970: 43-44. 

246T. F. Finnegan and A. Denenstein, "High Accuracy Potentiometers for Use With Ten Millivolt Josephson 

Devices. I. Double Series-Parallel Exchange Comparator," Review of Scientific Instruments 44 (1973): 944- 

953. 245 B. F. Field, T .F. Finnegan, and J. Toots, "Volt Maintenance at NBS via 2e/h: A New Definition of the 

NBS Volt," Metrologia 9 (1973): 155-166; "NBS to Maintain U.S. Legal Volt Using 2e/h Via the AC 

Josephson Effect," Technical News Bulletin 56 (1972): 159-160. 246 W. G. Eicke, Jr., and B. N. Taylor, "Summary of International Comparisons of As-Maintained Units of 

Voltage and Values of 2e/h," IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement IM-2 1, (1972): 316- 

319. 

540 
Temperature 

The International Practical Temperature Scale (IPTS) is the practical scale in general 

use.247 It is based on certain reference temperatures or "fixed points" whose assigned 

temperatures are as close as possible to the true, thermodynamic values, with interpolation formulae between the fixed points. The Consultative Committee on Thermometry 

(CCT), in its capacity of technical advisor to the CIPM, revises the IPTS periodically—about every 20 years. The CCT meets at the BIPM at intervals of 2 or 3 years, 

evaluates the recent advances in thermometric metrology and recommends new or re- vised R&D at the world's national (or other participating) laboratories. Each delegate 

is an expert representing a national standards laboratory or is otherwise coopted by the 

CCT. The 20-year effort of research, evaluation and scale formulation culminates in a consensus recommendation to the CIPM. 

In the lBS. responsibility for IPTS activities fell to the Heat Division and its relevant sections: Temperature, Radiation Thermometry (later Optical Radiation) and 

Cryogenic Physics. Director Astin would appoint the division chief as the NBS delegate to a CCT meeting and, on occasion, one (or even two) colleagues would go along. 

The division had traditionally made a major contribution to IPTS development, but so extensive was the program during this particular interval that BIPM Director Jean C. 

Terrien took the unprecedented step of holding the 1967 meeting of the CCT in Washington, so that the committee as a whole could examine the NBS work at first hand, 

prior to finalizing the formulation of 

In a somewhat more theoretical vein, Robert A. Kamper and his associates in the 

Cryogenics Division developed a scheme for the measurement of very low temperatures.249 Based on the Josephson effect, the principle of the measurement was that any 

noise in the voltage applied to a Josephson junction will cause a random frequency 

modulation of the oscillation of the junction. If the noise is Johnson noise, thermally 

generated in a shunt resistor through which a current is passed to bias the junction, the 

resistor noise voltage is easily calculated and is directly proportional to the product of 

the absolute temperature and the resistance. The noise voltage causes a broadening of 

the Josephson oscillation, and the authors showed that the resulting line width is also 

proportional to the absolute temperature. Thus, if the size of the resistor is known, the 

temperature is easily calculated since the other quantities appearing in the equations are well-known fundamental constants. 

Using a dilution refrigerator, temperatures of about 0.075 K were easily measured. 

Later the lower limit was extended to 0.006 K by Robert Soulen of the Cryogenic 

Physics Section, and it was estimated that it could be extended to temperatures somewhat below I mK. 

247 T. J. Quinn, Temperature (New York: Academic Press, 1983); Chapter 2. 248 C. R. Barber in "The International Practical Temperature Scale of 1968," Metrologia 5 (1969): 35-44. 249 A. H. Silver, J. E. Zimmerman, and R. A. Kamper, "Contribution of Thermal Noise to the Line Width of 

Josephson Radiation From Superconducting Point Contact," Applied Physics Letters 11(1967): 209-211; R. 

A. Kamper and J. E. Zimmerman, "Noise Thermometry With the Josephson Effect," Journal of Applied 

Physics 43 (1971): 132-136; R. A. Kamper, J. D. Siegwarth, R. Radebaugh, and J. E. Zimmerman, 

"Observation of Noise Temperature in the Millikelvin Range," Proceedings of the IEEE 59 (1971): 1368- 

1369; "NBS Advances New Concept in Low-Temperature Measurement," Technical News Bulletin 52 

(1968): 71-72. 

541 
Lewis 0. Mullen (left) monitored temperature during the fabrication of a thin-film 

Josephson junction while Robert A. Kamper (center) and Donald B. Sullivan observed. 

A study by these NBS scientists led to the first observation of Josephson oscillation in 

the radiofrequency range using thin films. 

Radio Standards 

The development of radio-frequency standards for electrical measurements continued. In many cases the eventual utility of new measurement capabilities was in calibrations—for new quantities or for older quantities in new ranges of frequency, power, 

voltage, etc. A short list of the new calibrations offered during the period gives a feeling for the developments. 

542 
• The frequency range of the radio-frequency pulse power reference standard 

was increased to include frequencies for the range 300 MHz to 500 MHz, 

augmenting the 900 MHz to 1200 MHz range in which calibrations had been 

offered. The power range involved was 0.2 mW to 2 kW with an uncertainty 

of 3 percent. (1965) 

• A calibration service for noise in the frequency range 12.4 GHz to 18.0 GHz 

was offered. (1965) 

• A calibration service for the measurement of the reflection coefficient magnitude in a waveguide at 3.95 GHz to 5.85 GHz was developed. Interlaboratory 

wave guide standards with reflection coefficient magnitudes from 0.024 to 0.2 

could be measured and compared. (1966) 

• A pair of precision co-axial thermal noise generators were developed as primary standards for noise in the high frequency ranges. At the time both 

operated at 30 MHz or 60 MHz, but could be adjusted to operate at other 

frequencies and over a wide range of noise temperatures. (1969) 

• Perhaps the instrument that caused the most excitement in the period was the 

Bolovac—for bolometric voltage and current—standard head. Built around 

the bolometric properties of a thin film in the form of a split disk, the 

Myron C. Selby held the bolometric voltage and current (Bolovac) standard which he 

invented in 1967 to provide known voltages and currents at high and microwave 

frequencies to 20 000 MHz. 

543 
instrument could be used to measure voltage, current and power from 1 MHz 

to 20 0Hz. The range of voltage and current were 0.05 V to 10 V and 5 mA 

to 10 A respectively. The secret of its success was that the resistance of the 

film was the same at all frequencies as at dc and had a frequency-independent 

temperature coefficient. Hence, upon simple calibration with dc, the Bolovac 

could be used at all frequencies, and it was easier to use and much more 

accurate than traditional methods. (1968) 

• A calibration service for pulse rise time was begun during the period. It used a commercially available oscilloscope as the principal element of the system. 

The oscilloscope was evaluated in the frequency domain, and from this study 

it was possible to calculate its time-domain response. The service was primarily designed for tunnel diode step generators and two-port passive devices. 

(1970) 

Toward a New Era in Radiometry 

So far in this history we have discussed the work of the Bureau in five of the six 

basic measurement standards: mass, length, time, temperature, and the ampere. We 

have not discussed standards for radiometry and its sibling photometry, that are embodied in the SI unit, the candela. Because this branch of physics is somewhat 

esoteric, we now provide a short historical note on its development. It is an opportune 

time to do this, for, as we shall see, the sixties and early seventies were times in 

which the Bureau's activities in the field increased. 

Radiometry can be defined as the detection and measurement of the energy flux 

carried by electromagnetic radiation, which is a physical measurement. By contrast, 

photometry is the study of light and its brightness as perceived by humans. As such, it 

is not a physical measurement, but has been called "psychophysical." Photometry is, 

nevertheless, very important, and the whole subject arose from studies devoted to it. 

Here we discuss the more general but conceptually simpler subject of radiometry. 

The scientific development of radiometry began with the study of the visible effects 

of radiation, or photometry.25° Using liquid-in-glass thermometers to assess the relative 

energy25' content of different colors of light in the continuous solar spectrum, Friedrich 

W. Herschel in 1800 discovered infrared radiation and, a year later, Johann W. Ritter, 

studying the chemical effect of light on silver nitrate solutions, discovered ultraviolet 

radiation. In a sense, this was the beginning of radiometry. 

The nineteenth century was a period of considerable development for radiometry, 

and it became one of the main thrusts of physics during that period. Aside from the 

pull of science, the development was spurred substantially by the development of gas 

250 Jon Geist, "Trends in the Development of Radiometry," Optical Engineering 15 (1976): 537-540. 

These early studies were carried out before the equivalence of heat and energy had been demonstrated. 

Thus the studies at the time were concerned with the "heat content" of radiation. We shall continue to use the modem terminology. 

544 
lighting and subsequently electric lights, and a quest for better photometric standards 

than the standard candles which were used earlier. Perley G. Nutting in his book 

Outlines of Applied Optics writes, "The service of radiometry to other branches of 

applied optics lies largely in the study of such reference standards and the determination of the constants of the radiation formulas."252 

The quest for standards took two paths: the study of radiation sources and the study 

of radiation detectors. In the former direction, the concept of a blackbody was developed in mid-century, along with the realization that, at least in principle, such a body operated at a constant temperature could be used as a standard source of radiation. Of course, the crowning achievement of the work in this direction was the discovery by Max Planck in 1900 of the radiation law that bears his name, thereby setting 

into motion work that would lead to quantum mechanics and a revolution in physics. 

As is now well known, the law gives the radiated energy flux from a blackbody per 

unit area as a function of wavelength and temperature, and an integration over wavelength gives the total flux radiated per unit area as a constant multiplied by T4, a relation that is embodied in the Stefan-Boltzmann radiation law. Planck's equation 

contains only one adjustable parameter, the constant h that bears his name, but for the 

purposes of radiometry, there are considered to be two constants, c1 and c2, which are combinations of h with the speed of light and Boltzrnann's constant k. Thus, if these 

constants were well enough known, if the thermodynamic temperature of the blackbody were well known and could be controlled with sufficient accuracy, and if one 

could construct a device approximately satisfying the definition of a blackbody 

(a "laboratory blackbody"), one would have all the requisites for a primary basic 

measurement standard for both photometric and radiometric purposes. The principal 

quantities for which the Planck blackbody standard could in principle be used are spectral radiance (watts/rn2 . solid angle . wavelength interval), radiance (watts/rn2 . solid 

angle) and radiant exitance, also called irradiance, (watts/rn2). Unfortunately, it was not until much later that the constants in the Planck radiation law were well enough 

known to permit the calculation of these quantities with less than 1 percent uncertainty. 

Nevertheless, as we shall see, the laboratory blackbody became the primary standard of 

photometry and radiometry. 

The other direction that radiation science took was that of detector development. 

This proved to be a fruitful area. Sensitive thermocouples and thermopiles for the 

measurement of radiation intensity were developed, and later the yet more sensitive 

bolometer. But the most important development in detector radiometry was the 

development and construction by Anders Jonas Angstrom in 1893 of the first standard 

detector, an electrically calibrated bolometer. In this instrument, the steady-state 

temperature rise produced at the detector by a radiation source was first measured. The 

detector was then heated by an electric current to the same steady-state temperature. 

Assuming that the heat losses were the same, the power in the two cases would also be 

the same, and since the dissipated electrical power is very easy to measure with high 

accuracy, the radiant power is also measured. Such an instrument would in due course 

be called an "absolute radiometer" but, as we shall see, the quantitative determination 

of the uncertainties in its use is not a trivial task. Nevertheless, research in this new 

technique flourished in the early years of the century. 

252 Perley G. Nutting, Outlines of Applied Optics (Philadelphia: Blakiston's, 1912): 201. 

545 
The Bureau, born in the same year that Planck published his paper on his radiation 

law, became deeply involved in photometric standards from the beginning. It adopted 

the British candle as the unit of luminous intensity (visible flux per unit solid angle) 

but chose to maintain it by carbon-filament incandescent lamps calibrated by the 

Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (PTR) against their primary standard Hefner 

(amyl acetate) lamp, and corrected for the known relationship of that unit to the British 

unit.253 

Rather more important for radiometry was the work of William W. Coblentz, who 

followed on the work of Angstrom on electrically compensated detectors, but using a very sensitive bismuth-silver thermopile. Coblentz used the instrument to measure 

the radiation from a Hefner lamp, a standard sperm candle, and carbon-filament incandescent lamps. He found the last to be the best as secondary standards, writing "such a lamp has every desideratum of a standard of radiation, when calibrated against a blackbody as the primary standard of radiation."254 In a later paper he investigated the 

bismuth-silver thermopile extensively, using it in thirteen different receivers. He obtained an inaccuracy of the order of 1 percent, and came to the conclusion that "one can consider the present device a primary instrument for evaluating radiant energy in 

absolute measure."255 - Of course, to complete the chain he had to know the constants in the Planck and 

Stefan-Boltzmann laws, so he set out on perhaps his best known work: the measurement of the Stefan-Boltzmann constant. For this study he used an electrically 

compensated bolometer to measure the radiant flux from a blackbody. The value he 

obtained, using 11 differently prepared receivers in 304 measurements, was 5.72 X 1012 

watt cm2 deg4. The accuracy was about 1 percent.256 Due to an unfortunate coincidence, this figure agreed to within 0.1 % with the value of the Stefan-Boltzmann 

constant as calculated from what was soon discovered to be an erroneous set of values 

for the fundamental constants. It would not be until 1970 that the error in the measured 

quantity would be reduced to less than 1 percent. 

In the next fifty years, radiometry and photometry made some advances. The laboratory blackbody became recognized as the primary standard of optical radiation, many 

new types of sources were developed, and new detectors—particularly photoelectric— were developed. But as a branch of physics, radiometry lagged and assumed more 

of a supportive role in such emerging fields as atmospheric physics, in the development of infrared and ultraviolet spectrophotometers, and in military and space 

applications of radiation. 

Two excellent papers illustrate the Bureau's photometric work at the time. They are: E. P. Hyde, "A 

Comparison of the Unit of Luminous Intensity of the United States With Those of Germany, England, and 

France," Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards 3 (1907): 65-80; E. B. Rosa and 0. W. Middlekauff, "Carbon 

Filament Lamps as Photometric Standards," Proceedings of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers 29 (1910): 1191-1205. W. W. Coblentz, "Measurements on Standards of Radiation in Absolute Value," Bulletin of the Bureau of 

Standards 11(1915): 92. W. W. Coblentz and W. B. Emerson, "Studies of Instruments for Measuring Radiant Energy in Absolute 

Value: An Absolute Thermopile," Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards 12 (1915-1916): 550. 256 W. W. Coblentz, "Present Status of the Determination of the Constant of Total Radiation From a Black 

Body," Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards 12 (1915-1916): 577. 

546 
Beginning in 1960 things began to change. In the area of sources, the Bureau 

introduced a tungsten-strip lamp as a new standard of spectral radiance for the wavelength range from the near ultraviolet to the infrared.257 The announcing publication 

also described the construction and use of a blackbody for calibration of the lamp. 

Three years later another lamp was introduced, covering the same wavelength range 

but with higher power and radiant efficiency, to be used as a new standard for spectral 

This was calibrated by the tungsten-strip lamp just described, so that it 

too was indirectly calibrated against a blackbody. Finally, with this kind of source, in 

1966 the Bureau issued another tungsten-filament lamp to be used as a standard of 

total irradiance.259 The standard of total irradiance had been a 50 W carbon-filament 

lamp, used since Coblentz calibrated it against a laboratory blackbody in 1913. Now 

the need for higher accuracy and wider irradiance range required developing new standards, and tungsten-filament lamps of 100 W, 500 W, and 1000 W were chosen for the new standards. Thus, with the issuance of these three new types of lamps, new radiometric standards were made available. In addition to these new lamp standards, the 

reader will recall the synchrotron which is an almost ideal source of radiation in the 

vacuum ultraviolet. In addition to this technique were developments in the hydrogen arc which permitted the introduction of the deuterium arc as a transfer standard of 

spectral radiance and irradiance, which extended the range of calibrations to the 

vacuum ultraviolet. 

( 

Tungsten-filament lamp standards adopted by NBS in 1966. These standards increased the accuracy and 

range of irradiance measurements beyond those possible with the previously used carbon-filament lamps. 

The blackbody (center) was used to calibrate the lamps. 

R. Stair, R. G. Johnston, and E. W. Halbach, "Standard of Spectral Radiance for the Region of 0.25 to 

2.6 Microns," Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 64A (1960): 29 1-296. 

R. Stair, W. E. Schneider, and J. K. Jackson, "A New Standard of Spectral Irradiance," Applied Optics 2 (1963): 1151-1154. 

R. Stair, W. E. Schneider, and W. B. Fussell, "The New Tungsten Filament Lamp Standards of Total 

Irradiance," Applied Optics 6 (1967): 101-105. 

547 
Driven by the needs of the space program and laser calibration was the field of 

detector-based radiometry, and this led to the development of electrically calibrated 

radiometers for "traditional photometric and radiometric applications. . . solar radiation 

and laser applications." In addition, a "long standing discrepancy. . . between 

the measured and calculated values of the Stefan-Boltzmann constant has been 

resolved,"260 so that experiment and theory now agreed to within approximately 0.1 

percent.26' From the Bureau came work in two directions. First there was the work of 

Jon Geist which we will summarize here.262 Second, there was the work of a group in 

the Electromagnetics Division in Boulder using a pyroelectric detector, to measure the 

power of laser beams.263 

The work of Geist was part of a larger lBS program initiated in 1968 on optical 

radiation measurements. In Technical Note 594-I, Geist describes in detail the design 

and construction of an electrically calibrated thermopile-type radiometer, and an exhaustive analysis of the magnitudes of the various errors that could enter into the 

design. As we have seen, the radiometric scales obtained with such an instrument have 

traditionally been called "absolute" although, as pointed out by Geist, they are no more absolute than scales obtained by calibration against a blackbody, either directly or 

indirectly. But the latter types of measurements depend on the knowledge of the constants in the Planck and Stefan-Boltzmann radiation laws, upon the knowledge of the 

thermodynamic temperature (no small task at 1000 K or higher), and the experimental 

realization of a blackbody. The thermopile-type of measurements in principle require 

only the measurement of temperature rise and electric power, both of which are much 

simpler and far more accurate measurements. 

Numerous errors can, of course, creep into the construction of an electrically 

calibrated instrument. To determine these errors and their effects, Geist identified 

two philosophies in the design and construction of measuring instruments. The first 

philosophy attempts to minimize all errors, while the second does not necessarily 

minimize the magnitude of the errors, but rather minimizes the uncertainty with which 

they can be measured, and then corrects for them. Geist argues that an instrument built 

to the second philosophy is more useful for the realization of measurement scales than 

one built on the first philosophy, which is more suited for the transfer of scales. As a result, the second philosophy guided the effort. In short, Geist set out to build a primary-standard radiometer. 

Geist, "Trends in the Development of Radiometry": 538. 261 W. R. Blevin and W. J. Brown, "A Precise Measurement of the Stefan-Boltzmann Constant," Metrologia 7 (1971): 15-29; J. M. Kendall, Sr., and C. M. Berdahi, "Two Blackbody Radiometers of High Accuracy," 

Applied Optics 9 (1970): 1082-1091. 262 Jon Geist, Optical Radiation Measurements: Fundamental Principles of Absolute Radiometry and the Philosophy of This NBS Program (1968 to 1971), NatI. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Technical Note 594-1; June 1972. 263 C. A. Hamilton, G. W. Day, and R. J. Phelan, Jr., An Electrically Calibrated Pyroelectric Radiometer 

System, Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Technical Note 678; March 1976. 

548 
We can only give a sketchy account of the instrument, its analysis, and its use. 

Basically it consisted of a receiver disk upon whose upper side the radiation flux to be 

measured fell. This side was coated with some type of high-radiation-absorptance 

coating, i.e., some type of blackening. Attached to the disk was a thermopile of 

circular construction consisting of copper-constantan thermocouples in a radial arrangement. Also attached to the disk was a resistance heater to measure the power necessary 

to raise the receiver disk to the same temperature as did the radiation. To provide a stable thermal environment, the entire assembly was placed in an isothermal chamber 

with an aperture whose dimensions were accurately known, and through which the 

radiation fell on the receiver surface. The whole assembly, including the chamber, 

measured 12.5 cm X 8.3 cm X 5 cm. 

There are a set of "easy" errors, and a set of "hard" errors in the instrument. The 

measurements with "easy" errors were: • The voltage across the thermopile 

• The voltage across the heater 

• The current in the heater 

• The area of the aperture. 

The measurements or conditions with "hard" errors were: • Not all of the incident radiation is absorbed by the high-absorbtion coating 

• Not all of the heater power is absorbed by the receiver 

• The power generated in the heater leads modifies the temperature distribution 

in the radiometer 

• The incident flux also modifies the temperature distribution in the chamber 

• The temperature distribution in the receiver and high-absorptance coating is 

different when receiving radiation from that when being electrically heated. 

All the easy errors involve only well-known customary measurements that are made 

routinely and accurately in any well-equipped laboratory. The "hard" errors are quite 

different. To determine their magnitude required first an exhaustive mathematical 

analysis of the physical processes involved and their sensitivity to errors. And the 

determination of their magnitudes and the uncertainties in the magnitudes required 

painstaking experimentation. 

One of the radiometers, ECR- 10 (for Electrically Compensated Receiver), was used as a pyrheliometer (i.e., for the measurement of solar radiation) in the Third International Pyrheliometer Comparison held at Davos, Switzerland, in September 1970. 

Interestingly, it was compared against Angstrom 210, built on the Angstrom 

The results showed that the ratio of results with Angstrom 210 was 1.0180 with a limit 

of error of ± 0.0063, or 0.63 percent. While this level of uncertainty was somewhat 

disappointing, it was felt that with some serious effort the error limits could be lowered to 0.1 percent. 

264 As a footnote of historical interest, Jon Geist informed us that one of the pyrheliometers used in the 

comparisons was actually built by Angstrom. 

549 
Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) 

Production and sales of SRMs continued during the period. By 1968, 669 different 

kinds were available and the total sales numbered approximately 43 000 units. Indeed, 

there were requests for far more kinds of SRMs than could be developed and produced, and the newly formed Office of Standard Reference Materials had to set priorities on which of the requested materials were chosen for preparation. A few of the 

newer materials, culled from the Annual Reports, were: • Lead isotopic composition standards were designed for the calibration of mass 

spectrometers used in the determination of the isotopic composition of lead 

in rocks, meteorites, and ores to determine their ages. Along the same line were natural-ratio isotopic composition standards for chlorine, bromine, 

copper, silver, and chromium. These were produced as part of a program on atomic weights. (1968) 

• A second viscosity-of-glass standard was made available for use in the calibration of the viscosity-measuring instruments used in glass production. 

(1965) 

550 

NBS glass-viscosity standards are used to calibrate glass viscometers, particularly those 

utilized in high-speed mass production processes. Viscosity must be held to close 

tolerances to obtain glass products of uniform thickness, shape, and strength. 
• Glass beads for neutron flux measurements were prepared from three different 

glasses enriched in boron-lO, along with one of several activators that is 

potentially radioactive via neutron absorption. These materials were developed as a straightforward way to determine slow-neutron flux. Dysprosium glass 

and indium glass materials are alternate absolute standards, while cobalt glass 

is a secondary, or transfer, standard. (1965) 

• A freezing-point SRM meeting all of the requirements of a fixed point on the 

International Practical Temperature Scale was prepared from zinc with a purity of 99.9999 percent. The zinc point replaced the sulfur point on the IPTS, 

and important step in the maintenance of the' temperature scale. (1967) 

Perhaps the most exciting development was the production of standards for use in clinical laboratories that would lead the Bureau into the whole new field of clinical 

standards. The clinical SRM program began by using only its own funds, but was soon given generous support from the National Institute for General Medical Sciences of 

the National Institutes of Health. 

In the early sixties, clinical tests—mostly carried out on automated equipment—were a large and growing activity. It was estimated that 750 million to 1 billion tests were 

run annually, and the rate was increasing at 10 percent to 15 percent per year.265 But 

all was not well with these measurements. In 1963, the College of American Pathologists (CAP) had conducted a national survey of over 1000 clinical laboratories on the 

analysis of cholesterol. The laboratories were sent two cholesterol solutions for analysis, and the results were disturbing. They showed variations ranging from 25 percent to 

50 caused largely by the "systemic bias not only in a given method, but also 

between methods."267 Standards were available for instrument calibration, but the CAP 

concluded that they varied in purity and were not suitable.268 

As result of this survey, the CAP and the American Association of Clinical 

Chemistry (AACC), following a meeting of many associations interested in high-purity 

cholesterol,269 approached the Bureau about producing a standard sample of cholesterol 

of certified purity. It was expected that the program would extend beyond cholesterol. 

It was a classic case of the need for a standard sample to bring a measurement system 

under control. 

265 "Clinical and Biomedical Standards," Technical News Bulletin 53 (1969): 92-94. 266 Annual Report for 1968: 30. 267 More exactly, in 1949 the precision of laboratory measurements was ±23 %. By 1969, two years after 

the introduction of the Bureau's cholesterol SRM, the precision was ± 18.5%. By 1986, after the introduction in 1981 of a serum cholesterol SRM, the precision was ±6 %. (Figures provided by Harry S. Hertz.) 268 "Clinical and Biomedical Standards": 92. 269 D. S. Young and T. W. Mears, "Measurement and Standard Reference Materials in Clinical Chemistry," 

Clinical Chemistry 14 (1968): 929-943. 

- 551 
By December 1967, the cholesterol SRM was completed and sales began. It consisted of a material obtained from Distillation Products Industries of Rochester, New 

York, where the natural product was purified according to the method of Louis F. 

Fieser,27° as set forth in the joint AACC and CAP specifications. The purity determination, carried out under the direction of Robert Schaffer and by far the hardest part of 

the project, was done by gas chromatography; thin-layer chromatography; and mass, 

infrared, and nuclear-magnetic-resonance spectrometry.27' The SRM was certified as being 99.4 ± 0.3 percent pure. Later, other methods were used to assay the samples, 

but it was still a long job.272 

Cholesterol was only the first of a long line of clinical SRMs. By 1969 three other 

materials had joined it: urea, uric acid, and creatinine. By 1979 there were thirty, 

including organics, metal organics, and inorganics. The Bureau had become the 

national center for standards for clinical laboratories. 

In 1970, the Bureau announced the availability of a new class of materials. Named 

Research Materials (RMs), they were designed to provide research workers in materials 

science with materials of very high uniformity so that researchers in different laboratories could all be assured of working on material of the same composition. What made 

RMs different from SRMs was that the Bureau did not certify any property for the 

former, as it did for the latter. Unlike SRMs, Research Materials were not designed to 

calibrate measuring instruments, but rather to make the results of research more meaningful for having been achieved on a constant, uniform material, even though such 

quantities as impurity level and perfection were not necessarily well known. While the 

Bureau did not provide a certificate with an RM, it did provide a "Report of Investigation," generally a scientific paper, with the accuracy of its results the sole responsibility of the author. 

The first RM offered was ultra-high purity aluminum. Offered in both polycrystalline rods (25.4 mm X 4.17 mm) and single-crystal cubes (approximately 1 cm on a side), the material had an extremely high resistivity ratio (resistance at 273 K divided 

by the resistance at 4.2 K), denoting extremely high purity. The impurity level was 

estimated to be 0.25 parts per million molar. 

Never big sellers, by 1979, the Bureau offered eight RMs, including a homogeneous 

river sediment for "testing radiochemical procedures for the assay of radioactivity in 

sediments or soils," and albacore tuna for use in determining elements present in trace 

concentration. 273 

270 L. F. Fieser, "Cholesterol and Companions VII. Steroid Dibromides," Journal of the American Chemical 

Society 75 (1953): 542 1-5422. 

Young and Mears, "Measurement and Standard Reference Materials in Clinical Chemistry": 939. 272 R. W. Seward and R. Mavrodineanu, Standard Reference Materials: Summary of the Clinical Laboratory 

Standards Issued by the National Bureau of Standards, Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Special Publication 260-7 1; November 1981. 

273NBS Standard Reference Materials Catalog, 1979-80 Edition, Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Special Publication 

260; 1979: 77. 

552 
Standard Reference Data 

The Bureau, at the behest of the Federal Council for Science and Technology 

(FCST) in 1963, and in 1968 under the Standard Reference Data Act, became responsible for the operation of the National Standard Reference Data System (NSRDS). The 

program never became as large as optimistically projected at its inception.274 Thus, in 

1966, the Bureau projected the program to grow from $1.2 million in 1966 to $20 

million in 1972, with $8 million to be spent in-house, and $12 million to be 

contracted out.275 Reality was much harsher; the FY 1972 appropriations were approximately $2.1 million.276 The program nevertheless flourished and by the time the 

NSRDS legislation was passed, it was producing a steady stream of data compilations. 

Appropriations were growing, albeit at a rate that euphemistically could only be called 

leisurely. But other agencies, and the Bureau's RTS appropriation coupled to reprogramming, helped. And the data centers, both inside and outside the Bureau, had other 

sources of funds. 

By 1970 there were thirty-four established data centers associated with the NSRDS, 

fifteen of them at the Bureau. In addition, individual "one-shot" projects for special 

data compilations or critical reviews were supported. Some of the data centers outside 

the Bureau received no funding from the Office of Standard Reference Data (OSRD), 

but nevertheless were associated with the system, as had originally been envisioned by 

the Bureau and the FCST. 

The whole technical program was divided into seven areas: (1) Thermodynamic and 

Transport Properties, (2) Atomic and Molecular Data, (3) Chemical Kinetics, (4) Solid 

State Data, (5) Nuclear Data, (6) Colloid and Surface Properties, and (7) Mechanical 

Properties. In addition to these areas, research on the use of computers for data 

processing and dissemination was carried out. 

In response to needs for data for industry and for national defense—and to some 

extent for historical reasons—the heaviest concentrations of data were found in 

thermodynamic and transport properties, with eleven data centers (two from the 

Bureau), and in atomic and molecular data with nine centers (seven from the Bureau). 

The least emphasized areas, at that time, were colloid and surface properties with one 

center, and mechanical properties with none. 

274 Critical Evaluation of Data in the Physical Sciences—A Status Report on the National Standard Refer- ence Data System, June 1970, David R. Lide, Jr., ed., Nati. Bur. Stand. (U. S.) Technical Note 553; 

September 1970. 275 Appropriations Hearings for 1967: 674. 276 House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, the 

Judiciary, and Related Agencies, Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, the Judiciary, and Related 

Agencies Appropriations for 1972: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, 

92d Cong., 1st sess., National Bureau of Standards, 20 April 1971:1150. These figures represent only those 

funds controlled by the OSRD. The actual expenditures for data evaluation were much higher, because of 

support from other agencies and from RTS funds of the NBS technical divisions. 

553 
We cannot possibly describe all the work carried out. In thermodynamics and transport properties alone, seventeen projects were actively pursued in 1970, and fifteen 

monographs published between 1968 and 1970. We can at least list a few of the 

projects and centers drawn from the areas enumerated above to give a feeling for the 

type of work supported by the NSRDS. 

• Selected values of chemical thermodynamic properties, Donald D. Wagman 

and William H. Evans, Physical Chemistry Division, NBS. 

• Thermal conductivity of selected materials, Y. S. Touloukian, Thermophysical Properties Research Center, Purdue University. 

• Thermodynamic data on organic compounds, Bruno J. Zwolinski, Texas 

A&M University. 

• Atomic Energy Levels Data Center, William C. Martin, Charlotte Moore 

Sitterly, Optical Physics Division, NBS. 

• Atomic Collision Cross Section Information Center, Lee J. Kieffer, JILA, 

NBS/University of Colorado. 

• Chemical Kinetics Data Center, David Garvin, Physical Chemistry Division, 

NBS. 

• Critical evaluation of the gas phase reaction kinetics of the hydroxyl radical, 

William B. Wilson, Jr., Battelle Memorial Institute. 

• Crystal Data Center, Helen M. Ondik, Inorganic Materials Division, NBS. 

• Superconductive Materials Data Center, Benjamin W. Roberts, General 

Electric Research and Development Center. 

• Diffusion in Metals Data Center, John R. Manning, Metallurgy Division, 

NBS. 

• Photonuclear data, Everett G. Fuller, Linac Radiation Division, NBS. 

• Electrochemical properties of interfaces, Johannes Lyklema, Agricultural 

University of Wageningen, The Netherlands. 

It can be said that by 1970 the NSRDS was an established part of the Bureau's activities and the Nation's scientific infrastructure. 

554 
Weights and Measures for the States 

In 1832, Secretary of the Treasury Lewis McLane, in the course of his coinage and 

customhouse functions, directed Ferdinand R. Hassler, his superintendent of the Coast 

Survey, to prepare copies of a set of standards that Hassler had recommended in 

reports he had prepared at the secretary's request. These were standards of length, 

weight, and volume derived from British standards, and in due course they were 

adopted by the Treasury. Congress, recognizing the value of uniformity in weights and 

measures, in an 1836 joint resolution directed the secretary to deliver copies of 

Hassler's standards "to the governor of each State in the Union.. . to the end that a uniform standard of weights and measures may be established throughout the United 

States." These were the first nationwide standards in the country, and were quickly 

adopted by the states as their legal standards, although the Congress had not legalized 

them. In 1864, Great Britain authorized the use of the metric system along with its 

own imperial system, and Congress, following suit in 1866, legalized the metric system 

in the United States. In that same year, the Congress, in another joint resolution, 

directed the secretary of the treasury to furnish each state with a set of metric weights 

and measures standards. By 1880 this had been largely accomplished and practically 

all states had weights and measures standards.277 

But circumstances in the states had changed. As Allen Astin testified in 1965: 

"Since that time the States that have become members of the Union have 

acquired standards by one way or another. We provided them for the two 

most recent States, Alaska and Hawaii, but many of the States have lost their 

standards and none of them has standards adequate to meet the demands of 

standards metrology, the standards of 275 

See MFP, 24-28 for an account of this early history, and MFP, 5 15-526 for a biography of F. R. Hassler. 278 Appropriations Hearings for 1966: 494-495. 

555 

Customary standards furnished to the states under the Joint Resolution of 1836. 
A 13-year program provided working weights and measures laboratories with 

uniform and accurate standards in all of the 53 States and territories. The 95-piece 

set of weights, measures, and weighing instruments are standards in both the U.S. 

customary system and the metric system. 

The 30 kilogram precision balance, the 2500 pound precision balance, and the 500 

pound mass standard received by the State of Maryland. 

556 

The State of Maryland received its set of weights and measures on April 3, 1970 in the 

Bureau's Red Audtorium. 
by the State of Maryland. 

A portion of the 67 mass standards (metric and avoirdupois) presented to the State of 

Maryland are shown here. 

557 

Sixteen volume standards, including 12 pipets and 4 burets, were part of the set received 
He therefore requested $500 000 to begin a program of constructing and distributing 

standards for the states, and providing training in their use. It was expected that 

each set of standards, plus the associated training, would cost about $40 000, and 

that the $500 000 would be enough to equip about one-fourth of the states. After a modicum of discussion about why the states could not pay for the standards, and being 

reassured that free distribution would help attain national uniformity plus the fact that 

each of the states could be expected to create a new or expanded weights and measures 

laboratory and qualified personnel, the Congress appropriated the funds necessary to 

start the program.279 

Each state was to receive a complete set of stainless steel weights in both metric and 

customary units, from 30 kilograms to 1 milligram, and from 50 pounds to 0.000001 

pound, plus two 500 pound stacking weights; various graduated tapes and rules and a 16-foot-long bench equipped with a precision microscope and tension weights; 

volumetric standards from 5 liters to 1 milliliter, and from 5 gallons to I minim 

(0.003 76 cubic inches); and five precision balances from 100 gram capacity to 5000 

pound capacity. All were, of course, to be calibrated or adjusted by the Bureau before 

distribution. 

The schedule, which called for equipping ten states per year and completion of the 

program in a few years, could not be maintained, nor could the $40 000 price. By 

1973, 40 states had been equipped and the price had doubled, partly because the 

specifications had been raised. The complete equipping of the 53 states and territories was not completed until 1978. But upon its completion it could be said that for the 

first time in its history the Nation was equipped to provide complete uniformity in 

weights and measures, and all measurements in trade and commerce were at least in 

principle traceable to the national standards maintained by the Bureau. 

Federal Information Processing Standards 

It will be recalled that under the Brooks Act (PL 89-306), the Bureau, through the 

secretary of commerce, was given responsibility "to make appropriate recommendations to the President relating to the establishment of uniform Federal automatic data 

processing standards." The task of fulfilling this responsibility, along with the others 

spelled out in the legislation, was given to the newly formed Center for Computer 

Sciences and Technology. Under policy guidance from the Bureau of the Budget, the 

program of the center was separated into four elements: Advisory and Consulting 

Services, Standards, Research, and Computer Services. Standards was by far the largest 

program, spending approximately $4.24 million out of a total of $9.35 million in the 

period FY 1965 to FY 197 1.280 

279 "Ten States to Receive New Standards," Technical News Bulletin 50 (1966): 181; "Three States Receive 

New Weights and Measures Standards," Technical News Bulletin 52 (1968): 30-3 1; "Three States Receive 

Weights and Measures Standanis," Dimensions 57 (1973): 191; and "For Good Measure," Dimensions 62 (II) 

(1978): 2-7. The last article gives a good, short historical account of the history of weights and measures 

distribution, and of the relationship of the states, who have the responsibility to enforce weights and mea- sures in the marketplace, with the Bureau, which has the custody of the national standards. 280 Center for Computer Sciences and Technology, "Brooks Bill Issue Study of the National Bureau of 

Standards," NBS Report 10608, September 1971. 

558 
To implement its responsibilities, the Bureau divided the CCST standards area into 

four categories: (1) Hardware standards, including such items as character recognition, 

interchange codes and media, transmission, interface, and keyboards; (2) Software 

standards, including programming languages and operating systems; (3) Applications 

standards; and (4) Data standards, including representation of data elements and codes, 

and formats.28' Also, because these standards had to be used in all agencies of the 

Federal Government, the Bureau recognized that it needed to "coordinate its activities on an interagency basis." For this purpose it formed a series of ad-hoc task groups 

designed to provide advice to the Bureau on specific standards, to make recommendations on specific problems, and to develop draft proposals.282 The chairs of these task 

groups in turn were collected into an Advisory Committee, for which the chair was the 

chief of the Office of Information Processing Standards. Other members included 

representatives from the BOB and General Services Administration (GSA), the other 

main agencies besides the Bureau having functions under the Brooks Act, and other 

persons as necessary. 

With policy guidance from the BOB, a new publication series called the Federal 

Information Processing Standards Publications or, more commonly, FIPS PUBS, was initiated. These publications were to be used in the promulgation of standards, for 

establishing new standards, and in clarifying existing ones. The Bureau was also 

directed to maintain a FIPS PUBS Register, which was the "official source within the 

Federal Government for information pertaining to the approval, implementation, and 

maintenance of Federal Information Processing Standards 283 Because the development of these standards required coordination with the myriad 

interested parties both in the Government and in the private sector, standards did not 

come immediately. On March 11, 1968—some two and one-half years after the enactment of the Brooks Act—three automatic data processing (or FIPS) standards were approved by President Johnson. The most important of the three was the first, which 

established the USA Standard Code for Information Interchange (USASCII), which 

consisted of 128 seven-bit binary numbers used to represent 32 control characters and 

96 symbols—letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and the other customary symbols 

used in the English language. The whole was referred to as a "coded character set." 

Developed in an effort begun in 1960 by the American Standards Association 

(ASA), now the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), USASCII was recommended by the International Standards Organization (ISO) and the International 

Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (CCITT). All computers procured by 

the Federal Government after July 1, 1969, had to be capable of using USASCII. As is 

well-known to all users of PC word processors, the ASCII set, as it is now known, is 

based on the eight-bit binary, or 256 characters. Those beyond 128 are often called 

281 General Description of the Federal Information Processing Standards Register, Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) 

Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 0; November I, 1968: 3. 282 "FIPS Coordinating and Advisory Committee," Technical News Bulletin 53 (1969): 185-187. 283 General Description of the Federal Information Processing Standards Register: 1-2. 559 
the "extended ASCII character set." Also approved at the same time were standards 

for recording the code on magnetic and paper tape. With this capability, all future 

computers in the Federal Government were expected to be able to communicate with one another.284 

By 1971, six more standards had been issued, including such items as calendar 

dates, metropolitan statistical areas, and state name abbreviations. These were developed through the program the BOB had developed in response to its own responsibilities under the Brooks Act. Six more were approved on June 18, 1971, by the director of the Office of Management and Budget (0MB), the successor of the BOB. These 

six were technically based standards developed under the Bureau's program.285 By 

Executive Order 11717, on May 9, 1973, the responsibilities of 0MB with respect to 

Government-wide data processing standards were transferred to the secretary of 

commerce.286 

THE GENERAL RESEARCH 

Superconducting Semiconductors 

Approximately half the program of the Institute for Basic Standards was concerned 

with the measurement of the physical properties of well-defined substances.287 Due to 

its close association with the temperature scale, lBS had assumed responsibility for 

many thermodynamic and transport properties. This kind of work was carried out in 

the Heat Division and the Solid State Physics Section of the Atomic Physics Division, 

among others. Thus it was not surprising that a joint study of superconductivity in 

semiconductors should take place between workers from these two organizational units. 

The possibility that semiconductors might exhibit superconductivity had intrigued 

scientists for some time, and in two 1964 papers, Marvin L. Cohen of the University 

of California, Berkeley, analyzed the problem in great detail.288 He showed that under 

appropriate conditions—high charge carrier density, large electron effective mass, 

high dielectric constant, strong interaction between electrons and lattice vibrations— 

semiconductors could indeed be expected to show superconductivity. 

284 "President Approves Federal ADP Standards: USACII to Extend Compatibility," Technical News Bulletin 

52 (1968): 173. 285 Center for Computer Sciences and Technology, "Brooks Bill Issue Study of the National Bureau of 

Standards": Vl.6-Vl.9. 286 Executive Order 11717, May 9, 1973. Code of Federal Regulations, Title 3, 1971-1975 Compilation: 766- 

768. 287 Annual Report for 1968: 61. 288 M. L. Cohen, "Superconductivity in Many-Valley Semiconductors and in Semimetals," Physical Review 

134 (1964): A5 II -A52 I; M. L. Cohen, "The Existence of a Superconducting State in Semiconductors," 

Reviews of Modern Physics 36 (1964): 240-243. 

560 
Very quickly, and almost simultaneously, groups from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and the Bureau reacted. At the NRL the work was with germanium 

tellurides of several different compositions, and the material showed superconductivity 

below about 0.3 K.289 At the Bureau, James F. Schooley of the Cryogenic 

Physics Section and William R. Hosler of the Solid State Physics Section, with the 

collaboration of Cohen, worked with the semiconductor strontium titanate, a material 

Using the apparatus formerly employed in the parity experiments, a University of 

California/NBS group found that superconductivity could occur in oxide semiconductors. The group included Marvin L. Cohen, professor of physics at UC; his student 

Calvin S. Koonce; Hans P. R. Frederikse and William R. Hosler of the NBS Solid 

State Physics Section; and James F. Schooley, Ernest Ambler, Jack H. Coiwell, 

and Earl R. Pleiffer of the NBS Cryogenic Physics Section. 

R. A. Hem, J. W. Gibson, R. Mazeisky, R. C. Miller, and J. K. Huim, "Superconductivity in Germanium 

Telluride," Physical Review Letters 12 (1964): 320-322. 

561 
Earl R. Pfeiffer (left) and Calvin S. Koonce positioned a Dewar inside a magnet in 

preparation for an experiment to determine the superconducting transition temperature 

of strontium titanate as a function of conduction electron concentration. 

with which the Solid State Physics Section had a great deal of experience. An oxide 

semiconductor, it had the advantage that the number of carriers could be controlled 

by reduction, a relatively easy process of heating the material in either a vacuum oven or in the presence of hydrogen. Single crystals were available and remained intact 

during the processing. 

The material did indeed show superconductivity between 0.2 K and 0.3 K. Moreover, experiments on the Meissner effect (the property of a superconductor that causes 

it to exclude all magnetic fields from its interior) showed that the material was a 562 
type II or "hard" superconductor.29° Later, more extensive experiments were carried 

out. Samples covering carrier densities over a three-decade range showed that, as the 

carrier density was increased, the transition temperature rose, reached a maximum at a carrier density of 1021 per cubic centimeter, and then decreased again. The transition 

temperature covered was from 0.05 K to 0.30 K. Its behavior followed that predicted 

theoretically by Cohen and his student Calvin S. Koonce.29' Strontium titanate was the 

first known oxide superconducting semiconductor. But it was a single oxide. Had there 

been leisure to try multiple oxides, the high-transition-temperature superconductor 

revolution that occurred in the mid-eighties might have occurred some twenty years 

earlier. 

Electron Scattering From Nuclei 

The Bureau's linear electron accelerator was accepted from the contractor in October 

1965. One of the most natural things to do with the powerful 150 MeV accelerator 

was to study the atomic nucleus by electron scattering, and the time for such studies 

was propitious. In 1970 Samuel Penner, of the Linac Radiation Division, wrote: 

For many years it has been said that electron scattering is a powerful tool 

for the study of nuclear structure, because quantum electrodynamics is a very 

accurate theory and because the weakness of the electromagnetic interaction 

allows accurate theoretical interpretation of experimental results. In spite of 

these advantages, electron scattering has in the past contributed little to our 

understanding of the nucleus, in contrast to the vast amount of information 

obtained by reaction studies employing nuclear particles (protons, alphas, 

etc.). This situation has changed greatly in recent times, and electronscattering is at last proving its great value as an experimental technique for 

the study of nuclear properties. 

As a result of recent improvements in experimental techniques and apparatus we are now able to perform detailed and accurate experiments which 

yield valuable information on nuclear structure. 

The main reasons that we are now able to perform experiments of this 

quality are: (1) the development of the modern electron linear accelerator.. .; (2) better understanding of the principles of beam transport...; 

(3) improvements in the design and construction of magnetic spectrometers...; (4) the development of multi-channel "ladder" detector systems; 

(5) improved methods of beam current monitoring; and (6) the use of on-line 

computer systems.... 292 

2')O J. F. Schooley, W. R. Hosler, and M. L. Cohen, "Superconductivity in Semiconducting SrTiO3," 

Physical Review Letters 12 (1964): 474-475. 291 J. F. Schooley, W. R. Hosler, E. Ambler, J. H. Becker, M. L. Cohen, and C. S. Koonce, "Dependence 

of the Superconducting Transition Temperature on Carrier Concentration in Semiconducting SrTiO3," 

Physical Review Letters 14 (1965): 305-307; "Superconducting Transition Temperatures of Strontium 

Titanate Semiconductor," Technical News Bulletin 52 (1968): 48-49. 292 Samuel Penner, Experimental Techniques for Electron Scattering Investigations, Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) 

Technical Note 523; April 1970: 1-2. 

563 
Electron scattering can indeed provide basic information on nuclear structure. From 

elastic scattering studies comes information about nuclear sizes and shapes, and from 

inelastic scattering comes information about the energy level structure of nuclei, 

including the spin, parity, and transition strength of the excited nuclear states. But 

before the LINAC beam could be used for any of this work, it was necessary to build a spectrometer required to study atomic spectra and obtain information about atomic 

states. Such a spectrometer was built by Samuel Penner, John W. Lightbody, Jr., and 

Sherman P. Fivozinsky of the Linac Radiation Division. In a typical experiment, the 

beam from the LINAC was impinged on a target of the material to be studied, and the 

scattered electrons passed through a solid-angle-defining slit. They then passed through a momentum-selecting bending and focusing spectrometer magnet, and were finally 

detected by a focal-plane array of small, solid-state detectors. Operated under computer 

control, the final output of such measurements was a plot of the number of scattered 

electrons per unit of energy per incident electron vs. the energy of the scattered 

electron for a given scattering angle or momentum transfer. The energy resolution of 

the whole instrument was 0.08 percent—sufficient for high-quality work. 

564 

The NBS electron scattering spectrometer. 
In collaboration with guest workers from MIT, the University of Maryland, Catholic 

University, American University, the University of Massachusetts, Virginia Polytechnic 

Institute, and the Laboratoire de l'Accélerateure Linéaire, Orsay, France, quite a number of different nuclei .were studied. In all cases, the main object was to compare 

experimental results with the predictions of theory. The Bureau leaders in the studies 

were Lightbody, Penner, and Fivozinsky. Thus, in one of the first experiments, form 

factors for the excitation of low-lying states of 016 were determined.293 Another of the 

points of interest was the comparison of the giant resonance in C'2 with that in the 

isotope C'3, with the result that "the addition of a neutron to the even-even C'2 system 

results in a major restructuring of the giant resonance strength."294 Other studies in this 

fruitful area were concerned with the electron scattering sum rule for C'2 (1970); 

elastic scattering from Ti"6, Ti"6, Ti50, (1971); electron scattering for one- and twophonon vibrational states (1972); electron scattering from Zn isotopes (1972); quadrupole and hexadecapole deformation parameters of Sm'52 (and other heavy deformed 

nuclei) by electron scattering (1972); electron scattering studies of vibrator-spectrum 

nuclei: Cr52, Pd"6, Cd"4, Sn"6 (1972); electron scattering from low-lying states in C'4, 

(1972); low q2 electron scattering from the 15.109 MeV state of C'2 and conservedvector-current test (1973); and electron scattering from F'9 and Ca4° (1973). An 

outpouring of basic research in nuclear physics came from the new instrument. 

Making the Draft Lottery Impartial 

The first draft lottery since World War II was held in December 1969, and questions 

were raised about its impartiality, or randomness. To ensure that a second lottery, 

planned for July 1, 1970, would be impartial, the Selective Service System (SSS) 

asked the Bureau to provide it with sets of twenty-five "random calendars" and 

twenty-five random permutations of the numbers 1 to 365.295 These calendars and 

permutations were to be used to determine the priority order in which youths born on a given day in 1951 would be drafted. One of the random calendars would be used to 

determine the sequence in which dates would be entered into 365 red capsules, and one of the random permutations would determine the order in which numbers used to 

determine the priority, or "rank," were placed into 365 green capsules. A second 

permutation would determine the order in which the red and green capsules were 

293 C. Bergstrom, W. Bertozzi, S. Kowaiski, X. K. Maruyama. J. W. Lightbody, Jr., S. P. Fivozinsky, and 

S. Penner, "Electroexcitation of the Low-Lying States of Physical Review Letters 24 (1970): 152-155. 294 W. Lightbody, Jr., and S. Penner, "Electroexcitation of the C'2 Giant Resonance," Physical Review 

Letters 24 (1970): 274-276; J. C. Bergstrom, H. Crannell, F. J. Kline, J. T. O'Brien, J. W. Lightbody, Jr., 

and S. P. Fivozinsky, "Electroexcitation of the Giant Resonance of '3C, Physical Review C 4 (1971): 1514- 

1532. Giant resonances are excitations of the nucleus that occur with great strength in a narrow energy 

region. Usually studied by excitation with gamma radiation, they can also be studied by inelastic electron 

scattering. The nucleus can lose its excitation by emitting a gamma ray, or, in some cases, a particle. Three 

types of giant resonances are known: electric dipole, magnetic dipole, and electric quadrupole. 

295j R. Rosenblatt and J. J. Filliben, "Randomization and the Draft Lottery," Science 171 (1971): 306-308; 

"NBS Provides Random Tables for Use in Draft Lottery," Technical News Bulletin 54 (1970): 196-197. 

565 
loaded into two drums from which drawings would alternately be made. This procedure would give the order in which men, based on their birthdays, would be called up 

in the draft. No bias was to be allowed to enter the system. 

The mathematical problem was to generate fifty random permutations of the numbers I to 365, twenty-five to be used for calendars, and twenty-five to be used for 

ranking.296 These could have been generated on a computer, but there already existed 

thirty-eight tables of random permutation of numbers 1 to 500, and twenty tables for 

numbers 1 to 1000.297 Aside from saving work, use of these published tables had the 

added advantage of permitting the work to be reproduced. Cutting off the first tables at 

365 yielded thirty-eight tables. By cutting the second tables into one set for numbers 

I to 365, and a second set for numbers 501 to 865, forty permutations 1 to 365 were 

formed. This gave seventy-eight permutations of numbers 1 to 365.298 These had to be 

cut down to fifty tables. 

To do this, two sets of the seventy-eight permutation tables were prepared, one from 

which the calendars would come, and the other for the ranking permutation. Then 

numbers between 1 and 78 were selected by the throws of three dice, thrown by 

three members of an advisory panel for the project, and referenced to other existing 

permutation tables from Moses and Oakford ' s Tables of Random Permutations. These 

again were random permutations, but now of numbers from 1 to 78. The adopted 

protocol was that if the number was between 1 and 25, the priority permutation for that 

number would be chosen, and the calendar permutation discarded. For numbers from 

26 to 50, the opposite would be done. For numbers from 51 to 78, both calendar and 

priority permutations with those numbers would be discarded. In this way, twenty-five 

calendars and twenty-five priority permutations were chosen, each one sealed in an unmarked envelope, and delivered to the SSS, the Bureau's work having been accomplished. As near as mathematics could determine, everything was totally random and 

impartial. 

On June 29, two days before the actual drawing, an official lottery witness chose 

one of the sealed envelopes containing random calendars. He chose the one that 

contained calendar number 53, and the dates of the year were placed into 365 red 

capsules in the sequence of dates for this calendar. Similarly, one of the twenty-five 

rank, or priority, envelopes was chosen. It contained permutation number 43, and 

priorities I to 365 were placed into 365 green capsules in the order of permutation 

number 43. Finally, to complete the process of preparation for the drawing, another 

envelope from the twenty-four remaining "priority" envelopes was chosen. It contained 

permutation number 45, and both the calendar and priority capsules were placed in 

their respective drums in the order of this permutation. It was about as random a process as could be imagined. 

296 The random calendar is nothing but a random permutation with a date attached to each number in the 

permutation. Thus, the problems of producing a permutation or a calendar are the same. Lincoln E. Moses and Robert V. Oakford, Tables of Random Permutations (Stanford, California: Stanford 

University Press, 1963). 298 The reader may be interested to know that there are approximately 2.51 X 10m such sets. The Bureau used 

only seventy-eight of them. 

566 
On July 1, 1970, with dignitaries and the press present, the drawing took 

The calendar drum rotated for an hour, but the priority drum malfunctioned and rotated 

for only a half hour. Nevertheless, subsequent analysis showed that the mixing was successful. The first date chosen was number 259, or September 16, with a rank of 

139. It was looked upon as a successful job for all concerned. 

Research at the Reactor 

On December 7, 1967, at 3:55 in the afternoon, the Bureau's reactor, sporting its new acronym NBSR, achieved criticality, but was not ready for routine use. 

Staff of the Bureau's research reactor await celebration of the moment of criticality, which was achieved at 3:55 p.m. on December 7, 1967. Standing left to right in the foreground were the reactor's designers: Harry 

Landon, Carl Muehlhause, and Robert S. Carter. Seated in the foreground were Ray Meschke (at table) and 

Tawfik Raby (right). Standing left to right against the back wall were John Ring, James Knight, Nathan 

Bickford, and four Atomic Energy Commission officials. 

An apocryphal story relates that when it was announced that the procedure had been developed by the 

National Bureau of Standards, a large number of the press left. When asked why, one of the reporters said, 

"Well, if they're the guys who did this then nothing is going to go wrong, and that's not news." 

"NBS Reactor Achieves Criticality," Technical News Bulletin 52 (1968): 50. 

567 
Before such use, the reactor had to undergo extensive testing and mapping of its operating characteristics, the effect of loading and core configuration on the flux in the 

beam tubes had to be determined, and maps of the flux in the core had to be made so that fuel life could be estimated accurately. With these and other tests carried out, 

NBSR went into full 10 MW service in late summer, 

It had been planned that the NBS reactor would be a national facility, available to 

scientists from Government, industry and universities. In many cases, this would lead 

to cooperative work with scientists on the staff of the Bureau's Reactor Radiation 

Division. Thus the division had staff of two kinds: scientific researchers, and engineering and maintenance personnel. The former carried out their own research programs 

while the latter bore the division's responsibility to operate and maintain the reactor. 

The research staff actively sought out collaboration with research workers within and 

outside the Bureau, particularly those new to research on the reactor and not aware of 

its outside capabilities. These people often required instruction in working with neutron 

beams. Formal long-term interagency arrangements were sometimes made under which 

other-agency scientists were actually stationed at the reactor. One of the first such 

agreements was made in September 1970 with the local Naval Ordanance Laboratory 

(NOL), and later another was made with the Picatinny Arsenal when an army reactor 

in Watertown, Massachusetts, was shut down.302 Finally, workers from other Bureau 

divisions used the reactor directly rather than in collaboration with reactor personnel. 

Prominent among these last were scientists from the nuclear physics programs of the 

Center for Radiation Research, and others from the Analytical Chemistry Division 

who routinely irradiated samples for neutron activation analysis and who, in fact, had 

their own laboratory in the Reactor Building. In its first year of operation, a total of 

twenty-five workers from other Bureau divisions spent sixteen man-years working at 

the reactor, either alone or cooperatively with reactor scientists. From outside the 

Bureau, thirty-two scientists spent twelve man-years of effort at the NBSR. It was a pace that would increase rapidly in later years. 

By August 1970, experimental equipment at the reactor included four neutron and 

x-ray diffractometers, and a crystal time-of-flight instrument to be used in inelastic 

scattering studies. Under development was a triple-axis spectrometer for crystaldynamics studies. A high-volume cold-neutron source that used D20, heavy ice, was under development. It was completed in 1987 and used until 1994. A new cold source 

using liquid hydrogen was introduced in 1995: All the diffractometers were under the 

control of a single mini-computer, which operated on a time-shared basis. 

A great deal of crystal structure work was carried out by combining x-ray and 

neutron-diffraction techniques in situations where the neutron's ability to "see" light 

elements was essential to the structure determination. Thus, the crystal structure of a number of complex metal organics and simpler molecules like phosphonium bromide 

Reactor Radiation Division: Annual Progress Report for the Period Ending October 31, 1970, Robert S. 

Carter. ed., Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Technical Note 567; March 1971; "Research at NBS Reactor," Technical 

News Bulletin 54 (1970): 174-176. 302 "Cooperative Program Engages NBS Reactor," Technical News Bulletin 54 (1970): 157. 

568 
were worked out. Inelastic scattering was used in the study of the diffusion and modes 

of vibration of hydrogen in transition-metal hydrides, and in the study of the rotator 

phase in n-alkanes, specifically n-nonadecane (C19H40). 

Liquids and amorphous solids were not neglected. The structure factor—from which 

the radial distribution function could be calculated—in liquid neon was determined to 

compare with theoretical calculations. Similarly, liquid aluminum was studied to determine the pair distribution function, and a program to study the structure of glassy 

solids was initiated. A great advantage of neutrons is that the neutron possesses a magnetic moment and hence can be scattered by other magnetic moments, Thus, in 

collaboration with workers from NOL, studies were carried out on rare-earth iron 

garnets, transparent magnetic fluorides such as RbNiF3 and CsFeF3, and on cubic 

praseodymium compounds. 

As already mentioned, other divisions of the Bureau were also users of the reactor 

facilities. One of the major users was the Activation Analysis Section of the Analytical 

Chemistry Division. For this section, the reactor was simply a source with which to 

irradiate their samples with neutrons of the proper energy, thus converting impurities 

or minor elements in their samples to radioactive species, so that subsequent measurements of the radioactivity would permit the determination of their concentration. The 

method is exceedingly sensitive. And the reactor was not the only neutron source used. 

Others were the 3 MeV and 14 MeV neutron generators in the CRR, and the LINAC 

for photon activation analysis. 

Other nonreactor-division users were concerned with basic nuclear physics. Thus, 

there was a search for weak parity-violating interactions in the nucleon interactions—a 

program carried out in collaboration with scientists at Harvard University and 

Brookhaven National Laboratory. Other nuclear physics investigations concerned 

two-photon emission in (n,p) capture, decay characteristics of krypton isotopes, and 

nuclear orientation studies on Br82. 

Finally, other organizations turned to the reactor for more prosaic—but not unimportant—work. In July 1970 the Bureau entered into an agreement with the Post Office 

Department, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Federal Bureau of 

Investigation, and the Food and Drug Administration for the use of the reactor for 

neutron-activation analysis. The bulk of the work would be for forensic purposes. Each 

of the agencies was lavish in praising the NBS reactor facility and the generous and 

knowledgable assistance of the CRR staff.303 

Critical Phenomena 

In 1954, Melville Green, a young theorist working on the statistical mechanics of 

fluids, was hired by the Heat Division. In keeping with Astin's desire to emphasize 

theoretical work, the division in 1960 created a section primarily concerned with 

theory called Statistical Physics and appointed Green as its chief. One of Green's 

principal interests at the time was the generalization of kinetic theory to dense gases, 

i.e., gases at high temperature.304 303 Reactor Radiation Division: Annual Progress Report for the Period Ending October 31, 1970: 48-55. 

Interviews with Johanna M. H. L. Sengers and Jan V. Sengers. 

569 
Melville S. Green came to the Bureau 

in 1954 and from 1960 to 1968 was 

the first chief of the Heat Division's 

Statistical Physics Section. Phenomena at the critical point was the 

primary interest of this section. 

It was perhaps inevitable that any group concerned with phenomena—particularly in 

fluids—at extremes of temperature and pressure should become concerned with 

phenomena near and at the critical point, where properties change rapidly and anomalously. For Green and his section, phenomena at the critical point, or more briefly 

"critical phenomena," became the dominant interest. 

The early sixties was an advantageous time to become involved with critical 

phenomena. Both theoretical and experimental investigations were discovering new information and converging towards new concepts. The predictions of classical 

"mean-field" theories for fluids (Johannes van der Waals), magnetism (Pierre Weiss), 

and order-disorder in alloys (William Lawrence Bragg, Evan J. Williams), which had 

been developed in the early half of the 20th century, and had many features in common, were shown to be quantitatively incorrect near the critical points of all these 

different systems. These mean-field theories, for example, predicted finite values for 

the heat capacity at constant volume (fluids) or at constant field (magnetic materials). 

Experimentally, however, it was found in both these systems that the heat capacity 

shows a lambda-like divergence, as had already been observed in liquid helium at the 

superfluid transition. Such logarithmic divergences are of great interest to theorists and 

570 
would have led to excitement even without the rigorous solution by Lars Onsager in 

1942 of the Ising model in two dimensions, which showed such a logarithmic divergence for the critical-point heat capacity in magnetic materials.305 

Further, near a critical point, fluids and magnetic materials develop long-range 

fluctuations which lead to the phenomenon of critical opalescence, once studied by 

Einstein and more precisely described by Leonard S. Ornstein and Frits Zernike. Green 

was one of the first to warn that the classical Omstein-Zernike theory might be incorrect, and later experiments near the consolute (critical) point of partially miscible 

binary liquids proved him correct. 

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the field was the close analogy displayed by so many very dissimilar systems.306 The shape of the coexistence curve of a fluid, or of 

partially miscible binary liquids near a critical point is, for instance, very like that of 

the curve of spontaneous magnetization of an uniaxial magnetic substance near its 

Curie point. Both of these shapes could be expressed by so-called power laws, connecting the difference of coexisting densities of fluids, coexisting compositions in 

binary liquids, and magnetization in magnetic materials, with a power of the temperature difference from the critical point. The exponent turned out to be the same in all 

these cases, but it did not have the mean-field value. Rather, the experimental values 

were reasonably close to those calculated for the three-dimensional Ising model at that 

time. 

Analogous behavior was observed for other properties, such as compressibility in the 

fluid and susceptibility in the magnet. The power law, or critical exponent for this 

property, is different from that for heat capacity, but it is the same in different systems. 

Although in principle many different critical exponents could be defined, they are not 

all independent. They have been shown to obey equalities called scaling laws, so that 

only two of them are independent. 

With the rapid growth of theoretical understanding of critical phenomena and a flood 

of new experiments throughout the world producing new results, it was a time of 

creative excitement in the Statistical Physics Section similar to that felt in the Free 

Radicals Program. It was spurred by Green, and spilled over to other sections of the 

Heat Division, such as the Equation of State Section under Joseph Hilsenrath, and to 

other divisions, such as the Polymers Division, where the study of critical opalescence 

in polystyrene-cyclohexane solutions was begun.307 

Green saw that this ferment, both within and outside the Bureau, made the time auspicious for a conference on critical phenomena, particularly since much of the work in 

the area was carried out by workers in different fields who normally did not interact. 

305 Melville S. Green, "Introduction" in Critical Phenomena: Proceedings of a Conference Held in 

Washington, D.C., April 1965, M. S. Green and J. V. Sengers, eds. Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Miscellaneous 

Publication 273; December 1, 1966: ix-xi. 306 V. Sengers and J. M. H. Levelt Sengers, "The Critical Region," Chemical and Engineering News 46, 

(June 10, l968):104-1l8. 307 D. Mcintyre, A. Wims, and M. S. Green, "Critical Opalescence of Polystyrene Solutions," Journal of 

Chemical Physics 37 (1962): 3019-3021. 

571 
Green organized and held the Conference on Phenomena in the Neighborhood of 

Critical Points at the Bureau from April 5 to April 8, 1965.308 Attended by about 170 

scientists, including George E. Uhienbeck, previous president of the American Physical 

Society, and Nobel laureates Peter J. Debye and Chen N. Yang, the conference had 

sessions on equilibrium critical phenomena in fluids, critical phenomena in ferromagnets and antiferromagnets, logarithmic singularities, elastic and inelastic scattering, 

and transport and relaxation phenomena. An extra session on the last day of the 

conference discussed new ideas stimulated by the deliberations. It is generally recognized that this event—the first conference on critical phenomena—was important in 

developing this field of basic science. It forcefully impressed the idea of critical-point 

universality on the international audience. And it gave a boost to this field which, 

in 1982, culminated in the Nobel Prize for Kenneth Wilson of Cornell University. In 

addition, it spurred new directions for study, such as wetting and interfaces, liquidcrystal phase transitions, fractals, turbulence, and chaos. 

After the conference, Jan V. Sengers, co-editor of the conference proceedings and a member of Green's section, initiated his work on aspects of critical opalescence, and 

the dynamics of critical behavior, with members of the Polymers Division, work which 

continued after he left NBS to join the University of Maryland in 1968. His wife, 

Johanna (Anneke) Levelt Sengers, a member of the Equation of State Section but, in 

her own words "drawn into Green's orbit," published a seminal paper with guest scientist Matilde Vicentini-Missoni and Green on the form of the nonclassical scaling laws 

for the behavior of fluids near critical points.309 Raymond Mountain, in Green's sec- tion, wrote a paper that is now a classic on the spectrum of scattered light near the 

fluid critical point.310 

In 1968, Green left the Bureau for a post at Temple University. The legacy he left, 

however, lasts to this day. In the Heat Division practical applications of the theory of 

critical phenomena to fluids of industrial importance, such as steam, ethylene, and carbon dioxide, contributed to making the Bureau a world-renowned center of expertise on new applications such as phase separation, chemistry and chromatography in fluid 

mixtures. This practical expertise coexisted with fundamental such as the proof that fluid critical exponents truly have Ising values, and that the nonclassical 

critical exponent for the viscosity is really the same in fluids and fluid mixtures.312 

Later work (late eighties and early nineties) in the Polymers Division on the dynamics 

of phase transitions in polymer mixtures is also a legacy of the work begun by Green. 

308 M. S. Green and J. V. Sengers, Critical Phenomena. 

M. S. Green, M. Vicentini-Missoni, and J. M. H. Levelt Sengers, "Scaling-Law Equation of State for 

Gases in the Critical Region," Physical Review Letters 18 (1967): 1113-1117; M. Vicentini-Missoni, J. M. H. 

Levelt Sengers, and M. S. Green, "Scaling Analysis of Thermodynamic Properties in the Critical Region of 

Fluids," Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 73A (1969): 563-583. 

3'°R. D. Mountain, "Spectral Distribution of Scattered Light in a Simple Fluid," Reviews of Modern Physics 

38 (1966): 205-2 14. R. Hocken and M. R. Moldover, "Ising Critical Exponents in Real Fluids: An Experiment," Physical 

Review Letters 37 (1976): 29-32; S. C. Greet, "Coexistence Curves at Liquid-Liquid Critical Points: Ising 

Exponents and Extended Scaling," Physical Review A 14 (1976): 1770-1780. 312 R. F. Berg and M. R. Moldover, "Critical Exponent for Viscosity," Physical Review A 42 (1990): 7 183- 7 186. 572 
Fracture Mechanics Comes to the Bureau 

In December 1963 Sheldon M. Wiederhorn, a chemical engineer trained at Columbia 

and the University of Illinois, and who had then studied ceramics at DuPont, joined 

the Inorganic Solids Division. John J. Gilman had recently shown how the study of 

the fracture of solids could be used to determine their surface energy,313 and what 

happened next is best told in Wiederhorn's own words: 

Being newly employed at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), I was searching for an experiment on the mechanical behavior of solids that would 

fit into a program on ceramic science... [Gilman's] method of characterizing 

fracture behavior of single crystals appealed to me, as it was new and dealt 

with a fundamental property of materials. Therefore, I designed equipment to 

duplicate Gilman's experimental technique. The equipment was built but 

never used, for while awaiting its construction, I had the idea that launched 

me into my investigations on the fracture of glass. 

I realized that glass fracture could be studied if a method were devised to 

guide a crack along the midplane of a glass plate, so that double cantilever 

beam specimens of the type used by Gilman could be made. .. . In my 

first experiment I scratched the midplane of a microscope slide with a diamond scribe and found to my delight that the scratch could be used both to 

introduce a crack and to guide it once introduced. Initial experiments on precracked microscope slides indicated that, at about one-half the load for 

immediate failure, cracks in glass moved in a slow and controllable manner. 

This observation was in apparent contradiction to the Griffith criterion for 

fracture, which predicted a critical stress for spontaneous failure.3'4 

Wiederhorn did not yet know that delayed failure in glass, a portion of which he had 

just observed and which he would elucidate thoroughly, was well recognized and 

called "static fatigue." 

Thus began a series of experiments that was to provide new insight into the fracture 

of glass and other brittle materials. Using microscope slides as specimens, and readily 

available laboratory equipment, he studied the motion of cracks as a function of load. 

Having learned from papers by Richard J. Charles and by William B. Hillig315 that the 

fracture of glass was a kinetic process controlled by water in the atmosphere, he did a series of experiments at different atmospheric humidities, measuring the velocity of 

313 J. J. Oilman, "Direct Measurements of Surface Energies of Crystals," Journal of Applied Physics 31 (1960): 2208-2218. 

"This Week's Citation Classic," Current Contents—Engineering, Technology, and Applied Sciences 19 (January 4, 1988): 14. R. J. Charles, "A Review of Glass Strength" in Progress in Ceran,ic Science, vol. 1, J. E. Burke, ed. 

(New York: Pergamon Press, 1961): 1-38; W. B. Hillig, "Sources of Weakness and the Ultimate Strength 

of Brittle Amorphous Solids" in Modern Aspects of the Vitreous State, vol. 2, J. D. MacKenzie, ed. 

(Washington, D.C.: Butterworth, 1962): 152-198. 

573 
Sheldon M. Wiederhorn observed the motion of a crack in a soda-lime glass with the 

aid of a traveling microscope. The specimen, a microscope slide, could be seen within 

the environmental chamber with two hooks attached to one end. The hooks, in turn, 

were attached to the jig of a testing machine that applied a stress to the sample. At the 

same time, a continuous stream of the desired atmosphere entered the test chamber by 

way of the white tubing in the background. 

cracks as a function of load. The results were startling. The behavior showed three 

distinct regions. At low loads the velocity increased exponentially with the load. This was followed by a region in which the velocity was independent of the load, and 

finally a third region where the crack grew essentially catastrophically. This type of 

behavior was the same at all humidities, but the effect of water vapor was dramatic, 

with the velocity increasing substantially as the atmospheric moisture content was 

increased. 

574 
The crack growth behavior had a ready explanation in terms of the reaction of glass 

with water. In the low-load region, the rate-limiting step is the reaction of glass with 

water at the crack tip. In region II, the constant-velocity region, the rate of crack 

advance is limited by the rate of transport of water to the crack tip, and finally, in the 

region where the behavior is independent of water, the intrinsic breaking strength of 

the glass is reached. 

There were many ways to proceed from these results, for a whole new area of 

fracture science had been opened. First was the relatively minor matter—at least in this 

case—of using the overall load as the crack extension force. Modern fracture mechanics had shown that crack-tip stress was controlled by the so-called stress intensity factor, which, aside from geometric factors pertaining to the actual experimental situation, 

is the macroscopic stress multiplied by the square root of the crack length. In all later 

publications this factor was used in place of the load, and the work joined the 

mainstream of modern fracture mechanics. Second, the technique could be used to 

study other materials, and other vapors besides water. Sapphire was one of the first 

additional materials studied, and its behavior was rather similar to glass.316 There was also the question of surface energies, the original impetus for the work. Such studies 

were carried out in sapphire, in various kinds of glasses, and in the semi-brittle material, solid sodium chloride. 

There were even highly practical applications in proof-testing of brittle solids. 

Suppose that a structural part made of such a brittle material is to be tested. Generally, 

failure will arise from the presence of minute surface cracks. If the size of these were 

known, then the stress intensity factor at the service stress could be calculated, and, 

with crack-velocity data such as Wiederhorn's, the service life could be inferred. The 

size of these minute flaws is generally unknown, but an upper limit on the size can be 

determined by simply, but quickly, loading the item to a load well above the service 

load. If the item does not break, then the critical stress intensity factor, which is the 

stress intensity factor for catastrophic fracture, has not been exceeded, and from this 

the maximum size of the flaw can be calculated. Then, using the crack velocity data, 

the minimum service life can be determined. Other more sophisticated schemes can be 

developed. 317 This work formed the first concerted program in fracture mechanics at the Bureau. 

It attracted considerable attention in the technical community, and both young and experienced scientists were attracted to joining it. The study of fracture in ceramic materials has been continuously and productively pursued at the Bureau since Wiederhorn's 

early work, much of it supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). Eventually a program in fracture that included theorists and work on the difficult problems of metal 

fracture was initiated, but it is fair to say that, at the Bureau, the genesis of fracture 

mechanics research was with Wiederhorn's work on the fracture of glass. 

316 M. Wiederhom, "Fracture of Ceramics" in Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Ceramics: Proceedings of a Symposium Held at Gaithersburg, Maryland, April 1-2, 1968, J. B. Wachtman, Jr., ed., Nati. Bur. 

Stand. (U.S.) Special Publication 303; May 1969: 2 17-241. 317 A. 0. Evans and S. M. Wiederhom, "Proof Testing of Ceramic Materials—an Analytical Basis for Failure 

Prediction," International Journal of Fracture 10 (1974): 379-392. 

575 
The Investigation of the Point Pleasant Bridge Collapse 

Like the Bureau's investigation of the failure of cargo ships during World War II, 

the investigation of another dramatic structural failure was carried Out by the Metallurgy 

On the western boundary of West Virginia, at the town of Point Pleasant, U.S. Highway 35 was carried over the Ohio river by a suspension bridge named the Point 

Pleasant bridge, but more often called the "Silver Bridge" because it was painted with 

aluminum paint. On December 15, 1967, while the bridge was crowded with afternoon 

rush-hour traffic, it suddenly collapsed, spilling people and vehicles into the river and 

onto its banks. Forty-six persons lost their lives. The newly-formed National 

Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) began an investigation that was to proceed for 

three years, although the cause of the collapse was known much earlier.319 

The Point Pleasant Bridge carried U.S. Highway 35 over the Ohio River from Point Pleasant, West Virginia, 

into Ohio before the bridge collapsed on December 15, 1967. (Courtesy of the West Virginia Department of 

Highways) 

John A. Bennett, "Metallurgical Examination and Mechanical Tests of Material From the Point Pleasant, 

W. Va. Bridge, Part I," NBS Report 9981, February 14, 1969; J. A. Bennett and H. Mindlin, "Metallurgical 

Aspects of the Failure of the Point Pleasant Bridge," Journal of Testing and Evaluation 1 (1973): 152-16 1. National Transportation Safety Board, "Collapse of U.S. 35 Highway Bridge, Point Pleasant, West Virginia, December 15, 1967," NTSB SS-H-2, October 1968. 

576 
Although the bridge was a suspension bridge, its design was unusual in three ways. 

First, unlike more common suspension bridges in which the suspension members are large cables composed of drawn steel wires, in the Point Pleasant bridge the suspending members were two chains made of pairs of eyebars linked together—completely 

analogous to a bicycle chain except that the links in the chain were 55 feet long, with 

shanks 12 inches wide and 2 inches thick, and the eyes in the eyebars were 11.5 inches 

in diameter. Second, the chains were the top members of a stiffening truss in parts of 

the main and side spans. Third, the steel used for the eyebars was a relatively new material in the late twenties when the bridge was built. It was a medium carbon steel 

in the water-quenched and tempered condition. This provided a material of high yield 

strength, which lowered the construction cost. 

Unfortunately, while behaving normally in an ordinary tensile test, the new steel had a low resistance to crack propagation. This was not recognized at the time the bridge was built. In January 1968, the Bureau of Public Roads of the Federal Highway 

Administration of the Department of Transportation, which was conducting the investigation with the NTSB, requested that the Bureau send a representative to examine the 

wreckage resulting from the collapse.320 Hence, John A. Bennett of the Metallurgy 

Division, a scientist with many years experience in failure analysis, visited the site on January 22 and 23, 1968. 

Upon returning, in a state of controlled excitement he reported his findings to the 

division chief, Elio Passaglia, and his assistant, Harry C. Burnett. He showed photographs of the fracture through one of the eyebars (serial number 330). On one side of 

the eye, the fracture was perfectly flat and radial, while on the other side there was 

considerable plastic deformation and tearing. In his report of the examination on January 26, 1968, he wrote: 

I observed only one fracture that I consider to be of primary importance in 

connection with the collapse of the bridge; that is the fracture through the 

eye of the eyebar which I believe bears the serial number 330. . . . I believe 

that this configuration of the fracture could have been produced only by a progressive cracking of the first side by loads whose maximum value did not 

cause appreciable plastic deformation of the eye. . . . When this first fracture 

was completed, the other side was subjected to an excessive load and failed 

rapidly, but with a fairly ductile tearing fracture. . . . I have been unable to 

conceive of any way in which this fracture could have occurred after any 

other failure in the eyebar chain. I believe, therefore, that it is almost unquestionably the primary fracture in the collapse.32' 

Bennett's deduction was to prove completely correct, but it took a great deal of laboratory work before the deduction could be proved. While a complete, if not exhaustive, metallurgical examination was carried out,322 the most crucial examinations were 

320 Bennett, "Metallurgical Examination": 1. Ibid. 322 A. Bennett and M. R. Meyerson, "Metallurgical Examination and Mechanical Tests of Material from 

the Point Pleasant, W.Va. Bridge, Part 2," NBS Report 9981, February 14, 1969. 

577 
those having to do with the nature of the fracture. Briefly, the fracture surfaces were examined and photographed. The markings indicated that the fracture had started at the 

surface of the eye hole at a point 0.1 inch from the face of the eye. At this point there was clear-cut evidence of a pre-existing crack which formed the site for the initiation 

of a crack that proceeded catastrophically from this point across the side of the bar. 

578 

Figure I: Inboard piece of the broken eye from the Point Pleasant Bridge. The north 

face is shown, and the lower side of the eye is at right. 

Figure 2: Outboard piece of the broken eye, as received, oriented as in figure 1. 
The pre-existing crack was clam shell in shape, and only 0.12 inches deep and 0.28 

inches long. Finding this crucial, pre-existing crack prompted an extensive search for 

other cracks. Many were found, all initiating in areas where there was heavy corrosion, 

suggesting that the mechanism of cracking was stress corrosion. 

One of the crucial questions was whether the size of the pre-existing crack was sufficient to cause a brittle fracture. The question could only be answered by fracture 

mechanics data, and extensive investigations at Battelle Memorial Institute (one of 

several participants in the investigation), including one full-scale test on an eyebar, led 

to the conclusion that it was. Thus, the whole failure sequence likely started at this 

small, pre-existing crack. 

The final conclusion was that a combination of factors was responsible for the 

collapse. These were: 

I. The high hardness of the steel made it susceptible to stress corrosion 

cracking. 

2. The close spacing of components in the eye joint made painting impossible, 

leading to a site where corrosion could take place. 

3. The high design load in the eyebar chain resulted in a local stress at the 

inside of the eye greater than the yield strength of the new steel. 

4. The low fracture toughness of the steel caused it to fail catastrophically from a strategically located crack only 0.12 inches deep. 

The absence of any one of these would have prevented failure. 

The collapse of the Point Pleasant Bridge had important repercussions. It was a case 

where, using the basic knowledge of materials available at the time of construction, 

everything was done correctly. But it was not recognized that such a steel could show 

stress corrosion, and fracture mechanics had not progressed to the point where the 

disastrous consequences of a 'I, inch crack could be foreseen. It was a strong 

argument for basic research in materials science and engineering, and it provided 

strong support for the effectiveness of linear elastic fracture mechanics, which at that 

time was not as widely accepted as it is now. There were two important repercussions 

resulting from the collapse. The first was the closing and subsequent removal of a bridge at St. Marys, West Virginia, which was identical to the Silver Bridge. The 

second repercussion was that the FHWA undertook an investigation of cracks in all 

highway bridges. The bridges were not in good shape. And partly as a result of this 

investigation, and partly to reaffirm an activity it had carried out for most of its 

history, in 1968 the Metallurgy Division announced a program of service to Government agencies entitled Analysis of Material and Structural Failures. 

579 
Atomic Weights and Isotopic Abundances 

Atomic weights and isotopic abundances are crucially important in many realms 

of science.323 In fundamental-constant work, accurate values are essential to the 

determination of Avogadro's number, the Faraday, and the gas constant R. Isotopic 

abundances for lead, argon, strontium, potassium, and a number of other elements are used in geochronology, and a comparison of terrestrial isotopic abundances with those 

in meteorite material give important clues to the formation of elements in cosmology. 

A particularly apt illustration, albeit now of limited use, was the relation between the 

atomic weight of silver, the Faraday, and the definition of the old international ampere, now superseded by the absolute ampere. In modem analytical chemistry, the technique 

of "isotope dilution mass spectrometry" (IDMS) is becoming a reference method for 

the determination of the major component in a mixture.324 

With modem mass spectrometers, the best way of determining the atomic weight of 

multi-isotope elements is via the relative abundance of its isotopes, and, of course, 

their atomic masses. Then the atomic weight of the element is obtained as a simple 

average, which can be scaled to the atomic mass of carbon-l2, taken as 12 units. Thus 

in principle the method is very simple. All that is necessary is to place the element in a mass spectrometer and determine both the masses and the relative abundances of the 

isotopes. In practice, however, the situation is not that simple. In order for the measurement to be made, the element must be vaporized, ionized, and the atoms counted or otherwise detected after passing through the apparatus. Now the various isotopes of 

the element do not behave the same way in this process. They will not necessarily 

evaporate, ionize, or be detected with equal efficiency. In the term of the trade, a "bias" or systematic error can exist. 

A legacy of the Manhattan Project, however, provided a means of handling this 

problem. Nearly pure isotopes of many elements were produced and were made readily 

available in the project. From these nearly pure isotopes, synthetic mixtures of known 

composition could be made, and measuring these with the mass spectrometer system 

could provide a measure of the bias inherent in the measurement process described 

above. The synthetic mixture provided a means of calibrating the system and procedure. The isotopic abundances (generally expressed as ratios) produced by this laborious but accurate method are called "absolute isotopic abundances." The. resulting 

atomic weights are the most accurate available. It is clear, of course, that samples must 

come from many different locations in order to check on the geographic variability, 

and to yield atomic weights that are indeed representative of terrestrial material. 

With this capability, in the early sixties the Bureau began a long-term program 

to determine the atomic weights of various elements by solid-source mass spectrometry. As might be expected, the first element studied was silver. The value for the 

323 R. Dc Laeter, P. De Bièvre, and H. S. Peiser, "Isotope Mass Spectrometry in Metrology," Mass Spectrornetry Reviews 11(1992): 193-245. P. Dc Bièvre, J. R. Dc Laeter, H. S. Peiser, and W. P. Reed, "Reference Materials by Isotope Ratio Mass 

Spectrometry," Mass Spectrometry Reviews 12 (1993): 143-172. 

580 
Mass spectrometer used for the determination of the atomic weights of silver, chlorine, bromine, and copper. 

Part of the large magnet used for deflection of the beam can be seen behind the top of the metallic Dewar at left. 

abundance ratio was 1.07547 ± 0.0013 for material from a number of different 

sources. However, material from Cobalt, Ontario, showed a statistically significant 

variation which later work did not substantiate.325 The atomic weight was determined 

to be 107.8685 ± 0.0013 on the C'2 = 12 scale. 

With this work began a steady stream of other determinations. By 1982, values for 

twelve elements had been determined.326 The NBS values were adopted (sometimes 

W. R. Shields, D. N. Craig, and V. H. Dibeler, "Absolute Isotopic Abundance Ratio and the Atomic 

Weight of Silver," Journal of the American Chemical Society 82 (1960): 5033-5036. W. R. Shields, E. L. 

Gamer, and V. I-I. Dibeler, "Absolute Isotopic Abundance of Terrestrial Silver," Journal of Research of the 

National Bureau of Standards 66A (1962): 1-3. 326 A core group of NBS scientists, which included William R. Shields, Thomas J. Murphy, Ernest L. Garner, 

Vernon H. Dibeler, Edward Cantazaro and, later, John W. Gramlich, Paul J. Paulsen, 1. Lynus Barnes, 

Larry J. Moore, and Lura P. Dunstan, made determinations for silver, chlorine, copper, bromine, chromium, 

magnesium, lead, rubidium, rhenium, potassium, thallium, and strontium. 

581 
with minor revision) by the Commission on Atomic Weights and Isotopic Abundances, a standing committee of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. 

The Bureau not only carried out the determinations, but it sold samples of some of 

the materials as SRMs. In 1965 it offered chlorine (as sodium chloride), copper metal, 

bromine (as sodium bromide), and silver (as silver nitrate). By 1970 it offered nine 

elements in twelve different SRMs, and by 1988 the numbers had increased to fifteen 

elements in twenty SRMs. Up to 1987, the Bureau sold certified isotopic-abundance 

SRMs for uranium, both depleted in U235 and enriched up to 93 percent U235. In that 

year the Brunswick Laboratory of the Department of Energy began issuing Certified 

Reference Materials. These include the plutonium and uranium materials previously 

issued by the Bureau. 

A Program on Crystal Growth 

In 1962, two years before the formation of the Institutes, the Bureau had quite a number of activities, both theoretical and experimental, on the growth and characterization of crystals. The work ranged from the crystal growth of organics (primarily polymers), to inorganic materials and metals. Growth was studied, as appropriate to the 

system, from solution, from the vapor, and from the melt. Characterization of crystals, or more broadly, materials, was concerned with the study of crystal defects—dislocations, point defects, stacking faults—and their effect on bulk properties. And purification by crystallization was actively pursued. This work, however, was not considered 

to be a program. Rather it was carried out by individual scientists furthering the 

mission of their individual organizational units. It was not an unproductive mode of 

operation. 

Aware of the crucial importance of certain highly perfect crystals—and indeed all 

advanced materials—to military technology, Charles F. Yost, assistant director of 

materials science for the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the DOD, 

worked out with Irl C. Schoonover, then Bureau deputy director, "a program for 

accelerated research in those areas of crystal research that [are] judged to be of critical 

importance to the entire field of materials research." A joint NBS/ARPA program on 

crystal growth and characterization was born, with ARPA funds providing for the 

expansion of the Bureau's existing effort.327 

While at first the program had only two categories of work—crystal growth and 

crystal characterization—it was expected that the work would develop "theory on the 

mechanism of crystal growth, experimental techniques for growth and study of crystals, 

interpretive analysis of observations on crystals examined by diverse methods, and data 

from the measurement of defect-sensitive properties of crystals."328 H. Steffen Peiser 

was the program coordinator, whose main function—at least in the early days—was to 

327 Research on Crystal Growth and Defect Characterization at the National Bureau of Standards During the 

Period July to December, 1962, H. Steffen Peiser, ed., NatI. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Technical Note 174; March 

15, 1963. Similar Technical Notes were issued semi-annually until 1967. 328 Ibid., I. 

582 
Avery Horton of NBS water-polished a slice from a crystal of ammonium dihydrogen 

phosphate grown from solution in the NBS-ARPA crystal program. Strains and dislocations introduced into the crystal by abrasive polishing methods were avoided by 

this technique. After polishing, the crystal was examined by x-ray topography. These 

crystals were used to determine the inherent imperfections caused by growing 

variables. 

imbue the program participants with the sense of belonging to a unified activity, for 

in the early days the work was no more than a continuation of what they had been 

doing. But the extra funds provided by ARPA were very welcome and soon led to an expansion of the effort. 

583 
John B. Wachtman, Jr. (left), and Tomas Fridinger (center) made flexural measurements of rutile crystals at NBS. The specimen was held at the desired temperature (20°C to 600 °C) in the furnace (right) and was 

oscillated at particular frequencies. The crystal resonated and any changes in the physical properties of the 

crystal were detected electronically and recorded. From these data, values for such data as internal friction were calculated. 

The effort was not small. In July 1962 there were twenty-one projects in crystal 

growth and twenty-five in crystal characterization, with sixty-one scientists participating.329 By December 1964, the program had swelled to twenty-five projects in crystal 

growth, twenty-seven in defect characterization, twenty-three in physical properties of 

crystalline materials, and sixteen in crystal chemistry. By then there were 181 participants—not all full-time—from the Washington Laboratories, and sixteen from Boulder, 

mostly from the Cryogenics Division. 

With such a massive effort, we can give only a fleeting glimpse of the investigations, and the glimpse is as of mid-1964.33° Thus, in crystal growth there were projects 

on the growth of dislocation-free metal crystals from the melt; on the kinetics of 

growth from the melt of metal crystals; on the theory of dendritic crystallization, which 

329 Ibid., ii, 28-31. 330 Research on Crystal Growth and Characterization at the National Bureau of Standards January to June 

1964, Howard F. McMurdie, ed., Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Technical Note 251: October 19, 1964. 

584 
led to powerful work on morphological stability; field emission studies of crystallization; crystal growth by electrodeposition; the growth of large and highly perfect ammonium dihydrogen phosphate crystals from solution; spherulite growth from relatively 

pure systems; the crystallization of polypropylene from solution, which led to crystals 

whose habit can be described as a loosely woven place mat; and theoretical studies of 

whisker growth. 

Nearly perfect single crystals of ammonium dihydrogen phosphate were grown from 

solution in a crystal growing bath. The zippered insulation jacket was removed only 

during inspection periods. The temperature-control mechanisms (background) and a mixing device (upper right) provided uniform temperature and concentration throughout the solution. 

585 
In the study of defects in metal crystals, dislocations and stacking faults received 

considerable attention. The high-temperature motion of dislocations in aluminum oxide 

was studied in the electron microscope using a special high-temperature stage. The 

fundamental electrical properties of commercially important semiconductor crystals 

were studied with very high precision, and standard measurement methods proposed. 

The effect of point defects on the dynamic properties of crystals was a continuing 

project. And the characterization of crystals by x-ray diffraction topography would 

eventually lead to a re-determination of Avogadro's constant. 

In the broad category of physical properties of crystalline materials, which appears 

to include everything about all solids other than glasses, there were a number of 

solid-state studies of electronic properties, electron spin resonance and nuclear magnetic resonance studies, soft x-ray studies, and optical properties of some specialized 

compounds. Another broad field, crystal chemistry, was represented by studies of polymorphism in bismuth trioxide and other systems, the crystal chemistry of mineralized 

tissue (of great interest to the dental researchers), the radial distribution in glasses, and 

computer models for amorphous and crystalline phases in simple substances. 

This broad and diverse program continued until 1966. At that time ARPA's interest 

began to change. Feeling it had sufficiently stimulated crystal growth research at the 

Bureau and elsewhere, it became more concerned with high-temperature and laser 

materials, and its support dropped accordingly. But much of the crystal growth and 

characterization research continued, with direct support by the Bureau and a few other 

agencies. 

Silicon Resistivity 

In 1960, at the request of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) 

Committee F-i on Materials for Electron Devices and Microelectronics, the then 

Instrumentation Division formed a program to investigate the problems associated with 

measurements on silicon wafers to be used in the manufacture of solid-state electronic 

components.33' Supported at various times by ARPA, the United States Air Force 

Cambridge Laboratories, and NASA's Electronic Research Center, and with assistance 

(through ASTM) by the semiconductor industry, this program was to be technically 

fruitful, and in many ways it was a prototype for the interaction of the Bureau with 

other Government agencies and industry. 

The most important of the measurements made on silicon wafers is room-temperature resistivity.332 The reason this property is so important is that it is a measure of the 

impurity concentration, and this parameter is in turn the most important consideration 

In 1966 the name of the division was changed to Electronic Instrumentation, and Myron G. Domsitz 

replaced G. Franklin Montgomery as division chief. In 1969, the name and emphasis were changed to Electronic Technology Division. Domsitz remained chief. 

.U2 Murray Bullis, Measurement Methods for the Semiconductor Device Industry—A Summary of NBS 

Activity, Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Technical Note 511; December 1969; "Improved Semiconductor Resistivity 

Measurements," Technical News Bulletin 54 (1970): 198-200. 

586 
in device design. There were basically two methods in use for the measurement of 

resistivity: a two-probe method, deemed the more accurate but requiring more work; 

and a four-probe method which is much easier to carry out. For both methods, the 

resistivity is calculated from the voltage developed along the path of a known current 

through the specimen, and the geometry of the specimen. In the two-probe method, a rectangular parallelepiped is cut from the silicon wafer or boule. After polishing, the 

two ends of the specimen are coated with metal, nmking them equipotential surfaces, 

and current is passed from one of these surfaces to the other. Then, on the reasonable 

assumption that the current density is uniform across all intermediate planes, the 

resistivity is easily calculated from the dimensions of the specimen and the voltage 

developed across two planes parallel to the end surfaces, and separated by a known 

distance. The method is in principle exact and hence yields an accurate measurement, 

but suffers because the preparation of the rectangular bars is a long and tedious task. It 

is not useful for routine measurements. 

The four-probe method is quite different. In it, four contact points, arranged in a straight line and with accurately known spacing, are pressed onto the silicon surface, 

and a known current is passed between the exterior probes. Voltage is measured between the two interior probes. No special cutting of a specimen is necessary, only the 

preparation of a polished surface. The problem here is to know the current distribution. 

The solution for a semi-infinite space is well known and results in a particularly simple 

formula for the resistivity. For finite-size circular specimens, correction factors to this 

formula to account for finite diameter and thickness and the location of the probe with 

respect to the center of the specimen had to be developed. The problem was solved, 

but not in closed form, so that tables had to be published.333 Attesting to the interest 

in the topic, more than 1500 copies of the report were requested by industry. Also 

calculated were four-probe correction factors for the use of the four-probe method on rectangular bars.334 The calculation required machine computation, but it led the way to a direct comparison between two- and four-probe methods on the same specimen. 

Besides these results, a number of other factors needed investigation. These were the probe force, probe material, surface preparation, and probe wander—i.e., movement of the probe points from their expected positions. And, of course, the effect of 

temperature had to be considered. It was not trivial, for experiments showed that at 

room temperature, the temperature coefficient was about 1 percent per Celsius degree. 

Eventually, an electrical measuring circuit of proper input impedance and good 

accuracy was developed. 

Lydon J. Swartzendruber, Correction Factor Tables for Four-Point Probe Resistivity Measurements on Thin, Circular Semiconductor Samples, Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Technical Note 199; April 1964. 

Lydon J. Swarizendruber, Calculations for Comparing Two-Point and Four-Point Probe Resistivity 

Measurements on Rectangular Bar Shaped Semiconductor Samples, Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Technical Note 

241; June I, 1964. 

587 
While a standard for publication by ASTM was in preparation, several round-robin 

tests on the new techniques were run. Experienced laboratories achieved a standard 

deviation of somewhat less than 1 percent, five times better than was achieved with a 1964 standard, and sufficiently good for transactions at the buyer-seller material 

interface. Inexperienced laboratories, however, had considerable difficulty, caused 

primarily by unsatisfactory electrical measuring equipment. 

One part of the planned program did not come to pass. It had been planned from the 

beginning that the Bureau would offer silicon SRMs certified for resistivity to be used. 

in calibrating probes. However, a study showed that the available material was not 

sufficiently uniform "to provide the accuracy and reproducibility required by indusBut the whole project was a fine example of cooperation between the Federal 

Government, in the form of the Bureau and interested other agencies, and the private 

sector in the form of producers and users of circuit-grade silicon, and a voluntary 

standards organization. By this cooperation, and largely because of the Bureau's work, an important industrial measurement in the Nation's National Measurement System had 

been substantially improved. 

Evaluating Nuclear Radiation Detectors 

While work was going on to develop new measurement methods for the resistivity 

of silicon, the Electronic Technology Division, with support from the Division of 

Biology and Medicine of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), entered into a new program on the evaluation of semiconductor detectors for gamma radiation.336 The 

problem was that while some detectors worked well, others, ostensibly the same, were unsatisfactory. And the only way to determine if a sample of starting material had the 

properties to yield a good detector was by manufacturing a detector and trying it out. 

Because of the manner of fabrication, this was a long and tedious process that required 

8 to 10 weeks. 

These detectors consisted of a relatively thick slab of intrinsic germanium (essentially the same number of electrons and holes) sandwiched between thin layers of 

p-type (current carriers are holes) and n-type (current carriers are electrons) material. 

The detector acts like a "solid-state ionization chamber." In use, a reverse bias is 

applied to the device and gamma rays reach the intrinsic region creating holes and 

electrons which flow to the p- and n-type layers, respectively. The total charge collected is proportional to the energy of the incident photon—when everything works 

properly. 

The reason production took so long was the painstaking manufacturing process. 

Obtaining "essentially intrinsic" germanium meant the achievement of an unattainable 

level of purity in the starting material. As a result, it was slightly p-type, with a minute 

"Improved Semiconductor Resisivity Measurements," Technical News Bulletin 54 (September 1970): 198. 

A. H. Sher, "Lithium-Ion Drift Mobility in Germanium," Journal of Applied Physics 40 (1969): 2600- 

2607; "Evaluating Ge(Li) Nuclear Radiation Detectors: Cause of Defects Sought," Technical News Bulletin 

53 (December 1969): 268-269. 

588 
amount of boron (which forms holes) added to make it so. Then the holes were filled 

by adding lithium, which enters the germanium lattice interstitially and is an electron 

donor. The process is called compensation, with the lithium electron compensating for 

the hole-forming boron. The lithium was introduced by field-aided diffusion, that is, by 

applying a very thin layer of lithium to one surface (in the form of a suspension in 

oil), applying a voltage of up to 1000 volts across the slab, and heating for as long as several weeks. The lithium must diffuse just enough, but not too much, for the device 

to work properly. The process is called "drifting" and these devices are labelled Ge(Li) 

detectors. Clearly, this "drifting" or "compensation" step was the most critical step in 

the fabrication process. 

For this reason, Alvin H. Sher undertook to re-determine the mobility of lithium in 

germanium. Without explaining the process here, he obtained results that were significantly higher at room temperature than two results obtained previously. However, the 

germanium crystals used in the experiments were specially selected to be free of 

"impurities that might reduce the lithium mobility."337 Other samples showed results 

that were a factor of 100 lower in lithium diffusion at room temperature. Other studies, 

such as resistivity, photoconductive decay carrier lifetime, and etch pit studies, were 

inconclusive. The only tenable conclusion was that the scatter in performance of 

these detectors was caused by variations in the impurity content, which in turn caused 

differences in the lithium mobility. 

The Bureau did not solve the problem of germanium. It did provide six nomographs 

to "facilitate the fabrication and testing of" these detectors.338 Two of these nomographs were concerned with processing and four with testing. The parameters identified 

in the nomographs concerned with processing were (1) time, temperature, applied bias, 

and drifted depth; and (2) lithium mobility, crystal resistivity, and oxygen concentration. For the other four, the parameters were (3) area, capacitance, and drifted depth 

for planar detectors; (4) the same parameters for coaxial detectors; (5) total spectral 

resolution, system noise, and detector resolution; and (6) detector resolution, gamma 

ray energy, and effective Fano factor.339 The titles indicate which parameters the 

Bureau considered to be the critical parameters in the fabrication and testing of Ge(Li) 

nuclear radiation detectors. 

Sher, "Lithium-Ion Drift": 2605. 

Alvin H. Sher, Nornographs for Use in Fabrication and Testing of Ge(Li) Detectors, Nati. Bur. Stand. 

(U.S.) Technical Note 537; August 1970. 

The Fano factor gives the relationship between the number of pairs produced by the ionizing radiation and 

the variance of that number. Multiplied by 100 it could be called "% variance." It can be calculated theoretically from models of the fluctuation of the number of pairs produced per event, and thus is a measure of 

the theoretical accuracy possible in ionization methods of measuring the energy of radiation. U. Fano, 

"Ionization Yield of Radiations. H. The Fluctuations of the Number of Ions," Physical Review 72 (1947): 

26-29. 

589 
Building Research and the Performance Concept 

One of the principal policies of the Institute for Applied Technology was variously 

called the "performance concept" or "performance criteria." More commonly known as performance standards, the concept specifies the function an item is to perform, rather 

than the materials from which it is made and the details of its construction. For example, a performance standard for a wall might enumerate such functions as the load it 

is to bear, the maximum rate of heat and sound transfer through it, and other such 

functions. Mention of the material of construction and method of manufacture would 

not necessarily be made. At the other extreme, existing construction standards were 

typically based on "narrowly drawn engineering specifications," such as 2 X 4 studs on 

16 inch centers, with 3/4 inch exterior plywood siding, interior dry wall, and so forth. 

The importance of the concept was that it "provides for maximum expression of 

creativity and innovation among builders and manufacturers because attention is 

focused on the function of a particular system rather than on the system itself."34° 

Implementation of the performance concept is not simple. The performance in mind 

when the item functions is, of course, performance in service. To assess this performance, however, it is necessary to build the item, place it in service, and determine— 

either objectively by measurements or subjectively—how it performs. Such information 

is difficult to obtain, and the existence of a performance concept is not necessary to 

carry it out. It is relatively easy to assess performance in a test, as, for example, the 

thermal conductivity of a candidate wall construction. However it is hard to relate 

performance in a test to performance in service. The better the scientific knowledge 

relating performance to composition and structure, the easier and more valid will be 

the determination of the relationship between performance in a test to performance in 

service. 

While the concept was applied to all IAT standards when possible, its greatest 

expression came in building research. James R. Wright, chief of the Building Research 

Division, in a discussion of the performance concept, recognized a number of subcategories under the performance concept: Performance Requirement ("a qualitative 

statement describing a problem for which a solution is sought"); Performance Criteria 

("give the set of characteristics that solutions must have"); Performance Specification 

("comprehends all of the information in the underlying requirement and criteria"); and 

finally Performance Standards and Performance Codes.34' 

Annual Report for 1966: 86. 

" James R. Wright, "Measurement—Key to Performance," in Performance of Buildings—Concepl and 

Measurement: Proceedings of the 1st Conference in a Series of Conferences on Man and His Shelter Held at 

Gaithersburg, Maryland, September 23-25, 1968, W. W. Walton and B. C. Cadoff, eds., NatI. Bur. Stand. 

(U.S.) Building Science Series 1; 1970: 11-19. 

590 

The first factory-built module constructed for the Department of Housing and Urban Development Operation 

Breakthrough program was tested and evaluated by the Bureau. The full-scale structure was subjected to racking and floor and wall impact tests. 

The building was constructed of panels made of sheet aluminum bonded to a paper 

honeycomb structure, with the panels set on an I-beam foundation. Loads were applied 

to the building to simulate snow and wind loads, and other tests measured air leakage 

and heat loss. With the capability of the chamber to provide ambient exterior temperatures from —50 °F to 150 °F, and exterior relative humidities from 10 percent to 90 

percent, performance was evaluated over the whole range of environmental conditions 

anticipated in service. As a result of the tests, the Bureau recommended design changes 

to improve the thermal and structural performance of these buildings. 

Disaster Investigation 

We saw in the investigation of the Point Pleasant Bridge collapse how the Bureau was requested to visit the disaster site, and subsequently to participate in an investigatiort of the cause of the failure. We also saw how the Metallurgy Division reaffirmed 

its long-standing policy of assisting other agencies in the investigation of material 

and structural Failures. Generally speaking, the work involved in this failure analysis 

activity. in which a single structure or piece of equipment had failed, was laboratory 

592 
work designed to determine the initial cause of the failure—to find the responsible 

flaw or malfunction. As such, the work was concerned with fractographic investigations, the determination of how well material properties met specifications, and similar 

activities. The investigation of the accident site—reassembly of pieces, questioning of 

witnesses, and other such activities—was not part of the Bureau's investigations. 

In the period covered by this chapter, the Building Research Division, became 

involved in a related activity: disaster investigation. Here the concern was—and 

remains—to determine how different types of structures withstood natural disasters: 

floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes. The concern was to obtain information 

which could be used in new building codes to prevent—as far as possible—damage or 

destruction in such harsh environments. Unlike the failure-analysis investigations, these 

disaster studies were almost entirely field work, determining first of all the character of 

the natural phenomenon causing the disaster, and then the response of various structures to it. It was, therefore, not necessarily concerned with the detailed analysis of an individual structure, but rather on the behavior of classes of structures—why some 

withstood the phenomena and others did not. 

As if designed to illustrate the scope of the work, natural disasters of four different 

types sparked investigations within a few years' time: 

• A flood caused extensive damage in Fairbanks, Alaska, in August 

• Hurricane Camille occured in August 

• A tornado hit Lubbock, Texas, on May 11, 1970. 

• An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale occured in the 

San Fernando area of California on February 9, 1971. 

We will illustrate this type of work by briefly describing what the Bureau did in the 

last two investigations. 

In 1970, Lubbock was a city of about 150 000 persons in the Texas Panhandle, 115 

miles south of Amarillo.347 At 9:15 p.m. on May 11, a radar echo was picked up, 

indicating a tornado ten miles east of the city. About twenty minutes later, another 

radar echo and visual sighting placed the tornado near the center of the city, from 

whence, as indicated by subsequent damage, it followed a course north by northeast. 

At 10 p.m. it passed the Weather Bureau office at the Lubbock airport northeast of the 

city, where at 10:02 p.m. winds measured 89 mph, and 1.8 in of rain fell in one hour. 

The tornado continued on a northeast path and eventually left the city. 

Annual Report for 1968: 126. 

Annual Report for 1970: 132-133. 

N. F. Somes, R. D. Dikkers, and T. H. Boone, Lubbock Tornado: A Survey of Building Damage in an Urban Area, Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Technical Note 558; March 1971. 

593 
It was a severe tornado. The death toll was twenty-six, and property loss was estimated at $200 million, with 460 single-family detached homes destroyed, 489 severely 

damaged, and 754 sustaining minor damage. In addition, 80 mobile homes were 

destroyed and 30 were severely damaged. Because such natural disasters provide 

unparalleled full-scale tests of building construction, the Building and Research 

Division sent a three-man team (the authors of the cited report) to carry out an investigation. On May 14-16, the team carried out thorough photographic, ground, and 

helicopter surveys of the damage along the path of the tornado. 

The survey found that the "predominant type of building damage. . . was the loss 

of roof coverings and roof structures," and goes on to detail the differences in the 

behavior of various kinds of asphalt shingle roofs, clay tile roofs, and metal roofs, 

where inadequate fastening resulted in large areas of the roof being stripped from its 

support. In many places complete roof structures were lost, indicating that uplift forces 

had not been sufficiently considered in design. Other areas investigated were glazing, 

masonry veneer, flying debris, and mobile homes, where the level of the damage could 

have been reduced by using over-the-roof ties. The two principal conclusions were that 

"currently accepted good practice for the design and construction of buildings 

against wind loads.. . would. . . have greatly reduced the damage observed at 

Lubbock; and, following the theme of the research program of the division, "research 

is needed to develop performance criteria with respect to wind loads." 

The San Fernando earthquake investigation followed much the same The 

quake occurred on February 9, 1971, at 6:41 a.m., killing sixty-four and causing $500 

million in damages. Within twenty-four hours, at the request of the White House 

Office of Emergency Preparedness, four members of the Building and Research 

Division were at the site, examining homes, schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, public 

services, and flood control facilities. An abbreviated list of their findings follows: 

I. Present procedures used to update design regulations should be evaluated to 

find more expeditious ways to incorporate new knowledge into design. To put 

it another way, changes in the building codes had not kept up with increases 

in knowledge.349 

2. As a corollary to this observation, the Bureau team recommended that the 

earthquake hazard evaluation of older structures built under older codes begin 

immediately. 

H. S. Lew, E. V. Leyendecker, and R. D. Dikkers, Engineering Aspects of the 1971 San Fernando Earthquake, Nail. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Building Science Series 40; December 1971. A synopsis of this is in "Report 

on the San Fernando Earthquake," Technical News Bulletin 56 (1972): 99-100. 

Originally this recommendation read, "An immediate review should be made of the adequacy of present 

design requirements for seismic design." Such a review began in 1972 under NSF and NBS sponsorship. 

(Richard N. Wright, memorandum to Elio Passaglia, February 23, 1993. History Project File; Chapter 5; 

Folder Disasters) 

594 
3. Deformation and deflection should be considered along with strength in the 

design of earthquake-resistant structures. Since it is difficult for a rigid 

structure to withstand the large displacements imposed on it by the earthquake, design should be flexible enough to accept the imposed large 

displacements. 

4. Hazards created by overhead objects such as ceiling fixtures, emergency 

lights, suspended ceilings, and similar components should be kept in mind in 

their design and placement. 

5. Walls with large openings, such as required for garages, should be given 

adequate strength and stiffness. 

6. The report also recommended use of flexible joints and automatic cutoff 

valves to reduce and limit damages to underground water, sewage, and gas 

lines. 

7. Elevator design should be reviewed to improve the likelihood that elevators 

perform adequately during and after disasters. 

From the initiation of the disaster investigation program, the Building Research 

Division and its successors have kept a team of engineers at the ready to investigate 

such natural disasters. 

Experiments in Fire and Smoke 

In 1969 John W. Davis, chairman of the Subcommittee on the National Bureau of 

Standards of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, requested that the 

Bureau prepare a report entitled, "A Review of the Fire Problem and a Proposed 

Program to Implement the Fire Research and Safety Act of 1968." Authored by John 

A. Rockett, Alexander F. Robertson, and John F. Christian of the Fire Research 

Section, the report was printed as a Committee Print in 1970. The authors provided a description of the program under the main headings "Programs Designed Primarily at 

Reducing Death and Injuries," " Programs Directed at Fire Department Operations," 

"Fire Losses" (a data collection program), and "Incremental Building Costs." Much 

of the program was nontechnical, but featured within it were specific projects on fires in buildings and the hazards of smoke. These topics led to a number of technical 

questions. The Bureau had been at work in these areas even before the enactment of 

the Fire Research and Safety Act, and a quick summary of three of them follows. 

In 1968 the Bureau had an unparalleled opportunity to study the effects of controlled 

fires in buildings at little cost to itself.35° Briefly, the Pratt Institute's School of 

Architecture, with a grant from Housing and Urban Development, built a two-story 

building with two wings: one of concrete construction and the other of steel frame 

construction. The two-story structure located in Carteret, New Jersey, was planned to 

permit technical evaluation of construction materials being considered for use in high350 "NBS Studies Fire Safety of Apartment Units," Technical News Bulletin 52 (1968): 3-4. 

595 
NBS engineers and technicians made last-minute inspections of the instrumentation used to monitor the 

full-scale burnout of the test building designed by the Pratt Institute. The steel wing (left) and the concrete 

wing (right) were joined by wooden stairs and a platform. 

rise structures. The primary aim of the fire studies was to obtain information on the 

protection of occupants, and the prevention of fire spread to other apartments and 

buildings. The Bureau was called in to carry out the fire tests. 

In one of the rooms of an apartment, lattice-type cribs constructed of 2 X 4 Douglas 

fir were placed so as to provide a fuel loading of six pounds per square foot—about 

average for an apartment. Extensive temperature measurements were provided in the 

fire room and in adjacent rooms. Windows were open in the fire room but closed in 

the others. Other measurements included floor deflection, smoke density, and the 

detection and measurement of toxic fumes. The floor above the fire room was loaded 

to forty pounds per square foot to represent the structural design load. Fire tests were conducted in both the concrete and steel structures on the ground and second floors. 

The tests showed that a small amount of flaming penetrated to the room above, 

primarily through the development of separations between ceilings and walls, and some smoke and fire penetrated through openings for electrical outlets. Toxic gas measurements were not sufficiently accurate to provide a measure of the hazard from that 

source. In both the steel and concrete constructions there was no evidence of structural 

failure, although premature failure of a suspended ceiling did occur. These tests provided valuable experience and data on full-size housing units. 

596 
Since the costs of such tests were significant, it was important to study the development of fires in small enclosures where controlled conditions could be used and 

possibly provide useful information at relatively low cost. Also, it was important to try 

to find a way to scale the experiments so that fire behavior in large, room-sized 

enclosures could be predicted. 

A series of such experiments was carried out by Daniel Gross and Alexander F. 

Robertson.35' Enclosures of three different sizes, but with the same 1:1:2 width:height: 

length ratios, were constructed of nonflammable structural material. A rectangular 

opening (a "window") of variable area was made in one end to provide air for the fire. 

Within the enclosure a crib of sticks of unfinished cellulose-based fiberboard was constructed. The enclosure was placed on a platform scale and, during the burning, 

measurements were made of the mass burn-up rate as well as changes in the concentration of 02, CO, and CO2. By adjusting the window opening area, the burning could 

be controlled from smoldering to fully developed burning. 

The importance of the results lay in the development of scaling relationships. During 

fully developed flaming, the burning rate was approximately constant, and a "ventilation parameter" of the window area multiplied by the square root of the 

window vertical dimension (to take into account the convective air flow in and out of 

the window) was developed. A log-log plot of all the burning rates against this 

parameter produced approximately a single straight line for all the data. However, the 

data were segregated depending on the nature of the enclosure, so that the data lay in 

three separate regions on the line. Further, normalizing those data by dividing by the 

square of the linear dimension ratio produced two nearly straight lines, one for 

smoldering and another for flaming. All the data fell together on these two lines. The 

effect of enclosure size had been approximately scaled into the fire behavior. Evident 

on the plots was a region at high burning rates where the burning rate was rapid 

and independent of the window area, as if there were no enclosure. An approximate 

method of scaling fires for room size had been achieved. 

The final area of concern was smoke density measurement.352 In recognition of the 

critical nature of smoke in causing death and injury in accidental fires, two projects 

(among others) emphasized the need for better definition and measurement of the properties of smoke aerosols. One HUD-sponsored project sought to provide a convenient 

and technically sound method for the laboratory measurement of the smoke generated 

by burning interior finish materials in building fires. This led to the development of a "Smoke Density Chamber" which subsequently became commercially available and 

D. Gross and A. F. Robertson, "Experimental Fires in Enclosures," in Tenth Symposium (International) on Combustion (Pittsburgh, Pa.: The Combustion Institute, 1965): 93 1-942. 352 The author is grateful to Daniel Gross for the following paragraph, which he wrote and is used here with 

minor editorial change. 

597 
was adopted as an ASTM Standard.353 Features of the method included the use of both 

flaming and nonflaming exposures, the use of an optical density scale for measuring 

light transmission through the enclosed aerosol, and expressing the results (total 

smoke generated or instantaneous generation rate) in terms of a nondimensional factor 

involving the appropriate geometrical parameters: the "specific optical density." This 

development led to an FAA-sponsored project in which the Smoke Density Chamber 

was used to measure the smoke generated by materials used on the interior surfaces of 

passenger aircraft. The project followed shortly after a survivable crash in which half 

the plane's occupants died from toxic and vision effects of smoke. 

SUMMARY 

In the period covered by this chapter, there were important changes in the Bureau 

and in its role in the Nation. While its traditional concerns had been toward the 

development of science, technology, and industry, a spate of new legislation gave the 

Bureau added responsibilities arising from social and consumer equity and safety 

considerations. These new responsibilities occasionally brought the Bureau to the 

uncomfortable position of being a quasi-regulatory agency, writing mandatory 

standards. These new responsibilities had a sufficiently profound impact on NBS that 

its director, cognizant of the Bureau's traditional functions and not knowing where 

these new trends would lead, labelled the Bureau an "evolving institution." From the 

point of view that the Bureau was the Nation's corporate laboratory, and that there was no other institution with the requisite capabilities to shoulder these responsibilities, 

the addition to the Bureau's duties seems understandable, indeed even natural. However, temporarily, at least, they brought the Bureau to a new but uncomfortable arena. During this period the Bureau moved to a spacious and beautiful new home where 

the facilities far surpassed those of its old but beloved (by many of the "old timers") 

home at Van Ness and Connecticut Avenues in Washington, D.C. In the process it 

acquired two outstanding new facilities, the LINAC and a nuclear reactor, along with a great deal of modern equipment. With the infusion since Condon's days—and continued by Astin—of the thrust toward basic research, and of scientists conversant with 

modern methods, the new facilities made the Bureau a world-class scientific institution 

in every sense of the phrase. 

The end of the period marked a historical turning point in the Bureau's existence. In 

1969, Allen V. Astin, the Bureau's director for seventeen years, retired. Except for his 

Director of Administration Robert S. Walleigh, Astin was the last person in an upper 

management position who had been at the Bureau in prewar days. The leadership of 

D. Gross, J. J. Loftus, and A. F. Robertson, "Method for Measuring Smoke From Burning Materials" 

in Symposium on Fire Test Methods—Restraint and Smoke 1966, American Society for Testing and 

Materials (ASTM) Special Technical Publication 422; 1967: 166-204; Standard Test Method for the Specific 

Optical Density of Smoke Generated by Solid Materials, American Society for Testing and Materials 

(ASTM) Standard E 662. 

598 
the Bureau was entrusted to a new cadre of vigorous young leaders, carefully assembled and nurtured since the late forties and early fifties. But the Bureau never broke 

with its past. The new leadership was too aware of its history and tradition to break 

away from them summarily. Rather, they built on those traditions following the 

demands of the times and did not weaken the institution. 

As it did in many other institutions, the increasing importance of relevance forced 

changes on the Bureau. Beginning with Planning, Programming, and Budgeting, the new demands for justification of old and new programs forced upon the Bureau new activities and structures. This gave rise to the Office of Program Planning and Evaluation, which began haltingly and in a small way, but exercised an increasingly profound 

effect on Bureau management. 

Through the whole period the technical work flourished. From the measurement 

of laser frequencies to the Josephson effect; from fracture mechanics to critical 

phenomena; from disaster investigations to electron scattering by nuclei; from clinical 

SRMs to bridge failures; from superconducting semiconductors to new radiometric 

standards; from the resistivity of silicon to performance standards for buildings, the 

technical work was sound, interesting, and to the point. It further enhanced the 

Bureau's reputation. 

599 
APPENDIX A 

TABLES 

Table 1 GNP and R & D EXPENDITURES 

Billions of Dollars 

Year GNP Total 

National 

R&D 

Total 

Federal 

R&D 

Federal 

In House 

R&D 

Federal to Industry 

R&D 

Industry 

In House 

R&D 

1953 

1960 

% average 

annual 

growth 

364.6 

503.7 

5.45 

5.124 

13.523 

23.42 

2.753 

8.738 

31.06 

1.010 

1.726 

10.13 

1.430 

6.081 

46.46 

2.245 

4.516 

14.45 

GNP figures from Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to D.C.: Bureau of the Census, 1975): 224 

1970. Part / (Washington, 

R & D expenditures from National Pattern of Science and Technology Resources: 1987 (Washington, 

D.C.: National Science Foundation, 1988) Table B-I, p. 38; Table B-5, p. 46. 

Year 

1957 

1964 

GNP 

441.1 

632.4 

Total 

National 

R & D 

9.912 

19.412 

Total 

Federal 

R & D 

6.119 

12.553 

Federal 

In House 

R & D 

1.220 

2.838 

Federal 

National 

Basic 

Research 

0.857 

2.559 

Total 

Federal 

Basic 

Research 

0.408 

1.595 

Federal In House 

Basic 

Research 

0.122 

0.364 

% average 

annual 

growth 

6.20 13.41 15.02 18.95 28.37 

. 41.56 28.34 

601 

Table 2 

GNP and R & D EXPENDITURES 

Billions of Dollars 

Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970. Part / and 2 (Washington, D.C.: 

Bureau of the Census, 1975): 224, 965. 
Table 3 

SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA ON THE NBS PROGRAM, 1963-1970 

Obligations in Millions of Dollars 

Year NBS 

Appropriations 

Non-Appropriated 

Funds3 

Total 

Funds4 

RTS Funds' Other Funds2 

Current Constant Current Constant 

1961 

l962 

1963 

1964 

1965 

l966 

1967 

1968 

1969 

1970 

19.58 

23.36 

27.78 

28.12 

3l.76 

28.66 

30.77 

32.28 

36.10 

39.80 

27.80 

32.75 

38.49 

38.39 

42.54 

37.33 

38.84 

39.03 

41.69 

43.64 

0.0 

0.40 

0.71 

1.89 

1.03 

0.94 

0.36 

0.58 

0.94 

1.02 

I9.26 

21.40 

20.90 

26.03 

32.88 

23.80 

27.13 

28.43 

29.03 

33.44 

38.84 

45.16 

49.39 

56.04 

65.67 

53.40 

5826 

61.49 

66.07 

74.26 

55.14 

63.31 

68.44 

76.51 

87.96 

69.55 

73.53 74.11 76.30 

81.43 

'Research and Technical Services (RTS) funds. 

2 Includes Office of Technical Services, Civilian Industrial Technology, and Special Foreign Currency 

funds. 

Reimbursable funds from consultative, advisory, administrative and technical services; research and 

development programs supported by other Federal agencies or nongovernmental sources; the perfor- mance of various tests and calibrations, and the manufacture and sale of standard reference materials 

for other Government agencies and the public; and the sale of technical documents to the public. 

Does not include the construction and facilities program. 

From the NBS Annual Reports for the respective years. Constant amounts are based on 1972 dollars 

using the GDP deflator. 

Table 4 

NBS PERSONNEL, 1961-1970 

Year Full-Time 

Permanent 

Staff 

Other 

Staff' 

Total 

Paid 

Staff 

Research Associates 

and 

Guest Workers 

Total 

NBS 

Staff 

1961 

1962 

1963 

1964 

1965 

1966 

1967 

1968 1969 1970 

3273 

3477 3518 

3905 

4002 

3569 

3612(2) 

3519(2) 

3433(2) 

3366 

646 

539 

642 

475 

592 

44l 

386 

353 

570 

687 

3919 

4016 4160 

4380 

4594 

4010 

3998 

3872 4003 4053 

305 

169 

197 

177 199 116 

199 

l47 150 

131 

4224 

4185 4357 

4557 

4793 4126 

4197 

4019 

4153 

4184 

'Summer, Post Doctoral Research Fellows, Part-Time, Intermittent, and Temporary. 2 Post Doctoral Research Fellows included as FTPS. 

From the NBS Annual Reports for the respective years. 

602 
APPENDIX B 

ACRONYMS DICTIONARY 

AACC American Association of Clinical Chemistry 

ACS American Chemical Society 

ADP Automatic Data Processing 

AEC Atomic Energy Commission 

AID Agency for International Development 

AIME American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers 

AlP American Institute of Physics 

ANSI American National Standards Institute 

ARIB Asphalt Roofing Industry Bureau 

ARPA Advanced Research Projects Agency 

ASA American Standards Association 

ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange 

ASSS American-Soviet Science Society 

ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials 

BBB Better Business Bureau 

BIPM International Bureau of Weights and Measures (Bureau International 

des Poids et Mesures) 

BOB Bureau of the Budget 

BSA Board of Standards and Appeals, New York City 

BuAer Bureau of Aeronautics, U.S. Navy 

CAP College of American Pathologists 

CCC Commodity Credit Corporation 

CCIR International Radio Consultative Committee (Comité Consultatif 

International des Radiocommunications) 

CCIT International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (Comité 

Consultatif International Telegraphique et Telephonique) 

CCST Center for Computer Sciences and Technology 

CCT Consultative Committee on Thermometry 

CGPM General Conference for Weights and Measures (Conference Générale 

des Poids et Mesures) 

CIPM International Committee for Weights and Measures (Comité International 

des Poids et Mesures) 

CIT Civilian Industrial Technology 

CRM Certified Reference Material 

CRPL Central Radio Propagation Laboratory 

CSC Civil Service Commission 

DOC Department of Commerce 

DOD Department of Defense 

DOT Department of Transportation 

EEO Equal Employment Opportunity 

ESSA Environmental Science Services Administration 

FAA Federal Aviation Agency 

FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation 

FCC Face Centered Cubic 

FCST Federal Council for Science and Technology 

FHWA Federal Highway Administration 

FIPS Federal Information Processing Standards 

FIPS PUBS Federal Information Processing Standards Publications 

603 
FOSDIC Film Optical Scanning Device for Input to Computers 

VFC Federal Trade Commission 

OR-S Government Rubber-Styrene 

GSA General Services Administration 

HHFA Housing and Home Finance Agency 

HUAC House Committee on Un-American Activities 

HUD Department of Housing and Urban Development 

IAT Institute for Applied Technology 

IAU International Astronomical Union 

lBS Institute for Basic Standards 

ICBM Intercontinental Ballistic Missile 

ICC Interstate Commerce Commission 

ICSU International Conference of Scientific Unions 

IDA Institute for Defense Analysis 

IDMS Isotope Dilution Mass Spectrometry 

IGY International Geophysical Year 

IMR Institute for Materials Research 

INA Institute for Numerical Analysis 

IPTS International Practical Temperature Scale 

IQSY International Year of the Quiet Sun 

IRPL Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory 

ISO International Standards Organization 

JILA Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics 

JPCRD Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data 

LORAN Long Range Navigation 

MAP Measurement Assurance Program 

MDE Modular Design of Electronics 

MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

MPE Mechanized Production of Electronics 

NACA National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics 

NAE National Academy of Engineering 

NAML National Applied Mathematics Laboratories 

NAS National Academy of Sciences 

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization 

NBBB National Better Business Bureau 

NBS National Bureau of Standards 

NBSR National Bureau of Standards Reactor 

NCASF National Council of American-Soviet Friendship 

NCSL National Conference of Standards Laboratories 

NDRC National Defense Research Committee 

NHSB National Highway Safety Bureau 

NIC National Inventors Council 

NIH National Institutes of Health 

NIPS National Institutes for Physical Sciences 

NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology 

NOL Naval Ordnance Laboratory 

604 
NRC National Research Council 

NRL Naval Research Laboratory 

NSF National Science Foundation 

NSRDS National Standard Reference Data System 

NTIS National Technical Information System 

NTSB National Transportation Safety Bureau 

OBBB Oakland Better Business Bureau 

0DM Office of Defense Mobilization 

OIl Office of Invention and Innovation 

0MB Office of Management and Budget 

ONR Office of Naval Research 

OSRD Office of Scientific Research and Development 

OSRD Office of Standard Reference Data 

OSRM Office of Standard Reference Materials 

OST Office of Science and Technology 

OSWM Office of Standard Weights and Measures 

OTS Office of Technical Services 

OVSR Office of Vehicle Systems Research 

OWM Office of Weights and Measures 

PBS Public Buildings Service 

POD Post Office Department 

PPB Planning-Programming-Budgeting 

PSAC President's Science Advisory Committee 

P'l'B Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt 

P'TR Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt 

RM Research Material 

RTS Research and Technical Services 

SAE Society of Automotive Engineers 

SCLC Southern Christian Leadership Conference 

SCOOP Scientific Computation of Optimum Programs 

SEAC Standards Eastern Automatic Computer 

SI International System of Units (Système International d'Unités) 

SLAC Stanford Linear Accelerator Center 

SRM Standard Reference Material 

SSCSB Senate Select Committee on Small Business 

SSS Selective Service System (SSS) 

SURF Synchrotron Ultra-Violet Radiation Facility 

SWAC Standards Western Automatic Computer 

TAD Technical Analysis Division 

UN United Nations 

USASCI! USA Standard Code for Information Interchange 

UT Universal Time 

605 
APPENDIX C 

LEGISLATION RELATING TO THE ORGANIZATION, 

FUNCTIONS, AND ACTIVITIES OF 

THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS 

July 12, 1894, 28 Stat. 101 (Public Law 105—53d Congress, 2d session) 

CHAP. 131.—An Act To define and establish the units of electrical measure. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress 

assembled, That from and after the passage of this Act the legal units of electrical measure in the united 

States shall be as follows: 

First. The unit of resistance shall be what is known as the international ohm, which is substantially equal to one thousand million units of resistance of the centimeter-gram-second system of electro-magnetic units, 

and is represented by the resistance offered to an unvarying electric current by a column of mercury at the 

temperature of melting ice fourteen and four thousand five hundred and twenty-one ten-thousandths grams 

in mass, of a constant cross-sectional area, and of the length of one hundred and six and three-tenths 

centimeters. 

Second. The unit of current shall be what is known as the international ampere, which is one-tenth of the 

unit of current of the centimeter-gram-second system of electro-magnetic units, and is the practical equivalent of the unvarying current, which, when passed through a solution of nitrate of silver in water in accor- dance with standard specifications, deposits silver at the rate of one thousand one hundred and eighteen 

millionths of a gram per second. 

Third. The unit of electro-motive force shall be what is known as the international volt, which is the 

electro-motive force that, steadily applied to a conductor whose resistance is one international ohm, will 

produce a current of an international ampere, and is practically equivalent to one thousand fourteen hundred 

and thirty-fourths of the electro-motive force between the poles or electrodes of the voltaic cell known as Clark's cell, at a temperature of fifteen degrees centigrade, and prepared in the manner described in the 

standard specification. 

Fourth. The unit of quantity shall be what is known as the international coulomb, which is the quantity of 

electricity transferred by a current of one international ampere in one second. 

Fifth. The unit of capacity shall be what is known as the international farad, which is the capacity of a condenser charged to a potential of one international volt by one international coulomb of electricity. 

Sixth. The unit of work shall be the Joule, which is equal to ten million units of work in the centimetergram-second system, and which is practically equivalent to the energy expended in one second by an international ampere in an international ohm. 

Seventh. The unit of power shall be the Watt, which is equal to ten million units of power in the centimeter-gram-second system, and which is practically equivalent to the work done at the rate of one Joule per 

second. 

Eighth. The unit of induction shall be the Henry, which is the induction in a circuit when the electromotive force induced in this circuit is one international volt while the inducing current varies at the rate of 

one Ampere per second. SEC. 2. That it shall be the duty of the National Academy of Sciences to prescribe and publish, as soon as possible after the passage of this Act, such specifications of details as shall be necessary for the practical 

application of the definitions of the ampere and volt hereinbefore given, and such specifications shall be the 

standard specifications herein mentioned. 

Approved, July 12, 1894. 

607 
March 3, 1901, 31 Stat. 1449 (Public Law 177—56th Congress, 2d session) 

The first organic act for the National Bureau of Standards. 

CHAP. 872.—An Act To establish the National Bureau of Standards. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress 

assembled, That the Office of Standard Weights and Measures shall hereafter be known as the National 

Bureau of Standards. SEC. 2. That the functions of the bureau shall consist in the custody of the standards; the comparison of 

the standards used in scientific investigations, engineering, manufacturing, commerce, and educational 

institutions with the standards adopted or recognized by the Government; the construction, when necessary, 

of standards, their multiples and subdivisions; the testing and calibration of standard measuring apparatus; 

the solution of problems which arise in connection with standards; the determination of physical constants 

and the properties of materials, when such data are of great importance to scientific or manufacturing 

interests and are not to be obtained of sufficient accuracy elsewhere. SEC. 3. That the bureau shall exercise its functions for the Government of the United States; for any State 

or municipal government within the United States; or for any scientific society, educational institution, firm, 

corporation, or individual within the United States engaged in manufacturing or other pursuits requiring the use of standards or standard measuring instruments. All requests for the services of the bureau shall be made 

in accordance with the rules and regulations herein established. SEC. 4. That the officers and employees of the bureau shall consist of a director, at an annual salary of 

five thousand dollars; one physicist, at an annual salary of three thousand five hundred dollars; one chemist, at an annual salary of three thousand five hundred dollars; two assistant physicists or chemists, each at an 

annual salary of two thousand two hundred dollars; one laboratory assistant, at an annual salary of one thousand four hundred dollars; one laboratory assistant, at an annual salary of one thousand two hundred 

dollars; one secretary, at an annual salary of two thousand dollars; one clerk, at an annual salary of one thousand two hundred dollars; one messenger, at an annual salary of seven hundred and twenty dollars; one engineer, at an annual salary of one thousand five hundred dollars; one mechanician, at an annual salary of 

one thousand four hundred dollars; one watchman, at an annual salary of seven hundred and twenty dollars, 

and one laborer, at an annual salary of six hundred dollars. SEC. 5. That the director shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the 

Senate. He shall have the general supervision of the bureau, its equipment, and the exercise of its functions. 

He shall make an annual report to the Secretary of the Treasury, including an abstract of the work done 

during the year and a financial statement. He may issue, when necessary, bulletins for public distribution, 

containing such information as may be of value to the public or facilitate the bureau in the exercise of its 

functions. SEC. 6. That the officers and employees provided for by this Act, except the director, shall be appointed 

by the Secretary of the Treasury, at such time as their respective services may become necessary. SEC. 7. That the following sums of money are hereby appropriated: For the payment of salaries provided 

for by the Act, the sum of twenty-seven thousand one hundred and forty dollars, or so much thereof as may 

be necessary; toward the erection of a suitable laboratory, of fireproof construction, for the use and occupation of said bureau, including all permanent fixtures, such as plumbing, piping, wiring, heating, lighting, and 

ventilation, the entire cost of which shall not exceed the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, one hundred thousand dollars; for equipment of said laboratory, the sum of ten thousand dollars; for a site for 

said laboratory, to be approved by the visiting committee hereinafter provided for and purchased by the 

Secretary of the Treasury, the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary; 

for the payment of the general expenses of said bureau, including books and periodicals, furniture, office 

expenses, stationery and printing, heating and lighting, expenses of the visiting committee, and contingencies 

of all kinds, the sum of five thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be expended under 

the supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury. SEC. 8. That for all comparisons, calibrations, tests, or investigations, except those performed for the 

Government of the United States or State governments within the United States, a reasonable fee shall be 

charged, according to a schedule submitted by the director and approved by the Secretary of the Treasury. 

608 
SEC. 9. That the Secretary of the Treasury shall, from time to time, make regulations regarding the 

payment of fees, the limits of tolerance to be attained in standards submitted for verification, the sealing of 

standards, the disbursement and receipt of moneys, and such other matters as he may deem necessary for 

carrying this Act into effect. SEC. 10. That there shall be a visiting committee of five members, to be appointed by the Secretary of 

the Treasury, to consist of men prominent in the various interests involved, and not in the employ of the 

Government. This committee shall visit the bureau at least once a year, and report to the Secretary of the 

Treasury upon the efficiency of its scientific work and the condithn of its equipment. The members of this 

committee shall serve without compensation, but shall be paid the actual expenses incurred in attending its 

meetings. The period of service of the members of the original committee shall be so arranged that one 

member shall retire each year, and the appointments thereafter to be for a period of five years. Appointments 

made to fill vacancies occurring other than in the regular manner are to be made for the remainder of the 

period in which the vacancy exists. 

Approved, March 3, 1901. 

May 20, 1918, 40 Stat 556 (Public Law 152—65th Congress, 2d session) "Overman Act." 

First official interagency transfer of funds to the Bureau of Standards. The work was done in support of 

military agencies during World War 1. CHAP. 78.—An Act Authorizing the President to coordinate or consolidate exccutive bureaus, agencies, 

and offices, and for other purposes, in the interest of economy and the more efficicnt concentration of the 

Government. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress 

assembled, That for the national security and defense, for the successful prosecution of the war, for the 

support and maintenance of the Army and Navy, for the better utilization of resources and industries, and for 

the more effective exercise and more efficient administration by the President of his powers as Commander 

in Chief of the land and naval forces the President is hereby authorized to make such redistribution of functions among executive agencies as he may deem necessary, including any functions, duties, and powers hitherto by law conferred upon any executive department, commission, bureau, agency, office, or officer, in such manner as in his judgment shall seem best fitted to carry out the purposes of this Act, and to this end is 

authorized to make such regulations and to issue such orders as he may deem necessary, which regulations 

and orders shall be in writing and shall be filed with the head of the department affected and constitute a public record: Provided, That the Act shall remain in force during the continuance of the present war and for 

six months after the termination of the war by the proclamation of the treaty of peace, or at such earlier time as the President may designate: Provided further, That the tennination of this Act shall not affect any act 

done or any right or obligation accruing or accrued pursuant to the Act and during the time that this Act is in force: Provided further, That the authority by this Act granted shall be exercised only in matters relating to the conduct of the present war. SEC. 2. That in carrying out the purposes of this Act the President is authorized to utilize, coordinate, or 

consolidate any executive or administrative commissions, bureaus, agencies, offices, or officers now existing 

by law, to transfer any duties or powers from one existing department, commission, bureau, agency, office, 

or officer to another, to transfer the personnel thereof or any part of it either by detail or assignment, 

together with the whole or any part of the records and public property belonging thereto. 

609 
May 29, 1920, 41 Stat 68! (Public Law 231—66th Congress, 2d session) 

Beginning of transferred funds to the Bureau of Standards as authorized in appropriations legislation. 

CHAP. 214.—An Act Making appropriations for the legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the 

Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1921, and for other purposes. 

During the fiscal year 1921, the head of any department or independent establishment of the Government 

having funds available for scientific investigations and requiring cooperative work by the Bureau of 

Standards on scientific investigations within the scope of the functions of that Bureau, and which it is unable to perform within the limits of its appropriations, may, with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce, 

transfer to the Bureau of Standards such sums as may be necessary to carry on such investigations. The 

Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer on the books of the Treasury Department any sums which may be 

authorized hereunder and such amounts shall be placed to the credit of the Bureau of Standards for the 

performance of work for the department or establishment from which the transfer is made. (41 Stat. 683) * * * * *. May 14, 1930, 46 Stat. 327 (Public Law 219—71st Congress, 2d session) 

CHAP. 275.—An Act Authorizing the establishment of a national hydraulic laboratory in the Bureau of 

Standards of the Department of Commerce and the construction of a building therefor. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress 

assembled, That there is hereby authorized to be established in the Bureau of Standards of the Department of 

Commerce a national hydraulic laboratory for the determination of fundamental data useful in hydraulic re- search and engineering, including laboratory research relating to the behavior and control of river and harbor 

waters, the study of hydraulic structures and water flow, and the development and testing of hydraulic instruments and accessories: Provided, That no test, study, or other work on a problem or problems connected 

with a project the prosecution of which is under the jurisdiction of any department or independent agency of 

the government shall be undertaken in the laboratory herein authorized until a written request to do such 

work is submitted to the Director of the Bureau of Standards by the head of the department or independent 

agency charged with the execution of such project: And provided further, That any State or political subdivision thereof may obtain a test, study, or other work on a problem connected with a project the prosecution of 

which is under the jurisdiction of such State or political subdivision thereof. 

SEc. 2. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise 

appropriated, not to exceed $350,000, to be expended by the Secretary of Commerce for the construction and 

installation upon the present site of the Bureau of Standards in the District of Columbia of a suitable hydraulic laboratory building and such equipment, utilities, and appurtenances thereto as may be necessary. 

Approved, May 14, 1930. 

June 30, 1932, 47 Stat. 382 (Public Law 212—72d Congress, 1st session) "Economy Act of 1932." SEC. 312—An amendment to section 8 of the Act establishing the National Bureau of Standards 

authorized payment of fees, except for other Federal agencies, for Bureau of Standards tests and 

calibrations. SEC. 601—The policy of transferred funds was restated and made general throughout the Federal 

Government. 

[CHAPTER 314] 

AN ACT 

Making appropriations for the Legislative Branch of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 

1933, and for other purposes. SEC. 312. Section 8 of the Act entitled "An Act to establish the National Bureau of Standards", approved 

March 3, 1901, as amended and supplemented [U.S.C., title 15, sec. 276], is amended to read as follows: 

610 
"SEC. 8. For all comparisons, calibrations, tests, or investigations, performed by the National Bureau of 

Standards under the provisions of this Act, as amended and supplemented, except those performed for the 

Government of the United States or State governments within the United States, a fee sufficient in each case to compensate the National Bureau of Standards for the entire cost of the services rendered shall be charged, 

according to a schedule prepared by the Director of the National Bureau of Standards and approved by the 

Secretary of Commerce. All moneys received from such sources shall be paid into the Treasury to the credit 

of miscellaneous receipts." (47 Stat. 410) 

SEC. 601. Section 7 of the Act entitled "An Act making appropriations for fortifications and other works 

of defense, for the armament thereof, and for the procurement of heavy ordnance for trial and service, for the 

fiscal year ending June 30, 1921, and for other purposes", approved May 21, 1920 [U.S.C., title 31, sec. 686], is amended to read as follows: 

"SEC. 7. (a) Any executive department or independent establishment of the Government, or any bureau or office thereof, if funds are available therefor and if it is determined by the head of such executive department, establishment, bureau, or office to be in the interest of the Government so to do, may place orders 

with any other such department, establishment, bureau, or office for materials, supplies, equipment, work, or services of any kind that such requisitioned Federal agency may be in a position to supply or equipped to 

render, and shall pay promptly by check to such Federal agency as may be requisitioned, upon its written 

request, either in advance or upon the furnishing or performance thereof, all or part of the estimated or actual cost thereof, as determined by such department, establishment, bureau, or office as may be requisitioned; but proper adjustments on the basis of the actual cost of the materials, supplies, or equipment furnished, or work or services performed, paid for in advance, shall be made as may be agreed upon by the 

departments, establishments, bureaus, or offices concerned: Provided, however, That if such work or services can be as conveniently or more cheaply performed by private agencies such work shall be let by competitive 

bids to such private agencies. Bills rendered, or requests for advance payments made, pursuant to any such 

order, shall not be subject to audit or certification in advance of payment. (47 Stat. 417) 

August 1, 1947, 61 Stat. 715 (Public Law 313—80th Congress, 1st session) 

From time to time amendments to this act extended the authority to other agencies, revised the number of 

positions allotted, and the salary range. In 1965, NBS had twelve appointees under this law. 

[CHAPTER 433] 

AN ACT 

To authorize the creation of additional positions in the professional and scientific service in the War and 

Navy Departments. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress 

assembled, That the Secretary of War is authorized to establish and fix the compensation for, within the War 

Department, not more than thirty positions, and the Secretary of the Navy is authorized to establish and fix 

the compensation for, within the Naval establishment, not more than fifteen positions in the professional and 

scientific service, each such position being established to effectuate those research and development functions, relating to the national defense, military and naval medicine, and any and all other activities of the 

War Department or Naval Establishment which require the services of specially qualified scientific or professional personnel: Provided, That the rates of compensation for positions established pursuant to the provisions of this Act shall not be less than $10,000 per annum nor more than $15,000 per annum, and shall be 

subject to the approval of the Civil Service Commission. SEC. 2. Positions created pursuant to this Act shall be included in the classified civil service of the United 

States, but appointments to such positions shall be made without competitive examination upon approval of 

the proposed appointee's qualifications by the Civil Service Commission or such officers or agents as it may 

designate for this purpose. 

611 
October 15, 1949, 63 Stat. 886 (Public Law 366—8lst Congress, 1st session) 

Authorization for the Boulder Laboratories. 

[CHAPTER 703] 

AN ACT 

To authorize the construction and equipment of a radio laboratory building for the National Bureau of 

Standards, Department of Commerce. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress 

assembled, That there is hereby authorized to be constructed and equipped for the National Bureau of 

Standards a suitable radio laboratory building, together with necessary utilities and appurtenances thereto, 

under a limit of cost of $4,475,000: Provided, That such limit of cost may be exceeded or shall be reduced 

by an amount equal to the percentage increase or decrease, if any, in construction costs generally dating 

from March I, 1948, as determined by the Federal works Administrator. SEC. 2. The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to acquire, by purchase, condemnation, or otherwise 

(including transfer with or without compensation from Federal agencies), such lands, estates in lands, and 

appurtenances thereto as may in his opinion be necessary or desirable for the construction of buildings to house activities of the National Bureau of Standards: Provided, That the site therefor shall be selected after 

consultation with the Director of the National Bureau of Standards. SEC. 3. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce, out of any moneys 

in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this 

Act: Provided, That such sums so appropriated, except such part thereof as may be necessary for the incidental expenses of the Department of Commerce, shall be transferred to the Public Buildings Administration 

in the Federal works Agency. 

Approved October 25, 1949. 

October 25, 1949, 63 Stat. 905 (Public Law 386—8lst Congress, 1st session) 

Authorization for a guided-missile research laboratory ultimately located on the site of a former United 

States Naval Hospital at Corona, California. 

[CHAPTER 728] 

AN ACT 

To authorize the construction and equipment of a guided-missile research laboratory building for the 

National Bureau of Standards, Department of Commerce. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress 

assembled, That there is hereby authorized to be constructed and equipped for the National Bureau of 

Standards a research laboratory building, suitable for use as a guided-missile laboratory, together with neces- sary utilities and appurtenances thereto, under a limit of cost of $1,900,000: Provided, That such limit of 

cost may be exceeded or shall be reduced by an amount equal to the percentage increase or decrease, if any, 

in construction cost generally dating from June 1, 1948, as determined by the Federal Works Administrator: 

Provided further, That such limit of cost shall not be exceeded by more than 10 per centum. SEC. 2. The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to acquire, by purchase, condemnation, or otherwise 

(including transfer with or without compensation from Federal agencies), such lands, estates in lands, and 

appurtenances thereto as may in his opinion be necessary or desirable for the construction of a building to house activities of such laboratory for the National Bureau of Standards: Provided, That the site therefor 

shall be selected after consultation with the Director of the National Bureau of Standards. SEC. 3. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce, Out of any moneys 

in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums as may be necessary to carry Out the provisions of this 

Act: Provided, That such sums so appropriated, except such part thereof as may be necessary for the incidental expenses of the Department of Commerce, shall be transferred to the Public Buildings Administration 

in the Federal Works Agency. 

Approved October 25, 1949. 

612 
October 28, 1949, 63 Stat. 954 (Public Law 429—81st Congress, 1st session) Classification Act of 1949. 

The number of positions for the whole Civil Service in grades GS-16, GS-17, and GS-l8 were specified. 

Periodic revisions in number and salary were made. In 1965, the National Bureau of Standards had 39 

appointees in GS-16 and 29 in GS-17. 

[CHAPTER 782] 

AN ACT 

To establish a standard schedule of rates of basic compensation for certain employees of the Federal 

Government; to provide an equitable system for fixing and adjusting the rates of basic compensation of 

individual employees; to repeal the Classification Act of 1923, as amended; and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress 

assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Classification Act of 1949". 

TITLE I—DECLARATION OF POLICY SEC. 101. It is the purpose of this Act to provide a plan for classification of positions and for rates of 

basic compensation whereby— 

(I) in determining the rate of basic compensation which an officer or employee shall receive, (A) the 

principle of equal pay for substantially equal work shall be followed, and (B) variations in rates of basic 

compensation paid to different officers and employees shall be in proportion to substantial differences in 

the difficulty, responsibility, and qualification requirements of the work performed and to the contributions 

of officers and employees to efficiency and economy in the service; and 

(2) individual positions shall, in accordance with their duties, responsibilities, and qualification requirements, be so grouped and identified by classes and grades, as defined in section 301, and the various 

classes shall be so described in published standards, as provided for in title IV, that the resulting positionclassification system can be used in all phases of personnel administration. 

January 23, 1950, 3 C.F.R. 76 (1950). 

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10096 PROVIDING FOR A UNIFORM PATENT POLICY FOR ThE GOVERNMENT WITH RESPECT TO INVENTIONS MADE BY GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AND FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF SUCH POLICY, 

WHEREAS inventive advances in scientific and technological fields frequently result from governmental 

activities carried on by Government employees; and 

WHEREAS the Government of the United States is expending large sums of money annually for the con- duct of these activities; and 

WHEREAS these advances constitute a vast national resource; and 

WHEREAS it is fitting and proper that the inventive product of functions of the Government, carried out 

by Government employees, should be available to the Government in appropriate instances; and 

WHEREAS the rights of Government employees in their inventions should be recognized in appropriate 

instances; and 

WHEREAS the carrying out of the policy of this order requires appropriate administrative arrangements: 

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and statutes, and as President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, in the 

interest of the establishment and operation of a uniform patent policy for the Government with respect to 

inventions made by Government employees, it is hereby ordered as follows: 

I. The following basic policy is established for all Government agencies with respect to inventions 

hereafter made by any Government employee: 

(a) The Government shall obtain the entire right, title and interest in and to all inventions made by 

any Government employee (I) during working hours, or (2) with a contribution by the Government of 

facilities, equipment, materials, funds, or information, or of time or services of other Government 

613 
employees on official duty, or (3) which bears a direct relation to or are made in consequence of the 

official duties of the inventor. 

(b) In any case where the contribution of the Government, as measured by any one or more of the 

criteria set forth in paragraph (a) last above, to the invention is insufficient equitably to justify a requirement of assignment to the Government of the entire right, title and interest to such invention, or in any 

case where the Government has insufficient interest in an invention to obtain entire right, title and interest 

therein (although the Government could obtain same under paragraph (a) above), the Government agency 

concerned, subject to the approval of the Chairman of the Government Patents Board. . . shall leave title 

to such invention in the employee, subject, however, to the reservation to the Government of a non- exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free license in the invention with power to grant licenses for all governmental purposes, such reservation, in the terms thereof, to appear, where practicable, in any patent, 

domestic or foreign, which may issue on such invention. ... March 13, 1950, effective May 24, 1950, 64 Stat. 1263 (Reorganization Plan No. 5 of 1950) 

The functions of all the officers of the National Bureau of Standards were transferred to the Secretary of 

Commerce, with power vested in him to authorize their performance or the performance of any of his 

functions by any of the officers or employees of the National Bureau of Standards. 

REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. 5 OF 1950 

Prepared by the President and transmitted to the Senate and the House of Representatives in Congress 

assembled, March 13, 1950, pursuant to the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1949, approved 

June 20, 1949. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE SEcTIoN 1. Transfer of functions to the Secretary. —(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b) of 

this section, there are hereby transferred to the Secretary of Commerce all functions of all other officers of 

the Department of Commerce and all functions of all agencies and employees of such Department.. SEC. 2. Performance of functions of Secretary.—The Secretary of Commerce may from time to time 

make such provisions as he shall deem appropriate authorizing the performance by any other officer, or by 

any agency or employee, of the Department of Commerce of any function of the Secretary, including any 

function transferred to the Secretary, including any function transferred to the Secretary by the provisions 

of this reorganization plan. SEC. 4. Incidental transfers.—The Secretary of Commerce may from time to time effect such transfers 

with the Department of Commerce of any of the records, property, personnel, and unexpended balances 

(available or to be made available) of appropriations, allocations, and other funds of such Department as he 

may deem necessary in order to carry out the provisions of this reorganization plan. 

June 29, 1950, 64 Stat. 275 (Public Law 583, 81st Congress, 2d session) Deficiency Appropriation Act, 1950. 

Beginning of the Working Capital Fund for the National Bureau of Standards. 

[CHAPTER 405] 

AN ACT 

Making appropriations to supply deficiencies in certain appropriations for the fiscal year ending 

June 30, 1950, and for other purposes. NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS WORKING CAPITAL FUND For the establishment of a working capital fund, to be available without fiscal year limitation, for expenses 

necessary for the maintenance and operation of the National Bureau of Standards, including the furnishing of 

facilities and services to other Government agencies, not to exceed $3,000,000. Said fund shall be established as a special deposit account and shall be reimbursed from applicable appropriations of said Bureau for 

614 
the work of said Bureau, and from funds of other Government agencies for facilities and services furnished 

to such agencies pursuant to law. Reimbursements so made shall include handling and related charges; reserves for depreciation of equipment and accrued leave; and building construction and alterations directly 

related to the work for which reimbursement is made. (64 Stat. 279) 

July 21, 1950, 64 Stat. 369 (Public Law 617, 81st Congress, 2d session) 

The basic definitions of the act of 1894 were kept but eliminated the alternative definitions specifying 

devices which were not correct, gave clear legal effect in the United States to a world-wide agreement on electrical units and standards which had been obtained by the National Bureau of Standards, and established in scientific terms definitions of the units of light which had never been specifically established by 

Federal statutes. 

[CHAPTER 4841 

AN ACT 

To redefine the units and establish the standards of electrical and photometric measurements. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress 

assembled, That from and after the date this Act is approved, the legal units of electrical and photometric 

measurement in the United States of America shall be those defined and established as provided in the 

following sections. SEC. 2. The unit of electrical resistance shall be the ohm, which is equal to one thousand million units of 

resistance of the centimeter-gram-second system of electromagnetic units. SEC. 3. The unit of electric current shall be the ampere, which is one-tenth of the unit of current of the 

centimeter-gram-second system of electromagnetic units. SEC. 4. The unit of electromotive force and of electric potential shall be the volt, which is the electromotive force that, steadily applied to a conductor whose resistance is one ohm, will produce a current of one ampere. SEC. 5. The unit of electric quantity shall be the coulomb, which is the quantity of electricity transferred 

by a current of one ampere in one second. SEC. 6. The unit of electrical capacitance shall be the farad, which is the capacitance of a capacitor that is 

charged to a potential of one volt by one coulomb of electricity. SEC. 7. The unit of electrical inductance shall be the henry, which is the inductance in a circuit such that an electromotive force of one volt is induced in the circuit by variation of an inducing current at the rate of 

one ampere per second. SEC. 8. The unit of power shall be the watt, which is equal to ten million units of power in the centimetergram-second system, and which is the power required to cause an unvarying current of one ampere to flow 

between points differing in potential by one volt. SEC. 9. The units of energy shall be (a) the joule, which is equivalent to the energy supplied by a power 

of one watt operating for one second, and (b) the kilowatt-hour, which is equivalent to the energy supplied 

by a power of one thousand watts operating for one hour. SEC. 10. The unit of intensity of light shall be the candle, which is one-sixtieth of the intensity of one square centimeter of a perfect radiator, known as a "black body", when operated at the temperature of 

freezing platinum. SEC. 11. The unit of flux of light shall be the lumen, which is the flux in a unit of solid angle from a source of which the intensity is one candle. SEC. 12. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of Commerce to establish the values of the primary electric 

and photometric units in absolute measure, and the legal values for these units shall be those represented by, 

or derived from, national reference standards maintained by the Department of Commerce. SEC. 13. The Act of July 12, 1894 (Public Law Numbered 105, Fifty-third Congress), entitled "An Act to 

define and establish the units of electrical measure", is hereby repealed. 

Approved July 21, 1950. 

615 
July 22, 1950, 64 Stat. 371 (Public Law 619, 81 Congress, 2d session) 

First major restatement of Bureau functions since 1901. The Act rewrote section 2 in its entirety and 

expanded its provisions to cover the standards and measurements functions and activities of the Department of Commerce. 

[CHAFFER 486] 

AN ACT 

To amend section 2 of the Act of March 3, 1901 (31 Stat. 1449), to provide basic authority for the 

performance of certain functions and activities of the Department of Commerce, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress 

asse,nbled, That section 2 of the Act of March 3, 1901 (31 Stat. 1449), as amended, be, and the same hereby 

is, further amended so as to read in full as follows: 

"SEC. 2. The Secretary of Commerce (hereinafter referred to as the 'Secretary') is authorized to undertake 

the following functions: 

"(a) The custody, maintenance, and development of the national standards of measurement, and the provision of means and methods for making measurements consistent with those standards, including the compari- son of standards used in scientific investigations, engineering, manufacturing, commerce, and educational 

institutions with the standards adopted or recognized by the Government. 

"(b) The determination of physical constants and properties of materials when such data are of great importance to scientific or manufacturing interests and are not to be obtained of sufficient accuracy elsewhere. 

"(c) The development of methods for testing materials, mechanisms, and structures, and the testing of 

materials, supplies, and equipment, including items purchased for use of Government departments and independent establishments. 

"(d) Cooperation with other governmental agencies on scientific and technical problems. 

"(e) Advisory service to Government agencies on scientific and technical problems. 

"(f) Invention and development of devices to serve special needs of the Government. 

"In carrying out the functions enumerated in the section, the Secretary is authorized to undertake the 

following activities and similar ones for which need may arise in the operations of Government agencies, 

scientific institutions, and industrial enterprises: 

"( I) the construction of physical standards; 

"(2) the testing, calibration, and certification of standards and standard measuring apparatus; 

"(3) the study and improvement of instruments and methods of measurements; 

"(4) the investigation and testing of railroad track scales, elevator scales, and other scales used in 

weighing commodities for interstate shipment; 

"(5) cooperation with the States in securing uniformity in weights and measures laws and methods of 

inspection; 

"(6) the preparation and distribution of standard samples such as those used in checking chemical analy- ses, temperature, color, viscosity, heat of combustion, and other basic properties of materials; also the 

preparation and sale or other distribution of standard instruments, apparatus and materials for calibration 

of measuring equipment; 

"(7) the development of methods of chemical analysis and synthesis of materials, and the investigation 

of the properties of rare substances; 

"(8) the study of methods of producing and of measuring high and low temperatures; and the behavior 

of materials at high and at low temperatures; 

"(9) the investigation of radiation, radioactive substances, and X-rays, their uses, and means of protection of persons from their harmful effects; 

"(10) the study of the atomic and molecular structure of the chemical elements, with particular reference 

to the characteristics of the spectra emitted, the use of spectral observations in determining chemical 

composition of materials, and the relation of molecular structure to the practical usefulness of materials; 

"(II) the broadcasting of radio signals for standard frequency; 

"(12) the investigation of the conditions which affect the transmission of radio waves from their source to a receiver; 

616 
"(13) the compilation and distribution of information on such transmission of radio waves as a basis 

for choice of frequencies to be used in radio operation; 

"(14) the study of new technical processes and methods of fabrication of materials in which the 

Government has a special interest; also the study of methods of measurement and technical processes 

used in the manufacture of optical glass and pottery, brick, tile, terra cotta, and other clay products; 

"(15) the determination of properties of building materials and structural element, and encouragement 

of their standardization and most effective use, including investigation of fire-resisting properties of 

building materials and conditions under which they may be most efficiently used, and the standardization of types of appliances for fire prevention; 

"(16) metallurgical research, including study of alloy steels and light metal alloys; investigation of 

foundry practice, casting, rolling, and forging; prevention of corrosion of metals and alloys; behavior 

of bearing metals; and development of standards for metals and sands; 

"(17) the operation of a laboratory of applied mathematics; 

"(18) the prosecution of such research in engineering, mathematics, and the physical sciences as may 

be necessary to obtain basic data pertinent to the functions specified herein; and 

"(19) the compilation and publication of general scientific and technical data resulting from the 

performance of the functions specified herein or from other sources when such data are of importance to scientific or manufacturing interests or to the general public, and are not available elsewhere, including 

demonstrations of the results of the Bureau's work by exhibits or otherwise as may be deemed most 

effective." SEC. 2. The Act of March 3, 1901 (31 Stat. 1449), as amended, be, and the same hereby is, further 

amended by inserting at the end thereof the following sections: 

"SEC. 11. For all services rendered for other Government agencies by the Secretary in the performance of 

functions specified herein, the Department of Commerce may be reimbursed in accordance with section 601 

of the Economy Act of June 30, 1932. 

"SEC. 12. In the absence of specific agreement to the contrary, equipment purchased by the Department of 

Commerce from transferred or advanced funds in order to carry out an investigation authorized herein for 

another Government agency shall become the property of the Department of Commerce for use in subsequent investigations. 

"SEC. 13. (a) The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to accept and utilize gifts or bequests of real or personal property for the purpose of aiding and facilitating the work authorized herein. 

"(b) For the purpose of Federal income, estate, and gift taxes, gifts and bequests accepted by the Secretary 

of Commerce under the authority of the Act shall be deemed to be gifts and bequests to or for the use of the 

United States." 

Approved July 22, 1950 

September 9, 1950, 64 Stat. 823 (Public Law 776—8lst Congress, 2d session) 

The Technical Documentation Center in the Department of Commerce was transferred to the National 

Bureau of Standards in l964. Reorganized and renamed the Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and 

Technical Information, it provided inexpensive unclassified information about government-sponsored 

research and development in national programs. 

[CHAPTER 936] 

AN ACT 

To provide for the dissemination of technological, scientific, and engineering information to American 

business and industry, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress 

assembled, That the purpose of this Act is to make the results of technological research and development 

more readily available to industry and business, and to the general public, by clarifying and defining the 

functions and responsibilities of the Department of Commerce as a central clearinghouse for technical information which is useful to American industry and business. 

617 
CLEARINGHOUSE FOR TECHNICAL INFORMATION SEC. 2. The Secretary of Commerce (hereinafter referred to as the "Secretary") is hereby directed to establish and maintain within the Department of Commerce a clearinghouse for the collection and dissemination 

of scientific, technical, and engineering information, and to this end to take such steps as he may deem 

necessary and desirable— 

(a) To search for, collect, classify, coordinate, integrate, record, and catalog such information from what- ever sources, foreign and domestic, that may be available; 

(b) To make such information available to industry and business, to State and local governments, to other 

agencies of the Federal Government, and to the general public, through the preparation of abstracts, digests, 

translations, bibliographies, indexes, and microfilm and other reproductions, for distribution either directly or by utilization of business, trade, technical, and scientific publications and services; 

(c) To effect, within the limits of his authority as now or hereafter defined by law, and with the consent 

of competent authority, the removal of restrictions on the dissemination of scientific and technical data in cases where consideration of national security permit the release of such data for the benefit of industry and 

business. 

June 30, 1953, 67 Stat. Ill (Public Law 88—83d Congress, 1st session) Flammable Fabrics Act. 

Mandatory flammability standards were set for wearing apparel and fabrics in interstate commerce. The 

standards relied on the voluntary commercial standards adopted by industry working with the National 

Bureau of Standards over several years to produce these standards for the industry. 

Public Law 88 CHAPTER 164 

AN ACT 

To prohibit the introduction or movement in interstate commerce of articles of wearing apparel and 

fabrics which are so highly flammable as to be dangerous when worn by individuals, and for other purposes. STANDARD OF FLAMMABILITY SEC. 4. (a) Any fabric or article of wearing apparel shall be deemed so highly flammable within the mean- ing of section 3 of this Act as to be dangerous when worn by individuals if such fabric or any uncovered or exposed part of such article of wearing apparel exhibits rapid and intense burning when tested under the 

conditions and in the manner prescribed in the Commercial Standard promulgated by the Secretary of 

Commerce effective January 30, 1953, and identified as "Flammability of Clothing Textiles, Commercial 

Standard 19 1-53", or exhibits a rate of burning in excess of that specified in paragraph 3.11 of the Commercial Standard promulgated by the Secretary of Commerce effective May 22, 1953, and identified as "General 

Purpose Vinyl Plastic Film, Commercial Standard 192-53". For the purposes of this Act, such Commercial 

Standard 19 1-53 shall apply with respect to the hats, gloves, and footwear. 

(b) If at any time the Secretary of Commerce finds that the Commercial Standards referred to in subsection (a) of this section are inadequate for the protection of the public interest, he shall submit to the 

Congress a report setting forth his findings together with such proposals for legislation as he deems appropri- ate. (67 Stat. 112) ***** 

June 20, 1956, 70 Stat. 314 (Public Law 604—84th Congress, 2d session) 

Formal approval for the construction of new Bureau laboratories at Gaithersburg. 

Public Law 604 CHAPTER 415 

AN ACT 

Making appropriations for the Department of Commerce and related agencies for the fiscal year ending 

June 30, 1957, and for other purposes. 

618 
NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS Construction of facilities: For acquisition of necessary land and to initiate the design of the facilities to be 

constructed thereon for the National Bureau of Standards outside of the District of Columbia to remain available until expended, $930,000, to be transferred to the General Services Administration. (70 Stat. 321) 

August 2, 1956, 70 Stat. 953 (Public Law 930—84th Congress, 2d session) 

The Secretary of Commerce was directed to prescribe commercial standards for a safety device which 

would enable the refrigerator door to be opened from the inside. The National Bureau of Standards, with 

the cooperation of the refrigerator manufacturing industry, engaged in experiments to determine the basic 

criteria of reasonable safety which manufacturers could incorporate in the design of their refrigerators for 

preventing the suffocation of children entrapped in refrigerators. 

Public Law 930 CHAPTER 890 

AN ACT 

To require certain safety devices on household refrigerators shipped in interstate commerce. SEC. 3. The Secretary of Commerce shall prescribe and publish in the Federal Register commercial 

standards for devices which, when used in or on household refrigerators, will enable the doors thereof to be 

opened easily from the inside; and the standards first established under this section shall be so prescribed 

and published not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

August 3, 1956, 70 Stat. 959 (Public Law 940, 84th Congress, 2d session) 

The Organic Act of the National Bureau of Standards was amended by Section 7 of this law which 

authorized the Bureau to retain fees received from the public for services performed, and allowed the 

Bureau to charge fixed prices for services performed for other agencies. Section 12 (a) incorporated 

authority for use of the Working Capital Fund in the Organic Act, and permitted changes in the accounting treatment under the fund. 

Public Law 940 

AN ACT 

To amend the Act of March 3, 1901 (31 Stat. 1449) as amended, to incorporate in the Organic Act 

of the National Bureau of Standards the authority to use the Working Capital Fund, and to permit 

certain improvements in fiscal practices. 

"SEC. 7. The Secretary shall charge for services performed under the authority of section 3 of this Act, 

except in cases where he determines that the interest of the Government would be best served by waiving 

the charge. Such charges may be based upon fixed prices or cost. The appropriation or fund bearing the cost 

of the services may be reimbursed, or the Secretary may require advance payment subject to such adjustment on completion of the work as may be agreed upon. 

"SEC. 12. (a) The National Bureau of Standards is authorized to utilize in the performance of its functions 

the Working Capital Fund established by the Act of June 29, 1950 (64 Stat. 275), and additional amounts as from time to time may be required for the purposes of said fund are hereby authorized to be appropriated. 

619 
November 4, 1963, 77 Stat. 299 (Public Law 88-165, 88th Congress, 1st session) 

Public Law 88-165 

AN ACT 

To amend the Act redefining the units and establishing the standards of electrical and photometric 

measurements to provide that the candela shall be the unit of luminous intensity. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress 

assembled, That the Act entitled "An Act to redefine the units and establish the standards of electrical and 

photometric measurement" (Act of July 21, 1950; (64 Stat. 370) is amended by deleting the word "candle" 

wherever it appears and inserting in lieu thereof the word "candela". 

Approved November 4, 1963. 

October 30, 1965, 79 Stat. 1127 (Public Law 89-306—89th Congress, 1st session) "Brooks Act" 

As the technical representative of the Department of Commerce, the National Bureau of Standards 

established the Center for Computer Sciences and Technology to improve the effectiveness and efficiency 

of the government's use of computers. 

Public Law 89-306 

AN ACT 

To provide for the economic and efficient purchase, lease, maintenance, operation, and utilization 

of automatic data processing equipment by Federal departments and agencies. 

"AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING EQUIPMENT 

"(t) The Secretary of Commerce is authorized (1) to provide agencies, and the Administrator of General 

Services in the exercise of the authority delegated in this section, with scientific and technological advisory 

services relating to automatic data processing and related systems, and (2) to make appropriate recommendations to the President relating to the establishment of uniform Federal automatic data processing standards. 

The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to undertake the necessary research in the sciences and technologies of automatic data processing computer and related systems, as may be required under provisions of this 

subsection. (70 Stat. 1128) 

September 9, 1966, 80 Stat. 718 (Public Law 89-563—89th Congress, 2d session) National Traffic and 

Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966. 

The Secretary of Commerce was to use the facilities of the National Bureau of Standards to initiate and 

conduct research, testing, development, and evaluation in cooperation with other Federal departments 

and agencies. The brake fluid and seat belt legislation passed in 1962 and 1963 was repealed by this 

broader law. 

Public Law 89-563 

AN ACT 

To provide for a coordinated national safety program and establishment of safety standards for motor 

vehicles in interstate commerce to reduce accidents involving motor vehicles and to reduce the death 

and injuries occurring in such accidents. SEC. 103. (1) In prescribing standards under this section, the Secretary shall— 

(I) consider relevant available motor vehicle safety data, including the results of research, development, 

testing and evaluation activities conducted pursuant to the Act; . . . (80 Stat. 719) 

620 
October 15, 1966, 80 Stat. 931 (Public Law 89-670—89th Congress, 2d session) Department of Transportation Act. 

The functions, powers, and duties given to the Secretary of Commerce under the National Traffic and 

Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 were transferred to the Secretary of Transportation. The Office of 

Vehicle Systems Research was formed at the National Bureau of Standards in March 1967. 

Public Law 89-670 

AN ACT 

To establish a Department of Transportation and for other purposes. TRANSFERS TO DEPARTMENT SEC. 6. (a) There are hereby transferred to and vested in the Secretary all functions, powers, and duties of 

the Secretary of Commerce and other offices and officers of the Department of Commerce under— 

(6) the following laws relating generally to traffic and highway safety: 

(A) The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 (80 Stat. 718). 

(B) The Highway Safety Act of 1966 (80 Stat. 731). 

November 3, 1966, 80 Stat. 1296 (Public Law 89-755—89th Congress, 2d session) Fair Packaging and 

Labeling Act. 

The National Bureau of Standards was given the responsibility to work with industry to reduce the number 

of package sizes, and to make labels more informative. 

Public Law 89-755 

AN ACT 

To regulate interstate and foreign commerce by preventing the use of unfair or deceptive methods 

of packaging or labeling of certain consumer commodities distributed in such commerce, and for 

other purposes. SEC. 5. (d) Whenever the Secretary of Commerce determines that there is undue proliferation of the 

weights, measures, or quantities in which any consumer commodity or reasonably comparable consumer 

commodities are being distributed in packages for sale at retail and such undue proliferation impairs the 

reasonable ability of consumers to make value comparisons with respect to such consumer commodity or commodities, he shall request manufacturers, packers, and distributors of the commodity or commodities to participate in the development of a voluntary product standard for such commodity or commodities under the 

procedures for the development of voluntary products standards established by the Secretary pursuant to section 2 of the Act of March 3, 1901 (31 Stat. 1449, as amended; 15 U.S.C. 272). Such procedures shall 

provide adequate manufacturer, packer, distributor, and consumer representation. 

(e) If (I) after one year after the date on which the Secretary of Commerce first makes the request of 

manufacturers, packers, and distributors to participate in the development of a voluntary product standard as provided in subsection (d) of this section, he determines that such a standard will not be published 

pursuant to the provisions of such subsection (d), or (2) if such a standard is published and the Secretary of 

Commerce determines that it has not been observed, he shall promptly report such determination to the 

Congress with a statement of the efforts that have been made under the voluntary standards program and his 

recommendation as to whether Congress should enact legislation providing regulatory authority to deal with 

the situation in question. (80 Stat. 1299) 

REPORTS TO ThE CONGRESS SEC. 8. Each officer or agency required or authorized by the Act to promulgate regulations for the packaging or labeling of any consumer commodity, or to participate in the development of voluntary product stan- dards with respect to any consumer commodity under procedures referred tom section 5 (d) of this Act, 

shall transmit to the Congress in January of each year a report containing a ftll and complete description of 

the activities of that officer or agency for the administration and enforcement of this Act during the preceding fiscal year. 

621 
COOPERATION WITH STATE AIJTHORITtES SEC. 9. (a) A copy of each regulation promulgated under this Act shall be transmitted promptly to the 

Secretary of Commerce, who shall (I) transmit copies thereof to all appropriate State officers and agencies, 

and (2) furnish to such State officers and agencies information and assistance to promote to the greatest 

practicable extent uniformity in State and Federal regulation of the labeling of consumer commodities. 

(b) Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to impair or otherwise interfere with any program 

carried into effect by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under other provisions of law in cooperation with State government or agencies, instrumentalities, or political subdivisions thereof. (80 Stat. 1300) 

December 14, 1967, 81 Stat. 568 (Public Law 90-189—90th Congress, 1st session) 

The Flammable Fabrics Act amendments provided a mechanism for continued evaluation and revision to 

keep the requirements up- to-date and extended coverage to flammable interior furnishings. The Secretary 

of Commerce was given the responsibility of developing mandatory flammability standards when necessary. NBS had the responsibility of providing the necessary technical information. 

Public Law 90-189 

AN ACT 

To amend the Flammable Fabrics Act to increase the protection afforded consumers against 

injurious flammable fabrics. SEC. 3. Section 4 of the Flammable Fabrics Act is amended to read as follows: 

"REGULATION OF FLAMMABLE FABRICS "SEC. 4. (a) Whenever the Secretary of Commerce finds on the basis of the investigations or research 

conducted pursuant to section 14 of this Act that a new or amended flammability standard or other regulation, including labeling, for a fabric, related material, or product may be needed to protect the public against 

unreasonable risk of the occurrence of fire leading to death or personal injury, or significant property damage, he shall institute proceedings for the determination of an appropriate flammability standard (including 

conditions and manner of testing) or other regulation or amendment thereto for such fabric, related material, or product. 

"(b) Each standard, regulation, or amendment thereto promulgated pursuant to this section shall be based on findings that such standard, regulation, or amendment thereto is needed to adequately protect the public 

against unreasonable risk of the occurrence of fire leading to death, injury, or significant property damage, is 

reasonable, technologically practicable, and appropriate, is limited to such fabrics, related materials, or prod- ucts which have been determined to present such unreasonable risks, and shall be stated in objective terms. Each such standard, regulation, or amendment thereto, shall become effective twelve months from the date on which such standard, regulation, or amendment is promulgated, unless the Secretary of Commerce finds 

for good cause shown that an earlier or later effective date is in the public interest and publishes the reason for such finding. Each such standard or regulation or amendment thereto shall exempt fabrics, related materials, or products in inventory or with the trade as of the date on which the standard, regulation, or amendment 

thereto, becomes effective except that, if the Secretary finds that any such fabric, related material, or product 

is so highly flammable as to be dangerous when used by consumers for the purpose for which it is intended, 

he may under such conditions as the Secretary may prescribe, withdraw, or limit the exemption for such 

fabric, related material, or product. (81 Stat. 569) * * ** * 

622 
March 1, 1968, 82 Stat. 34 (Public Law 90-259—90th Congress, 2d session) Fire Research and Safety Act of 

1968. 

The Fire Research and Safety Office was created to carry out the activities of the program. 

Public Law 90-259 

AN ACT 

To amend the Organic Act of the National Bureau of Standards to authorize a fire research and safety 

program, and for other purposes. 

Title I—FIRE RESEARCH AND SAFETY PROGRAM DECLARATION OF POLICY SEC. 101. The Congress finds that a comprehensive fire research and safety program is needed in this 

country to provide more effective measures of protection against the hazards of death, injury, and damage to property. The Congress finds that it is desirable and necessary for the Federal Government, in carrying out 

the provisions of this title, to cooperate with and assist public and private agencies. The Congress declares 

that the purpose of this title is to amend the Act of March 3, 1901, as amended, to provide a national fire 

research and safety program including the gathering of comprehensive fire data; a comprehensive fire 

research program; fire safety education and training programs; and demonstrations of new approaches and 

improvements in fire prevention and control, and reduction of death, personal injury, and property damage. 

Additionally, it is the sense of Congress that the Secretary should establish a fire research and safety center 

for administering this title and carrying out its purposes, including appropriate fire safety liaison and 

coordination. AUTHORIZATION OF PROGRAM SEC. 102. The Act entitled "An Act to establish the National Bureau of Standards", approved March 3, 

1901, as amended (15 U.S.C. 27l-278e, is further amended by adding the following sections: 

"SEC. 16. The Secretary of Commerce (hereinafter referred to as the 'Secretary') is authorized to— 

"(a) Conduct directly or through contracts or grants— 

"(I) investigations of fires to determine their causes, frequency of occurrence, severity, and other 

pertinent factors; 

"(2) research into the causes and nature of fires, and the development of improved methods and 

techniques for fire prevention, fire control, and reduction of death, personal injury, and property damage; 

"(3) educational programs to— 

"(A) inform the public of fire hazards and fire safety techniques, and 

"(B) encourage avoidance of such hazards and use of such techniques; 

"(4) fire information reference services, including the collection, analysis, and dissemination of data, 

research results, and other information, derived from this program or from other sources and related to fire 

protection, fire control, and reduction of death, personal injury, and property damage; 

"(5) educational and training programs to improve, among other things— 

"(A) the efficiency, operation, and organization of fire services, and 

"(B) the capability of controlling unusual fire-related hazards and fire disasters; and 

"(6) projects demonstrating— 

"(A) improved or experimental programs of fire prevention, fire control, and reduction of death, 

personal injury, and property damage, 

"(B) application of fire safety principles in construction, or 

"(C) improvement of the efficiency, operation, or organization of the fire services. 

"(b) Support by contracts or grants the development, for use by educational and other nonprofit institutions, of— 

"(I) fire safety and fire protection engineering or science curriculums; and 

"(2) fire safety courses, seminars, or other instructional materials and aids for the above curriculums or other appropriate curriculums or courses of instruction. 

623 
"SEc. 17. With respect to the functions authorized by section 16 of this Act— 

"(a) Grants may be made only to States and local governments, other non-Federal public agencies, and 

nonprofit institutions. Such a grant may be up to 100 per centum of the total cost of the project for which 

such grant is made. The Secretary shall require, whenever feasible, as a condition of approval of a grant, that 

the recipient contribute money, facilities, or services to carry out the purpose for which the grant is sought. 

For the purposes of this section, 'State' means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the 

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Canal Zone, American Samoa, and the Trust 

Territory of the Pacific Islands; and 'public agencies' includes combinations or groups of States or local 

governments. 

"(b) The Secretary may arrange with and reimburse the heads of other Federal departments and agencies 

for the performance of any such functions, and, as necessary or appropriate, delegate any of his powers 

under this section or section 16 of this Act with respect to any part thereof, and authorize the redelegation of 

such powers. 

"(c) The Secretary may perform such functions without regard to section 3648 of the Revised Statutes (31 

U.S.C. 529). 

"(d) The Secretary is authorized to request any Federal department or agency to supply such statistics, 

data, program reports, and other materials as he deems necessary to carry out such functions. Each such 

department or agency is authorized to cooperate with the Secretary and, to the extent permitted by law, to furnish such materials to the Secretary. The Secretary and the heads of other departments and agencies 

engaged in administering programs related to fire safety shall, to the maximum extent practicable, cooperate 

and consult in order to insure fully coordinated efforts. 

"(e) The Secretary is authorized to establish such policies, standards, criteria, and procedures and to prescribe such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary or appropriate to the administration of such 

functions or this section, including rules and regulations which— 

"(I) provide that a grantee will from time to time, but not less often than annually, submit a report 

evaluating accomplishments of activities funded under section 16, and 

"(2) provide for fiscal control, sound accounting procedures, and periodic reports to the Secretary 

regarding the application of funds paid under section 16." 

July 11, 1968, 82 Stat. 339 (Public Law 90-396—90th Congress, 2d session) Standard Reference Data Act. 

This Act authorized the National Bureau of Standards to coordinate a National system for providing 

scientific data to science and industry, thereby strengthening and increasing the effectiveness of the 

Bureau's standard reference data operation. 

Public Law 90-396 

AN ACT 

To provide for the collection, compilation, critical evaluation, publication, and sale of standard 

reference data. DECLARATION OF POLICY SEcrIoN I. The Congress hereby finds and declares that reliable standardized scientific and technical refer- ence data are of vital importance to the progress of the Nation's science and technology. It is therefore the 

policy of the congress to make critically evaluated reference data readily available to scientists, engineers, 

and the general public. It is the purpose of this Act to strengthen and enhance this policy. SEC. 2. For the purposes of this Act— 

(a) The term "standard reference data" means quantitative information, related to a measurable physical or 

chemical property of a substance or system of substances of known composition and structure, which is 

critically evaluated as to its reliability under section 3 of this Act. 

(b) The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of Commerce. 

624 
SEC. 3. The Secretary is authorized and directed to provide or arrange for the collection, compilation, 

critical evaluation, publication, and dissemination of standard reference data. In carrying out this program, 

the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable, utilize the reference data services and facilities of 

other agencies and instrumentalities of the Federal Government and of State and local governments, persons, 

firms, institutions, and associations, with their consent and in such a manner as to avoid duplication of those 

services and facilities. All agencies and instrumentalities of the Federal Government are encouraged to exer- cise their duties and functions in such manner as will assist in carrying out the purpose of this Act. This 

section shall be deemed complementary to existing authority, and nothing herein is intended to repeal, supersede, or diminish existing authority or responsibility of any agency or instrumentality of the Federal Government. SEC. 4. To provide for more effective integration and coordination of standard reference data activities, the 

Secretary, in consultation with other interested Federal agencies, shall prescribe and publish in the Federal 

Register such standards, criteria, and procedures for the preparation and publication of standard reference 

data as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. SEC. 5. Standard reference data conforming to standards established by the Secretary may be made available and sold by the Secretary or by a person or agency designated by him. To the extent practicable and 

appropriate, the prices established for such data may reflect the cost of collection, compilation, evaluation, 

publication, and dissemination of the data, including administrative expenses; and the amounts received shall 

be subject to the Act of March 3. 1901. as amended (15 U.S.C. 271- 278e). SEC. 6. (a) Notwithstanding the limitations contained in section 9 of title 17 of the United States Code, the 

Secretary may secure copyright and renewal thereof on behalf of the United States as author or proprietor in 

all or any part of any standard reference data which he prepares or makes available under this Act, and may 

authorize the reproduction and publication thereof by others. 

(b) The publication or republication by the Government under this Act, either separately or in a public 

document, of any material in which copyright is subsisting shall not be taken to. cause any abridgment or 

annulment of the copyright or to authorize any use or appropriation of such material without the consent of 

the copyright proprietor. SEC. 7. There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act, $1.86 million for the fiscal year 

ending June 30, 1969. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, no appropriations for any fiscal year 

may be made for the purpose of this Act after fiscal year 1969 unless previously authorized by the Congress. SEC. 8. This Act may be cited as the "Standard Reference Data Act." 

Approved July 11, 1968. 

August 9, 1968, 82 Stat. 693 (Public Law 90-472—90th Congress, 2d session) "Metric System Study". 

The Act authorized a study of the effect upon the United States of increased use of the Metric System 

throughout the world and development of recommendations for an action program to deal with the 

problem. 

Public Law 90-472 

AN ACT 

To authorize the Secretary of Commerce to make a study to determine the advantages and disadvantages 

of increased use of the metric system in the United States. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress 

assembled, That the Secretary of Commerce is hereby authorized to conduct a program of investigation, 

research, and survey to determine the impact of increasing worldwide use of the metric system on the United 

States; to appraise the desirability and practicability of increasing the use of metric weights and measures in 

the United States; to study the feasibility of retaining and promoting by international use of dimensional and 

other engineering standards based on the customary measurement units of the United States; and to evaluate 

the costs and benefits of alternative courses of action which may be feasible for the United States. 

625 
SEC. 2. In carrying out the program described in the first section of this Act, the Secretary, among other 

things, shall— 

(1) investigate and appraise the advantages and disadvantages to the United States in international 

trade and commerce, and in military and other areas of international relations, of the increased use of an international standardized system of weights and measures; 

(2) appraise economic and military advantages and disadvantages of the increased use of the metric 

system in the United States or of the increased use of such system in specific fields and the impact of 

such increased use upon those affected; 

(3) conduct extensive comparative studies of the systems of weights and measures used in educational, engineering, manufacturing, commercial, public, and scientific areas, and the relative advantages 

and disadvantages, and degree of standardization of each in its respective field; 

(4) investigate and appraise the possible practical difficulties which might be encountered in accom- plishing the increased use of the metric system of weights and measures generally or in specific fields or areas in the United States; 

(5) permit appropriate participation by representatives of United States industry, science, engineering, 

and labor, and their associations, in the planning and conduct of the program authorized by the first 

section of this Act, and in the evaluation of the information secured under such program; and 

(6) consult and cooperate with other government agencies, Federal, State, and local, and, to the extent 

practicable, with foreign governments and international organizations. SEC. 3. En conducting the studies and developing the recommendations required in this Act, the Secretary 

shall give full consideration to the advantages, disadvantages, and problems associated with possible changes 

in either the system of measurement units or the related dimensional and engineering standards currently 

used in the United States, and specifically shall— 

(I) investigate the extent to which substantial changes in the size, shape, and design of important 

industrial products would be necessary to realize the benefits which might result from general use of 

metric units of measurement in the United States; 

(2) investigate the extent to which uniform and accepted engineering standards based on the metric 

system of measurement units are in use in each of the fields under study and compare the extent to such 

use and the utility and degree of sophistication of such metric standards with those in use in the United 

States; and 

(3) recommend specific means of meeting the practical difficulties and costs in those areas of the 

economy where any recommended change in the system of measurement units and related dimensional 

and engineering standards would raise significant practical difficulties or entail significant costs of 

conversion. SEC. 4. The Secretary shall submit to the Congress such interim reports as he deems desirable, and within 

three years after the date of the enactment of this Act, a full and complete report of the findings made under 

the program authorized by this Act, together with such recommendations as he considers to be appropriate 

and in the best interests of the United States. SEC. 5. From funds previously appropriated to the Department of Commerce, the Secretary is authorized to utilize such appropriated sums as are necessary, but not to exceed $500,000, to carry out the purposes of 

this Act for the first year of the program. SEC. 6. This Act shall expire thirty days after the submission of the final report pursuant to section 3. 

Approved August 9, 1968. 

October 27, 1972, 86 Stat. 1207 (Public Law 92-573——92d Congress, 2d session) Consumer Product Safety 

Act. 

This Act established the Consumer Product Safety Commission and transferred the regulatory functions of 

the Secretary of Commerce under the Flammable Fabrics Act and the "Refrigerator Safety Devices Act" to the Commission. The National Bureau of Standards provided technical support to the CPSC. 

AN ACT 

To protect consumers against unreasonable risk of injury from hazardous products, and for other purposes. 

626 
COOPERATION WITH STATES AND WITh OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES SEC. 29. (d) The Commission shall, to the maximum extent practicable, utilize the resources and facilities 

of the National Bureau of Standards, on a reimbursable basis, to perform research and analyses related to risks of injury associated with consumer products (including fire and flammability risks), to develop test methods, to conduct studies and investigations, and to provide technical advice and assistance in connection 

with the functions of the Commission. TEANSFERS OF FUNCTIONS SEC. 30. (a) The functions of the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (15 U.S.C. 1261 et seq.) and the Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970 are transferred to the Commission. The functions of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and 

of the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under the Acts amended by subsections (b) through (f) of 

section 7 of the Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970, to the extent such functions relate to the administration and enforcement of the Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970, are transferred to the Commission. 

(b) The functions of the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, the Secretary of Commerce, and the 

Federal Trade Commission under the Flammable Fabrics Act (15 U.S.C. 1191 et seq.) are transferred to the 

Commission. The functions of the Federal Trade Commission under the Federal Trade Commission Act, to the extent such functions relate to the administration and enforcement of the Flammable Fabrics Act, are transferred to the Commission. 

(c) The functions of the Secretary of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission under the Act of 

August 2, 1956 (15 U.S.C. 1211) are transferred to the Commission. 

(d) A risk of injury which is associated with consumer products and which could be eliminated or reduced to a sufficient extent by action taken under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, the Poison Prevention 

Packaging Act of 1970, or the Flammable Fabrics Act may be regulated by the commission only in accor- dance with the provisions of those Acts. 

(e) (I) (A) All personnel, property, records, obligations, and commitments, which are used primarily with 

respect to any function transferred under the provisions of subsections (a), (b) and (c) of this section shall be 

transferred to the Commission, except those associated with fire and flammability research in the National 

Bureau of Standards. The transfer of personnel pursuant to this paragraph shall be without reduction in classification or compensation for one year after such transfer, except that the Chairman of the Commission shall 

have full authority to assign personnel during such one-year period in order to efficiently carry out functions 

transferred to the Commission under this section. (86 Stat. 123 I) 

October 27, 1972, 86 Stat. 1234 (Public Law 92-574----92d Congress, 2d session), Noise Control Act of 1972. 

The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency was authorized to conduct research on the 

effects, measurement, and control of noise. 

Public Law 92-574 

AN ACT 

To control the emission of noise detrimental to the human environment, and for other purposes. SEC. 14 (1) (B) development of improved methods and standards for measurement and monitoring of 

noise, in cooperation with the National Bureau of Standards, Department of Commerce; (86 Stat. 1245) 

627 
September 3, 1974, 88 Stat. 1069 (Public Law 93-409—93d Congress, 2d session) Solar Heating and Cooling Demonstration Act of 1974. 

The National Bureau of Standards was directed to determine what constituted an effective solar heating 

and cooling system. 

Public Law 93-409 

AN ACT 

To provide for the early development and commercial demonstration of the technology of solar heating 

and combined solar heating and cooling systems. SEC. 2. (b) It is therefore declared to be the policy of the United States and the purpose of this Act to provide for the demonstration within a three-year period of the practical use of solar heating technology, and to provide for the development and demonstration within a five-year period of the practical use of combined 

heating and cooling technology. (88 stat. 1069) DEFINITIONS SEC. 3. For purposes of this Act—. 

(I) the term "solar heating", with respect to any building, means the use of solar energy to meet such 

portion of the total heating needs of such building (including hot water), or such portion of the needs of 

such building for hot water (where its remaining heating needs are met by other methods), as may be 

required under performance criteria prescribed by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development utilizing the services of the Director of the National Bureau of Standards, and in consultation with the Director 

of the National Science Foundation, and the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; 

(2) the terms "solar heating and cooling" and "combined solar heating and cooling", with respect to any 

building, mean the use of solar energy to provide both such portion of the total heating needs of such 

building (including hot water) and such portion of the total cooling needs of such building, or such portion 

of the needs of such building for hot water (where its remaining heating needs are met by other methods) 

and such portion of the total cooling needs of a building, as may be required under performance criteria 

prescribed by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development utilizing the services of the Director of 

the National Bureau of Standards, and in consultation with the Director of the National Science Foundation, and the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and such term includes 

cooling by means of nocturnal heat radiation, by evaporation, or by other methods of meeting peakload 

energy requirements at nonpeakload times; (88 Stat. 1070) DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRATION OF SOLAR HEATING SYSTEMS TO BE USED 

IN RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS SEC. 5. (a) The Administrator and the Secretary shall promptly initiate and carry out a program, as provided in this section, for the development and demonstration of solar heating systems (including collectors, 

controls, and thermal storage) for use in residential dwellings. 

(b) (I) Within 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary, utilizing the services of 

the Director of the National Bureau of Standards and in consultation with the Administrator and the Director, 

shall determine, prescribe, and publish— 

(A) interim performance criteria for solar heating components and systems to be used in residential 

dwellings, and 

(B) interim performance criteria (relating to suitability for solar heating) for such dwellings themselves, 

taking into account in each instance climatic variations existing between different geographic areas. 

(2) As soon as possible after the publication of the performance criteria prescribed under paragraph (I), 

the Secretary, in consultation with the Director of the National Bureau of Standards and the Administrator, 

will select on the basis of open competition a number of designs for various types of residential dwellings 

suitable for and adapted to the installation of solar heating systems meeting the performance criteria prescribed under paragraph (I) (A). (88 Stat. 1070) 

628 
DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRATION OF COMBINED SOLAR HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEMS TO BE USED IN RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS SEC. 6. (a) The Administrator and the Secretary shall promptly initiate and carry out a program, as provided in this section, for the development and demonstration of combined solar heating and cooling systems 

(including collectors, controls, and thermal storage) for use in residential dwellings. 

(b) (1) As soon as possible after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary, utilizing the services 

of the Director of the National Bureau of Standards and in consultation with the Administrator and the 

Director, shall determine, prescribe, and publish— 

(A) interim performance criteria for combined solar heating and cooling components and systems to be 

used in residential dwellings, and 

(B) interim performance criteria (relating to suitability for solar heating and cooling) for such dwellings 

themselves, taking into account in each instance climatic variations existing between different geographic areas. (2) As soon as possible after the publication of the performance criteria prescribed under paragraph (1) 

(and if possible before the completion of the research and development provided for in subsection (c)), the 

Secretary, in consultation with the Director of the National Bureau of Standards and the Administrator, will 

select on the basis of open competition a number of designs for various types of residential dwellings suitable for and adapled to the installation of combined solar heating and cooling systems meeting the perfor- mance criteria prescribed under paragraph (I) (A). (88 Stat. 1072) DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRATION OF SOLAR HEATING AND COMBINED SOLAR HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEMS FOR COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS SEC. 9. The Administrator, in consultation with the Secretary, the Director, the Administrator of General 

Services, and the Director of the National Bureau of Standards and concurrently with the conduct of the 

programs under sections 5 and 6, shall enter into arrangements with appropriate Federal agencies to carry out 

such projects and activities (including demonstration projects) with respect to apartment buildings, office 

buildings, factories, crop-drying facilities and other agricultural structures, public buildings (including 

schools and colleges), and other non-residential, commercial, or industrial buildings, taking into account the 

special needs of and individual differences in such buildings based upon size, function, and other relevant 

factors, as may be appropriate for the early development and demonstration of solar heating and combined 

solar heating and cooling systems suitable and effective for use in such buildings. (88 Stat. 1074) COORDINATION. MONITORING. AND LIAISON SEC. 11. (a) The Secretary, utilizing the services of the Director of the National Bureau of Standards and 

in coordination with such other Government agencies as may be appropriate, shall— 

(I) monitor the performance arid operation of solar heating and combined solar heating and cooling 

systems installed in residential dwellings under this Act; 

(2) collect and evaluate data and information on the performance and operation of solar heating and 

combined solar heating and cooling systems installed in residential dwellings under this Act; and 

(3) from time to time, carrying out such studies and investigations and take such other actions, 

including the submission of special reports to the Congress when appropriate, as may be necessary to assure that the programs for which the Secretary is responsible under this Act effectively carry out the 

policy of this Act. (88 Stat. 1074) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION AND OThER ACrIONS TO PROMOTE PRACTICAL USE OF SOLAR HEATING AND COOLING TECHNOLOGIES SEC. 12. (a) The Secretary shall take all possible steps to assure that full and complete information with 

respect to the demonstrations and other activities conducted under this Act is made available to Federal, 

State, and local authorities, the building industry and related segments of the economy, the scientific and 

technical community, and the public at large, both during and after the close of the programs under this Act, 

629 
with the objective of promoting and facilitating to the maximum extent feasible the early and widespread 

practical use of solar energy for the heating and cooling of buildings throughout the United States. In accordance with regulations prescribed under section 16 such information shall be disseminated on a coordinated 

basis by the Secretary, the Administrator, the Director of the National Bureau of Standards, the Director, the 

Commissioner of the Patent Office, and other appropriate Federal offices and agencies. (88 Stat. 1075) REGULATIONS SEC. 16. The Administrator and the Secretary in consultation with the Director of the National Bureau of 

Standards, the Director, the Administrator of the General Services Administration, the Secretary of Defense, 

and other appropriate officers and agencies, shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary or appropri- ate to carry out this Act promptly and efficiently. Each such officer or agency, in consultation with the 

Administrator and the Secretary, may prescribe such regulations as may be necessary or appropriate to carry 

out his or its particular functions under this Act promptly and efficiently. (88 Stat. 1078). 

October 29, 1974, 88 Stat. 1535 (Public Law 93-498.-—93d Congress, 2d session) Federal Fire Prevention 

and Control Act of 1974. 

The establishment of the Center for Fire Research reorganized and strengthened the fire research 

programs at the National Bureau of Standards. 

Public Law 93-498 

AN ACT 

To reduce losses of life and property, through better fire prevention and control, and for other purposes. PURPOSES SEC. 3. It is declared to be the purpose of Congress in this Act to— 

(1) reduce the Nation's losses caused by fire through better fire and control; 

(2) supplement existing programs of research, training, and activities by State and local governments; 

(3) establish the National Fire Prevention and Control Administration and the Fire Research Center 

within the Department of Commerce; and 

(4) establish an intensified program of research into the treatment of burn and smoke injuries and the 

rehabilitation of victims of fires within the National Institutes of Health. (88 Stat. 1536) FIRE RESEARCH CENTER SEC. 18. The Act of March 3, 1901 (15 U.S.C. 278), is amended by striking out sections 16 and 17 (as 

added by title I of the Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1968) and by inserting in lieu thereof the following new section: 

"SEC. 16. (a) There is hereby established within the Department of Commerce a Fire Research Center 

which shall have the mission of performing and supporting research on all aspects of fire with the aim of 

providing scientific and technical knowledge applicable to the prevention and control of fires. The content 

and priorities of the research program shall be determined in consultation with the Administrator of the 

National Fire Prevention and Control Administration. In implementing this section, the Secretary is 

authorized to conduct, directly or through contracts or grants, a fire research program, including— 

"( I) basic and applied fire research for the purpose of arriving at an understanding of the fundamental 

processes underlying all aspects of fire. Such research shall include scientific investigations of— 

"(A) the physics and chemistry of combustion processes; 

"(B) the dynamics of flame ignition, flame spread, and flame extinguishment; 

"(C) the composition of combustion products developed by various sources and under various 

environmental conditions; 

630 
"(D) the early stages of fires in buildings and other structures, structural subsystems and structural 

components in all other types of fires, including, but not limited to, forest fires, brush fires, fires underground, oil blowout fires, and water-borne fires, with the aim of improving early detection capability; 

"(E) the behavior of fires involving all types of buildings and other structures and their contents 

(including mobile homes and highrise buildings, construction materials, floor and wall coverings, 

coatings, furnishings, and other combustible materials), and all other types of fires, including forest 

fires, brush fires, fires underground, oil blowout fires, and waterborne fires; 

"(F) the unique fire hazards arising from the transportation and use, in industrial and professional 

practices, of combustible gases, fluids, and materials; 

"(0) design concepts for providing increased fire safety consistent with habitability, comfort, and 

human impact in buildings and other structures; and 

"(H) such other aspects of the fire process as may be deemed useful in pursuing the objectives of the 

fire research program; 

"(2) research into the biological, physiological, and psychological factors affecting human victims of 

fire, and the performance of individual members of fire services, including— 

"(A) the biological and physiological effects of toxic substances encountered in fires; 

"(B) the trauma, cardiac conditions, and other hazards resulting from exposure to fire; 

"(C) the development of simple and reliable tests for determining the cause of death from fires; 

"(D) improved methods of providing first aid to victims of fires; 

"(E) psychological and motivational characteristics of persons who engage in arson, and the 

prediction and cure of such behavior; 

"(F) the conditions of stress encountered by firefighters, the effects of such stress, and the alleviation 

and reduction of such conditions; and 

"(0) such other biological, psychological, and physiological effects of fire as have significance for 

purposes of control or prevention of fires; and 

"(3) operation tests, demonstration projects, and fire investigations in support of the activities set forth 

in this section. 

"The Secretary shall insure that the results and advances arising from the work of the research program are disseminated broadly. He shall encourage the incorporation, to the extent applicable and practicable, of 

such results and advances in building codes, fire codes, and other relevant codes, test methods, fire service 

operations and training, and standards. The Secretary is authorized to encourage and assist in the development and adoption of uniform codes, test methods, and standards aimed at reducing fire losses and costs of 

fire protection. 

"(b) For the purposes of this section there is authorized to be appropriated not to exceed $3,500,000 for 

the fiscal year ending June 30, 1975 and not to exceed $4,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1976." 

(88 Stat. 1545). 

December 31, 1974, 88 Stat. 1878 (Public Law 93-577—93d Congress, 2d session) Federal Nonnuclear 

Energy Research and Development Act of 1974. 

The Office of Energy Related Inventions was established to help the Energy Research and Development 

Administration evaluate non-nuclear energy ideas. 

Public Law 93-577 

AN ACT 

To establish a national program for research and development in nonnuclear energy sources. ENERGY-RELATED INVENTIONS SEc. 14. The National Bureau of Standards shall give particular attention to the evaluation of all promising energy-related inventions, particularly those submitted by individual inventors and small companies for 

the purpose of obtaining direct grants from the Administrator. The National Bureau of Standards is authorized to promulgate regulations in the furtherance of this section. (88 Stat. 1894) 

631 
From the United States Code, 1946 edition, Containing the General and Permanent of the United 

States, in Force on January 2, 1947, pp. 1446-1447. 

Chapter 7.—THE BUREAU OF STANDARDS 

Sec. 

271. Bureau established. 

272. Functions of Bureau. 

273. Functions; for whom exercised. 

274. Director; powers and duties; report. 

275. Appointment of officers and employees. 

276. Fees. 

277. Regulations. 

278. Visiting committee. 

279. Absence of Director. 

280. Apprentices; promotion. 

281. Testing materials for District of Columbia. 

282. National hydraulic laboratory; establishment; purpose; study of Federal and State projects. 

§ 271. Bureau established. 

The Office of Standard Weights and Measures shall be known as the National Bureau of Standards. (Mar. 

3, 1,31 Stat. 1449.) 

§ 272. Functions of Bureau. 

The functions of the bureau shall consist in the custody of the standards; the comparison of the standards 

used in scientific investigations, engineering, manufacturing, commerce, and educational institutions with the 

standards adopted or recognized by the Government; the construction, when necessary, of standards, their 

multiples and subdivisions; the testing and calibration of standard measuring apparatus; the solution of 

problems which arise in connection with standards; the determination of physical constants and the properties 

of materials, when such data are of great importance to scientific or manufacturing interests and are not to be 

obtained of sufficient accuracy elsewhere. (Mar..3, 1901, ch. 872, § 2, 31 Stat. 1449.) 

§ 273. Functions; for whom exercised. 

The bureau shall exercise its functions for the Government of the United States; for any State or municipal 

government within the United States; or for any scientific society, educational institution, firm, corporation, 

or individual within the United States engaged in manufacturing or other pursuits requiring the use of 

standards or standard measuring instruments. All requests for the services of the bureau shall be made in 

accordance with the rules and regulations herein established in sections 276 and 277 of this title. (Mar. 3, 

1901, ch. 872, §3,31 Stat. 1449.) 

§ 274. Director; powers and duties; report. 

The director shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. He 

shall have the general supervision of the bureau, its equipment, and the exercise of its functions. He shall 

make an annual report to the Secretary of Commerce, including an abstract of the work done during the year 

and a financial statement. He may issue, when necessary, bulletins for public distribution, containing such 

information as may be of value to the public or facilitate the bureau in the exercise of its functions. (Mar. 3, 

1901, ch. 872, §5,31 Stat. 1449; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10,32 Stat. 829; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 141, § 1,37 

Stat. 736.) 

§ 275. Appointment of officers and employees. 

The officers and employees of the bureau, except the director, shall be appointed by the Secretary of 

Commerce at such time as their respective services may become necessary. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 6, 31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10,32 Stat. 829; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 141, § 1,37 Stat. 736.) 

632 
§ 276. Fees. 

For all comparisons, calibrations, tests, or investigations, performed by the National Bureau of Standards 

under sections 271—278 of this title, as amended and supplemented, except those performed for the Government of the United States or State governments within the United States, a fee sufficient in each case to 

compensate the National Bureau of Standards for the entire cost of the services rendered shall be charged, 

according to a schedule prepared by the Director of the National Bureau of Standards and approved by the 

Secretary of Commerce. All moneys received from such sources shall be paid into the Treasury to the credit 

of miscellaneous receipts. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 8, 31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10, 32 Stat. 

829; Mar. 4, 19l3,ch. 141, § 1,37 Stat. 736; June 30, 1932,ch. 314, § 312,47 Stat. 410.) 

§ 277. Regulations. 

The Secretary of Commerce shall, from time to time, make regulations regarding the payment of fees, the 

limits of tolerance to be attained in standards submitted for verification, the sealing of standards, the disbursement and receipt of moneys, and such other matters as he may deem necessary for carrying this Act 

into effect sections 271—278 of this title. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, §9,31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, 

§ 10,32 Stat. 829; Mar.4, 1913,ch. 141, § 1,37 Stat. 736.) 

§ 278. Visiting committee. 

There shall be a visiting committee of five members, to be appointed by the Secretary of Commerce, to consist of men prominent in the various interests involved, and not in the employ of the Government. This 

committee shall visit the bureau at least once a year, and report to the Secretary of Commerce upon the 

efficiency of its scientific work and the condition of its equipment. The members of this committee shall serve without compensation, but shall be paid the actual expenses incurred in attending its meetings. The 

period of service of the members of the committee shall be so arranged that one member shall retire each 

year, and the appointments to be for a period of five years. Appointments made to fill vacancies occurring 

other than in the regular manner are to be made for the remainder of the period in which the vacancy exists. 

(Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 10, 31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10, 32 Stat. 829; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 

1,37 Stat. 736.) 

§ 279. Absence of Director. In the case of the absence of the Director of the Bureau of Standards the Secretary of Commerce may 

designate some officer of said bureau to perform the duties of the director during his absence. (Mar. 4, 1911, 

1,36Stat. 1231;Mar.4, 1913,ch. 1,37Stat.736.) 

§ 280. Apprentices; promotion. 

Apprentices in the Bureau of Standards may be promoted after satisfactory apprenticeship, with the approval of the Civil Service Commission, to positions corresponding to the journeyman grades for which their 

duties logically prepare them, without regard to apportionment: Provided, That they thus acquire no rights to transfer to other lines of work. (July 16, 1914, ch. 141, § 1,38 Stat. 502.) 

§ 281. Testing materials for District of Columbia. 

Materials for fireproof buildings, other structural materials, and all materials, other than materials for 

paving and for fuel, purchased for and to be used by the government of the District of Columbia, when 

necessary in the judgment of the commissioners to be tested, shall be tested by the Bureau of Standards 

under the same conditions as similar testing is required to be done for the United States Government. 

(Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 150,37 Stat. 945.) 

§ 282. National hydraulic laboratory; establishment; purpose; study of Federal and State projects. 

There is authorized to be established in the Bureau of Standards of the Department of Commerce a national hydraulic laboratory for the determination of fundamental data useful in hydraulic research and 

engineering, including laboratory research relating to the behavior and control of river and harbor waters, the 

study of hydraulic structures and water flow, and the development and testing of hydraulic instruments and 

633 
accessories; Provided, That no test, study, or other work on a problem or problems connected with a project 

the prosecution of which is under the jurisdiction of any department or independent agency of the Government shall be undertaken in the laboratory herein authorized until a written request to do such work is submitted to the Director of the Bureau of Standards by the head of the department or independent agency 

charged with the execution of such project: And provided further, That any State or political subdivision 

thereof may obtain a test, study, or other work on a problem connected with a project the prosecution of 

which is under the jurisdiction of such State or political subdivision thereof. (May 14, 1930, ch. 275, § 1, 46 

Stat. 327.) 

634 
From the United States Code, 1952 edition, Containing the General and Permanent Liiws of the United 

States, in Force on January 2, 1953, pp. 1825-1830. 

Chapter 7.—THE BUREAU OF STANDARDS 

Sec. 

271. Bureau established. 

272. Functions of Secretary. 

273. Functions; for whom exercised. 

274. Director, powers and duties; report. 

275. Appointment of officers and employees. 

276. Fees. 

277. Regulations. 

278. Visiting committee. 

278a. Reimbursement from other Government agencies for services rendered. 

278b. Ownership of equipment transferred to carry out investigations. 

278c. Acceptance of gifts and bequests. 

279. Absence of Director. 

280. Apprentices; promotion. 

281. Testing materials for District of Columbia. 

282. National hydraulic laboratory; establishment; purpose; study of Federal and State projects. 

283, 284. Omitted. 

285. Availability of funds; functions and activities. 

286. Same; construction and improvement of buildings and facilities. 

§ 271. Bureau established. 

The Office of Standard Weights and Measures shall be known as the National Bureau of Standards. 

(Mar.3, 1,31 Stat. 1449.) 

§ 272. Functions of Secretary. 

The Secretary of Commerce (hereinafter referred to as the "Secretary") is authorized to undertake the 

following functions: 

(a) The custody, maintenance, and development of the national standards of measurement, and the provision of means and methods for making measurements consistent with those standards, including the compari- son of standards used in scientific investigations, engineering, manufacturing, commerce, and educational 

institutions with the standards adopted or recognized by the Government. 

(b) The determination of physical constants and properties of materials when such data are of great importance to scientific or manufacturing interests and are not to be obtained of sufficient accuracy elsewhere. 

(c) The development of methods for testing materials, mechanisms, and structures, and the testing of 

materials, supplies, and equipment, including items purchased for use of Government departments and 

independent establishments. 

(d) Cooperation with other governmental agencies and with private organizations in the establishment of 

standard practices, incorporated in codes and specifications. 

(e) Advisory service to Government agencies on scientific and technical problems. 

(f) Invention and development of devices to serve special needs of the Government. 

In carrying out the functions enumerated in this Section, the Secretary is authorized to undertake the 

following activities and similar ones for which need may arise in the operations of Government agencies, 

scientific institutions, and industrial enterprises: 

(1) the construction of physical standards; 

(2) the testing, calibration, and certification of standards and standard measuring apparatus; 

(3) the study and improvement of instruments and methods of measurements; 

(4) the investigation and testing of railroad track scales, elevator scales, and other scales used in 

weighing commodities for interstate shipment; 

(5) cooperation with the States in securing uniformity in weights and measures laws and methods of 

inspection; 

635 
(6) the preparation and distribution of standard samples such as those used in checking chemical 

analyses, temperature, color, viscosity, heat of combustion, and other basic properties of materials; also the 

preparation and sale or other distribution of standard instruments, apparatus and materials for calibration 

of measuring equipment; 

(7) the development of methods of chemical analysis and synthesis of materials, and the investigation of 

the properties of rare substances; 

(8) the study of methods of producing and of measuring high and low temperatures; and the behavior of 

materials at high and at low temperatures; 

(9) the investigation of radiation, radioactive substances, and X-rays, their uses, and means of protection 

of persons from their harmful effects; 

(10) the study of the atomic and molecular structure of the chemical elements, with particular reference to the characteristics of the spectra emitted, the use of spectral observations in determining chemical co position of materials, and the relation of molecular structure to the practical usefulness of materials; 

(11) the broadcasting of radio signals of standard frequency; 

(12) the investigation of the conditions which affect the transmission of radio waves from their source to a receiver; 

(13) the compilation and distribution of information on such transmission of radio waves as a basis for 

choice of frequencies to be used in radio operations; 

(14) the study of new technical processes and methods of fabrication of materials in which the 

Government has a special interest; also the study of methods of measurement and technical processes used 

in the manufacture of optical glass and pottery, brick, tile, terra cotta, and other clay products; 

(15) the determination of properties of building materials and structural elements, and encouragement of 

their standardization and most effective use, including investigation of fire-resisting properties of building 

materials and conditions under which they may be most efficiently used, and the standardization of types 

of appliances for fire prevention; 

(16) metallurgical research, including study of alloy steels and light metal alloys; investigation of 

foundry practice, casting, rolling, and forging; prevention of corrosion of metals and alloys; behavior of 

bearing metals; and development of standards for metals and sands; 

(17) the operation of a laboratory of applied mathematics; 

(18) the prosecution of such research in engineering, mathematics, and the physical sciences as may be 

necessary to obtain basic data pertinent to the functions specified herein; and 

(19) the compilation and publication of general scientific and technical data resulting from the perfor- mance of the functions specified herein or from other sources when such data are of importance to scientific or manufacturing interests or to the general public, and are not available elsewhere, including 

demonstration of the results of the Bureau's work by exhibits or otherwise as may be deemed most 

effective. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 2,31 Stat. 1449; July 22, 1950, ch. 486, § 1,64 Stat. 371.) 

§ 273. Functions; for whom exercised. 

That the bureau shall exercise its functions for the Government of the United States; for any State or 

municipal government within the United States; or for any scientific society, educational institution, firm, 

corporation, or individual within the United States engaged in manufacturing or other pursuits requiring the use of standards or standard measuring instruments. All requests for the services of the bureau shall be made 

in accordance with the rules and regulations herein established in sections 276 and 277 of this title. (Mar. 3, 

Stat. 1449.) 

§ 274. Director; powers and duties; report. 

The director shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. He 

shall have the general supervision of the bureau, its equipment, and the exercise of its functions. He shall 

make an annual report to the Secretary of Commerce, including an abstract of the work done during the year 

and a financial statement. He may issue, when necessary, bulletins for public distribution, containing such 

information as may be of value to the public or facilitate the bureau in the exercise of its functions. (Mar. 3, 

1901, ch. 872, § 5,31 Stat. 1449; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10,32 Stat. 829; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 1,37 

Stat. 736.) 

636 
§ 275. Appointment of officers and employees. 

The officers and employees of the bureau, except the director, shall be appointed by the Secretary of 

Commerce at such time as their respective services may become necessary. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 6, 31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10, 32 Stat. 829; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 141, § 1, 37 Stat. 736.) 

§ 276. Fees. 

For all comparisons, calibrations, tests, or investigations, performed by the National Bureau of Standards 

under sections 271—278c of this title, as amended and supplemented, except those performed for the 

Government of the United States or State governments within the United States, a fee sufficient in each case to compensate the National Bureau of Standards for the entire cost of the services rendered shall be charged, 

according to a schedule prepared by the Director of the National Bureau of Standards arid approved by the 

Secretary of Commerce. All moneys received from such sources shall be paid into the Treasury to the credit 

of miscellaneous receipts. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 8, 31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10, 32 Stat. 

829; Mar. 4, 1913,ch. 141, § 1,37 Stat. 736; June 30, l932,ch. 314, § 312,47 Stat. 410.) 

§ 277. Regulations. 

The Secretary of Commerce shall, from time to time, make regulations regarding the payment of fees, the 

limits of tolerance to be attained in standards submitted for verification, the sealing of standards, the 

disbursement and receipt of moneys, and such other matters as he may deem necessary for carrying this Act 

into effect sections 271—278c of this title. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, §9,31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 

552, § 10,32 Stat. 829; Mar. 4, 1913,ch. 1,37 Stat. 736.) 

§ 278. Visiting committee. 

There shall be a visiting committee of five members, to be appointed by the Secretary of Commerce, to consist of men prominent in the various interests involved, and not in the employ of the Government. This 

committee shall visit the bureau at least once a year, and report to the Secretary of Commerce upon the 

efficiency of its scientific work and the condition of its equipment. The members of this committee shall serve without compensation, but shall be paid the actual expenses incurred in attending its meetings. The 

period of service of the members of the committee shall be so arranged that one member shall retire each 

year, and the appointments to be for a period of five years. Appointments made to fill vacancies occurring 

other than in the regular manner are to be made for the remainder of the period in which the vacancy exists. 

(Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 10, 31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10, 32 Stat. 829; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 

1,37 Stat. 736.) 

§ 278a. Reimbursement from other Government agencies for services rendered. 

For all services rendered for other Government agencies by the Secretary in the performance of functions 

specified in sections 27 l—278c of this title, the Department of Commerce may be reimbursed in accordance 

with section 606 of Title 31. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § II, as added July 22, 1950, ch. 486, § 2, 64 Stat. 

371.) 

§ 278b. Ownership of equipment transferred to carry out investigations. 

In the absence of specific agreement to the contrary, equipment purchased by the Department of 

Commerce from transferred or advanced funds in order to carry out an investigation authorized in sections 

27 l—278c of this title for another Government agency shall become the property of the Department of 

Commerce for use in subsequent investigations. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 12, as added July 22, 1950, ch. 

486, § 2,64 Stat. 371.) 

§ 278c. Acceptance of gifts and bequests. 

(a) The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to accept and utilize gifts or bequests of real or personal 

property for the purpose of aiding and facilitating the work authorized in sections 27l—278c of this title. 

(b) For the purpose of Federal income, estate, and gift taxes, gifts and bequests accepted by the Secretary 

of Commerce under the authority of sections 271—278c of this title shall be deemed to be gifts and bequests to or for the use of the United States. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 13, as added July 22, 1950, ch 486, § 2, 64 

Stat. 371.) 

637 
§ 279. Absence of Director. 

In the case of the absence of the Director of the Bureau of Standards the Secretary of Commerce may 

designate some officer of said bureau to perform the duties of the director during his absence. (Mar. 4, 1911, 

ch. 237, § I, 36 Stat. 1231; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 141, § 1, 37 Stat. 736.) 

§ 280. Apprentices; promotion. 

Apprentices in the Bureau of Standards may be promoted after satisfactory apprenticeship, with the 

approval of the Civil Service Commission, to positions corresponding to the journeyman grades for which 

their duties logically prepare them, without regard to apportionment: Provided, That they thus acquire no 

rights to transfer to other lines of work. (July 16, 1914, ch. 141, § I, 38 Stat. 502.) 

§ 281. Testing materials for District of Columbia. 

Materials for fireproof buildings, other structural materials, and all materials, other than materials for 

paving and for fuel, purchased for and to be used by the government of the District of Columbia, when 

necessary in the judgment of the commissioners to be tested, shall be tested by the Bureau of Standards 

under the same conditions as similar testing is required to be done for the United States Government. 

(Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 150, 37 Stat. 945.) 

§ 282. National hydraulic laboratory; establishment; purpose; study of Federal and State projects. 

There is authorized to be established in the Bureau of Standards of the Department of Commerce a national hydraulic laboratory for the determination of fundamental data useful in hydraulic research and 

engineering, including laboratory research relating to the behavior and control of river and harbor waters, the 

study of hydraulic structures and water flow, and the development and testing of hydraulic instruments and 

accessories; Provided, That no test, study, or other work on a problem or problems connected with a project 

the prosecution of which is under the jurisdiction of any department or independent agency of the Government shall be undertaken in the laboratory herein authorized until a written request to do such work is 

submitted to the Director of the Bureau of Standards by the head of the department or independent agency 

charged with the execution of such project: And provided further, That any State or political subdivision 

thereof may obtain a test, study, or other work on a problem connected with a project the prosecution of 

which is under the jurisdiction of such State or political subdivision thereof. (May 14, 1930, ch. 275, § I, 46 

Stat. 327.) 

283,284. Omitted. 

§ 285. Availability of funds; functions and activities. 

Funds now or hereafter appropriated to the National Bureau of Standards shall be available for the following activities: (a) The purchase, repair, and cleaning of uniforms for guards; (b) the repair and alteration of 

buildings, and other plant facilities; (c) the rental of laboratory and office space in the District of Columbia 

and in the field; (d) the purchase of reprints from trade journals or other periodicals of articles prepared 

officially by Government employees; (e) the furnishing of food and shelter without repayment therefor to employees of the Government at Arctic stations; and (1) in the conduct of observations on radio propagation 

phenomena in the Arctic region, the appointment of employees at base rates established by the Secretary of 

Commerce which shall not exceed such maximum rates as may be specified from time to time in the appropriation concerned, and without regard to the civil service and classification laws and sections 911—913, 

921, and 922 of Title 5. (July 21, 1950, ch 485, § 1,64 Stat. 370.) 

§ 286. Same; construction and improvement of buildings and facilities. 

Within the limits of funds which may be appropriated therefor, the Secretary of Commerce is authorized to make improvements to existing buildings, grounds, and other plant facilities, including construction of 

minor buildings and other facilities of the National Bureau of Standards in the District of Columbia and in 

the field to house special apparatus or material which must be isolated from other activities: Provided, That 

no improvement shall be made nor shall any building be constructed under this authority at a cost in excess of $25,000, unless specific provision is made therefor in the appropriation concerned. (July 21, 1950, ch. 

485, § 2, 64 Stat. 371.) ***** 

638 
From the United States Code, 1958 edition, Containing the General and Permanent Laws of the United 

States, in Force on January 6, 1959, pp. 2569-2574. 

Chapter 7.—THE BUREAU OF STANDARDS 

Sec. 

271. Bureau established. 

272. Functions of Secretary. 

273. Functions; for whom exercised. 

274. Director; powers and duties; report. 

275. Appointment of officers and employees. 

275a. Service charges. 

276. Ownership of facilities. 

277. Regulations. 

278. Visiting committee. 

278a. Acceptance of gifts and bequests. 

278b. Working Capital Fund. 

(a) Utilization; appropriations. 

(b) Availability of Fund. 

(c) Reimbursements. 

(d) Credits. 

(e) Cost defined. 

(f) Distribution of earnings; restoration of prior impairment. 

278c. Acquisition of land for field sites. 

278d. Construction and improvement of buildings and facilities. 

278e. Functions and activities. 

279. Absence of Director. 

280. Apprentices; promotion. 

281. Testing materials for District of Columbia. 

282. National hydraulic laboratory; establishment; purpose; study of Federal and State projects. 

283, 284. Omitted. 

285, 286. Repealed. 

§ 271. Bureau established. 

The Office of Standard Weights and Measures shall be known as the National Bureau of Standards. (Mar. 

3, 1.31 Stat. 1449.) 

§ 272. Functions of Secretary. 

The Secretary of Commerce (hereinafter referred to as the "Secretary") is authorized to undertake the 

following functions: 

(a) The custody, maintenance, and development of the national standards of measurement, and the provision of means and methods for making measurements consistent with those standards, including the compari- son of standards used in scientific investigations, engineering, manufacturing, commerce, and educational 

institutions with the standards adopted or recognized by the Government. 

(b) The determination of physical constants and properties of materials when such data are of great importance to scientific or manufacturing interests and are not to be obtained of sufficient accuracy elsewhere. 

(c) The development of methods for testing materials, mechanisms, and structures, and the testing of 

materials, supplies, and equipment, including items purchased for use of Government departments and 

independent establishments. 

(d) Cooperation with other governmental agencies and with private organizations in the establishment of 

standard practices, incorporated in codes and specifications. 

(e) Advisory service to Government agencies on scientific and technical problems. 

(f) Invention and development of devices to serve special needs of the Government. 

639 
In carrying out the functions enumerated in this section, the Secretary is authorized to undertake the 

following activities and similar ones for which need may arise in the operations of Government agencies, 

scientific institutions, and industrial enterprises: 

(I) the construction of physical standards; 

(2) the testing, calibration, and certification of standards and standard measuring apparatus; 

(3) the study and improvement of instruments and methods of measurements; 

(4) the investigation and testing of railroad track scales, elevator scales, and other scales used in 

weighing commodities for interstate shipment; 

(5) cooperation with the States in securing uniformity in weights and measures laws and methods of 

inspection; 

(6) the preparation and distribution of standard samples such as those used in checking chemical 

analyses, temperature, color, viscosity, heat of combustion, and other basic properties of materials; also the 

preparation and sale or other distribution of standard instruments, apparatus and materials for calibration 

of measuring equipment; 

(7) the development of methods of chemical analysis and synthesis of materials, and the investigation of 

the properties of rare substances; 

(8) the study of methods of producing and of measuring high and low temperatures; and the behavior of 

materials at high and at low temperatures; 

(9) the investigation of radiation, radioactive substances, and X-rays, their uses, and means of protection 

of persons from their harmful effects; 

(10) the study of the atomic and molecular structure of the chemical elements, with particular reference to the characteristics of the spectra emitted, the use of spectral observations in determining chemical co position of materials, and the relation of molecular structure to the practical usefulness of materials; 

(II) the broadcasting of radio signals of standard frequency; 

(12) the investigation of the conditions which affect the transmission of radio waves from their source to a receiver; 

(13) the compilation and distribution of information on such transmission of radio waves as a basis for 

choice of frequencies to be used in radio operations; 

(14) the study of new technical processes and methods of fabrication of materials in which the 

Government has a special interest; also the study of methods of measurement and technical processes used 

in the manufacture of optical glass and pottery, brick, tile, terra cotta, and other clay products; 

(15) the determination of properties of building materials and structural elements, and encouragement of 

their standardization and most effective use, including investigation of fire-resisting properties of building 

materials and conditions under which they may be most efficiently used, and the standardization of types 

of appliances for fire prevention; 

(16) metallurgical research, including study of alloy steels and light metal alloys; investigation of 

foundry practice, casting, rolling, and forging; prevention of corrosion of metals and alloys; behavior of 

bearing metals; and development of standards for metals and sands; 

(17) the operation of a laboratory of applied mathematics; 

(18) the prosecution of such research in engineering, mathematics, and the physical sciences as may be 

necessary to obtain basic data pertinent to the functions specified herein; and 

(19) the compilation and publication of general scientific and technical data resulting from the 

performance of the functions specified herein or from other sources when such data are of importance to scientific or manufacturing interests or to the general public, and are not available elsewhere, including 

demonstration of the results of the Bureau's work by exhibits or otherwise as may be deemed most 

effective. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, §2,31 Stat. 1449; July 22, 1950, ch. 486, § 1,64 Stat. 371.) 

§ 273. Functions; for whom exercised. 

That the bureau shall exercise its functions for the Government of the United States; for any State or 

municipal government within the United States; or for any scientific society, educational institution, firm, 

corporation, or individual within the United States engaged in manufacturing or other pursuits requiring the use of standards or standard measuring instruments. All requests for the services of the bureau shall be made 

in accordance with the rules and regulations herein established in sections 276 and 277 of this title. (Mar. 3, 

Stat. 1449.) 

640 
§ 274. Director; powers and duties; report. 

The director shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. He 

shall have the general supervision of the bureau, its equipment, and the exercise of its functions. He shall 

make an annual report to the Secretary of Commerce, including an abstract of the work done during the year 

and a financial statement. He may issue, when necessary, bulletins for public distribution, containing such 

information as may be of value to the public or facilitate the bureau in the exercise of its functions. (Mar. 3, 

1901, ch. 872, §5,31 Stat. 1449; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10,32 Stat. 829; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 141, § 1,37 

Stat. 736.) 

§ 275. Appointment of officers and employees. 

The officers and employees of the bureau, except the director, shall be appointed by the Secretary of 

Commerce at such time as their respective services may become necessary. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 6, 31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10, 32 Stat. 829; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 141, § 1,37 Stat. 736.) 

§ 275a. Service charges. 

The Secretary shall charge for services performed under the authority of section 273 of this title, except in cases where he determines that the interest of the Government would be best served by waiving the charge. 

Such charges may be based upon fixed prices or costs. The appropriation or fund bearing the cost of the 

services may be reimbursed, or the Secretary may require advance payment subject to such adjustment on completion of the work as may be agreed upon. (Mar. 3, 1901. ch. 872. § 7, as added Aug. 3, 1956, ch. 906, 

§ 1, 70 Stat. 959.) 

§ 276. Ownership of facilities. 

In the absence of specific agreement to the contrary, additional facilities, including equipment, purchased 

pursuant to the performance of services authorized by section 273 of this title shall become the property of 

the Department of Commerce. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 8, 31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10, 32 

Stat. 829; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 141, § 1, 37 Stat. 736; June 30, 1932, ch. 314, § 312, 47 Stat. 410; Aug. 3, 

1956, ch. 906, § 1,70 Stat. 959.) 

§ 277. Regulations. 

The Secretary of Commerce shall, from time to time, make regulations regarding the payment of fees, the 

limits of tolerance to be attained in standards submitted for verification, the sealing of standards, the disbursement and receipt of moneys, and such other matters as he may deem necessary for carrying this Act 

into effect sections 27l—278b of this title. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 9, 31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 

552, § 10,32 Stat. 829; Mar. 4, l913,ch. 141, § 1,37 Stat. 736.) 

§ 278. Visiting committee. 

There shall be a visiting committee of five members, to be appointed by the Secretary of Commerce, to consist of men prominent in the various interests involved, and not in the employ of the Government. This 

committee shall visit the bureau at least once a year, and report to the Secretary of Commerce upon the 

efficiency of its scientific work and the condition of its equipment. The members of this committee shall serve without compensation, but shall be paid the actual expenses incurred in attending its meetings. The 

period of service of the members of the committee shall be so arranged that one member shall retire each 

year, and the appointments to be for a period of five years. Appointments made to fill vacancies occurring 

other than in the regular manner are to be made for the remainder of the period in which the vacancy exists. 

(Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 10, 31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10, 32 Stat. 829; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 

l,37Stat.736.) 

§ 278a. Acceptance of gifts and bequests. 

(a) The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to accept and utilize gifts or bequests of real or personal 

property for the purpose of aiding and facilitating the work authorized herein. 

(b) For the purpose of Federal income, estate, and gift taxes, gifts and bequests accepted by the Secretary 

of Commerce under the authority of sections 27 1-278b of this title shall be deemed to be gifts and bequests to or for the use of the United States. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § II, as added July 22, 1950, ch. 486, § 2, 64 

Stat. 371, and amended Aug. 3, 1956, ch. 906, § 2, 70 Stat. 959; Sept. 2, 1958, Pub. L. 85-890, § 2, 72 Stat. 

l7l2.) 

641 
§ 278b. Working Capital Fund. 

(a) Utilization; appropriations. 

The National Bureau of Standards is authorized to utilize in the performance of its functions the Working 

Capital Fund established by the Act of June 29, 1950 (64 Stat. 275), and additional amounts as from time to time may be required for the purposes of said fund are authorized to be appropriated. 

(b) Availability of Fund. 

The working capital of the fund shall be available for obligation and payment for any activities authorized 

by sections 271-278b of this title, and for any activities for which provision is made in the appropriations 

which reimburse the fund. 

(c) Reimbursements. 

In the performance of authorized activities, the Working Capital Fund shall be available and may be re- imbursed for expenses of hire of automobile, hire of consultants, and travel to meetings, to the extent that 

such expenses are authorized for the appropriations of the Department of Commerce. 

(d) Credits. 

The fund may be credited with advances and reimbursement, including receipts from non-Federal sources, 

for services performed under the authority of section 273 of this title. 

(e) Cost defined. 

As used in sections 27 l-278b of this title, the term "cost" shall be construed to include directly related 

expenses and appropriate charges for indirect and administrative expenses. 

(t) Distribution of earnings; restoration of prior impairment. 

The amount of any earned net income resulting from the operation of the fund at the close of each fiscal 

year shall be paid into the general fund of the Treasury: Provided, That such earned net income may be 

applied first to restore any prior impairment of the fund. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 12, as added July 22, 

1950, ch. 486, § 2,64 Stat. 371, and amended Aug. 3, 1956, ch. 906, § 2,70 Stat. 959.) 

§ 278c. Acquisition of land for field sites. 

To the extent that funds are specifically appropriated therefor, the Secretary of Commerce is authorized to acquire land for such field sites as are necessary for the proper and efficient conduct of the activities 

rized herein. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 13, as added Sept. 2, 1958, Pub. L. 85-890, § 1,72 Stat. 1711.) 

§ 278d. Construction and improvement of buildings and facilities. 

Within the limits of funds which are appropriated for the National Bureau of Standards, the Secretary of 

Commerce is authorized to undertake such construction of buildings and other facilities and to make such 

improvements to existing buildings, grounds, and other facilities occupied or used by the National Bureau of 

Standards as are necessary for the proper and efficient conduct of the activities authorized herein: Provided, 

That no improvement shall be made nor shall any building be constructed under this authority at a cost in excess of $40,000 unless specific provision is made therefor in the appropriation concerned. (Mar. 3, 1901, 

ch. 872, § 14. as added Sept. 2. 1958, Pub. L. 85-890, § I, 72 Stat. 1711.) 

§ 278e. Functions and activities. In the performance of the functions of the National Bureau of Standards and the Secretary of Commerce is 

authorized to undertake the following activities: (a) The purchase, repair, and cleaning of uniforms for 

guards; (b) the repair and alteration of buildings and other plant facilities; (c) the rental of field sites and 

laboratory, office, and warehouse space; (d) the purchase of reprints from technical journals or other periodicals and the payment of page charges for the publication of research papers and reports in such journals; (e) 

the furnishing of food and shelter without repayment therefor to employees of the Government at Arctic and 

Antarctic stations; (1) for the conduct of observations on radio propagation phenomena in the Arctic or Antarctic regions, the appointment of employees at base rates established by the Secretary of Commerce 

which shall not exceed such maximum rates as may be specified from time to time in the appropriation 

concerned, and without regard to the civil service and classification laws and sections 911-913, 921, and 922 

of Title 5; and (g) the erection on leased property of specialized facilities and working and living quarters 

when the Secretary of Commerce determines that this will best serve the interests of the Government. (Mar. 

3, l901,ch. 872, § l5,asadded Sept. 2, 1958, Pub. L. 85-890, § t,72Stat. 171!.) 

642 
§ 279. Absence of Director. 

In the case of the absence of the Director of the Bureau of Standards the Secretary of Commerce may 

designate some officer of said bureau to perform the duties of the director during his absence. (Mar. 4, 1911, 

ch. 237, § 1, 36 Stat. 1231; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 141, § 1, 37 Stat. 736.) 

§ 280. Apprentices; promotion. 

Apprentices in the Bureau of Standards may be promoted after satisfactory apprenticeship, with the 

approval of the Civil Service Commission, to positions corresponding to the journeyman grades for which 

their duties logically prepare them, without regard to apportionment: Provided, That they thus acquire no 

rights to transfer to other lines of work. (July 16, 1914, ch. 141, § 1,38 Stat. 502.) 

§ 281. Testing materials for District of Columbia. 

Materials for fireproof buildings, other structural materials, and all materials, other than materials for 

paving and for fuel, purchased for and to be used by the government of the District of Columbia, when 

necessary in the judgment of the commissioners to be tested, shall be tested by the Bureau of Standards 

under the same conditions as similar testing is required to be done for the United States Government. 

(Mar.4, l913,ch. 150,37Stat.945.) 

§ 282. National hydraulic laboratory; establishment; purpose; study of Federal and State projects. 

There is authorized to be established in the Bureau of Standards of the Department of Commerce a 

national hydraulic laboratory for the determination of fundamental data useful in hydraulic research and 

engineering, including laboratory research relating to the behavior and control of river and harbor waters, the 

study of hydraulic structures and water flow, and the development and testing of hydraulic instruments and 

accessories; Provided, That no test, study, or other work on a problem or problems connected with a project 

the prosecution of which is under the jurisdiction of any department or independent agency of the Government shall be undertaken in the laboratory herein authorized until a written request to do such work is submitted to the Director of the Bureau of Standards by the head of the department or independent agency 

charged with the execution of such project: And provided further, That any State or political subdivision 

thereof may obtain a test, study, or other work on a problem connected with a project the prosecution of 

which is under the jurisdiction of such State or political subdivision thereof. (May 14, 1930, ch. 275, § I, 46 

Stat. 327.) 

§ 283,284. Omitted. 

§ 285, 286. Repealed. Pub. L. 85-890,3, Sept. 2, 1958,72 Stat. 1712. 

643 
From the United States Code, 1964 edition, Containing the General and Permanent Laws of the United 

States, in Force on January 3, 1965, PP. 2824-2829. 

Chapter 7.—THE BUREAU OF STANDARDS 

Sec. 

271. Bureau established. 

272. Functions of Secretary. 

273. Functions; for whom exercised. 

274. Director; powers and duties; report. 

275. Appointment of officers and employees. 

275a. Service charges. 

276. Ownership of facilities. 

277. Regulations. 

278. Visiting committee. 

278a. Repealed 

278b. Working Capital Fund. 

(a) Utilization; appropriations. 

(b) Availability of Fund. 

(c) Reimbursements. 

(d) Credits. 

(e) Cost defined. 

(1) Distribution of earnings; restoration of prior impairment. 

278c. Acquisition of land for field sites. 

278d. Construction and improvement of buildings and facilities. 

278e. Functions and activities. 

279. Absence of Director. 

280. Apprentices; promotion. 

281. Testing materials for District of Columbia. 

282. National hydraulic laboratory; establishment; purpose; study of Federal and State projects. 

283, 284. Omitted. 

285. 286. Repealed. 

§ 271. Bureau established. 

The Office of Standard Weights and Measures shall be known as the National Bureau of Standards. 

(Mar.3, 1,31 Stat. 1449.) 

§ 272. Functions of Secretary. 

The Secretary of Commerce (hereinafter referred to as the "Secretary") is authorized to undertake the 

following functions: 

(a) The custody. maintenance, and development of the national standards of measurement, and the provision of means and methods for making measurements consistent with those standards, including the compari- son of standards used in scientific investigations, engineering, manufacturing, commerce, and educational 

institutions with the standards adopted or recognized by the Government. 

(b) The determination of physical constants and properties of materials when such data are of great importance to scientific or manufacturing interests and are not to be obtained of sufficient accuracy elsewhere. 

(c) The development of methods for testing materials, mechanisms, and structures, and the testing of 

materials, supplies, and equipment, including items purchased for use of Government departments and 

independent establishments. 

(d) Cooperation with other governmental agencies and with private organizations in the establishment of 

standard practices, incorporated in codes and specifications. 

(e) Advisory service to Government agencies on scientific and technical problems. 

(f) Invention and development of devices serve special needs of the Government. 

644 
In carrying out the functions enumerated in this section, the Secretary is authorized to undertake the 

following activities and similar ones for which need may arise in the operations of Government agencies, 

scientific institutions, and industrial enterprises: 

(I) the construction of physical standards; 

(2) the testing, calibration, and certification of standards and standard measuring apparatus; 

(3) the study and improvement of instruments and methods of measurements; 

(4) the investigation and testing of railroad track scales, elevator scales, and other scales used in 

weighing commodities for interstate shipment; 

(5) cooperation with the States in securing uniformity in weights and measures laws and methods of 

inspection; 

(6) the preparation and distribution of standard samples such as those used in checking chemical 

analyses, temperature, color, viscosity, heat of combustion, and other basic properties of materials; also the 

preparation and sale or other distribution of standard instruments, apparatus and materials for calibration 

of measuring equipment; 

(7) the development of methods of chemical analysis and synthesis of materials, and the investigation of 

the properties of rare substances; 

(8) the study of methods of producing and of measuring high and low temperatures; and the behavior of 

materials at high and at low temperatures; 

(9) the investigation of radiation, radioactive substances, and X-rays. their uses, and means of protection 

of persons from their harmful effects; 

(10) the study of the atomic and molecular structure of the chemical elements, with particular reference 

to the characteristics of the spectra emitted, the use of spectral observations in determining chemical 

composition of materials, and the relation of molecular structure to the practical usefulness of materials; 

(11) the broadcasting of radio signals of standard frequency; 

(12) the investigation of the conditions which affect the transmission of radio waves from their source 

to a receiver; 

(13) the compilation and distribution of information on such transmission of radio waves as a basis for 

choice of frequencies to be used in radio operations; 

(14) the study of new technical processes and methods of fabrication of materials in which the 

Government has a special interest; also the study of methods of measurement and technical processes used 

in the manufacture of optical glass and pottery, brick, tile, terra cotta, and other clay products; 

(15) the determination of properties of building materials and structural elements, and encouragement of 

their standardization and most effective use, including investigation of fire-resisting properties of building 

materials and conditions under which they may be most efficiently used, and the standardization of types 

of appliances for fire prevention; 

(16) metallurgical research, including study of alloy steels and light metal alloys; investigation of 

foundry practice, casting, rolling, and forging; prevention of corrosion of metals and alloys; behavior of 

bearing metals; and development of standards for metals and sands; 

(17) the operation of a laboratory of applied mathematics; 

(18) the prosecution of such research in engineering, mathematics, and the physical sciences as may be 

necessary to obtain basic data pertinent to the functions specified herein; and 

(19) the compilation and publication of general scientific and technical data resulting from the 

performance of the functions specified herein or from other sources when such data are of importance to 

scientific or manufacturing interests or to the general public, and are not available elsewhere, including 

demonstration of the results of the Bureau's work by exhibits or otherwise as may be deemed most 

effective. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 2,31 Stat. 1449; July 22, 1950, ch. 486, § 1,64 Stat. 371.) 

§ 273. Functions; for whom exercised. 

That the bureau shall exercise its functions for the Government of the United States; for any State or municipal government within the United States; or for any scientific society, educational institution, firm, 

corporation, or individual within the United States engaged in manufacturing or other pursuits requiring the use of standards or standard measuring instruments. All requests for the services of the bureau shall be made 

in accordance with the rules and regulations herein established in sections 276 and 277 of this title. (Mar. 3, 

Stat. 1449.) 

645 
§ 274. Director; powers and duties; report. 

The director shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. He 

shall have the general supervision of the bureau, its equipment, and the exercise of its functions. He shall 

make an annual report to the Secretary of Commerce, including an abstract of the work done during the year 

and a financial statement. He may issue, when necessary, bulletins for public distribution, containing such 

information as may be of value to the public or facilitate the bureau in the exercise of its functions. (Mar. 3, 

1901, ch. 872, §5,31 Stat. 1449; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10,32 Stat. 829; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 141, § 1,37 

Stat. 736.) 

§ 275. Appointment of officers and employees. 

The officers and employees of the bureau, except the director, shall be appointed by the Secretary of 

Commerce at such time as their respective services may become necessary. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 6, 31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10,32 Stat. 829; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 141, § 1,37 Stat. 736.) 

§ 275a. Service charges. 

The Secretary shall charge for services performed under the authority of section 273 of this title, except in cases where he determines that the interest of the Government would be best served by waiving the charge. 

Such charges may be based upon fixed prices or costs. The appropriation or fund bearing the cost of the 

services may be reimbursed, or the Secretary may require advance payment subject to such adjustment on completion of the work as may be agreed upon. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 7, as added Aug. 3, 1956, ch. 906, 

§ 1,70 Stat. 959.) 

§ 276. Ownership of facilities. In the absence of specific agreement to the contrary, additional facilities, including equipment, purchased 

pursuant to the performance of services authorized by section 273 of this title shall become the property of 

the Department of Commerce. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 8, 31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10, 32 

Stat. 829; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 141, § I, 37 Stat. 736; June 30, 1932, ch. 314, § 312, 47 Stat. 410; Aug. 3, 

1956, ch. 906, § 1,70 Stat. 959.) 

§ 277. Regulations. 

The Secretary of Commerce shall, from time to time, make regulations regarding the payment of fees, the 

limits of tolerance to be attained in standards submitted for verification, the sealing of standards, the 

disbursement and receipt of moneys, and such other matters as he may deem necessary for carrying this Act 

into effect sections 271—278e of this title. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 9, 31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 

552, § 10,32 Stat. 829; Mar. 4, l913,ch. 141, § 1,37 Stat.736.) 

§ 278. Visiting committee. 

There shall be a visiting committee of five members, to be appointed by the Secretary of Commerce, to consist of men prominent in the various interests involved, and not in the employ of the Government. This 

committee shall visit the bureau at least once a year, and report to the Secretary of Commerce upon the 

efficiency of its scientific work and the condition of its equipment. The members of this committee shall serve without compensation, but shall be paid the actual expenses incurred in attending its meetings. The 

period of service of the members of the committee shall be so arranged that one member shall retire each 

year, and the appointments to be for a period of five years. Appointments made to fill vacancies occurring 

other than in the regular manner are to be made for the remainder of the period in which the vacancy exists. 

(Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 10, 31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10, 32 Stat. 829; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 

1,37 Stat. 736.) 

§ 278a. Repealed. Pub. L. 88-611, § 4(a)(l), Oct. 2, 1964,78 Stat. 991. 

§ 278b. Working Capital Fund. 

(a) Utilization; appropriations. 

The National Bureau of Standards is authorized to utilize in the performance of its functions the Working 

Capital Fund established by the Act of June 29, 1950 (64 Stat. 275), and additional amounts as from time to time may be required for the purposes of said fund are authorized to be appropriated. 

646 
(b) Availability of Fund. 

The working capital of the fund shall be available for obligation and payment for any activities authorized 

by sections 271-278e of this title, and for any activities for which provision is made in the appropriations 

which reimburse the fund. 

(c) Reimbursements. 

In the performance of authorized activities, the Working Capital Fund shall be available and may be reimbursed for expenses of hire of automobile, hire of consultants, and travel to meetings, to the extent that 

such expenses are authorized for the appropriations of the Department of Commerce. 

(d) Credits. 

The fund may be credited with advances and reimbursement, including receipts from non-Federal sources, 

for services performed under the authority of section 273 of this title. 

(e) Cost defined. 

As used in sections 27l-278e of this title, the term "cost" shall be construed to include directly related 

expenses and appropriate charges for indirect and administrative expenses. 

(f) Distribution of earnings; restoration of prior impairment. 

The amount of any earned net income resulting from the operation of the fund at the close of each fiscal 

year shall be paid into the general fund of the Treasury: Provided, That such earned net income may be 

applied first to restore any prior impairment of the fund. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 12, as added July 22, 

1950, ch. 486, § 2,64 Stat. 371, and amended Aug. 3, 1956, ch. 906, § 2,70 Stat. 959.) 

§ 278c. Acquisition of land for field sites. 

To the extent that funds are specifically appropriated therefor, the Secretary of Commerce is authorized 

to acquire land for such field sites as are necessary for the proper and efficient conduct of the activities 

authorized herein. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 13, as added Sept. 2, 1958, Pub. L. 85-890, § 1,72 Stat. 1711.) 

§ 278d. Construction and improvement of buildings and facilities. 

Within the limits of funds which are appropriated for the National Bureau of Standards, the Secretary of 

Commerce is authorized to undertake such construction of buildings and other facilities and to make such 

improvements to existing buildings, grounds, and other facilities occupied or used by the National Bureau of 

Standards as are necessary for the proper and efficient conduct of the activities authorized herein: Provided, 

That no improvement shall be made nor shall any building be constructed under this authority at a cost in excess of $40,000 unless specific provision is made therefor in the appropriation concerned. (Mar. 3, 1901, 

ch. 872, § 14, as addedSept. 2, 1958, Pub. L. 85-890, § 1,72 Stat. 1711.) 

§ 278e. Functions and activities. 

In the performance of the functions of the National Bureau of Standards and the Secretary of Commerce is 

authorized to undertake the following activities: (a) The purchase, repair, and cleaning of uniforms for 

guards; (b) the repair and alteration of buildings and other plant facilities; (c) the rental of field sites and 

laboratory, office, and warehouse space; (d) the purchase of reprints from technical journals or other periodicals and the payment of page charges for the publication of research papers and reports in such journals; (e) 

the furnishing of food and shelter without repayment therefor to employees of the Government at Arctic and 

Antarctic stations; (f) for the conduct of observations on radio propagation phenomena in the Arctic or Antarctic regions, the appointment of employees at base rates established by the Secretary of Commerce 

which shall not exceed such maximum rates as may be specified from time to time in the appropriation 

concerned, and without regard to the civil service and classification laws and sections 911-913, 921, and 922 

of Title 5; and (g) the erection on leased property of specialized facilities and working and living quarters 

when the Secretary of Commerce determines that this will best serve the interests of the Government. (Mar. 

3, 190l,ch. 872, § 15, as added Sept. 2, 1958, Pub. L. 85-890, § 1,72 Stat. 1711.) 

§ 279. Absence of Director. 

In the case of the absence of the Director of the Bureau of Standards the Secretary of Commerce may 

designate some officer of said bureau to perform the duties of the director during his absence. (Mar. 4, 191 I, 

ch. 1,36 Stat. 1231; Mar. 4, 19l3,ch. 141, § 1,37 Stat. 736.) 

647 
§ 280. Apprentices; promotion. 

Apprentices in the Bureau of Standards may be promoted after satisfactory apprenticeship, with the approval of the Civil Service Commission, to positions corresponding to the journeyman grades for which their 

duties logically prepare them, without regard to apportionment: Provided, That they thus acquire no rights to transfer to other lines of work. (July 16, 1914, ch. 141, § 1,38 Stat. 502.) 

§ 281. Testing materials for District of Columbia. 

Materials for fireproof buildings, other structural materials, and all materials, other than materials for 

paving and for fuel, purchased for and to be used by the government of the District of Columbia, when 

necessary in the judgment of the commissioners to be tested, shall be tested by the Bureau of Standards 

under the same conditions as similar testing is required to be done for the United States Government. 

(Mar.4, 1913,ch. 150, 37 Stat. 945.) 

§ 282. National hydraulic laboratory; establishment; purpose; study of Federal and State projects. 

There is authorized to be established in the Bureau of Standards of the Department of Commerce a national hydraulic laboratory for the determination of fundamental data useful in hydraulic research and 

engineering, including laboratory research relating to the behavior and control of river and harbor waters, the 

study of hydraulic structures and water flow, and the development and testing of hydraulic instruments and 

accessories; Provided, That no test, study, or other work on a problem or problems connected with a project 

the prosecution of which is under the jurisdiction of any department or independent agency of the Govern- ment shall be undertaken in the laboratory herein authorized until a written request to do such work is submitted to the Director of the Bureau of Standards by the head of the department or independent agency 

charged with the execution of such project: And provided further, That any State or political subdivision 

thereof may obtain a test, study, or other work on a problem connected with a project the prosecution of 

which is under the jurisdiction of such State or political subdivision thereof. (May 14, 1930, ch. 275, § I, 46 

Stat. 327.) 

§ 283, 284. Omitted. 

§ 285, 286. Repealed. Pub. L. 85-890, 3, Sept. 2, 1958, 72 Stat. 1712. 

648 
From the United States Code, 1970 edition, Containing the General and Permanent Laws of the United 

States, in Force on January 20, 1971, pp. 3231-3240. 

Chapter 7.—THE BUREAU OF STANDARDS 

Sec. 

271. Bureau established. 

272. Functions of Secretary. 

273. Functions; for whom exercised. 

274. Director; powers and duties; report. 

275. Appointment of officers and employees. 

275a. Service charges. 

276. Ownership of facilities. 

277. Regulations. 

278. Visiting committee. 

278a. Repealed 

278b. Working Capital Fund. 

(a) Utilization; appropriations. 

(b) Availability of Fund. 

(c) Reimbursements. 

(d) Credits. 

(e) Cost defined. 

(f) Distribution of earnings; restoration of prior impairment. 

278c. Acquisition of land for field sites. 

278d. Construction and improvement of buildings and facilities. 

278e. Functions and activities. 

278f. Fire research and safety program; functions of Secretary of Commerce. 

(a) Investigations for determination of pertinent factors; prevention, control, and reduction of 

effects, methods and techniques; educational programs; fire information reference services; 

demonstration projects. 

(b) Engineering or science curriculums; instructional materials and aids. 278g. Same; general 

provisions. 

(a) Eligibility for grants; amount; conditions; definitions. 

(b) Reimbursement of Federal agencies; delegation of powers. 

(c) Advances of public moneys. 

(d) Cooperation of Federal agencies. 

(e) Administration of functions; rules and regulations. 

279. Absence of Director. 

280. Apprentices; promotion. 

281. Testing materials for District of Columbia. 

282. National hydraulic laboratory; establishment; purpose; study of Federal and State projects. 

283. Repealed 

284. Transfer of materials, supplies, and equipment to Bureau for Arctic ionosphere observation by 

Departments of Army, Navy, and Air Force. 

285,286. Repealed. 

§ 271. Bureau established. 

The Office of Standard Weights and Measures shall be known as the National Bureau of Standards. 

(Mar.3, 1,31 Stat. 1449.) 

§ 272. Functions of Secretary. 

The Secretary of Commerce (hereinafter referred to as the "Secretary") is authorized to undertake the 

following functions: 

649 
(a) The custody, maintenance, and development of the national standards of measurement, and the provision of means and methods for making measurements consistent with those standards, including the compari- son of standards used in scientific investigations, engineering, manufacturing, commerce, and educational 

institutions with the standards adopted or recognized by the Government. 

(b) The determination of physical constants and properties of materials when such data are of great importance to scientific or manufacturing interests and are not to be obtained of sufficient accuracy elsewhere. 

(c) The development of methods for testing materials, mechanisms, and structures, and the testing of mate- rials, supplies, and equipment, including items purchased for use of Government departments and independent establishments. 

Cd) Cooperation with other governmental agencies and with private organizations in the establishment of 

standard practices, incorporated in codes and specifications. 

(e) Advisory service to Government agencies on scientific and technical problems. 

(f) Invention and development of devices to serve special needs of the Government. 

In carrying out the functions enumerated in this section, the Secretary is authorized to undertake the following activities and similar ones for which need may arise in the operations of Government agencies, scientific institutions, and industrial enterprises: 

(I) the construction of physical standards; 

(2) the testing, calibration, and certification of standards and standard measuring apparatus; 

(3) the study and improvement of instruments and methods of measurements; 

(4) the investigation and testing of railroad track scales, elevator scales, and other scales used in 

weighing commodities for interstate shipment; 

(5) cooperation with the States in securing uniformity in weights and measures laws and methods of 

inspection; 

(6) the preparation and distribution of standard samples such as those used in checking chemical 

analyses, temperature, color, viscosity, heat of combustion, and other basic properties of materials; also the 

preparation and sale or other distribution of standard instruments, apparatus and materials for calibration 

of measuring equipment; 

(7) the development of methods of chemical analysis and synthesis of materials, and the investigation of 

the properties of rare substances; 

(8) the study of methods of producing and of measuring high and low temperatures; and the behavior of 

materials at high and at low temperatures; 

(9) the investigation of radiation, radioactive substances, and X-rays, their uses, and means of protection 

of persons from their harmful effects; 

(10) the study of the atomic and molecular structure of the chemical elements, with particular reference 

to the characteristics of the spectra emitted, the use of spectral observations in determining chemical co position of materials, and the relation of molecular structure to the practical usefulness of materials; 

(I I) the broadcasting of radio signals of standard frequency; 

(12) the investigation of the conditions which affect the transmission of radio waves from their source to a receiver; 

(13) the compilation and distribution of information on such transmission of radio waves as a basis for 

choice of frequencies to be used in radio operations; 

(14) the study of new technical processes and methods of fabrication of materials in which the 

Government has a special interest; also the study of methods of measurement and technical processes used 

in the manufacture of optical glass and pottery, brick, tile, terra cotta, and other clay products; 

(15) the determination of properties of building materials and structural elements, and encouragement of 

their standardization and most effective use, including investigation of fire-resisting properties of building 

materials and conditions under which they may be most efficiently used, and the standardization of type& 

of appliances for fire prevention; 

(16) metallurgical research, including study of alloy steels and light metal alloys; investigation of 

foundry practice, casting, rolling, and forging; prevention of corrosion of metals and alloys; behavior of 

bearing metals; and development of standards for metals and sands; 

(17) the operation of a laboratory of applied mathematics; 

650 
(18) the prosecution of such research in engineering, mathematics, and the physical sciences as may be 

necessary to obtain basic data pertinent to the functions specified herein; and 

(19) the compilation and publication of general scientific and technical data resulting from the 

performance of the functions specified herein or from other sources when such data are of importance to scientific or manufacturing interests or to the general public, and are not available elsewhere, including 

demonstration of the results of the Bureau's work by exhibits or otherwise as may be deemed most 

effective. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 2, 31 Stat. 1449; July 22, 1950, ch. 486, § 1, 64 Stat. 371.) 

§ 273. Functions; for whom exercised. 

That the bureau shall exercise its functions for the Government of the United States; for any State or municipal government within the United States; or for any scientific society, educational institution, firm, 

corporation, or individual within the United States engaged in manufacturing or other pursuits requiring the use of standards or standard measuring instruments. All requests for the services of the bureau shall be made 

in accordance with the rules and regulations herein established in sections 276 and 277 of this title. (Mar. 3, 

1901, ch. 872, § 3, 31 Stat. 1449.) 

§ 274. Director; powers and duties; report. 

The director shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. He 

shall have the general supervision of the bureau, its equipment, and the exercise of its functions. He shall 

make an annual report to the Secretary of Commerce, including an abstract of the work done during the year 

and a financial statement. He may issue, when necessary, bulletins for public distribution, containing such 

information as may be of value to the public or facilitate the bureau in the exercise of its functions. (Mar. 3, 

1901, ch. 872, §5,31 Stat. 1449; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10,32 Stat. 829; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 141, § 1,37 

Stat. 736.) 

§ 275. Appointment of officers and employees. 

The officers and employees of the bureau, except the director, shall be appointed by the Secretary of 

Commerce at such time as their respective services may become necessary. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 6, 31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10,32 Stat. 829; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 141, § 1,37 Stat. 736.) 

§ 275a. Service charges. 

The Secretary shall charge for services performed under the authority of section 273 of this title, except in 

cases where he determines that the interest of the Government would be best served by waiving the charge. 

Such charges may be based upon fixed prices or costs. The appropriation or fund bearing the cost of the 

services may be reimbursed, or the Secretary may require advance payment subject to such adjustment on completion of the work as may be agreed upon. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 7, as added Aug. 3, 1956, ch. 906, 

§ 1,70 Stat. 959.) 

§ 276. Ownership of facilities. 

In the absence of specific agreement to the contrary, additional facilities, including equipment, purchased 

pursuant to the performance of services authorized by section 273 of this title shall become the property of 

the Department of Commerce. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 8, 31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10, 32 

Stat. 829; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 141, § 1, 37 Stat. 736; June 30, 1932, ch. 314, § 312, 47 Stat. 410; Aug. 3, 

1956, ch. 906, § 1,70 Stat. 959.) 

§ 277. Regulations. 

The Secretary of Commerce shall, from time to time, make regulations regarding the payment of fees, the 

limits of tolerance to be attained in standards submitted for verification, the sealing of standards, the 

disbursement and receipt of moneys, and such other matters as he may deem necessary for carrying this Act 

into effect sections 27l—278e of this title. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 9, 31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 

552, § 10,32 Stat. 829; Mar.4, l913,ch. 141, § 1,37 Stat. 736.) 

651 
§ 278. Visiting committee. 

There shall be a visiting committee of five members, to be appointed by the Secretary of Commerce, to consist of men prominent in the various interests involved, and not in the employ of the Government. This 

committee shall visit the bureau at least once a year, and report to the Secretary of Commerce upon the 

efficiency of its scientific work and the condition of its equipment. The members of this committee shall serve without compensation, but shall be paid the actual expenses incurred in attending its meetings. The 

period of service of the members of the committee shall be so arranged that one member shall retire each 

year, and the appointments to be for a period of five years. Appointments made to fill vacancies occurring 

other than in the regular manner are to be made for the remainder of the period in which the vacancy exists. 

(Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 10, 31 Stat. 1450; Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 10, 32 Stat. 829; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 

141, § 1, 37 Stat. 736.) 

§ 278a. Repealed. Pub. L. 88-61 I, § 4 (a)(I), Oct. 2, 1964, 78 Stat. 991. 

§ 278b. Working Capital Fund. 

(a) Utilization; appropriations. 

The National Bureau of Standards is authorized to utilize in the performance of its functions the Working 

Capital Fund established by the Act of June 29, 1950 (64 Stat. 275), and additional amounts as from time to time may be required for the purposes of said fund are authorized to be appropriated. 

(b) Availability of Fund. 

The working capital of the fund shall be available for obligation and payment for any activities authorized 

by sections 27l-278e of this title, and for any activities for which provision is made in the appropriations 

which reimburse the fund. 

(c) Reimbursements. 

In the performance of authorized activities, the Working Capital Fund shall be available and may be reimbursed for expenses of hire of automobile, hire of consultants, and travel to meetings, to the extent that such 

expenses are authorized for the appropriations of the Department of Commerce. 

(d) Credits. 

The fund may be credited with advances and reimbursement, including receipts from non-Federal sources, 

for services performed under the authority of section 273 of this title. 

(e) Cost defined. 

As used in sections 271 -278e of this title, the term "cost" shall be construed to include directly related 

expenses and appropriate charges for indirect and administrative expenses. 

(t) Distribution of earnings; restoration of prior impairment. 

The amount of any earned net income resulting from the operation of the fund at the close of each fiscal 

year shall be paid into the general fund of the Treasury: Provided, That such earned net income may be 

applied first to restore any prior impairment of the fund. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 12, as added July 22, 

1950, ch. 486, § 2,64 Stat. 371, and amended Aug. 3, 1956, ch. 906, § 2,70 Stat. 959.) 

§ 278c. Acquisition of land for field sites. 

To the extent that funds are specifically appropriated therefor, the Secretary of Commerce is authorized to acquire land for such field sites as are necessary for the proper and efficient conduct of the activities authorized herein. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 13, as added Sept. 2, 1958, Pub. L. 85-890, § 1,72 Stat. 1711.) 

§ 278d. Construction and improvement of buildings and facilities. 

Within the limits of funds which are appropriated for the National Bureau of Standards, the Secretary of 

Commerce is authorized to undertake such construction of buildings and other facilities and to make such 

improvements to existing buildings, grounds, and other facilities occupied or used by the National Bureau of 

Standards as are necessary for the proper and efficient conduct of the activities authorized herein: Provided, 

That no improvement shall be made nor shall any building be constructed under this authority at a cost in excess of $40,000 unless specific provision is made therefor in the appropriation concerned. (Mar. 3, 1901, 

ch. 872, § 14, as added Sept. 2, 1958, Pub. L. 85-890, § 1,72 Stat. 1711.) 

652 
§ 278e. Functions and activities. 

In the performance of the functions of the National Bureau of Standards and the Secretary of Commerce is 

authorized to undertake the following activities: (a) The purchase, repair, and cleaning of uniforms for 

guards; (b) the repair and alteration of buildings and other plant facilities; (c) the rental of field sites and 

laboratory, office, and warehouse space; (d) the purchase of reprints from technical journals or other periodicals and the payment of page charges for the publication of research papers and reports in such journals; (e) 

the furnishing of food and shelter without repayment therefor to employees of the Government at Arctic and 

Antarctic stations; (f) for the conduct of observations on radio propagation phenomena in the Arctic or Antarctic regions, the appointment of employees at base rates established by the Secretary of Commerce 

which shall not exceed such maximum rates as may be specified from time to time in the appropriation 

concerned, and without regard to the civil service and classification laws and sections 911-913, 921, and 922 

of Title 5; and (g) the erection on leased property of specialized facilities and working and living quarters 

when the Secretary of Commerce determines that this will best serve the interests of the Government. 

(Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 15, as added Sept. 2, 1958, Pub. L. 85-890, § 1,72 Stat. 1711.) 

§ 278f. Fire research and safety program; functions of Secretary of Commerce. 

The Secretary of Commerce (hereinafter referred to as the "Secretary") is authorized to— 

(a) Investigations for determination of pertinent factors; prevention, control, and reduction of effects, 

methods and techniques; educational programs; fire information reference services; demonstration 

projects. 

Conduct directly or through contracts or grants— 

(I) investigations of fires to determine their causes, frequency of occurrence, severity, and other 

pertinent factors; 

(2) research into the causes and nature of fires, and the development of improved methods and 

techniques for fire prevention, fire control, and reduction of death, personal injury, and property 

damage; 

(3) educational programs to— 

(A) inform the public of fire hazards and fire safety techniques, and 

(B) encourage avoidance of such hazards and use of such techniques; 

(4) fire information reference services, including the collection, analysis, and dissemination of data, 

research results, and other information, derived from this program or from other sources and related to fire protection, fire control, and reduction of death, personal injury, and property damage; 

(5) educational and training programs to improve, among other things— 

(A) The efficiency, operation, and organization of fire services, and 

(B) The capability of controlling unusual fire-related hazards and fire disasters; and 

(6) projects demonstrating— 

(A) improved or experimental programs of fire prevention, fire control, and reduction of death, 

personal injury, and property damage, 

(B) application of fire safety principles in construction, or (C) improvement of the efficiency, operation, or organization of the fire services. 

(b) Engineering or science curriculums; instructional materials and aids. 

Support by contracts or grants the development, for use by educational and other nonprofit institutions, of— 

(I) fire safety and fire protection engineering or science curriculums; and 

(2) fire safety courses, seminars, or other instructional materials and aids for the above curriculums or other appropriate curriculums or courses of instruction. 

(Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 16, as added Mar. 1, 1968, Pub. L. 90-259, title I, § 102, 83 Stat. 35.) 

653 
§ 278g. Same; general provisions. 

With respect to the functions authorized by section 278 of this title— 

(a) Eligibility for grants; amount; conditions; definitions. 

Grants may be made only to States and local governments, other non-Federal public agencies, and 

nonprofit institutions. Such a grant may be up to 100 per centum of the total cost of the project for which 

such grant is made. The Secretary shall require, whenever feasible, as a condition of approval of a grant, 

that the recipient contribute money, facilities, or services to carry out the purpose for which the grant is 

sought. For the purposes of this section, "State" means any State of the United States, the District of 

Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Canal Zone, American 

Samoa, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands; and "public agencies" includes combinations or 

groups of States or local governments. 

(b) Reimbursement of Federal agencies; delegation of powers. 

The Secretary may arrange with and reimburse the heads of other Federal departments and agencies for 

the performance of any such functions, and, as necessary or appropriate, delegate any of his powers under 

this section or section 278f of this title with respect to any part thereof, and authorize the redelegation of 

such powers. 

(c) Advances of public moneys. 

The Secretary may perform such functions without regard to section 529 of Title 31. 

(d) Cooperation of Federal agencies. 

The Secretary is authorized to request any Federal department or agency to supply such statistics, data, 

program reports, and other materials as he deems necessary to carry Out such functions. Each such department or agency is authorized to cooperate with the Secretary and, to the extent permitted by law, to furnish 

such materials to the Secretary. The Secretary and the heads of other departments and agencies engaged in 

administering programs related to fire safety shall, to the maximum extent practicable, cooperate and consult 

in order to insure fully coordinated efforts. 

(e) Administration of functions; rules and regulations. 

The Secretary is authorized to establish such policies, standards, criteria, and procedures and to prescribe 

such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary or appropriate to the administration of such functions or this section, including rules and regulations which— 

(I) provide that a grantee will from time to time, but not less often than annually, submit a report 

evaluating accomplishments of activities funded under section 278f of this title, and 

(2) provide for fiscal control, sound accounting procedures, and periodic reports to the Secretary 

regarding the application of funds paid under section 278f of this title. 

(Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 872, § 17, as added Mar. 1, 1968, Pub. L. 90- 259, title I, § 102, 82 Stat. 35.) 

§ 279. Absence of Director. 

In the case of the absence of the Director of the Bureau of Standards the Secretary of Commerce may 

designate some officer of said bureau to perform the duties of the director during his absence. (Mar. 4, 1911, 

l,36Stat. l231;Mar.4, 1913,ch. l,37Stat.736.) 

§ 280. Apprentices; promotion. 

Apprentices in the Bureau of Standards may be promoted after satisfactory apprenticeship, with the approval of the Civil Service Commission, to positions corresponding to the journeyman grades for which their 

duties logically prepare them, without regard to apportionment: Provided, That they thus acquire no rights to transfer to other lines of work. (July 16, 1914, ch. 141, § I, 38 Stat. 502.) 

654 
§ 281. Testing materials for District of Columbia. 

Materials for fireproof buildings, other structural materials, and all materials, other than materials for paving and for fuel, purchased for and to be used by the government of the District of Columbia, when necessary in the judgment of the commissioners to be tested, shall be tested by the Bureau of Standards under the same conditions as similar testing is required to be done for the United States Government. (Mar. 4, 1913, 

ch. 150, 37 Stat. 945.)? 

§ 282. National hydraulic laboratory; establishment; purpose; study of Federal and State projects. 

There is authorized to be established in the Bureau of Standards of the Department of Commerce a national hydraulic laboratory for the determination of fundamental data useful in hydraulic research and 

engineering, including laboratory research relating to the behavior and control of river and harbor waters, the 

study of hydraulic structures and water flow, and the development and testing of hydraulic instruments and 

accessories; Provided, That no test, study, or other work on a problem or problems connected with a projectthe prosecution of which is under the jurisdiction of any department or independent agency of the Government shall be undertaken in the laboratory herein authorized until a written request to do such work is submitted to the Director of the Bureau of Standards by the head of the department or independent agency 

charged with the execution of such project: And provided further, That any State or political subdivision 

thereof may obtain a test, study, or other work on a problem connected with a project the prosecution of 

which is under the jurisdiction of such State or political subdivision thereof. 

(May 14, 1930, ch. 275, § 1, 46 Stat. 327.) 

§ 283. Repealed. Pub. L. 89-554, § 8(a), Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 655, 656. 

§ 284. Transfer of materials, supplies, and equipment to Bureau for Arctic ionosphere observation by 

Departments of Army, Navy, and Air Force. 

§ 285, 286. Repealed. Pub. L. 85-890, § 3, Sept. 2, 1958, 72 Stat. 1712. 

Chapter 7A.—STANDARD REFERENCE DATA PROGRAM 

Sec. 

290. Congressional declaration of policy. 

290a. Definitions. 

290b. Collection, compilation, critical evaluation, publication and dissemination of standard reference data. 

290c. Standards, criteria, and procedures for preparation and publication of standard reference data; 

publication in Federal Register. 

290d. Sale of standard reference data; cost recovery; proceeds subject to Bureau of Standards. 

290e. United States copyright and renewal rights. 

290f. Authorization of appropriations. 

655 
§ 290. Congressional declaration of policy. 

The Congress hereby finds and declares that reliable standardized scientific and technical reference data are of vital importance to the progress of the Nation's science and technology, It is therefore the policy of 

the Congress to make critically evaluated reference data readily available to scientists, engineers, and the 

general public. It is the purpose of this chapter to strengthen and enhance this policy. (Pub. L. 90-396, § 1, July II, 1968, 82 Stat. 339.) 

§ 290a. Definitions. 

For the purposes of this chapter— 

(a) The term "standard reference data" means quantitative information, related to a measurable physical or 

chemical property of a substance or system of substances of known composition and structure, which is 

critically evaluated as to its reliability under section 290b of this title. 

(b) The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of Commerce. (Pub. L. 90-396, § 2, July 11, 1968, 82 Stat. 

340.) 

§ 290b. Collection, compilation, critical evaluation, publication and dissemination of standard 

reference data. 

The Secretary is authorized and directed to provide or arrange for the collection, compilation, critical 

evaluation, publication, and dissemination of standard reference data. In carrying out this program, the 

Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable, utilize the reference data services and facilities of other 

agencies and instrumentalities of the Federal Government and of State and local governments, persons, firms, 

institutions, and associations, with their consent and in such a manner as to avoid duplication of those 

services and facilities. All agencies and instrumentalities of the Federal Government are encouraged to exercise their duties and functions in such manner as will assist in carrying out the purpose of this chapter. 

This section shall be deemed complementary to existing authority, and nothing herein is intended to repeal, 

supersede, or diminish existing authority or responsibility of an agency or instrumentality of the Federal 

government. (Pub. L. 90-396, § 3, July 11, 1968, 82 Stat. 340.) 

§ 290c. Standards, criteria, and procedures for preparation and publication of standard reference data; 

publication in Federal Register. 

To provide for more effective integration and coordination of standard reference data activities, the 

Secretary, in consultation with other interested Federal agencies, shall prescribe and publish in the Federal 

Register such standards, criteria, and procedures for the preparation and publication of standard reference 

data as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter. (Pub. L. 90-396. § 4, July II, 1968. 82 

Stat. 340.) 

§ 290d. Sale of standard reference data; cost recovery; proceeds subject to Bureau of Standards. 

Standard reference data conforming to standards established by the Secretary may be made available and 

sold by the Secretary or by a person or agency designated by him. To the extent practicable and appropriate, 

the prices established for such data may reflect the cost of collection, compilation, evaluation, publication, 

and dissemination of the data, including administrative expenses; and the amounts received shall be subject 

to the Act of March 3, 1901, as amended. (Pub. L. 90-396, § 5, July II, 1968, 82 Stat. 340.) 

656 
§ 290e. United States copyright and renewal rights. 

(a) Notwithstanding the limitations contained in section 8 of Title 17, the Secretary may secure copyright 

and renewal thereof on behalf of the United States as author or proprietor in all or any part of any standard 

reference data which he prepares or makes available under this chapter, and may authorize the reproduction 

and publication thereof by others. 

(b) The publication or republication by the Government under this chapter, either separately or in a public 

document, or any material in which copyright is subsisting shall not be taken to cause any abridgment or 

annulment of the copyright or to authorize any use or appropriation of such material without the consent of 

the copyright proprietor. (Pub. L. 90-396, § 6, July 11, 1968, 82 Stat. 340.) 

§ 290f. Authorization of appropriations. 

There are authorized to be appropriated to carry Out this chapter, $1.86 million for the fiscal year ending 

June 30, 1969. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, no appropriations for any fiscal year may be 

made for the purpose of this chapter after fiscal year 1969 unless previously authorized by legislation hereafter enacted by the Congress. (Pub. L. 90- 396, 7, July II, 1968, 82 Stat. 340.) 

657 
APPENDIX D 

THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS 

IN THE FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION 

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT NBS 

PRESIDENTS SECRETARIES DIRECTORS 

Lyman J. Gage 

Secretary of Treasury 

William Mckinley 1897-1901 1897-1901 Leslie M. Shaw 1901 George B. Cortelyou 

Theodore Roosevelt Secretary of Commerce 

and Labor, 1903-4 190 1-9 Victor H. Metcalf 1904-6 Samuel W. Stratton 

Oscar S. Straus 1901.22 William Howard Taft 1906-9 1909- 13 Charles Nagel 1909-13 William C. Redfield 

Woodrow Wilson Secretary of Commerce 1913-21 1913-19 Joshua W. Alexander 191 9-21 I 

Herbert C. Hoover 

Warren G. Harding 1921 -28 192123 William F. Whiting George K. Burgess Calvin Coolidge 1928-29 1922-32 1923-29 Robert P. Lamont 

Herbert C. Hoover 1929-32 1929-33 

E 

Roy D. Chapin 1932-33 Daniel C. Roper 1933-39 Franklin 0. Roosevelt 1933-45 Harry L. Hopkins 1939-40 Lyman J. Briggs 

Jesse Jones 193246 1940-45 Edward U. Condon 

Harry S. Truman Henry A. Wallace 1946-51 1945-46 1945-53 W. Averell Harriman 1947-48 Charles W. Sawyer 1948-52 Sinclair Weeks Dwight D. Eisenhower 1952-58 195361 Lewis L. Strauss 1958-59 Frederick H. Mueller 1959-61 John F. Kennedy Luther H. Hodges Allen V. Astin 1961-63 1961-65 1951-68 John T. Conner 1965-67 Alex B. Trowbridge 1967-68 Lyndon B. Johnson Cyrus R. Smith 1963-69 1968-69 Richard M. Nixon Maurice H. Stans Lewis M. Branscomb 1969-74 1969-1972 1969.71 659 
0 I 

0.6 

(ti ci) D ci) cci 0 cci 0 

0 

0 0 

1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 

Year 

1982 1986 
O 

C 

C) E C 

> 0 0 

C) C) 

LL 

0) C 

UC/) m z 

114.69in1953 I 

NBS RESEARCH EXPENDITURES 

AS A PERCENTAGE OF ALL FEDERAL 

GOVERNMENT IN-HOUSE R&D 

2.5 

2.0 

1.5 1.0 

0.5 

0 

NBS Appropriation + SAM + Reimbursable I 

Total Federal R&D 

I I I II I I II I 

1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 

Year 

I I I I I I_ I I 

1974 1978 1982 1986 
100 

90 

80 70 60 

$M 50 0\ C' 

40 30 

20 

10 

0 

1938 1942 1946 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 

Year 
664 
APPENDIX F 

MEMBERS OF THE VISITING COMMITTEE 

OF THE SECRETARY OF COMMERCE TO NBS AND NIST' 

Term 

ALBERT LADD COLBY 1901-07 

Consulting engineer in metallurgy, South Bethlehem, Pa., and secretary, 

Association of American Steel Manufacturers. 

DR. ELIHU THOMSON 1901-18 

Electrical engineer, General Electric Co., Lynn, Mass. 

DR. IRA REMSEN 1901-09 

Director of Chemical Laboratory and president, Johns Hopkins University. 

DR. HENRY S. PRITCHETf 1901-10 

President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; later president, Carnegie 

Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. 

PROF. EDWARD L. NICHOLS 1901-Il 

Professor of physics, Cornell University. 

DR. ROBERT S. WOODWARD 1908-12 

President, Carnegie Institution of Washington. 

PROF. HENRY M. HOWE 1909-14 

Professor of metallurgy, Columbia University. 

PROF. ARTHUR G. WEBSTER 1910-15 

Director, Physics Laboratory, Clark University. 

PROF. JOHN F. HAYFORD 1912-21 

Director, College of Engineering, Northwestern University. 

PROF. ARTHUR E. KENNELLY 19 12-17 

Professor of electrical engineering, Harvard University. 

JOHN R. FREEMAN 1915-24, 1926-31 

Consulting engineer, Providence, R.l. 

PROF. WILLIAM A. NOYES 1915-20 

Director, Chemical Laboratory, University of Illinois. 

PROF. JOSEPH S. AMES 1917-22 

Director, Physical Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University. 

PROF. FRED W. McNAIR 192 1-23 

President, Michigan College of Mines, Houghton, Mich. 

PROF. WILDER D. BANCROFT 1920-25 

Professor of physical chemistry, Cornell University. 

DR. AMBROSE SWASEY 192 1-26 

Chairman of the Board, Warner & Swasey Co., Cleveland, Ohio. 

DR. SAMUEL W. STRATFON 1923-31 

President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

'Sources: NARG 167, NBS Box 296; NARG 40, files of Secretary of Commerce, 67009/5; current files, Office 

of the Director, NBS. 

665 
Term 

GANO DUNN 1923-48 

President, J. G. White Engineering Corp., New York. 

PROF. WILLIAM F. DURAND 1924-29 

Professor of mechanical engineering, Leland Stanford University. 

DR. WILLIS R. WHITNEY 1925-30 

Director, General Electric Research Laboratory, Schenectady, N.Y. 

DR. CHARLES F. KETFERING 1929-34, 1947-52 

Director of research and vice president, General Motors Corp. 

DR. CHARLES L. REESE 1930-35 

Consulting chemist to E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. 

MORRIS E. LEEDS 1931-41 

President, Leeds & Northrup Co., Philadelphia, Pa. 

DR. KARL T. COMPTON 193 1-47 

President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

DR. WILLIAM D. COOLIDGE 1935-49 

Vice president and director of research, General Electric Co. 

DR. FRANK B. JEWETI' 1935-45 

Vice president in charge of research and development, American Telephone 

& Telegraph Co.; president, National Academy of Sciences. 

DR. VANNEVAR BUSH 1942-46 

President, Carnegie Institution of Washington; director, Office of Scientific 

Research and Development. 

DR. HAROLD C. UREY 1945-50 

Research professor of chemistry, University of Chicago. 

DR. EUGENE P. WIGNER 1946-51 

Metallurgical Laboratory, University of Chicago; director of research, 

Clinton Laboratories, Oak Ridge, Tenn. 

DR. ROBERT F. MEHL 1948-53 

Director, Metals Research Laboratory, Carnegie Institute of Technology. 

DR. DONALD H. MENZEL 1949-54 

Chairman, Department of Astronomy, Harvard University; associate 

director, Harvard Observatory. 

DR. DETLEV W. BRONK 1950-60 

President. Johns Hopkins University. 

PROF. JOHN H. VAN VLECK 195 1-56 

Dean, Division of Applied Science, Harvard University. 

DR. MERVIN J. KELLY 1952-62 

President, Bell Telephone Laboratories. 

DR. CLYDE E. WILLIAMS 1953-58 

Director, Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio. 

DR. CRAWFORD H. GREENEWALT 1954-64 

President, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. 

PROF. FREDERICK SEITZ 1956-61 

Chairman, Department of Physics, University of Illinois. 

DR. LLOYD V. BERKNER 1957-62 

Scientific research administrator; chairman, Space Science Board, National 

Academy of Sciences. 

666 
Term 

PROF. CHARLES H. TOWNES 1960-65 

Department of Physics, Columbia University, consultant, Brookhaven 

National Laboratories. 

EMANUEL R. PRYORE 1962-72 

Vice president and chief scientist, International Business Machines, 

Incorporated. 

ELMER W. ENGSTROM 1963-71 

President, Radio Corporation of America. 

PAUL C. CROSS 1964-69 

President, Mellon Institute. 

NORMAN F. RAMSEY 1965-70, 1982-87 

Department of Physics, Harvard University. 

ROBERT L. SPROULL 1966-7 1 Vice president, University of Rochester. 

JACK E. GOLDMAN 1969-74 

Senior vice president. Research and Development. Xerox Corp. 

JAMES C. FLETCHER 1970-71 

President, University of Utah. 

667 
5000 

4500 

4000 

3500 

3000 

2500 

2000 

1500 

1000 

500 

APPENDIX G 

NBS AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL CHART 

FY 1900 

L 

Stratton Burgess Briggs Condon 

669 

Astin Branscomb 

NBS AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL 

Source: NBS Annual Reports; Records 

of NBS Personnel Division; 

Sources cited in the History 

NBS Completes move 

to Gaithersburg 

site 1967 

First U.S.-crewed 

suborbital spaceflight 1961 

1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 

II It ii II II 
APPENDIX H 

NBSINIST PUBLICATIONS 

Aeronautic Instruments Circulars 

TL589.U47 

No. 1-51 (1918-1921) 

These technical circulars discussed the principles involved in the various aeronautic instruments and the 

methods of testing employed by the Aeronautic Instruments Section. The confidential reports were duplicated 

for temporary use and served to make the results immediately available for the instruction of the experts 

engaged in aviation work in the technical divisions of the Army and Navy. They were not for publication. 

Aeronautic Power Plants Reports 

TL521.A33 

No. 3-53 (1918-1919) 

These technical reports were results of investigations by the NBS Airplane Power Plant Section for the 

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. The reports were confidential for use by the Army, Navy, and 

authorized civilians. 

Annual Reports 

QC l00.U55 

Fiscal Year 1902—Fiscal Year 1985 

The title varies and includes: 

Annual Report of the Director of the National Bureau of Standards for the Fiscal Year Ended... 

(June 30, 1902—June 30, 1903) 

Annual Report of the Director of the Bureau of Standards to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor for 

the Fiscal Year Ended... (June 30, 1904—June 30, 1912) 

Annual Report of the Director, Bureau of Standards to the Secretary of Commerce for the Fiscal Year 

Ended... (June 30, 1913—June 30, 1921) 

Annual Report of the Director of the Bureau of Standards to the Secretary of Commerce for the Fiscal 

Year Ended... (June30, 1922—June 30, 1932) 

Reprinted from the Annual Report of the Secretary of Commerce. Bureau of Standards. (1933) 

Reprinted from the Annual Report of the Secretary of Commerce. National Bureau of Standards. 

(1934-1942) 

The Annual Reports of the National Bureau of Standards for the fiscal years 1943, 1944, and 1945 were not published because of economy measures taken during World War II. The manuscripts for these annual 

reports were submitted to the secretary of commerce in typewritten form. 

Annual Report of the National Bureau of Standards. Reprinted from the Annual Report of the Secretary 

of Commerce. (1946-1948) 

Annual Report. . . National Bureau of Standards. (1949-1952) 

Biennial Report 1953 and 1954, National Bureau of Standards. From the Preface: At the scheduled time for the preparation and release of the 1953 report the Bureau was undergoing comprehensive survey by an Ad Hoc Committee [Kelly Committee] appointed by the secretary of commerce to "evaluate the present functions and operation of the NBS in relation to present national needs." A 

number of important changes affecting the over-all Bureau program were made as a result of this 

survey. It was considered more appropriate to delay the report for a year in order to include the 

complete recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee rather than to report on them partially. 

671 
Annual Report. . . National Bureau of Standards. (1955-1957) 

Research Highlights of the National Bureau of Standards. Annual Report, Fiscal Year... (1958-1963) 

Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of Standards. Annual Report, Fiscal Year... (1964-1970) 

NBS 1971 Annual Report. SP-397 June 1972 

National Bureau of Standards, NBS. (1972) SP-367 Oct 1972 

National Bureau of Standards, NBS. [1973] SP-397 June 1974 

NBS Annual Report Fiscal Year 1974. SP-418 March 1975 

National Bureau of Standards Annual Report FY 1975. SP-437 Dec 1975 

National Bureau of Standards, Perspectives on Standards. (1976) SP-467 March 1977 

Science on it's Way to Work, Activities of the National Bureau of Standards. 

[1977] SP-498 April 1978 

National Bureau of Standards, A National Resource for Science and Technology, Fiscal Year 1978. 

SP-538 July 1979 

1979 was not published. 

National Bureau of Standards 1980. SP-600 Jan 1981 

National Bureau of Standards 1982. [covered fiscal years 1981 and 1982] SP-643 Feb 1983 

National Bureau of Standards. [1983] SP-679 July 1984 

National Bureau of Standards. [1985] SP-679 July 1984, revised April 1986. 

The last annual report in this series was published in 1986 as a revision of the previous report. The 

two publications differ in all but a few minor areas. 

Applied Mathematics Series 

QA3.U5 

No. 1-63 (1948-1973) 

This series contains mathematical tables, manuals and studies of special interest to physicists, engineers, 

chemists, biologists, mathematicians and others engaged in scientific and technical work. Some of the publications are reissues of the Mathematical Tables prepared by members of the Project for the Computation of 

Mathematical Tables. This series is inactive as none have been published since 1973. BASIC RADIO PROPAGATION PREDICTIONS SF.ltIES 

This monthly series was prepared by the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory (IRPL) which was Set up during WWII by the United States Joint Communications Board at NBS. The series succeeded "Radio 

Propagation Conditions," also prepared by the IRPL. The predictions series was initially restricted and available only to the military as a basic supplement to the IRPL's "Radio Propagation Handbook" issued by the 

military. Predictions were made three months in advance. May 1, 1946, the wartime IRPL ceased to exist 

and its duties and functions were assumed by the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (CRPL) of the 

National Bureau of Standards. In July 1946 the series was made available by annual subscription to those 

concerned with radio communication in determining the best sky-wave frequencies over any path at any time 

of day for average conditions. In September 1947, various maps, charts, diagrams, and nomograms needed to make practical application of the world-contour charts were added with examples of their use. Basic Radio Propagation Predictions, IRPL Series D 

TK6570.B7U47 

No. 1-22 (1944-June 1946) 

Continued by: Basic Radio Propagation Predictions, CRPL Series D 

Basic Radio Propagation Predictions, CRPL Series D 

TK6570.B7U47 

No. 23-220 (July 1946-1962) 

Continues: Basic Radio Propagation Prediëtions, IRPL Series D 

Superseded by: Ionospheric Predictions 

672 
Building and Housing 

TH I .U4 

No. 1-18 (1923-1932) 

This series contained reports of the work of the Building and Housing Division that included gathering 

and distributing scientific, practical, statistical, and other information tending to reduce costs, and encourage 

and improve construction and housing. It covered investigations for use in framing local building and plumbing codes, and a study of problems connected with city zoning. Information on the prices, production, consumption, and stocks of building materials, and on building activity was collected, analyzed, and distributed. 

Special attention was paid to factors bearing on the housing problem. The work included studies of building 

practices, and cooperative efforts to reduce seasonal operations and otherwise eliminate waste in the con- struction industries. 

Building Materials and Structures Reports 

TA4IO.U48 

No. 1-152 (1938-1959) 

This series reported the results of Bureau investigations on the properties and suitability of new materials and new methods of construction. The program was carried out with the cooperation and advice of the 

housing agencies of the Government. The objective was to furnish. the Government, the building industry, 

and the public with technical information that would be useful with particular reference to low-cost housing. 

This series was discontinued in July 1959 and papers on building technology were then published in the 

Journal of Research—usually Section C. Engineering and Instrumentation—or the Monograph series. 

Building Science Series see NIST Building Science Series 

Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards see Journal of Research 

Circulars see National Bureau of Standards Circular 

Commercial Standards 

QCIOO.U5553 

Nos. 0-274 (1928-1966) 

Commercial standards were voluntary, recorded standards agreed upon by producers, distributors, and 

consumers, covering terminology, types, classifications, grades, sizes, and use characteristics of manufactured 

products as a basis for better understanding between buyers and sellers. They generally included standard 

methods of test, rating, certification, and labeling, and provided a uniform basis for fair competition. Each 

standard included a list of members of the standing committee, a history of the project, and list of acceptors. 

After 1966 as Commercial Standards were revised, they became Product Standards and in 1969, Voluntary 

Product Standards. 

Commercial Standards Monthly 

HD62.U3 

Vol. [11-9 (1925-1933) 

This periodical was a review of progress in commercial simplification and standardization. It covered 

the national movement initiated by President Hoover for the reduction of needless sizes and varieties of 

products and the promotion of voluntary commercial standardization by industry. 

Consumer Information Series 

TX335.A I U6 

No. 1-10 (1970-1978) 

This series contained practical information, based on NBS research and experience, covering areas of 

interest to the consumer. Easily understandable language and illustrations provide useful background knowledge for shopping in today's technological marketplace. This series is inactive as none have been published 

since 1978. 

673 
CRPL Report 

QC503.U5 

No. I-I — 9-10 (July 1946-1950) 

Supersedes: IRPL Report 

Reports prepared by the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory at NBS. 

CRPL.F, PART A: IONOSPHERIC DATA These bulletins represent a variety of data collected by IRPL, later CRPL, in the course of its research 

and service activities. The data were made available for use in research on radio propagation and the ionosphere, and in other geophysical applications. 

Ionospheric Data, IRPL-F 

QC503.U5 

No. 1-22 (1944— June 1946) 

Continued by: Ionospheric Data, CRPL-F 

Ionospheric Data, CRPL-F 

QC503.U5 

No. 23-134 (July 1946-1955) 

Continues: Ionospheric Data, IRPL-F 

Split into two parts: CRPL-F, Part A and CRPL-F, Part B CRPL-F, Part A: Ionospheric Data 

QC503.U5 

No. 135-256 (1955-1965) 

Continues in part: Ionospheric Data, CRPL-F 

Continued as U.S. Environmental Science Services Administration. Institute for Telecommunication 

Sciences. CRPL-FA: Ionospheric Data 

CRPL-F, Part B: Solar-Geophysical Data 

QC503.U5 I No. 135-256 (1955-1965) 

Continues in part: Ionospheric Data, CRPL-F 

Continued as U.S. Environmental Science Services Administration. Institute for Telecommunication 

Sciences. CRPL-FB: Solar-Geophysical Data 

DIMENSIoNs 

During World War I the Bureau originally issued the Confidential Bulletin as an information bulletin for 

the military of ordnance work done by the Bureau. The name was changed to Technical News Bulletin 

(TNB) and the first issue, no. 26, June 20, 1919, was also issued as Confidential Bulletin no. 26, June 20, 

l9l9. These two publications were the same except for information items concerning ordnance that were 

blanked out of the TNB. 

The Technical News Bulletin, available by annual subscription, summarized the current research, development, and test activities of the Bureau. The articles were brief, with emphasis on the results of research 

and their significance, chosen for their importance to other scientists, engineers, and to industry. Resumes of 

longer research reports, important national and international conferences on fundamental science in which the 

Bureau represented the Nation, and a bibliography of all publications by members of the staff as published 

were included. The Bulletin was designed to give a succinct account of the current work of the Bureau. 

674 
Dimensions continued the TNB in a popular magazine format to inform scientists, engineers, businessmen, industry, teachers, students, and consumers of the latest advances in science and technology, with primary emphasis on the work at NBS. It highlighted and reviewed such issues as energy research, fire protection, building technology, metric conversion, pollution abatement, health and safety, and consumer product 

performance in addition to Bureau programs in measurement standards and techniques, properties of matter 

and materials, engineering standards and services, instrumentation, and automatic data processing. 

Confidential Bulletin 

Tl.U45 

No. 1-26 (Dec. 15, 1917—June 20, 1919) 

Continued by: Technical News Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards 

Technical News Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards 

Tl.U45 

No. 26-204 (1919-1934) 

Continued by: Technical News Bulletin of the National Bureau of Standards 

Technical News Bulletin of the National Bureau of Standards 

TI.U45 

No. 205— Vol. 57 no. 7 (May 1934—July 1973) 

(after no. 356, Dec. 1946, changed to volume numbering with Vol. 31 no. 1, Jan. 1947) 

Continues: Technical News Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards 

Continued by: Dimensions: the Magazine of the National Bureau of Standards 

Dimensions: the Magazine of the National Bureau of Standards 

TI.U45 

Vol. 57 no. 8—Vol. 65 no. 8 (Aug. 1973—Oct. 1981) 

Continues: Technical News Bulletin of the National Bureau of Standards 

Additional title: Dimensions/NBS 

Federal Information Processing Standards Publications 

JK468.A8A3 

No. 0 (1968)—present 

This series is the official publication relating to standards and guidelines developed for Federal computer systems by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and promulgated under the Federal 

Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, Section 111(d), as amended by the Computer Security 

Act of 1987, Public Law 100-235 (101 Stat. 1724) January 8, 1988. 

Federal Specifications 

The Bureau developed specifications for the purchase of supplies (other than foods and drugs) for the 

Federal Government. These specifications were generally recognized as dependable guides by many large 

organizations and purchasing agencies in achieving purchasing economy. The Bureau endorsed these specifications and published them for distribution. The first one published by the Bureau was Circular 13, Standard 

Specifications for the Purchase of Carbon-Filament Incandescent Lamps, in 1907. The first official U.S. 

Government specification, authorized by Presidential order, was published as Bureau Circular C33, United 

States Government Specification for Portland Cement, in 1912. Specifications were published in the Circular 

and Miscellaneous Publications series. 

In 1921 The Federal Specifications Board was created by the Bureau of the Budget to unify specifications already available to government agencies. Bureau specifications accepted by the Board became official 

standards and were binding on all departments of the Federal Government. 

675 
Gage Section Communications 

Iii l66.U5 

1919-1920 

The various communications of the Gage Section of the Weights and Measures Division contained 

information about the practical problems of gauges and gauging methods including work carried out with the 

National Screw Thread Commission. 

Handbooks see NIST Handbooks 

Hydraulic Laboratory. Bulletin. Series B: Hydraulic Laboratories in the United States 

TCI.U5 

(1933 and 1935, 1st rev.) 

This series updated Hydraulic Laboratories in the United States of America, giving descriptions of 47 

hydraulic laboratories in the United States. 

HYDRAULIC RESEARCH IN Tiw UNITED STATES These reports represented a cooperative attempt on the part of the hydraulic laboratories in the United 

States to bring about the effective interchange of information relating to research projects being carried out 

in these laboratories. NBS served as a central agency to compile, publish and distribute information related to current hydraulic laboratory research. 

Hydraulic Laboratory. Bulletin. Series A: Current Hydraulic Laboratory Research in the United States 

TCI.U51 

No. 1-10(1933-1942) 

Continued by: Hydraulic Research in the United States 

Hydraulic Research in the United States 

TCI.U5I 

Vol. 11-14(1947-1950) 

Continues: Hydraulic Laboratory. Bulletin. Series A: Current Hydraulic Laboratory Research in the 

United States 

In 1951 Hydraulic Research in the United States became part of the Miscellaneous Publications series, 

and an annual issue was published, keeping the title Hydraulic Research in the United Stares. In 1969 the 

series name changed to Special Publications and the frequency of publication of Hydraulic Research became 

biennial. In 1972 the title changed to Hydraulic Research in the United States and Canada. Publication of 

this title ended in 1978. 

Miscellaneous Publications 201, 205, 208, 210,215,218, 221, 224, 227, 231, 238, 245, 249, 261, 270, 280 

Special Publications 316, 346, 382, 443, 497, 583 

International Aircraft Standards 

TL671.l.U5 

(1917-1918) 

International Aircraft Standards, adopted by the International Aircraft Standards Board, were specifications that resulted from testing done at NBS. The classification of specifications covered general inspection 

and testing instructions, raw materials, fabricated material, and fabricated parts. 

676 
Ionospheric Predictions 

TK6570.B7U47 

No. 1-36 (1963-1965) 

Supersedes: Basic Radio Propagation Predictions, CRPL Series D 

The CRPL Ionospheric Predictions were issued monthly as an aid in determining the best sky-wave 

frequencies over any transmission path, at any time of day, for average conditions for the month. Issued 

three months in advance, each issue provided tables of numerical coefficients that defined the functions describing the predicted worldwide distribution of foF2 and M(3000)F2 and maps for each even hour of Universal Time of MLJF(Aero)F2 and MUF(4000)F2. 

IRPL Report 

TK6540.U5 

No. 1-35 (1943-June 1946) 

Superseded by: CRPL Report 

Reports prepared by the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory at NBS. 

Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data 

Q199.J65 

Vol. 1 (1972)— present 

This journal provides critically evaluated physical and chemical property data and critical reviews of 

measurement techniques. It is not an outlet for original experimental measurements or for review articles of a descriptive or primarily theoretical nature. The National Standard Reference Data System is one source of 

contributions to the Journal. JPCRD is published by the American Chemical Society and the American Institute of Physics for NIST. 

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH 

Results of research in science and technology were reported in the Scientific Papers. The first 14 vol- umes of the Scientific Papers were issued as the Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards and the separate papers were called "Reprints." Results of investigations of materials and methods of testing were reported in the 

Technologic Papers. In July 1928 the Scientific Papers and Technologic Papers were combined and issued 

under the title Bureau of Standards Journal of Research. 

Complete scientific reports of the Bureau's research and development, both experimental and theoretical, in physics, chemistry, and engineering and the results of test and instrumentation activities in these fields were printed in the Journal of Research. The subject matter of the reports embraced all fields of work con- ducted at the Bureau. Research Papers were reprints of individual articles appearing in the monthly issues of 

the Journal of Research. They were made available in this form to serve the need of research workers, 

technical groups, and others for the separate papers relating to the particular subjects in which they cooperated or were interested. In July 1959 the Bureau began publishing the Journal in four separate sections, A, B, 

C, and D, and the Research Papers were discontinued. Issued six times a year. 

Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards, Section A. Physics and Chemistry was of 

interest primarily to scientists working in these fields. It covered a broad range of physical and chemical 

research, with major emphasis on standards of physical measurement, fundamental constants, and properties 

of matter. Issued six times a year. 

677 
Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards, Section B. Mathematics and Mathematical 

Physics presented studies and compilations designed mainly for the mathematician and the theoretical physicist. Topics in mathematical statistics, theory of experiment design, numerical analysis, theoretical physics 

and chemistry, logical design and programing of computers and computer systems were covered, together 

with short numerical tables. In 1967 Mathematics and Mathematical Physics changed to Mathematical Sciences. Issued quarterly. 

Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards, Section C. Engineering and Instrumentation 

reported research and development results of interest chiefly to the engineer and the applied scientist. It 

included many of the new developments in instrumentation resulting from the Bureau's work in physical 

measurement, data processing, and development of test methods. it also covered some of the work in acous- tics, applied mechanics, building research, and cryogenic engineering. issued quarterly. Ceased publication at end of 1972. 

Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards, Section D. Radio Propagation reported re- search in radio propagation, communications, and upper atmospheric physics. Topics covered included propagation in ionized media, scattering by turbulence, effect of irregular terrain on propagation, diffraction and 

scattering by solid obstacles, propagation through time-varying media, surface waves, and antennas. In January 1964, Radio Propagation changed to Radio Science. Issued six times a year. 

Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards, Section D. Radio Science was published 

monthly by the National Bureau of Standards with the U.S. National Committee of the International Scientific Radio Union (URSI). it served as the principal publication outlet for the research of the 

NBS Central Radio Propagation Laboratory and the scientific activities of the USNC of URSI; it also carried 

selected papers from the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory. Radio Science presented research papers, as well as occasional survey articles, in radio propagation, communications, and radio science generally. Beginning 

with the January 1966 issue, Radio Science was published by the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) after the transfer of the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory from NBS to ESSA. The scope 

and coverage remained the same. It continued to be cosponsored by the U.S. National Committee of the 

International Scientific Radio Union. The title of the journal was changed to simply Radio Science with new volume numbering. 

In July 1977 Sections A and B were combined under its former title Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards and issued six times a year. 

As of August 23, 1988, the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) became the National Institute of 

Standards and Technology (NIST) when the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act was signed into law. 

The title was changed to Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology with the 

Volume 93. no. 6 (November-December 1988) issue to reflect the organizational name change. 

Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards 

QCI.U5 

Vol. 1-14 (1904-1919) 

Scientific Papers of the Bureau of Standards 

QC I .U572 

Vol. 15-22 (1919-1928) 

Merged with: Technologic Papers of the Bureau of Standards, to form: Bureau of Standards Journal 

of Research 

Technologic Papers of the Bureau of Standards 

Tl.U4 

Vol. 1-22 (1910-1928) 

Merged with: Scientific Papers of the Bureau of Standards, to form: Bureau of Standards Journal of 

Research 

678 
Bureau of Standards Journal of Research 

QCI.U52 

Vol. 1-12 (1928-1934) 

Formed by the union of: Scientific Papers of the Bureau of Standards, and Technologic Papers of the 

Bureau of Standards 

Continued by: Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 

Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 

QCI.U52 

Vol. 13-62 (1934-1959) 

Continues: Bureau of Standards Journal of Research 

Split into four parts and continued by Sections A, B, C, and D 

Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards. Section A: Physics and Chemistry 

QCI.U522 

Vol. 63A-8lA (1959-1977) 

Continues in part: Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 

Merged with: Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards. Section B, to form: Journal of 

Research of the National Bureau of Standards 

Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards. Section B: MaC and Mathematical Physics 

QAI.U57 

Vol. 63B-7lB (1959-1967) 

Continues in part: Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 

Continued by: Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards. Section B: Mathematical Sciences 

Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards. Section B: Mathematical Sciences 

QAI.U57 

Vol. 72B-81B (1968-1977) 

Continues: Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards. Section B: Mathematics and 

Mathematical Physics 

Merged with: Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards. Section A, to form: Journal of 

Research of the National Bureau of Standards 

Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards. Section C: Engineering and Instrumentation 

QC I OO.U5554 

Vol. 63C-76C (1959-1972) 

Continues in part: Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 

Ceased publication in 1972. 

Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards. Section D: Radio Propagation 

QC973.U46 

Vol. 63D-67D (1959-1963) 

Continues in part: Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 

Continued by: Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards. Section D: Radio Science 

Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards. Section D: Radio Science 

QC973.U46 

Vol. 68D-69D (1964-1965) 

Continues: Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards. Section D: Radio Propagation 

Ceased publication by NBS in 1965. 

679 
Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 

QC I .U524 

Vol. 82-93 no. 5 (1977-1988) 

Formed by the union of its Sections A and B Continued by: Journal of Research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

QC I .U524 

Vol. 93 no. 6 (1988)—present 

Continues: Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards 

LETrER CIRCULARS 

Letter Circulars 1-1040 are mimeographed, irregularly published lists of Bureau publications and references, and general information concerning specific subjects on which popular interest had been demonstrated 

by inquiries addressed to the Bureau. With no. 1041 (1966) the Letter Circulars changed from a report 

format to that of brochures, booklets, and charts. They are still an informal series and not subject to a review 

process. 

Letter Circular of the Bureau of Standards 

QCIOO.U5775 

No. 1-411 (1921-1934) 

Letter Circular of the National Bureau of Standards 

QC l00.U5775 

No. 412-1040 (1934-1962) 

No. 1041 (1966)—present 

Limitation of Variety Recommendations 

No. I (September 1, 1924) 

Apparently only one "Elimination of Waste—Limitation of Variety Recommendation" was published (listed 

in "Publications of the Bureau of Standards, 1901—June 30, 1925," 7th ed. final, pg. 215. Circular no. 24) No 

mention of this series is made in the "Supplementary List of Publications of the Bureau of Standards, (July 

I, 1925, to December 31, 1931)" or any thereafter. 

Mathematical Tables Series 

QA47.U5 I No. 1-37 (1939-1946) 

The tables (with the exception of MTI5) were prepared by the Mathematical Tables Project for the com- putation of mathematical tables. The project, conducted by the Federal Works Agency, Work Projects 

Administration (WPA) for the city of New York, was under the sponsorship of, and tables made available 

through, the National Bureau of Standards. Selected for tabulation were functions of fundamental importance 

in pure and applied mathematics in the most useful range and interval of the argument. They are of special 

interest to physicists, engineers, chemists, biologists, mathematicians and others engaged in scientific and 

technical work. 

In 1943 the project was administratively transferred from the WPA to the Bureau, but it remained in 

New York. When the National Applied Mathematics Laboratories was established at NBS in July 1947, the 

Mathematical Tables Project moved from New York to Washington, DC and became a part of the NAML's 

Computation Laboratory. 

MT-l8, MT-30, and MT-37 were originally printed as part of the series in the "Bulletin of the Ameri- can Mathematical Society". 

MT-19—MT-29, and MT-3l—MT-36 were originally printed as part of the series in the "Journal of 

Mathematics and Physics". 

680 
Miscellaneous Publications see NIST Special Publications 

Monographs see Monographs NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS CIRCULARS Circulars were compilations of information on various subjects related to the Bureau's scientific, technical, and engineering activities. They included not only the results of Bureau studies, but give data of general 

interest from other sources. This series also contained Recommended Specifications, United States Government Specifications, and 

United States Government Master Specifications formerly issued by the Bureau. These bore a specification number in addition to the Bureau Circular number, but all of these specifications were can- celed or superseded by Federal Specifications, now formulated by the Federal Specifications Board. The 

series was discontinued in June 1959 and "circular" material was directed to the Journal of Research and the 

Monograph series. 

Circular of Information of the National Bureau of Standards 

QC l00.U554 

No. 1-4 (1902-1903) 

Continued by: Bureau Circular—Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Standards 

Bureau Circular—Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Standards 

QCIOO.U555 

No. 1-20 (1903-1909) 

Continues: Circular of Information of the National Bureau of Standards 

Continued by: Circular of the Bureau of Standards 

Circular of the Bureau of Standards 

QCIOO.U555 

No. 21-404 (1910-1934) 

Continues: Bureau Circular—Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Standards 

Continued by: Circular of the National Bureau of Standards 

Circular of the National Bureau of Standards 

QC lOO.U555 

No. 405-459 (1934-1948) 

Continues: Circular of the Bureau of Standards 

Continued by: National Bureau of Standards Circular 

National Bureau of Standards Circular 

QCIOO.U555 

No. 460-603 (1947-1959) 

Continues: Circular of the National Bureau of Standards 

Superseded by: NBS Monograph 

National Bureau of Standards Reports 

Nos. 1000-10,987 (1951-1975) 

These were usually preliminary or progress accounting documents intended for use within the government. Before material in the reports was formally published, it was subjected to additional evaluation and 

review. The reports were often called "graybacks" because of their gray covers. 

681 
NBS-GCR Reports 

QCIOO.U6N25 

70-1 (1970)—present 

Grantee/Contractor reports are prepared by non-NIST persons or organizations working under grant or contract from NIST. 

NBS-GCR-ETIP Reports 

73-01—82-101 (1973-1982) 

Grantee/Contractor reports prepared by non-NBS persons or organizations working under grant or con- tract from NBS on subjects specifically for the Experimental Technology Incentives Program. 

NBS Standard 

Tl.U44 Vol. 1—vol. 26, no. 15 (October 1955-July 22, 1981) 

This publication was the official NBS employee newsletter. All department of commerce individual 

agency newsletters were discontinued in 1981 as part of the secretary of commerce's goal to develop a more unified and cohesive department. The assistant secretary for administration established an employee newsletter to cover the entire Department of Commerce. 

NIST BUILDING SCIENCE SERIES This series disseminates technical information developed at NIST on building materials, components, 

systems, and whole structures. The series contains research results, test methods, and performance criteria 

related to the structural and environmental functions and the durability and safety characteristics of building 

elements and systems. 

Building Science Series 

TA435.U58 

No. 0-49 (1965-1974) 

Continued by: NBS Building Science Series 

NBS Building Science Series 

TA435.U58 

No. 50-165 (1974-1987) 

Continues: Building Science Series 

Continued by: NIST Building Science Series 

NIST Building Science Series 

TA435.U58 

No. 166 (1989)—present 

Continues: NBS Building Science Series 

NIST HANDBOOKS These are recommended codes of engineering and industrial practice, including safety codes, developed 

in cooperation with the national organizations and others concerned. In many cases the recommended 

requirements are given official status through their incorporation in local ordinances by State and municipal 

regulatory bodies. 

682 
Handbook of the Bureau of Standards 

QC I .U5 I No. 1-18 (1918-1934) 

Continued by: NBS Handbook 

NBS Handbook 

QCI.U51 

No. 19-145 (1934-1986) 

Continues: Handbook of the Bureau of Standards 

Continued by: NIST Handbook 

NIST Handbook 

QCI.U51 

No. 146 (1989)—present 

Continues: NBS Handbook 

NIST MONOGRAPHS Monographs are usually contributions to the technical literature which are too lengthy for publication in 

the Journal of Research. They often provide extensive compilations of information on subjects related to the 

Bureau's technical program. Until July 1959 most of this type of material was published in the Circular 

series. 

NBS Monograph 

QCIOO.U556 

No. l-174(l959-l986) 

Supersedes: National Bureau of Standards Circular 

Continued by: NIST Monograph 

NIST Monograph 

QC l00.U556 

As of 11-20-89, no NIST Monographs have been published. 

Continues: NBS Monograph 

NIST SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS 

The Miscellaneous Publications series included material, which, because of its character or because of 

its size, did not fit into any of the other regular publication series. Some of these were charts, administrative 

pamphlets, directories of specifications, annual reports, weights and measures conference reports, and other 

subjects appropriate to this series. In 1968, the series title changed to Special Publication. 

Miscellaneous Publication—Bureau of Standards 

QC lOO.U57 

No. 1-132 (1918-1933) 

Continued by: Bureau of Standards Miscellaneous Publication 

Bureau of Standards Miscellaneous Publication 

QCIOO.U57 

No. 133-144(1932-1934) 

Continues: Miscellaneous Publication—Bureau of Standards 

Continued by: Miscellaneous Publication—National Bureau of Standards 

I 

683 
Miscellaneous Publication—National Bureau of Standards 

QCIOO.U57 

No. 145-294 (1934-1967) 

Continues: Bureau of Standards Miscellaneous Publication 

Continued by: NBS Special Publication 

NBS Special Publication 

QCIOO.U57 

No. 295-749 (l968-l988) 

Continues: Miscellaneous Publication—National Bureau of Standards 

Continued by: NIST Special Publication 

NIST Special Publication 

QCIOO.U57 

No. 750 (1988)—present 

Continues: NBS Special Publication 

NIST TECHNICAL NOTES This series was initiated in 1959 to supplement the Bureau's regular publications program. Technical 

Notes provide a means for making available scientific data that are of transient or limited interest. 

NBS Technical Note 

QC100.U5753 

No. 1-1321 (1959-1988) 

Continued by: NIST Technical Note 

Nos. 1250-1299, 1310, 1318 published as NIST Technical Notes. 

NIST Technical Note 

QC l00.U5753 

No. 1250 (1988)—present 

Continues: NBS Technical Note 

Nos. 1300-1309, 1311-1317, 1319-1321 published as NBS Technical Notes. 

NISTIR 

This is a special series of interim or final reports on work performed by NIST for outside sponsors 

(both government and nongovernment). 

NBSIR 

QCIOO.U56 

No. 73- 101—88-3836 (1973-1988) 

NISTIR 

QCIOO.U56 

NO. 88-3837 (1988)-present 

684 
NSRDS.NIST 

The National Standard Reference Data Series provides quantitative data on the physical and chemical 

properties of materials, compiled from the world's literature and critically evaluated. It was developed under a worldwide program coordinated by NBS, under authority of the National Standard Data Act (Public Law 

90-396). This series supplements the Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data. 

NSRDS-NBS 

QC l00.U573 

No. 1-73 (1964-1987) 

Continued by: NSRDS-NIST 

NSRDS-NIST 

QC I00.U573 

As of 7/7/99, nothing has been published in the NSRDS-NIST series. 

Continues: NSRDS-NBS 

Photographic Laboratory Circulars 

TR395.U5 - No. 1-2 (????-l920) 

These were confidential reports of NBS tests for government agencies that were done in the Photographic Laboratory. 

Planning Report 

QCIOO.U5P5 

No. 1 (1980)— present 

These are internal reports but shared with government or private agencies. The reports are prepared by 

the NBS/NIST Program Office or by private contractors. 

Product Standards see Voluntary Product Standards 

PROJECTS AND PUBLICATIONS OF THE APPLIED MATHEMATICS DIVISION: A QUARTERLY REPORT 

These were reports on the research and services of Division II, the National Applied Mathematics Division. 

Activities in Applied Mathematics 

QA27.U5A3 I (1946-1947) 

Continued by: Projects and Publications of the National Applied Mathematics Laboratories: a Quarterly Report 

Projects and Publications of the National Applied Mathematics Laboratories: a Quarterly Report 

QA27.U5A32 

(1947-1954) 

Continues: Activities in Applied Mathematics 

Continued by: Projects and Publications of the Applied Mathematics Division: a Quarterly Report 

685 
Projects and Publications of the Applied Mathematics Division: a Quarterly Report 

QA27.U5A32 

(1954-1964) 

Continues: Projects and Publications of the National Applied Mathematics Laboratories: a Quarterly Report 

REFERENCE DATA REPORTS 

This was an informal communication of the National Standard Reference Data System (NSRDS) for the 

exchange of news and ideas about data centers, publications, meetings, and other activities related to data 

evaluation and dissemination. It ceased publication in April 1983. 

NSRDS News 

QC l00.U57315 

Issues for June 1966-May 1973 were originally published in the Technical News Bulletin; not published 

Nov. 1974-Apr. 1975, Mar., June-Aug. 1976 

June 1973—NovlDec. 1976 

Superseded by: Reference Data Report 

Reference Data Report 

QC l00.U573l5 

Vol. 1-7 (1977-April 1983) 

Other title: NSRDS Reference Data Report 

Supersedes: NSRDS News 

Reports see National Bureau of Standards Reports 

Scientific Papers of the Bureau of Standards see Journal of Research 

Simplified Practice Recommendations 

QC l00.U564 

No. 1-80 (1922-1927) 

(1928-1966) 

"Simplified Practice," in this series, meant reduction of excessive variety of manufactured products, or 

of methods. Simplified Practice Recommendations were records of stock items retained after superfluous 

variety had been eliminated. These recommendations were developed by voluntary cooperation among manu- facturers, distributors, consumers, and others interested, through a regular procedure of the National Bureau 

of Standards established for that purpose—a procedure designed to insure not only the initial success of a program, but also its continued adjustment to meet changing industrial conditions. 

Each printed booklet contained not only the specific recommendation itself, but also its history and 

development, the names of trade associations, firms, individuals, and others that approved the recommendation, and the personnel of the standing committee in charge of its maintenance and revisions as needed to keep them current with developments. The date from which each recommendation was effective was given. 

Beginning in 1966 as they were revised, Simplified Practice Recommendations changed to Product Standards 

and later to Voluntary Product Standards. 

686 
Standards Yearbook 

QCIOO.U576 

(1927- 1933) 

This publication gave a summary of progress in the field of standardization in agencies, both governmental and private, throughout the world. The yearbook was originally designed as a companion volume to "Commerce Yearbook." The seven volumes were published as Miscellaneous Publications 77, 83, 91, 106, 

119, 133, 139 but titled Standards Yearbook. 

Technical Information on Building Materials for Use in the Design of Low Cost Housing 

TH I .U5 

No. 1-61 (1936-1938) 

These releases presented, very briefly, essential facts developed through research work at NBS and refer to longer publications where methods of investigation and results obtained were given in greater detail. They 

were prepared principally for the guidance of architectural and engineering staffs of federal agencies in the 

selection of materials for use in low-cost housing. 

Technical Notes see NIST Technical Notes 

Technologic Papers of the Bureau of Standards see Journal of Research VOLUNTARY PRODUCT STANDARDS This series provides requirements for sizes, types, quality and methods for testing various industrial 

products. These standards are developed cooperatively with interested government and industry groups, 

provide the basis for common understanding of product characteristics for both buyers and sellers, and are 

used voluntarily. Voluntary Product Standards include Commercial Standards (material requirements and 

quality criteria) and Simplified Practice Recommendations (sizes, models, and dimensions of commonly 

stocked items) revised since 1966. They are developed under procedures published by the Department of 

Commerce in Part 10, Title 15, of the "Code of Federal Regulations." The purpose of these standards is to 

establish nationally recognized requirements for products, and to provide all concemed interests with a basis 

for common understanding of the characteristics of the products. The National Institute of Standards and 

Technology administers the Voluntary Product Standards program as a supplement to the activities of the 

private sector standardizing organizations. 

In 1979, private standards-writing organizations were encouraged by the Department of Commerce to develop voluntary product standards and it announced the withdrawal of all Voluntary Product Standards 

sponsored by NBS. Sponsorship of the standards was transferred to other institutions or private standardswriting organizations, or the standards were withdrawn. As of September 1997, three Voluntary Product 

Standards are still sponsored by NIST, but on a cost-reimbursable basis by private organizations. 

Product Standards 

QC lOO.U563 

No. 0-13 (1966-1969) 

Continued by: Voluntary Product Standards 

Voluntary Product Standards 

QC l00.U563 

No. 14 (1969)—present 

Continues: Product Standards 

687 
APPENDIX I 

ORGANIZATIONAL LEVELS OF THE NATIONAL BUREAU 

OF STANDARDS 

MARCH 1950 

30 DIRECTOR'S OFFICE 

Director 

Assistant to the Director 

Assistant to the Director 

Associate Director 

Associate Director 

31 OFFICE OF SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS 

.1 Library 

.2 Technical Reports 

.3 Publications 

32 OFFICE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 

Assistant Chief 

ELECTRICITY AND OPTICS 

Assistant Chief 

.1 Resistance Measurements 

.2 Inductance and Capacitance 

.3 Electrical Instruments 

.4 Magnetic Measurements 

.5 Photometry and Colorimetry 

.6 Optical Instruments 

.7 Photographic Technology 

.8 Electrochemistry 

2 METROLOGY 

Assistant Chief 

.1 Length 

.2 Mass 

.3 Time 

.4 Capacity, Density and Fluid Meters 

.6 Thermal Expansion 

.7 Dental Materials 

.8 Scales 

.9 Gage 

3 HEAT AND POWER 

.1 Temperature Measurements 

.2 Thermodynamics 

.3 Cryogenics 

.4 Engines and Lubrication 

.5 Engine Fuels 

.6 Combustion 

689 

Dr. Edward U. Condon 

Hugh Odishaw 

Nicholas E. Golovin 

Dr. Eugene C. Crittenden 

Dr. Wallace R. Brode 

Hugh Odishaw 

Sarah Ann Jones 

W. Reeves Tilley 

Jesse L. Mathusa 

Ralph W. Smith 

William S. Bussey 

Dr. Francis B. Silsbee 

Dr. Kassoñ S. Gibson 

Dr. James L. Thomas 

Dr. Charles Moon 

Dr. Francis M. Defandorf 

Raymond L. Sanford 

Dr. Kasson S. Gibson 

Dr. Irvine C. Gardner 

Raymond Davis 

Dr. George W. Vinal 

Dr. Wilmer Souder 

David R. Miller 

Dr. Lewis V. Judson 

Lloyd B. Macurdy 

Horace A. Bowman (Acting) 

Howard S. Bean 

Dr. Peter Hidnert 

Dr. In C. Schoonover 

H. Haig Russell 

David R. Miller 

Dr. Ferdinand G. Bnickwedde 

Dr. Raymond E. Wilson 

Dr. Ferdinand G. Bnickwedde 

Russell B. Scott 

Samuel A. McKee 

Dr. Frank L. Howard (Acting) 

Dr. Ernest F. Fiock 
4 ATOMIC AND RADIATION PHYSICS Assistant Chief 

Radioactivity Consultant 

Stable Tracers Consultant 

4A Atomic Physics Laboratory 

I Spectroscopy 

.2 Radiometry 

.3 Mass Spectrometry 

.4 Physical Electronics 

.5 Electron Physics 

.6 Atomic Physics 

.7 Neutron Measurements 

4R Radiation Physics Laboratory 

.8 Nuclear Physics 

.9 Radioactivity 

.10 X-Rays 

.11 Betatron 

.12 Nucleonic Instrumentation 

.13 Radiological Equipment 

5 CHEMISTRY 

Assistant Chief 

.1 Paint, Varnish and Lacquer 

.2 Surface Chemistry 

.3 Organic Chemistry 

.4 Analytical Chemistry 

.5 Platinum Metals and Pure Substances 

.6 Electrodeposition 

.7 Gas Chemistry 

.8 Physical Chemistry 

.9 Thermochemistry and Hydrocarbons 

.10 Spectrochemistry 

6 MECHANICS 

.1 Sound 

.2 Mechanical Instruments 

.3 Aerodynamics 

.4 Engineering Mechanics 

.5 Hydraulics 

7 ORGANIC AND FIBROUS MATERIALS Assistant Chief 

Consultant 

.1 Rubber 

.2 Textiles 

.3 Paper 

.4 Leather 

.5 Testing and Specifications 

.7 Organic Plastics 

8 METALLURGY 

Assistant Chief 

.1 Optical Metallurgy 

.2 Thermal Metallurgy 

690 

Dr. Robert D. Huntoon 

Launston S. Taylor 

Dr. Leon F. Curtiss 

Dr. Fred L. Mohier 

Dr. Robert D. Huntoon 

Dr. William F. Meggers 

Dr. Curtis J. Humphreys 

Dr. Fred L. Mohier 

Dr. Willard H. Bennet 

Dr. Ladislaus L. Marton 

Dr. John A. Hipple 

Dr. Leon F. Curtiss 

Lauriston S. Taylor 

Dr. Ugo Fano 

Lauriston S. Taylor (Acting) 

Harold 0. Wyckoff 

Herman W. Koch 

Harold 0. Wyckoff (Acting) 

Dr. Scott W. Smith 

Dr. Edward W. Wichers 

Dr. William Blum 

Eugene F. Hickson 

Dr. James I. Hoffman 

W. Harold Smith 

Hany A. Bright 

Dr. Raleigh Gilchrist 

Dr. William Blum 

Elmer R. Weaver 

Dr. Edgar R. Smith 

Dr. Frederick D. Rossini 

Bourdon F. Scnbner 

Dr. Walter Ramberg 

Dr. Richard K. Cook 

Dr. William G. Brombacher 

Dr. Galen B. Schubauer 

Bruce L. Wilson 

Herbert N. Eaton 

Dr. Archibald T. McPherson 

Dr. Gordon M. Kline 

Dr. Robert Simha 

Dr. Lawrence A. Wood 

William D. Appel 

Bourdon W. Scribner 

Everett L. Wallace 

Dr. Robert D. Stiehler 

Dr. Gordon M. Kline 

Dr. John G. Thompson 

William F. Roeser 

George A. Ellinger 

Thomas G. Digges 
.3 Mechanical Metallurgy 

.4 Chemical Metallurgy 

.5 Experimental Foundry 

.6 Underground Corrosion 

9 MINERAL PRODUCTS 

.1 Porcelain and Pottery 

.2 Glass 

.3 Refractories 

.4 Enameled Metals 

.5 Building Stone 

.6 Concreting Materials 

.7 Constitution and Microstructure 

.8 Chemistry of Mineral Products 

10 BUILDING TECHNOLOGY Assistant Chief 

.1 Structural Engineering 

.2 Fire Protection 

.3 Heating and Air Conditioning 

.4 Exterior and Interior Covering 

.5 Codes and Specifications 11 APPLIED MATHEMATICS Assistant Chief 

.1 Numerical Analysis 

.2 Computation 

.3 Statistical Engineering 

.4 Machine Development 

12 COMMODITY STANDARDS Assistant Chief 

.1 Metal and Ceramic Products 

.2 Textiles and Apparel 

.3 Mechanical Equipment 

.4 Packaging 

.5 Chemical Products 

13 ELECTRONICS AND ORDNANCE Assistant Chief for Ordnance 

Assistant Chief for Aerophysics 

Electronics Consultant 

Electronics Consultant 

Electronic Standards Laboratory 

.1 Engineering Electronics 

.2 Electron Tubes 

.3 Electronic Computers 

Ordnance Development Laboratory 

.4 Ordnance Research 

.5 Ordnance Mechanics 

.6 Ordnance Electronics 

.7 Ordnance Engineering 

.8 Ordnance Tests 

691 

William F. Roeser 

Harold E. Cleaves 

Alexander I. Krynitsky 

Dr. Irving A. Denison 

Dr. Herbert lnsley 

Roman F. Geller 

Clarence H. Hahner 

Raymond A. Heindl 

William N. Harrison 

Daniel W. Kessler 

Raymond L. Blame 

Howard F. McMurdie 

Dr. Lansing S. Wells 

Douglas E. Parsons 

George N. Thompson 

Douglas E. Parsons 

Nolan D. Mitchell 

Richard S. Dill 

Dr. Hubert R. Snoke 

George N. Thompson 

Dr. John H. Curtiss 

Dr. Edward W. Cannon 

Dr. J. Berkley Rosser (UCLA) 

Dr. Franz L. Alt (Acting) 

Dr. Churchill Eisenhart 

Dr. Edward W. Cannon (Acting) 

Edwin W. Ely 

Floyd W. Reynolds 

George Schuster 

Herbert A. Ehrman 

James W. Medley 

William E. Braithwaite 

Floyd W. Reynolds 

Dr. Allen V. Astin 

Wilbur S. Hinman, Jr. 

Dr. Harold K. Skramstad 

Dr. Robert D. Huntoon 

Dr. Chester H. Page 

Joseph G. Reid, Jr. 

Dr. John E. White 

Dr. Samuel N. Alexander 

Wilbur S. Hinman, Jr. 

Dr. Harold Goldberg 

Jacob Rabinow 

P. Anthony Guarino 

Myron 0. Domsitz 

Theodore B. Godfrey 
Guided Missile Branch 

.9 Missile Dynamics 

.10 Missile Intelligence 

.11 Missile Engineering 

.12 Missile Instrumentation 

.13 Technical Services 

14 CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY Assistant Chief 

Assistant Chief 

Microwave Research Consultant 

Ionospheric Research Laboratory 

.1 Upper Atmosphere Research 

.5 Ionospheric Research 

.7 Field Operations 

Systems Research Laboratory 

.3 Regular Propagation Services 

.4 Frequency Utilization Research 

.6 Tropospheric Propagation Research 

Measurement Standards Laboratory 

.8 High Frequency Standards 

.9 Microwave Standards 

M BUDGET AND MANAGEMENT 

.1 Budget 

.2 Management Planning 

.3 Procurement 

.4 Property Management 

.5 Records and Communications 

.6 Accounting 

.7 Special Services 

P PERSONNEL Assistant Chief 

.1 Recruitment and Placement 

.2 Operations 

.3 Classification 

.4 Medical Office 

.5 Education and Training 

E PLANT Assistant Chief 

.1 Power Plant 

.2 Electrical Shop 

.3 Piping Shop 

.4 Carpenter Shop 

.5 Paint Shop 

.6 General Service 

.7 Garage 

.8 Guard 

.9 Grounds 

.10 Janitorial 

.11 Refrigeration and Air Conditioning 

.12 Administrative and Engineering Office 

692 

Ralph A. Lamm 

Dr. Harold K. Skramstad 

Dr. Fred S. Atchison 

Ralph A. Lamm 

William A. Wildhack 

James D. McLean (Acting) 

Dr. Newbern Smith 

Alvin G. McNish 

Kenneth A. Norton 

Dr. Thomas J. Jr. 

Alvin G. McNish 

Ross Bateman 

Henry P. Hutchinson 

Walter B. Chadwick 

Kenneth A. Norton 

Jack W. Herbstreit (Acting) 

William D. George 

Dr. Harold Lyons 

Herbert E. Weifenbach 

Edward E. Upperman 

Wilbur W. Bolton, Jr. 

Charles B. Kipps 

George B. Kefover 

Robert W. Lamberson 

Clinton 0. Hall 

Frank D. Moncure (Acting) 

Raymond L. Randall 

William C. Fewell 

Raymond L. Randall 

Jessie B. Berkley 

Lawrence L. Epperson 

Dr. William Frank 

Joseph Hilsenrath 

William J. Ellenberger 

Oscar L. Bntt 

Grover F. Hamby 

George V. Hall 

Raymond A. Watson 

Paul J. Robinson 

Raymond E. Mothershead 

Frank A. Peters 

Harry C. Magruder 

Herman B. Burke 

William R. David 

Adeeb J. Neam 

Elndge G. Burke 

Vacant 
S SHOPS Paul S. Ballif 

Assistant Chief Winfield L. Drissel 

Shop Superintendent John L. Hutton 

.1 Design and Drafting Richard J. Hanrahan 

.2 Instrument Shop No. I Henry N. Philo 

.3 Instrument Shop No. 2 George A. Rheinbold 

.4 Instrument Shop No. 3 George W. Bicking, Jr. 

.5 Instrument Shop No. 4 Charles W. Hyder 

.6 Instrument Shop No. 5 Andrew J. Altman 

.7 Welding and Sheet Metal Shop Edward G. Clark 

.8 Woodworking Shop Paul D. Huntley 

.9 Shop Tools Lewis H. Brigham 

.10 Maintenance Winfield L. Drissel 

.11 Glassblowing Shop Leonardo Testa 

.12 Metals Storeroom James E. Mallory FIELD STATIONS ELECTRICITY AND OpTics 

Lamp Inspector, Brookline, MA 

George Schnitzler 

2 METROLOGY 

Master Scale Depot, Clearing, IL 

H. Haig Russell, Chief 

9 MINERAL PRODUCTS 

Cement Testing and Inspection Station, Allentown, PA 

William N. Moyer, Chief 

Cement Testing and Inspection Station, Riverside Cement Co., Riverside, CA 

Donald N. Evans, Chief 

Cement Testing and Inspection Station, Permanente Cement Co., Permanente, CA 

Martin Defore, Chief 

Cement Testing and Inspection Station, Sanitary Engineering Building, University of Washington, 

Seattle, WA 

Frank N. Winbiade, Chief 

Cement and Concrete Materials Testing Station, Denver, CO 

Orson H. Cox, Chief 

Materials Testing Station, San Francisco, CA 

Otto C. Marek (Acting) Chief 11 APPLIED MATHEMATICS 

Institute for Numerical Analysis, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 

Dr. J. Berkley Rosser (Acting) Chief 

13 ELECTRONICS Blossom Point Proving Ground, La Plata, MD 

Adrian P. Sutten, Chief 

Warren Grove Test Field, Warren Grove, Tuckerton, NJ 

William A. Wildhack, Chief 

693 
14 CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Anchorage, AK 

Vernon H. Goerke, Chief 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Point Barrow, AK 

Lloyd A. Lohr, Chief 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Island of Guam 

Herschel C. Carmichael, Chief 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Puunene, Maui, Territory of Hawaii 

Leo W. Honea, Chief 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Palmyra Island, Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii 

Stephen S. Barnes, Chief (Acting) 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico 

Theodore R. Gilliland, Chief 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Trinidad, B. W. I. Richard F. Carle, Chief 

Radio Propagation Field Station, White Sands Proving Ground, Las Cruces, NM 

Earl E. Ferguson, Chief 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Ft. Belvoir, VA 

Edward J. Wiewara, Chief 

Radio Propagation Laboratory, Sterling, VA 

Victor C. Pineo, Chief 

Radio Transmitting Station, Beltsville, MD 

Gordon H. Lester, Chief 

694 
MAY 1953 

30 DIREcToR's OrncE 

Director 

Associate Director for Research 

Associate Director for Testing 

Associate Director for Ordnance 

Director Corona Laboratories 

Assistant Director for Administration 

Deputy Assistant Director for Administration 

Assistant to the Director 

Consultant 

31 OFFIcE OF SCIENTIFiC PUBLICATIONS 

.1 Library 

.2 Technical Reports 

.3 Publications 

32 OFFICE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES Assistant Chief 

Chief Scale Section 

33 OFFICE OF BASIC INSTRUMENTATION Assistant to the Chief 

1 ELECTRICITY 

Assistant Chief 

.1 Resistance and Reactance 

.3 Electrical Instruments 

.4 Magnetic Measurements 

.5 Applied Electricity 

.8 Electrochemistry 

2 OPTICS AND METROLOCY 

Assistant Chief 

Assistant to the Chief 

.1 Photometry and Colorimetry 

.2 Optical Instruments 

.3 Photographic Technology 

.4 Length 

.5 Gage 

3 HEAT AND POWER 

.1 Temperature Measurements 

.2 Thermodynamics 

.3 Cryogenics 

.4 Engines and Lubrication 

.5 Engine Fuels * .6 Cryogenic Engineering 

695 

Dr. Allen V. Astin 

Dr. Wallace R. Brode 

Dr. Archibald T. McPherson 

Wilbur S. Hinman, Jr. 

Dr. Robert D. Huntoon (Corona) 

Nicholas E. Golovin 

Robert S. Walleigh 

Hugh Odishaw 

Dr. Eugene C. Crittenden 

Hugh Odishaw 

Sarah Ann Jones 

W. Reeves Tilley 

Jesse L. Mathusa 

William S. Bussey 

Malcolm W. Jensen 

H. Haig Russell 

William A. Wildhack 

Edward C. Lloyd 

Dr. Francis B. Silsbee 

Raymond L. Sanford 

Dr. James L. Thomas 

Dr. Francis M. Defandorf 

Raymond L. Sanford 

John L. Dalke 

Dr. Walter J. Hamer 

Dr. Irvine C. Gardner 

Dr. Kasson S. Gibson 

Leroy W. Tilton 

Dr. Kasson S. Gibson 

Dr. Irvine C. Gardner 

Raymond Davis 

Dr. Lewis V. Judson 

Irvin H. Fullmer (Acting) 

Dr. Ferdinand 0. Brickwedde 

Dr. Raymond E. Wilson (Acting) 

Dr. Raymond E. Wilson 

Dr. Charles W. Beckett 

Dr. John R. Pellam 

James F. Swindells (Acting) 

Dr. Frank L. Howard 

Russell B. Scott (Boulder) 
4 ATOMIC AND RADIATION PHYSICS Stable Tracer Consultant 

Radioactive Tracer and Radioactivity Consultant 

4A Atomic Physics Laboratory 

.1 Spectroscopy 

.2 Radiometry 

.3 Mass Spectrometry 

.4 Solid State Physics 

.5 Electron Physics 

.6 Atomic Physics 

.7 Neutron Measurements * .15 Infrared Spectroscopy 

4R Radiation Physics Laboratory 

.8 Nuclear Physics 

.9 Radioactivity 

.10 X-Rays 

.1 1 Betatron 

.12 Nucleonic Instrumentation 

.13 Radiological Equipment 

.14 Radiation Instruments Branch, 

Atomic Energy Commission S CHEMiSTRY 

Assistant Chief 

.1 Organic Coatings 

.2 Surface Chemistry 

.3 Organic Chemistry 

.4 Analytical Chemistry 

.5 Inorganic Chemistry 

.6 Electrodeposition 

.7 Gas Chemistry 

.8 Physical Chemistry 

.9 Thermochemistry 

.10 Spectrochemistry 

.1 1 Pure Substances 

6 MECHANICS 

Assistant Chief 

Consultant 

.1 Sound 

.2 Mechanical Instruments 

.3 Aerodynamics 

.4 Engineering Mechanics 

.5 Hydraulics 

.6 Mass 

.7 Capacity, Density and Fluid Meters 

7 ORGANIC AND FIBROUS MATERIALS Assistant Chief 

Consultant 

.1 Rubber 

.2 Textiles 

.3 Paper 

696 

Dr. Lauriston S. Taylor 

Dr. Fred L. Mohler 

Dr. Leon F. Curtiss 

Dr. William F. Meggers 

Dr. Earle K. Plyler 

Dr. Fred L. Mohler 

Dr. Robert G. Breckenridge 

Dr. Ladislaus L. Marton 

Vacant 

Dr. Leon F. Curtiss 

Dr. Curtis J. Humphreys (Corona) 

Dr. Harold 0. Wyckoff 

Dr. Ugo Fano 

Dr. Wilfrid B. Mann 

Dr. Harold 0. Wyckoff 

Dr. Herman W. Koch 

Dr. Louis Costrell (Acting) 

Dr. Scott W. Smith 

Robert L. Butenhoff 

Dr. Edward W. Wichers 

Dr. James I. Hoffman 

Paul T. Howard 

Dr. James I. Hoffman 

W. Harold Smith 

Harry A. Bright 

Dr. Raleigh Gilchnst 

Dr. Abner Brenner 

Elmer R. Weaver 

Dr. Edgar R. Smith 

Edward J. Prosen 

Bourdon F. Scribner 

Dr. Charles P. Saylor 

Dr. Walter Rambcrg 

Dr. William G. Brombacher 

Dr. Wilmer Souder 

Dr. Richard K. Cook 

Dr. William G. Brombacher 

Dr. Galen B. Schubauer 

Bruce L. Wilson 

Vacant 

Lloyd B. Macurdy 

Howard S. Bean 

Dr. Gordon M. Kline 

Dr. Irl C. Schoonover 

Dr. Wilmer Souder 

Dr. Lawrence A. Wood 

William D. Appel 

Dr. Robert B. Hobbs 
Leather 

Testing and Specifications 

Polymer Structure 

Organic Plastics 

Dental Research 

8 METALLURGY 

.1 Thermal Metallurgy 

.2 Chemical Metallurgy 

.3 Mechanical Metallurgy 

.4 Corrosion 

9 MINERAL PRODUCTS 

Assistant Chief 

.1 Porcelain and Pottery 

.2 

.3 .4 

.6 

.7 

.8 10 BUILDING TECHNOLOGY Assistant Chief 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

.1 Structural Engineering 

.2 Fire Protection 

.3 Heating and Air Conditioning 

.4 Floor, Roof and Wall Coverings 

.5 Codes and Specifications 11 APPLIED MATHEMATICS 

Assistant Chief * .1 Numerical Analysis 

.2 Computation 

.3 Statistical Engineering 

.4 Machine Development 

12 ELECTRONICS 

.1 Engineering Electronics 

.2 Electron Tubes 

.3 Electronic Computers 

.4 Electronic Instrumentation 

.5 Production 

13 ORDNANCE DEVELOPMENT Assistant Chief 

.2 

.3 

Everett L. Wallace 

Dr. Robert D. Stiehler 

Dr. Irl C. Schoonover 

Frank W. Reinhart 

William T. Sweeney 

Dr. John 0. Thompson 

Thomas 0. Digges 

LeRoy L. Wyman 

John A. Bennett 

George A. Ellinger 

Dr. Herbert Insley 

Clarence H. Hahner 

Roman F. Geller 

Clarence H. Hahner 

Raymond A. Heindi 

William N. Harrison 

Raymond L. Blame 

Howard F. McMurdie 

Dr. Lansing S. Wells 

Douglas E. Parsons 

George N. Thompson 

William F. Roeser 

Nolan D. Mitchell 

John W. McBumey 

Douglas E. Parsons 

Dr. Alexander F. Robertson 

Richard S. Dill 

Dr. Hubert R. Snoke 

George N. Thompson 

Dr. Franz L. Alt (Acting) 

Dr. Edward W. Cannon 

Dr. Derrick H. Lehmer (UCLA) 

John Todd 

Dr. Churchill Eisenhart 

Dr. Edward W. Cannon 

Joseph G. Reid, Jr. 

Dr. Paul J. Selgin 

Dr. Robert T. Young 

Dr. Samuel N. Alexander 

Carroll Stansbury 

Robert L. Henry 

Myron G. Domsitz 

P. Anthony Guarino 

Paul E. Landis 

Leo Rubinowitz 

Harvey A. Pratt 

.4 

.5 .6 

.7 .8 

Glass 

Refractories 

Enameled Metals 

Concreting Materials 

Constitution and Microstructure 

Chemistry of Mineral Products 

697 
Dr. Roger W. Curtis 

Philip J. Franklin 

P. Anthony Guarino 

Theodore B. Godfrey 

14 CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY 

Assistant Chief 

* Assistant Chief 

.3 Regular Propagation Services 

Ionospheric Research Laboratory 

.1 Upper Atmosphere Research 

.5 Ionospheric Research 

Systems Research Laboratory * .4 Frequency Utilization Research * .6 Tropospheric Propagation 

Measurement Standards Laboratory 

.8 High Frequency Standards 

.9 Microwave Standards 

15 MISSILE DEVELOPMENT Washington Office 

.6 Combustion 

16 ELECTROMECHANICAL ORDNANCE Assistant Chief 

.2 

.3 

.4 

.5 .6 

.7 17 ORDNANCE ELECTRONICS Deputy Chief 

Assistant Chief 

17A Research Branch 

.2 

.3 

.4 

.5 

17B Development Branch 

.6 

.7 .8 

698 

Dr. Newbern Smith 

Alvin 0. McNish 

Kenneth A. Norton (Boulder) 

Walter B. Chadwick 

Alvin G. McNish 

Ross Bateman 

Kenneth A. Norton (Boulder) 

Jack W. Herbstreit (Boulder) 

William D. George 

Dr. Harold Lyons 

Ralph A. Lamm (Corona) 

Dr. Ernest F. Fiock 

Jacob Rabinow 

Maurice Apstein 

Laurence M. Andrews 

Thomas E. Tuccinardi 

William M. Piper 

Milton Lipnick (Acting) 

William M. Piper (Acting) 

Walter A. Hereth (Acting) 

Israel Rotkin (Acting) 

Harold Goldberg 

Donald P. Burcham 

Benjamin L. Sander 

Dr. Merril F. Distad 

Henry P. Kalmus 

Dr. Hans W. Kohler 

Milton Sanders 

John W. Seaton 

Franklin M. Fletcher 

Arthur E. Newlon 

Frank R. Edgarton 

Joseph Kaufman 

Joseph P. Spalding (Acting) 

.4 

.5 .6 

.8 
40 AccouNTING 

Deputy Chief 

.1 Accounting Operations 

.2 Internal Audit 

.3 Contract Audit 

Gordon D. 1-Iorsburgh 

Willard K. Duckworth 

Vacant 

Joseph P. Gibala 

Edward E. Upperman 

41 PERSONNEL Assistant Chief 

.1 Board of Civil Service Examiners 

.2 Recruitment and Placement 

.3 Classification 

.4 Employee Relations 

.5 Operations and Procedures 

.6 Medical Office 

42 ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES Assistant Chief 

.1 Records and Communications 

.2 Special Services 

.3 Janitorial Services 

.4 Guard Services 

.5 Transportation Services 

.6 Deputy Security Officer 

.7 Test Administration 

43 SHOPS 

Assistant Chief 

.1 Instrument Shop No. 1 .2 Instrument Shop No. 2 

.3 Instrument Shop No. 3 .4 Instrument Shop No. 4 

.5 Instrument Shop No. 5 .6 Instrument Shop No. 6 

.7 Welding and Sheet Metal Shop 

.8 Ordnance Development Branch Shop 

.9 Tool Crib 

.10 Maintenance 

.11 Glassblowing Shop 

44 SUPPLY .3 Procurement 

.4 Property Management 

George R. Porter 

Frankie R. Keyser 

Edith N. Fimple 

Karl L. Hafen 

Charles V. Ramey 

Ruth B. Armsby 

Helen V. Courtney 

Dr. Charles P. Waite 

Harry P. Dalzell 

Richard D. Althaus 

Robert W. Lamberson 

Robert P. Conrad 

Robert C. Howey 

Vacant 

Charles W. Anderson 

Harry P. Dalzell 

Randolph K. Artz 

Frank P. Brown 

Winfield L. Drissel 

David G. Kennedy 

Louis K. Gernand 

George A. Rheinbold 

Norman C. Pines 

Robert E. Ward 

Andrew J. Altman 

Terrell C. Freemon 

August C. Kus 

Lewis H. Brigham 

Winfield L. Drissel 

Leonardo Testa 

George B. Kefover 

Charles B. Kipps 

Fred H. Johncox 

45 MANAGEMENT PLANNING STAFF Assistant Chief 

46 BUDGET STAFF 

Ivan Asay 

Eldon E. Sweezy 

Wilbur W. Bolton, Jr. 

50 PLANT 

Assistant Chief 

.1 Power Plant 

.2 Electric Shop 

.3 Piping Shop 

699 

Charles A. Dieman 

Clarence B. Crane 

Arthur C. Ramm 

George V. Hall 

Raymond A. Watson 
Construction Shop 

Paint Shop 

Labor Services 

John A. King 

Howell C. Walker 

Roy B. Powell 

Charles Needham 

William R. David 

James S. Powers (Acting) 

CORONA LABORATORIES 

70 DIRECTOR 

.1 Technical Publications Officer 

.2 Security Officer 

.3 Survey Projects 

71 EXECUTIVE OFFICER 

.1 Personnel 

.2 Fiscal and Supply 

.4 Shops 

.5 Plant 

4.15 Infra-red Spectroscopy Section 

15 MISsILE DEVELOPMENT Assistant Chief 

.1 Missile Engineering 

.2 Missile Dynamics 

.3 Missile Intelligence 

.4 Missile Instrumentation 

.5 Missile Evaluation 

.6 Combustion Section 

23 CORONA ORDNANCE BRANCH 

.1 Systems Design 

.2 Systems Evaluation 

.3 Electronic Development 

.4 Electromechanical Development 

Dr. Robert D. Huntoon 

J. Wray Smith 

Norman J. Lipking 

Fred S. Atchison 

Samuel W. J. Welch 

Jack C. Evans 

James J. Mooney 

James D. McLean 

Norman J. Lipking 

Curtis J. Humphreys 

Ralph A. Lamm 

Dr. Harold K. Skramstad 

Howard F. Gemmell 

John A. Hart 

Harvey W. Lance 

Dr. Myron G. Pawley 

Gerard R. Sams 

Dr. Ernest F. Fiock (Washington) 

Harold A. Thomas 

Harold A. Thomas 

Lawrence E. Brown 

Evan G. Lapham 

* Laboratories located in Boulder, Colorado, Los Angeles, California, and Corona, California. 

FIELD STATIONS 2 OPTICS AND METROLOGY 

Lamp Inspector, Brookline, MA 

3 HEAT AND POWER 

3.6 Cryogenic Engineering, Boulder, CO 

700 

Russell B. Scott 

.4 

.5 .6 

.7 Metal Shop 

.9 Grounds 

.11 Refrigeration and Air Conditioning 
9 MINERAL PRODUCTS 

9.06 Concreting Materials 

Allentown, PA 

Denver, CO 

Kansas City, MO 

San Francisco, CA 

Seattle, WA 11 APPLIED MATHEMATICS 11.01 Numerical Analysis, The Institute for Numerical Analysis, University of California at Los Angeles 

Director of Research Dr. Derrick H. Lehmer 

Assistant Director Dr. Magnus R. Hestenes 

Assistant to the Director (Admin.) Albert S. Cahn, Jr. 

13 ORDNANCE DEVELOPMENT Blossom Point Proving Ground, La Plata, MD 

14 CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY Radio Propagation Field Station. Anchorage, AK 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Point Barrow, AK 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Guam Island 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Puunene, Maui, Territory of Hawaii 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico 

Cheyenne Mountain Field Station, Colorado Springs, CO 

Radio Field Station, Ft. Belvoir, VA 

Radio Propagation Laboratory, Sterling, VA 

Radio Transmitting Station, Beltsville, MD 

National Bureau of Standards, Boulder CO 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Bluie West-I, Greenland 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Fort Gulick, Panama Canal Zone 

17 NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS NBS Field Station, Naval Air Missile Test Center, Point Mugu, Oxnard, CA 

NBS Field Station, Naval Ordnance Test Station, China Lake, Inyokem, CA 

NBS Field Station, White Sands Proving Ground, Las Cruces, NM 

NBS Field Station, Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation, Pomona, CA 

32 OFFICE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES NBS Master Railway Track Scale Depot, Clearing, IL 

701 
MARCH 1954 

30 DIRECTOR'S OFFICE 

Director 

Associate Director for Chemistry 

Associate Director for Physics 

Associate Director for Testing 

Assistant Director for Administration * Director, Boulder Laboratories 

Consultant to the Director 

Consultant to the Director 

Consultant to the Director 

31 OFFICE OF PUBLICATIONS 

.1 Library 

.2 Technical Reports 

.3 Publications 

32 OFFICE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES Assistant Chief 

33 OFFICE OF BASIC INSTRUMENTATION Assistant to the Chief 

ELECTRICITY 

Assistant Chief 

.1 Resistance and Reactance 

.3 Electrical Instruments 

.4 Magnetic Measurements 

.8 Electrochemistry 

2 OpTICs AND METROLOGY 

Assistant Chief 

Assistant to the Chief 

.1 Photometry and Colorimetry 

.2 Optical Instruments 

.3 Photographic Technology 

.4 Length 

.5 Engineering Metrology 

3 HEAT AND POWER 

.1 Temperature Measurements 

.2 Thermodynamics 

.3 Cryogenics 

.4 Engines and Lubrication 

.5 Engine Fuels * .6 Cryogenic Engineering 

4 ATOMIC AND RADIATION PHYSICS 4A Atomic Physics Laboratory 

I Spectroscopy 

.2 Radiometry 

702 

Dr. Allen V. Astin 

Dr. Wallace R. Brode 

Dr. Robert D. Huntoon 

Dr. Archibald T. McPherson 

Nicholas E. Golovin 

Dr. Frederick W. Brown (Boulder) 

Dr. Eugene C. Crittenden 

Dr. Leon F. Curtiss 

Dr. Chester H. Page 

Sarah Ann Jones 

W. Reeves Tilley 

Jesse L. Mathusa 

William S. Bussey 

Malcolm W. Jensen 

William A. Wildhack 

Dr. Francis B. Silsbee 

Raymond L. Sanford 

Dr. James L. Thomas 

Dr. Francis M. Defandorf 

Raymond L. Sanford 

Dr. Walter J. Hamer 

Dr. Irvine C. Gardner 

Dr. Kasson S. Gibson 

Leroy W. Tilton 

Dr. Kasson S. Gibson 

Dr. Francis E. Washer 

Raymond Davis 

Dr. Lewis V. Judson 

Irvin H. Fulimer 

Dr. Ferdinand G. Brickwedde 

Dr. Raymond E. Wilson 

Dr. Charles W. Beckett 

Dr. John R. Pellam 

James F. Swindells (Acting) 

Dr. Frank L. Howard 

Russell B. Scott (Boulder) 

Dr. Lauriston S. Taylor 

Dr. William F. Meggers 

Dr. Earle K. Plyler 
.3 Mass Spectrometry 

Solid State Physics 

Electron Physics 

.6 Atomic Physics 

4R Radiation Physics Laboratory 

.8 Nuclear Physics 

.9 Radioactivity 

.10 X-Rays 

.11 Betatron 

.12 Nucleonic Instrumentation 

.13 Radiological Equipment 

.14 Radiation Instruments Branch, 

Atomic Energy Commission 

5 CHEMISTRY Assistant Chief 

.1 Organic Coatings 

.2 Surface Chemistry 

.3 Organic Chemistry 

.4 Analytical Chemistry 

.5 Inorganic Chemistry 

.6 Electrodeposition 

.7 Gas Chemistry 

.8 Physical Chemistry 

.9 Thermochemistry 

.10 Spectrochemistry 

.11 Pure Substances 

6 MECHANICS Consultant 

.1 Sound 

.2 Mechanical Instruments 

.3 Fluid Mechanics 

.4 Engineering Mechanics 

.6 Mass and Scale 

.7 Capacity, Density and Fluid Meters 

.8 Combustion Controls 

Assistant Chief 

.1 Rubber 

.2 Textiles 

.3 Paper 

.4 

.5 .6 

.7 

.8 

Leather 

Testing and Specifications 

Polymer Structure 

Organic Plastics 

Dental Research 

8 METALLURGY 

.1 Thermal Metallurgy 

.2 Chemical Metallurgy 

.3 Mechanical Metallurgy 

.4 Corrosion 

703 

Dr. Fred L. Mohler 

Dr. Robert G. Breckenridge 

Dr. Ladislaus L. Marton 

Dr. Lauriston S. Taylor (Acting) 

Dr. Harold 0. Wyckoff 

Dr. Ugo Fano 

Dr. Wilfrid B. Mann 

Dr. Harold 0. Wyckoff 

Dr. Herman W. Koch 

Dr. Louis Costrell 

Dr. Scott W. Smith 

Robert L. Butenhoff 

Dr. Edward W. Wichers 

Dr. James I. Hoffman 

Paul T. Howard 

Dr. James I. Hoffman 

W. Harold Smith 

Harry A. Bright 

Dr. Raleigh Gilchnst 

Dr. Abner Brenner 

Elmer R. Weaver 

Dr. Edgar R. Smith 

Edward J. Prosen 

Bourdon F. Scribner 

Dr. Charles P. Saylor 

Dr. Walter Ramberg 

Dr. Wilmer Souder 

Dr. Richard K. Cook 

Edward C. Lloyd 

Dr. Galen B. Schubauer 

Bruce L. Wilson 

Douglas R. Tate 

Howard S. Bean 

Dr. Ernest F. Fiock 

Dr. Gordon M. Kline 

Dr. Irl C. Schoonover 

Dr. Lawrence A. Wood 

William D. Appel 

Dr. Robert B. Hobbs 

Everett L. Wallace 

Dr. Robert D. Stiehler 

Dr. Irl C. Schoonover 

Frank W. Reinhart 

William T. Sweeney 

Dr. John G. Thompson 

Thomas G. Digges 

LeRoy L. Wyman 

John A. Bennett 

George A. Ellinger 

.4 

.5 

7 ORGANIC AND FIBROUS MATERIALS 
9 MINERAL PRODUCTS Consultant 

.1 Porcelain and Pottery 

.2 Glass 

.3 Refractories 

.4 Enameled Metals 

.6 Concreting Materials 

.7 Constitution and Microstructure 

10 BuILDING TECHNOLOGY 

Assistant Chief 

Consultant 

Consultant 

I Structural Engineering 

.2 Fire Protection 

.3 Heating and Air Conditioning 

.4 Floor, Roof and Wall Coverings 

.5 Codes and Specifications 

11 APPLIED MATHEMATICS 

Assistant Chief * .1 Numerical Analysis 

.2 Computation 

.3 Statistical Engineering 

.4 Machine Development 

12 ELECTRONICS 

.1 Engineering Electronics 

.2 Electron Tubes 

.3 Electronic Computers 

.4 Electronic Instrumentation 

.5 Process Technology 

14 CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY Assistant Chief 

Consultant 

Consultant 

.3 Regular Propagation Services 

Ionospheric Research Laboratory 

• I Upper Atmosphere Research 

.5 Ionospheric Research 

Systems Research Laboratory * .4 Frequency Utilization Research * .6 Tropospheric Propagation (Res.) 

Measurement Standards Laboratory 

.8 High Frequency Standards 

.9 Microwave Standards 

40 ACCOUNTING Deputy Chief 

.1 Accounting Operations 

.2 Internal Audit 

704 

Clarence H. Hahner (Acting) 

Dr. Lansing S. Wells 

Roman F. Geller 

Clarence H. Hahner 

Raymond A. Heindi 

William N. Harrison 

Raymond L. Blame 

Howard F. McMurdie 

Douglas E. Parsons 

George N. Thompson 

William F. Roeser 

John W. McBumey 

Douglas E. Parsons 

Dr. Alexander F. Robertson 

Richard S. Dill 

Dr. Hubert R. Snoke 

George N. Thompson 

Dr. Franz L. Alt (Acting) 

Dr. Edward W. Cannon 

Dr. C. B. Tompkins (Acting) UCLA 

John Todd 

Dr. Churchill Eisenhart 

Dr. Edward W. Cannon 

Dr. Robert D. Huntoon (Acting) 

Dr. Paul J. Selgin 

Dr. Charles P. Marsden, Jr. (Acting) 

Dr. Samuel N. Alexander 

Carroll Stansbury 

Lucien P. Tuckerman (Acting) 

Dr. Robert D. Huntoon (Acting) 

Dr. Ralph J. Slutz 

Alvin G. McNish 

Dana K. Bailey 

Walter B. Chadwick 

Thomas N. Gautier (Acting) 

Ross Bateman 

Kenneth A. Norton (Boulder) 

Jack W. Herbstreit (Boulder) 

William D. George 

Dr. Harold Lyons 

Gordon D. Horsburgh 

Willard K. Duckworth 

Willard K. Duckworth 

Robert A. Strizzi 
41 PERSONNEL 

Assistant Chief 

Board of Civil Service Examiners 

Recruitment and Placement 

Classification 

.4 Employee Relations 

.5 Operations and Procedures 

.6 Medical Office 

42 ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES Assistant Chief 

.1 Records and Communications 

.2 Special Services 

.3 Janitorial Services 

.4 Guard Services 

.5 Transportation Services, Garage 

.6 Deputy Security Officer 

.7 Test Administration 

43 SHOPS 

Assistant Chief 

.1 Instrument Shop No. I .2 Instrument Shop No. 2 

.3 Instrument Shop No. 3 .4 Instrument Shop No. 4 

.5 Instrument Shop No. 5 .6 Instrument Shop No. 6 

.7 Welding and Sheet Metal Shop 

.8 Ordnance Development Branch Shop 

.9 Tool Crib 

.10 Maintenance 

.11 Glassblowing Shop 

.3 Procurement 

.4 Property Management 

George R. Porter 

Frankie R. Keyser 

Edith N. Fimple 

Frankie R. Keyser 

Charles V. Ramey 

Ruth B. Armsby 

Helen V. Courtney 

Dr. Charles P. Waite 

Harry P. DaIzell 

Karl L. Hafen 

Robert W. Lamberson 

Gird M. Tolley, Jr. (Acting) 

Robert C. Howey 

Vacant 

Charles W. Anderson 

Harry P. DaIzell 

Randolph K. Artz 

Frank P. Brown 

Winfield L. Drissel 

David G. Kennedy 

George A. Rheinbold 

George A. Rheinbold 

Norman C. Pines 

Robert E. Ward 

Andrew J. Altman 

Terrell C. Freemon 

August C. Kus 

Lewis H. Brigham 

Winfield L. Drissel 

Leonardo Testa 

Charles B. Kipps (Acting) 

Charles B. Kipps 

Harold G. Nicholas (Acting) 

45 MANAGEMENT PLANNING STAFF Ivan Asay 

46 BUDGET STAFF 50 PLANT 

Assistant Chief 

.1 Power Plant 

.2 Electric Shop 

.3 Piping Shop 

.4 Construction Shop 

.5 Paint Shop 

.6 Labor Services 

.7 Metal Shop 

.9 Grounds 

.11 Refrigeration and Air Conditioning 

Wilbur W. Bolton, Jr. 

Charles A. Dieman 

Clarence B. Crane 

Arthur C. Ramm 

George V. Hall 

Raymond A. Watson 

John A. King 

Howell C. Walker 

Roy B. Powell 

Charles Needham 

William R. David 

James S. Powers (Acting) 

* Laboratories located in Boulder, Colorado, and Los Angeles, California. 

705 

.2 

.3 

44 SUPPLY 
FIELD STATIONS 2 OPTICS AND METROLOGY 

Lamp Inspector, Brookline, MA 

Visual Landing Aids Field Laboratory, Arcata Airport, Arcata, Humboldt County, CA 

3 HEAT AND POWER 

3.6 Cryogenic Engineering, Boulder, CO 

6 MECHANICS DivisioN 

NBS Master Railway Track Scale Depot, Clearing, IL 

6.4 Engineering Mechanics, Boulder, CO 

9 MINERAL PRODUCTS 

9.06 Concreting Materials 

Allentown, PA 

Denver, CO 

Kansas City, MO 

San Francisco, CA 

Seattle, WA 11 APPLIED MATHEMATICS 

11.01 Numerical Analysis, The Institute for Numerical Analysis, University of California at Los Angeles 

Director of Research C. B. Tompkins (Acting) 

Assistant Director Dr. Magnus R. Hestenes 

Assistant Director Dr. Harry D. Huskey 

14 CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY Radio Propagation Field Station, Anchorage, AK 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Point Barrow, AK 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Guam Island 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Puunene, Maui, Territory of Hawaii 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Bluie West-I, Greenland 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Fort Gulick, Panama Canal Zone 

Cheyenne Mountain Field Station, Colorado Springs, CO 

Radio Field Station, Ft. Belvoir, VA 

Radio Propagation Laboratory, Sterling, VA 

Radio Transmitting Station, Beltsville, MD 

National Bureau of Standards, Boulder CO 

80 FACILITIES 

Boulder, CO 

706 
JANUARY 1956 

30 DIRECTOR'S OFFICE 

Director 

Assistant to the Director 

Assistant to the Director 

Associate Director for Chemistry 

Consultant to the Director 

Associate Director for Physics 

Associate Director for Testing 

Associate Director for Planning 

Director, Boulder Laboratories 

Assistant Director for Administration 

Consultant to the Director 

Consultant to the Director 

Consultant to the Director 

Consultant to the Director 

Director Emeritus 

31 OFFICE OF PUBLICATIONS 

.1 Library 

.2 Editorial and Printing 

32 OFFICE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES Assistant Chief 

Consultant 

33 OFFICE OF BASIC INSTRUMENTATION Assistant to the Chief 

34 OFFICE OF TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS 

.4 Photographic Services 

ELECTRICITY AND ELECTRONICS Assistant Chief for Electronics 

.1 Resistance and Reactance 

.2 Electron Tubes 

.3 Electrical Instruments 

.4 Magnetic Measurements 

.5 Process Technology 

.6 Engineering Electronics 

.7 Electronic Instrumentation 

.8 Electrochemistry 

2 OPTICS AND METROLOGY 

Assistant to the Chief 

.1 Photometry and Colorimetry 

.2 Optical Instruments 

.3 Photographic Technology 

.4 Length 

.5 Engineering Metrology 

707 

Dr. Allen V. Astin 

Dr. Henry Birnbaum 

Clarence N. Coates 

Dr. Wallace R. Brode 

Dr. Wilmer Souder 

Dr. Robert D. Huntoon 

Dr. Archibald T. McPherson 

Nicholas E. Golovin 

Dr. Frederick W. Brown (Boulder) 

Robert S. Walleigh 

Dr. Eugene C. Crittenden 

Dr. Leon F. Curtiss 

Dr. Chester H. Page 

Alvin 0. McNish 

Dr. Lyman J. Briggs 

Dr. Wallace R. Brode 

Sarah Ann Jones 

Jesse L. Mathusa 

William S. Bussey 

Malcolm W. Jensen 

Ralph W. Smith 

William A. Wildhack 

W. Reeves Tilley 

Warren P. Richardson 

Dr. Francis B. Silsbee 

Carroll Stansbury 

Dr. James L. Thomas 

Charles P. Marsden, Jr. 

Dr. Francis M. Defandorf 

Irvin L. Cooter (Acting) 

Lucien P. Tuckerman 

G. Shapiro (Acting) 

Carroll Stansbury 

Dr. Walter J. Hamer 

Dr. Irvine C. Gardner 

Leroy W. Tilton 

Louis E. Barbrow 

Dr. Francis E. Washer 

Raymond Davis 

Dr. Lewis V. Judson 

Irvin H. Fullmer 
4 ATOMIC AND RADIATION PHYSICS Atomic Physics Laboratory 

• I Spectroscopy 

.2 Radiometry 

.3 Mass Spectrometry 

.4 Solid State Physics 

.5 Electron Physics 

.6 Atomic Physics 

Radiation Physics Laboratory 

.8 Nuclear Physics 

.9 Radioactivity 

.10 X-Rays 

.11 Betatron 

.12 Nucleonic Instrumentation 

.13 Radiological Equipment 

.14 Radiation Instruments Branch, 

Atomic Energy Commission 

5 CHEMISTRY 

Assistant Chief 

.1 Organic Coatings 

.2 Surface Chemistry 

.3 Organic Chemistry 

.4 Analytical Chemistry 

.5 Inorganic Chemistry 

.6 Electrodeposition 

.7 Gas Chemistry 

.8 Physical Chemistry 

.9 Thermochemistry 

.10 Spectrochemistry 

.11 Pure Substances 

Dr. Ferdinand 0. Brickwedde 

James F. Swindells 

Dr. Charles W. Beckett 

Dr. Ralph P. Hudson 

Pci Moo Ku (Acting) 

Dr. Frank L. Howard 

Dr. Lauriston S. Taylor 

Dr. William F. Meggers 

Dr. Earle K. Plyler 

Dr. Fred L. Mohler 

Dr. Earle K. Plyler (Acting) 

Dr. Ladislaus L. Marton 

Dr. Lewis M. Branscomb 

Dr. Harold 0. Wyckoff 

Dr. Ugo Fano 

Dr. Wilfrid B. Mann 

Dr. Harold 0. Wyckoff 

Dr. Herman W. Koch 

Dr. Louis Costrell 

Dr. Scott W. Smith 

Robert L. Butenhoff 

Dr. Edward W. Wichers 

Dr. James I. Hoffman 

Paul T. Howard 

Dr. James I. Hoffman 

W. Harold Smith 

Hany A. Bright 

Dr. Raleigh Gilchrist 

Dr. Abner Brenner 

Elmer R. Weaver 

Dr. Edgar R. Smith 

Edward J. Prosen 

Bourdon F. Scnbner 

Dr. Charles P. Saylor 

6 MECHANICS Consultant 

Consultant 

.1 Sound 

Mechanical Instruments 

Fluid Mechanics 

Engineering Mechanics 

Mass and Scale 

Capacity, Density and Fluid Meters 

Combustion Controls 

Dr. Walter Ramberg 

Dr. William G. Brombacher 

Dr. Louis B. Tuckerman 

Dr. Richard K. Cook 

Edward C. Lloyd 

Dr. Galen B. Schubauer 

Bruce L. Wilson 

Douglas R. Tate 

Howard S. Bean 

Dr. Ernest F. Fiock 

3 HEAT AND POWER 

.1 Temperature Measurements 

.2 Thermodynamics 

.3 Cryogenic Physics 

.4 Engines and Lubrication 

.5 Engine Fuels 

.2 

.3 .4 

.6 

.7 

.8 

708 
7 ORGANIC AND FIBROUS MATERIALS Assistant Chief 

.1 Rubber 

.2 Textiles 

.3 Paper 

.4 Leather 

.5 Testing and Specifications 

.6 Polymer Structure 

.7 Plastics 

.8 Dental Research 

8 METALLURGY 

.1 Thermal Metallurgy 

.2 Chemical Metallurgy 

.3 Mechanical Metallurgy 

.4 Corrosion 

Dr. Gordon M. Kline 

William D. Appel 

Dr. Lawrence A. Wood 

William D. Appel 

Dr. Robert B. Hobbs 

Dr. Joseph R. Kanagy 

Dr. Robert D. Stiehier 

Dr. Norman P. Bekkedahl 

Frank W. Reinhart 

William T. Sweeney 

Dr. John G. Thompson 

Thomas G. Digges 

LeRoy L. Wyman 

John A. Bennett 

George A. Ellinger 

9 MINERAL PRODUCTS Assistant Chief 

.1 Porcelain and Pottery 

.2 Glass 

.3 Refractories 

.4 Enameled Metals 

.6 Concreting Materials 

.7 Constitution and Microstructure 

10 BUILDING TECHNOLOGY Assistant Chief 

Consultant 

Consultant 

.1 Structural Engineering 

.2 Fire Protection 

.3 Heating and Air Conditioning 

.4 Floor, Roof and Wall Coverings 

.5 Codes and Specifications 11 APPLIED MATHEMATICS Assistant Chief 

.1 Numerical Analysis 

.2 Computation 

.3 Statistical Engineering 

.4 Mathematical Physics 

Dr. Irl C. Schoonover 

Clarence H. Hahner 

Milton D. Burdick (Acting) 

Clarence H. Hahner 

Dr. Samuel Zerfoss 

William N. Harrison 

Raymond L. Blame 

Howard F. McMurdie 

Douglas E. Parsons 

Dr. Hubert R. Snoke 

William F. Roeser 

Dr. John W. McBurney 

D. Watstein (Acting) 

Dr. Alexander F. Robertson 

Richard S. Dill 

Dr. Hubert R. Snoke 

John A. Dickinson 

Dr. Edward W. Cannon 

Dr. Franz L. Alt 

John Todd 

Dr. M. Abramowitz 

Dr. Churchill Eisenhart 

Dr. Robert F. Dressier 

12 DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS Assistant Chief for Systems 

.1 Componentsand Techniques 

.2 Digital Circuitry 

.3 Digital Systems 

.4 Analog Systems 

.5 Application Engineering 

709 

Samuel N. Alexander 

Dr. Harold K. Skramstad 

Robert D. Elbourn 

Sidney Greenwald (Acting) 

Alan L. Leiner 

Dr. Harold K. Skramstad 

Samuel N. Alexander (Acting) 
40 ACCOUNTING Deputy Chief 

.1 Accounts and Reports 

.2 Classification 

.3 Tabulation 

.4 Voucher Examination 

.5 Billing and Collection 

.6 Payroll 

.7 Internal Audit 

41 PERSONNEL 

.1 Board of Civil Service Examiners 

.2 Recruitment and Placement 

.3 Classification 

.4 Employee Relations 

.5 Operations and Procedures 

.6 Medical Office 

42 ADMINIsTRATIvE SERVICES 

Assistant Chief 

.1 Records and Communications 

.2 Special Services 

.3 Janitorial Services 

.4 Guard Services 

.5 Transportation Services 

.6 Security Office 

.7 Test Administration 

43 SHoPs 

Assistant Chief 

.1 Instrument Shop No. I .2 Instrument Shop No. 2 

.3 Instrument Shop No. 3 .4 Instrument Shop No. 4 

.5 Instrument Shop No. 5 .7 Welding and Sheet Metal Shop 

.9 Tool Crib 

.11 Glassblowing Shop 

44 SUPPLY Deputy Chief 

.3 Procurement 

.4 Property Management 

Paul R. McClenon 

Horace E. Hardaway 

Robert A. Strizzi 

Pearl E. Miller 

John P. Lafon 

Matilda Udoff 

Doris J. Lothrop 

Kathryn L. Rock 

James P. Menzer 

George R. Porter 

Edith N. Fimple 

Frankie R. Keyser 

Charles V. Ramey 

Ruth B. Armsby 

Helen V. Courtney 

Dr. Glen Pincock 

Harry P. Dalzell 

Karl L. Hafen 

Vacant 

Gird M. Tolley, Jr. 

Robert C. Howey 

Capt. William R. Allen 

Charles W. Anderson 

Harry P. DaIzell 

Randolph K. Artz 

Frank P. Brown 

Winfield L. Drissel 

David G. Kennedy 

George A. Rheinbold 

George A. Rheinbold 

Norman C. Pines 

Carl E. Pelander 

Terrell C. Freemon 

Lewis H. Brigham 

Leonardo Testa 

George B. Kefover 

Norman L. Christeller 

Charles B. Kipps 

Fred H. Johncox 

45 MANAGEMENT PLANNING Assistant Chief 

46 BUDGET STAFF 

Deputy Budget Officer 

710 

Ivan Asay 

George E. Auman 

Wilbur W. Bolton, Jr. 

William E. Lilly 
50 PLANT 

Assistant Chief 

.1 Power Plant 

.2 Electric Shop 

.3 Piping Shop 

.4 Construction Shop 

.5 Paint Shop 

.6 Labor Services 

.7 Metal Shop 

.8 Special Laboratory Service 

.9 Grounds 

.11 Refrigeration and Air Conditioning 

*80 BOULDER LABORATORiES DIRECTOR'S OFFICE 

Director 

.1 Executive Officer 

.3 Statistician 

.4 Information Officer 

.5 Library ADMINISTRATIVE DivisioN 

.2 Fiscal Office 

.3 Personnel 

.4 General Services Section 

.5 Engineering Services Section 

81 CRYOGENIC ENGINEERING 

.1 Cryogenic Equipment 

.2 Cryogenic Processes 

.3 Properties of Materials 

.4 Gas Liquefaction 

84 RADIO STANDARDS MA High Frequency Standards Branch 

.1 High Frequency Electrical Standards 

.2 Radio Broadcast Service 

.3 HF Impedance Standard 

MB Microwave Standards Branch 

.6 Extreme High-Frequency and Noise 

.7 Microwave Frequency and Spectroscopy 

.8 Microwave Circuit Standards CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY 82 RADIO PROPAGATION PHYSICS Consultant 

Consultant 

.1 Upper Atmosphere Research 

.2 Ionospheric Research 

.3 Regular Propagation Services 

.5 Ionospheric Research (Boulder) 

711 

Charles A. Dieman 

Clarence B. Crane 

Arthur C. Ramm 

George V. Hall 

Raymond A. Watson 

John A. King 

Howell C. Walker 

Roy B. Powell 

Charles Needham 

Donald J. Leweck (Acting) 

William R. Stevenson 

James S. Powers 

Dr. Frederick W. Brown 

Samuel W. J. Welch 

Dr. Edwin L. Crow 

Charles L. Bragaw 

Victoria S. Barker 

Samuel W. J. Welch 

Herbert D. Stansell 

Roy W. Stockwell, Jr. 

Barton F. Betts 

Paul S. Ballif 

Russell B. Scott 

Bascom W. Birmingham 

Peter C. Vander Arend 

Dr. R. Joseph Corruccini 

Victor J. Johnson 

Dr. Harold A. Thomas 

William D. George 

Myron C. Selby 

Alvin H. Morgan 

William D. George (Acting) 

Vacant 

David M. Kems 

George Bimbaum 

Robert W. Beatty (Acting) 

Dr. Ralph J. Slutz 

Dr. Franklin E. Roach 

Dana K. Bailey 

Thomas N. Gautier 

Richard C. Kirby (Acting) (Washington) 

Walter B. Chadwick 

Richard C. Kirby 
83 RADIO PROPAGATION ENGINEERING Kenneth A. Norton 

Consultant Dr. James R. Wait 

.4 Frequency Utilization Research William Q. Crichlow 

.6 Tropospheric Propagation Research Jack W. Herbstreit 

* Laboratories located in Boulder, Colorado. 

** Laboratory located in Washington, D.C. 

FIELD STATIONS 2 OPTICS AND METROLOGY 

Lamp Inspector, Brookline, MA 

Visual Landing Aids Field Laboratory, Arcata Airport, Arcata, CA 

6 MECHANICS NBS Master Railway Track Scale Depot, Clearing, IL 

9 MINERAL PRODUCTS 

9.6 Concreting Materials 

Allentown, PA 

Denver, CO 

San Francisco, CA 

Seattle, WA 

80 Boulder Laboratories 

Boulder Laboratories, National Bureau of Standards, Boulder, CO 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Anchorage, AK 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Point Barrow, AK 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Guam Island 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Puunene, Maui, Territory of Hawaii 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Bluie West-I, Greenland 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Fort Gulick, Panama Canal Zone 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Carthage, IL 

Cheyenne Mountain Field Station, Colorado Springs. CO 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Ft. Belvoir, VA 

Radio Propagation Laboratory, Sterling. VA 

Radio Transmitting Station, Beltsville, MD 

Radio Noise Recording Station, Front Royal, VA 

712 
FEBRUARY 1959 

30 DIRECTOR'S OFFICE 

Deputy Director 

Library 

Associate Director for Physics 

Associate Director for Engineering 

Associate Director for Chemistry 

Associate Director for Planning 

Associate Director for Administration 

Associate Director for the Boulder Laboratories 

Consultant to the Director 

Consultant to the Director 

Consultant to the Director 

Consultant to the Director 

Director Emeritus 

32 OFFICE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 33 OFFICE OF BASIC INSTRUMENTATION 34 OFFICE OF TECHNICAL INFORMATION 

.1 Information 

.2 Editorial 

.3 Publications 

.4 Photographic Services ELECTRICITY AND ELECTRONICS 

.1 Resistance and Reactance 

.2 Electron Devices 

.3 Electrical Instruments 

.4 Magnetic Measurements 

.5 Dielectrics 

.6 Engineering Electronics 

.7 Electronic Instrumentation 

.8 Electrochemistry 2 OPTICS AND METROLOGY 

.1 Photometry and Colonmetry 

.2 Optical Instruments 

.3 Photographic Technology 

Length 

Engineering Metrology 

I Temperature Physics 

.2 Thermodynamics 

.3 Cryogenic Physics 

.4 Rheology 

.5 Engine Fuels 

.6 Free Radicals Research 

Dr. Allen V. Astin 

Dr. Robert D. Huntoon 

Sarah Ann Jones 

Dr. Robert D. Huntoon 

Dr. Archibald T. McPherson 

Dr. Edward W. Wichers 

Dr. hi C. Schoonover 

Robert S. Walleigh 

Dr. Frederick W. Brown 

Dr. Ferdinand G. Brickwedde 

Dr. Leon F. Curtiss 

Alvin 0. McNish 

Dr. Chester H. Page 

Dr. Lyman J. Briggs 

William S. Bussey 

William A. Wildhack 

W. Reeves Tilley 

Paul E. Walsh (Acting) 

William K. Gautier 

John E. Carpenter 

Warren P. Richardson 

Dr. Francis B. Silsbee 

Dr. James L. Thomas 

Charles P. Marsden 

Dr. Francis M. Defandorf 

Irvin L. Cooter 

Dr. John D. Hoffman 

Gustave Shapiro 

(3. Franklin Montgomery 

Dr. Walter J. Hamer 

Dr. Irvine C. Gardner 

Louis E. Barbrow 

Dr. Francis E. Washer 

Calvin S. McCamy 

Dr. Lewis V. Judson 

Irvin I-I. Fullmer 

Dr. Charles M. Herifeld 

James F. Swindells 

Dr. Charles W. Beckett 

Dr. Ralph P. Hudson 

Dr. Robert S. Marvin 

Dr. Frank L. Howard 

Dr. Herbert P. Broida 

.4 

.5 3 HEAT 

713 
4 ATOMIC AND RADIATION PHYSICS Atomic Physics Laboratory 

• I Spectroscopy 

.2 Radiometry 

.3 Mass Spectrometry 

.4 Solid State Physics 

.5 Electron Physics 

.6 Atomic Physics 

Radiation Physics Laboratory 

.7 Neutron Physics 

.8 Radiation Theory 

.9 Radioactivity 

X-Rays 

High Energy Radiation 

.12 Nucleonic Instrumentation 

.13 Radiological Equipment 

6 MECHANICS 

.1 Sound 

.2 Mechanical Instruments 

.3 Fluid Mechanics 

.4 Engineering Mechanics 

.6 Mass and Scale 

.7 Capacity, Density and Fluid Meters 

.8 Combustion Controls 

7 ORGANIC AND FIBROUS MATERIALS 

.1 Rubber 

.2 Textiles 

.3 Paper 

.4 Leather 

.5 Testing and Specifications 

.6 Polymer Structure 

.7 Plastics 

.8 Dental Research 

8 METALLURGY 

.1 Thermal Metallurgy 

.2 Chemical Metallurgy 

.3 Mechanical Metallurgy 

.4 Corrosion 

.5 Metal Physics 

Lauriston S. Taylor 

Bourdon F. Scribner (Acting) 

Dr. Earle K. Plyler 

Dr. Fred L. Mohier 

Dr. Hans P. R. Fredenkse 

Dr. Ladislaus L. Marton 

Dr. Lewis M. Branscomb 

Dr. Harold 0. Wyckoff 

Dr. Randall S. Caswell 

Dr. Ugo Fano 

Dr. Wilfrid B. Mann 

Dr. Harold 0. Wyckoff 

Dr. Herman W. Koch 

Louis Costrell 

Dr. Scott W. Smith 

Dr. Edward W. Wichers (Acting) 

Paul T. Howard 

Dr. William W. Walton 

Dr. Horace S. Isbell 

Harry A. Bright 

Dr. Raleigh Gilchrist 

Dr. Abner Brenner 

Floyd Buckley 

Dr. Roger G. Bates 

Edward J. Prosen 

Bourdon F. Scribner 

Dr. Charles P. Saylor 

Dr. Walter Ramberg 

Dr. Richard K. Cook 

Edward C. Lloyd 

Dr. Galen B. Schubauer 

Bruce L. Wilson 

H. Steffen Peiser 

Charles T. Collett (Acting) 

Frank R. CaIdwell 

Dr. Gordon M. Kline 

Dr. Lawrence A. Wood 

Dr. Herbert F. Schiefer 

Dr. Robert B. Hobbs 

Dr. Joseph R. Kanagy 

Dr. Robert D. Stiehler 

Dr. Norman P. Bekkedahl 

Dr. Frank W. Reinliart 

William T. Sweeney 

Dr. James I. Hoffman 

Thomas G. Digges 

LeRoy L. Wyman 

John A. Bennett 

George A. Ellinger 

Dr. Lawrence M. Kushner 

.10 

.11 

5 CHEMISTRY 

.1 Organic Coatings 

.2 Surface Chemistry 

.3 Organic Chemistry 

.4 Analytical Chemistry 

.5 Inorganic Chemistry 

.6 Electrodeposition 

.7 Molecular Structure and 

.8 Physical Chemistry 

.9 Thermochemistry 

.10 Spectrochemistry 

.1 1 Pure Substances 

Properties of Gases 

714 
9 MINERAL PRODUCTS Engineering Ceramics 

Glass 

Refractories 

Enameled Metals 

Concreting Materials 

Constitution and Microstructure 

10 BUILDING TECHNOLOGY 

.1 Structural Engineering 

.2 Fire Protection 

.3 Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration 

.4 Floor, Roof and Wall Coverings 

.5 Codes and Safety Standards 

.6 Heat Transfer 11 APPLIED MATHEMATICS 

.1 Numerical Analysis 

.2 Computation 

.3 Statistical Engineering 

.4 Mathematical Physics 

12 DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS 

.1 Components and Techniques 

.2 Digital Circuitry 

.3 Digital Systems 

.4 Analog Systems 

.5 Applications Engineering 

40 ACCOUNTING 

.1 Reports and Billing 

.2 Classification 

.3 Tabulation 

.4 Voucher Examination 

.6 Payroll 

41 PERSONNEL 

.2 Recruitment and Placement 

.3 Salary and Wage Administration 

.4 Employee Relations and Training 

.5 Operations and Procedures 

.6 Medical Office 

42 ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES 

.1 Records and Communications 

.2 Special Services 

.3 Janitorial Services 

.4 Guard Services 

.5 Transportation Services 

.6 Security Office 

.7 Test Administration 

Dr. In C. Schoonover (Acting) 

Milton D. Burdick 

Clarence H. Hahner 

Vacant 

William N. Harrison 

Raymond L. Blame 

Howard F. McMurdie 

Douglas E. Parsons 

David Watstein 

Dr. Alexander F. Robertson 

Paul R. Achenbach 

Dr. Hubert R. Snoke 

John A. Dickinson 

Henry E. Robinson 

Dr. Edward W. Cannon 

Dr. Philip J. Davis 

Dr. Edward W. Cannon (Acting) 

Dr. Churchill Eisenhart 

Dr. Robert F. DressIer 

Samuel N. Alexander 

Robert D. Elbourn 

Sidney Greenwald 

Alan L. Leiner 

Dr. Harold K. Skramstad 

Samuel N. Alexander (Acting) 

Horace E. Hardaway 

Mrs. Pearl E. Miller 

Robert J. Goldsmith 

Walter G. Shackleford 

Matilda Udoff 

Kathryn L. Rock 

George R. Porter 

Frankie R. Keyser 

Charles V. Ramey 

Ruth B. Armsby 

Helen V. Courtney 

Dr. Glen Pincock 

Harry P. Dalzell 

Howard L. Sampson 

Raymond S. Cudmore (Acting) 

Robert C. Howey 

Capt. William R. Allen 

Charles W. Anderson 

Harry P. Dalzell 

Randolph K. Artz 

.2 

.3 

.4 

.6 

.7 

715 
43 SHOPS 

.1 Instrument Shop #1 

.2 Instrument Shop #2 

.3 Instrument Shop #3 

.4 Instrument Shop #4 

.5 Instrument Shop #5 

.7 Welding and Sheet Metal Shop 

.9 Tool Crib 

.11 Glassblowing Shop 

44 SUPPLY .3 Procurement 

.4 Property Management 

Frank P. Brown 

Carl E. Pelander 

George A. Rheinbold 

George A. Rheinbold 

Norman C. Pines 

John L. Pararas 

Terrell C. Freemon 

Lewis H. Brigham 

Leonardo Testa 

George B. Kefover 

Charles B. Kipps 

Fred H. Johncox 

45 MANAGEMENT PLANNING Ivan Asay 

46 BUDGET 

47 INTERNAL AUDIT Norman L. Christeller James P. Menzer 

50 PLANT 

.1 Heating and Air Conditioning 

.2 Electric Shop 

.3 Piping 

.4 Construction Shop 

.5 Paint Shop 

.6 Labor Services 

.7 Metal Shop 

.9 Grounds BOULDER LABORATORIES 79 DIRECTOR'S OFFICE 

Associate Director, NBS 

Executive Officer 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Hylton Graham 

James S. Powers 

George V. Hall 

Raymond A. Watson 

John A. King 

Howell C. Walker 

Roy B. Powell 

Donald I. Thompson 

William R. Stevenson 

Dr. Frederick W. Brown 

Samuel W. J. Welch 

Dr. Richard N. Thomas 

Dr. James R. Wait 

80 ADMINISTRATIVE 

.1 Management Planning 

.2 Fiscal Office 

.3 Personnel 

.4 General Services (Supply Officer) 

.5 Engineering Services 

81 CRYOGENIC ENGINEERING LABORATORY 

.1 Cryogenic Equipment 

.2 Cryogenic Processes 

.3 Properties of Materials 

.4 Gas Liquefaction 

716 

Samuel W. J. Welch 

Jessie B. Berkley 

Herbert D. Stansell 

Roy W. Stockwell, Jr. 

Barton F. Betts 

Paul S. Ballif 

Russell B. Scott 

Dr. Robert B. Jacobs 

Bascom W. Birmingham 

Dr. R. Joseph Corruccini 

Victor J. Johnson 
84 RADIO STANDARDS LABORATORY 

.1 High Frequency Electrical Standards 

.2 Radio Broadcast Service 

.3 High Frequency Impedance Standards 

.5 Electronic Calibration Center 

.7 Microwave Physics 

.8 Microwave Circuit Standards 

CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY 82 RADIO PROPAGATION PHYSICS 

.1 Upper Atmosphere Research 

.2 Ionospheric Research 

.3 Regular Prediction Services 

.4 Sun Earth Relationships 

.5 VHF Research 

.6 Radio Warning Services 

.7 Airglow and Aurora 

.8 Radio Astronomy and Arctic Propagation 

83 RADIO PROPAGATION ENGINEERING 

.1 Data Reduction Instrumentation 

.2 Modulation Systems 

.4 Radio Noise 

.5 Tropospheric Measurements 

.6 Tropospheric Analysis 

.7 Radio Systems Application Engineering 

.8 Radio Meteorology 

.9 Lower Atmosphere Physics 

85 RADIo COMMUNICATIONS AND SYSTEMS 

.1 Low Frequency-Very Low Frequency Research 

.2 High Frequency-Very High Frequency Research 

.3 Ultra High Frequency-Super High Frequency Research 

.4 Modulation Research 

.5 Antenna Research 

.6 Navigation Systems 

.7 Systems Analysis 

.8 Field Operations 

* Laboratories located in Boulder, Colorado. 

FIELD STATIONS 

2 OPTICS AND METROLOGY 

Lamp Inspector, Brookline, MA 

Visual Landing Aids Field Laboratory, Arcata, CA 

6 MECHANiCS 

Master Railway Track Scale Depot, Clearing, IL 

717 

William D. George (Acting) 

Myron C. Selby 

Alvin H. Morgan 

John L. Dalke 

Harvey W. Lance 

Dr. John M. Richardson 

Robert W. Beatty 

Dr. Frederick W. Brown (Acting) 

Dr. Ralph J. Slutz 

Roger M. Gallet 

Dr. Ernest K. Smith, Jr. 

Walter B. Chadwick 

Robert W. Knecht 

Dr. Kenneth L. Bowles (Acting) 

J. Virginia Lincoln 

Dr. Franklin E. Roach 

Dr. C. Gordon Little 

Kenneth A. Norton 

Walter E. Johnson 

Arthur D. Watt 

William Q. Crichlow 

Charles F. Peterson 

Philip L. Rice 

Robert S. Kirby 

Bradford R. Bean 

Dr. Moody C. Thompson, Jr. 

Richard C. Kirby 

A. Glenn Jean, Jr. 

Richard Silberstein 

Vacant 

J. Wesley Koch 

Herman V. Cottony 

Gifford Hefley 

Donald W. Patterson (Acting) 

Harry G. Sellery 
9 MINERAL PRODUCTS Concreting Materials Section 

Allentown, PA 

Denver, CO 

San Francisco, CA 

Seattle WA 

82 RADIO PROPAGATION PHYSICS Radio Propagation Field Station 

Anchorage, AK 

Fort Belvoir, VA 

Barrow, AK 

Ramey AFB, San Juan, Puerto Rico 

Sterling, VA 

Radio Transmitting Field Station WWVH 

Puuene, Maui, HA 

Long Branch Radio Propagation Field Station 

Kilbourne, IL 

83 RADIO PROPAGATION ENGINEERING Cheyenne Mountain Field Station, Colorado Springs, CO 

Radio Noise Recording Station 

Front Royal, VA 

Kauai, Hawaii 

Bill, WY 

84 RADIo STANDARDS LABORATORY Radio Transmitting Station WWV, Beltsville, MD 

718 
MAY 1961 

30 DIRECTOR'S OFFICE 

Deputy Director 

Associate Director 

Associate Director 

Library 

Associate Director 

NBS Reactor Program 

Associate Director 

Associate Director 

Special Assistant to the Director 

Director, Boulder Laboratories 

Special Research Assistant and Senior Research Fellow 

Consultant to the Director 

Consultant to the Director 

Consultant to the Director 

Director Emeritus 

ELECTRICITY 

.1 Resistance and Reactance 

.2 Electrochemistry 

.3 Electrical Instruments 

.4 Magnetic Measurements 

.5 Dielectrics 

719 

2 METROLOGY 

.1 Photometry and Colonmetry 

.2 Refractometry 

.3 Photographic Research 

.4 Length 

.5 Engineering Metrology 

.6 Mass and Scale 

.7 Volumetry and Densimetry 

3 HEAT 

1 Temperature Physics 

.2 Heat Measurements 

.3 Cryogenic Physics 

.7 Equation of State 

.8 Statistical Physics 

4 RADIATION PHYSICS 

.1 X-Ray 

.2 Radioactivity 

.3 Radiation Theory 

.4 High Energy Radiation 

.5 Radiological Equipment 

.6 Nucleonic Instrumentation 

.7 Neutron Physics 

Dr. Allen V. Astin 

Dr. Robert D. Huntoon 

Dr. Archibald T. McPherson 

Dr. Edward W. Wichers 

Sarah Ann Jones 

Dr. In C. Schoonover 

Dr. Carl 0. Muehlhause 

Dr. Charles M. Herzfeld (Acting) 

Robert S. Walleigh 

William A. Wildhack 

Dr. Frederick W. Brown 

Dr. Ugo Fano 

Dr. Leon F. Curtiss 

Dr. James I. Hoffman 

Dr. Kurt E. Shuler 

Dr. Lyman J. Bniggs 

Dr. Chester H. Page 

Dr. James L. Thomas 

Dr. Walter J. Hamer 

Dr. Francis M. Defandorf 

Irvin L. Cooter 

Dr. John D. Hoffman 

Alvin 0. McNish 

Louis E. Barbrow 

Dr. Francis E. Washer 

Calvin S. McCamy 

Benjamin L. Page 

Irvin H. Fullmer 

Alvin G. McNish (Acting) 

John C. Hughes (Acting) 

Dr. Ralph P. Hudson 

James F. Swindells 

Dr. Defoe C. Ginnings 

Dr. Ernest Ambler 

Joseph Hilsenrath 

Dr. Melville S. Green 

Dr. Lauriston S. Taylor 

Dr. Harold 0. Wyckoff 

Dr. Wilfnid B. Mann 

Dr. Lewis V. Spencer (Acting) 

Dr. Herman W. Koch 

Dr. Scott W. Smith 

Louis Costrell 

Dr. Randall S. Caswell 
5 ANALYTICAL AND INORGANIC CHEMISTRY 

.1 Pure Substances 

.2 Spectrochemistry 

.3 Solution Chemistry 

.4 Standard Reference Materials 

.5 Applied Analytical Research 

Dr. In C. Schoonover (Acting) 

Dr. Frank L. Howard 

Bourdon F. Scribner 

Dr. Roger 0. Bates 

John L. Hague 

Dr. John K. Taylor 

6 MECHANICS 

.1 Sound 

.2 Pressure and Vacuum 

.3 Fluid Mechanics 

.4 Engineering Mechanics 

.5 Rheology 

.8 Combustion Controls 

Bruce L. Wilson 

Dr. Richard K. Cook 

Dr. Daniel P. Johnson 

Dr. Galen B. Schubauer 

Lafayette K. Irwin 

Dr. Robert S. Marvin 

Frank R. Caldwell 7 ORGANIC AND FIBROUS MATERIALS 

.1 Rubber 

.2 Textiles 

.3 Paper 

Leather 

Testing and Specifications 

Polymer Structure 

Plastics 

Dental Research 

8 METALLURGY 

.1 Thermal Metallurgy 

.2 Chemical Metallurgy 

.3 Mechanical Metallurgy 

Corrosion 

Metal Physics 

.6 Electrodeposition 

9 MINERAL PRODUCTS 

.1 Engineering Ceramics 

.2 Glass 

.3 Refractones 

.4 Enameled Metals 

.5 Crystal Growth 

.6 Physical Properties 

.7 Constitution and Microstructure 

10 BUILDING RESEARCH 

.1 Structural Engineering 

.2 Fire Research 

.3 Mechanical Systems 

.4 Organic Building Materials 

.5 Codes and Safety Standards 

.6 Heat Transfer 

.7 Inorganic Building Materials 

Dr. Gordon M. Kline 

Dr. Lawrence A. Wood 

Dr. Herbert F. Schiefer 

Dr. Robert B. Hobbs 

Dr. Joseph R. Kanagy 

Dr. Robert D. Stiehler 

Dr. Norman P. Bekkedahl 

Dr. Frank W. Reinhart 

William T. Sweeney 

Dr. Lawrence M. Kushner (Acting) 

Thomas G. Digges 

LeRoy L. Wyman 

John A. Bennett 

George A. Ellinger 

Dr. Lawrence M. Kushner 

Dr. Abner Brenner 

Dr. Alan D. Franklin 

Milton D. Burdick 

Clarence H. Hahner 

Vacant 

William N. Harrison 

Dr. Fred Ordway 

Dr. Alan D. Franklin (Acting) 

Howard F. McMurdie 

Douglas E. Parsons 

David Watstein 

Dr. Alexander F. Robertson 

Paul R. Achenbach 

Dr. William W. Walton 

Richard L. Lloyd (Acting) 

Henry E. Robinson 

Raymond L. Blame 

.4 

.5 .6 

.7 

.8 

.4 

.5 

720 
11 APPLIED MATHEMATICS 

.1 Numerical Analysis 

.2 Computation 

.3 Statistical Engineering 

.4 Mathematical Physics 

12 DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS 

.1 Components and Techniques 

.2 Digital Circuitry 

.3 Digital Systems 

.4 Analog Systems 

.5 Applications Engineering 

13 ATOMIc PHYSICS 

.1 Spectroscopy 

.2 Infrared Spectroscopy 

.4 Solid State Physics 

.5 Electron Physics 

.6 Atomic Physics 

14 INSTRUMENTATION 

.1 Engineering Electronics 

.2 Electron Devices 

.3 Electronic Instrumentation 

.4 Mechanical Instruments 

.5 Basic Instrumentation 

15 PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY 

.1 Thermochemistry 

.2 Surface Chemistry 

.3 Organic Chemistry 

.4 Molecular Spectroscopy 

.5 Molecular Kinetics 

.6 Mass Spectrometry 

.7 Molecular Structure and Radiation Chemistry 

32 OFFICE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 34 OFFICE OF TECHNICAL INFORMATION 

.1 Information 

.2 Editorial 

.3 Publications 

.4 Photographic Services 

.5 Graphic Arts 

40 ACCOUNTING 

.1 Reports and Billing 

.2 Classification 

.3 Tabulation 

.4 Voucher Examination 

.6 Payroll 

721 

Dr. Edward W. Cannon 

Dr. Philip J. Davis 

Dr. Don I. Mittleman 

Dr. Churchill Eisenhart 

Dr. William H. Pell 

Samuel N. Alexander 

Robert D. Elbourn 

Vacant 

Dr. Harold K. Skramstad 

Dr. Harold K. Skramstad 

Ezra Glaser (Acting) 

Dr. Lewis M. Branscomb 

Dr. Karl G. Kessler 

Dr. Earle K. Plyler 

Dr. Hans P. R. Frederikse 

Dr. Ladislaus L. Marton 

Dr. Stephen J. Smith 

G. Franklin Montgomery 

Gustave Shapiro 

Charles P. Marsden 

G. Franklin Montgomery (Acting) 

Arnold Wexler 

Joshua Stern 

Dr. Merrill B. Wallenstein 

Edward J. Prosen 

Dr. Ralph Klein 

Dr. Horace S. Isbell 

Dr. David E. Mann 

Dr. Robert E. Ferguson 

Dr. Vernon H. Dibeler 

Floyd Buckley 

William S. Bussey 

W. Reeves Tilley 

Paul E. Walsh 

William K. Gautier 

John E. Carpenter 

Warren P. Richardson 

Conrad F. Peters 

James P. Menzer 

Pearl E. Miller 

Robert J. Goldsmith 

Walter G. Shackleford 

Matilda Udoff 

Kathryn L. Rock 
41 PERSONNEL .2 Recruitment and Placement 

.3 Salary and Wage Administration 

.4 Employee Relations and Training 

.5 Operations and Procedures 

.6 Medical Office 

42 ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES 

• I Records and Communications 

.2 Special Services 

.3 Janitorial Services 

.4 Guard Services 

.5 Transportation Services 

.6 Security Office 

.7 Test Administration 

43 SHOPS 

.1 Instrument Shop #1 

.2 Instrument Shop #2 

.3 Instrument Shop #3 

.4 Instrument Shop #4 

.5 Instrument Shop #5 

.7 Welding and Sheet Metal Shop 

.8 Optical Shop 

.9 Tool Crib 

.11 Glassblowing Shop 

44 SUPPLY .3 Procurement 

.4 Property Management 

George R. Porter 

Frankie R. Keyser 

Charles V. Ramey 

Ruth B. Armsby 

Helen V. Courtney 

Dr. Glen Pincock 

Harry P. Dalzell 

Howard L. Sampson 

Karl L. Hafen (Acting) 

Robert C. Howey 

Capt. William J. Kane 

Charles W. Anderson 

Harry P. DaIzell 

Randolph K. Artz 

Frank P. Brown 

John R. Hettenhouser 

George A. Rheinbold 

George A. Rheinbold 

Philip Pfaff, Jr. 

John L. Pararas 

Harold E. Brown 

Frank P. Brown (Acting) 

Lewis H. Brigham 

Leonardo Testa 

George B. Kefover 

Charles B. Kipps 

Fred H. Johncox 

45 MANAGEMENT PLANNING 46 BUDGET 47 INTERNAL AUDIT 

.1 Heating and Air Conditioning 

.2 Electric Shop 

.3 Piping 

.4 Construction Shop 

.5 Paint Shop 

.6 Labor Services 

.7 Metal Shop 

.9 Grounds 

Ivan Asay 

Dr. James E. Skillington, Jr. 

Jacob Seidenberg 

Hylton Graham 

James S. Powers 

George V. Hall 

Raymond A. Watson 

John A. King 

Howell C. Walker 

Roy B. Powell 

Donald I. Thompson 

William R. Stevenson 

50 PLANT 

722 
*BOULDER LABORATORIES 79 DIRECTOR'S OFFICE 

Director for the Boulder Laboratories 

Executive Officer 

Consultant— Math-Analysis and Computation 

Facility Group 

Consultant— Mathematical Physics 

and Educational Director 

Consultant— Statistics 

Consultant— Astrophysics 

Consultant— Astrophysics 

Consultant— Radio Wave Propagation 

80 ADMINISTRATIVE 

.1 Management Planning 

.2 Fiscal Office 

.3 Personnel 

.4 Supply 

.5 Engineering Services 

.6 Office Services 

81 CRYOGENIC ENGINEERING LABORATORY 

.1 Cryogenic Equipment 

.2 Cryogenic Processes 

.3 Properties of Materials 

.4 Cryogenic Technical Services 

84 RADIO STANDARDS LABORATORY 

.1 HF Electrical Standards 

.2 Radio Broadcast Service 

.3 Radio and Microwave Materials 

.4 Atomic Frequency and Time Interval Standards 

.5 Electronic Calibration Center 

.7 Millimeter-Wave Research 

.8 Microwave Circuit Standards 

CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY 

82 IONOSPHERE RESEARCH AND PROPAGATION 

.1 LF and VLF Research 

.2 Ionosphere Research 

.3 Prediction Services 

.4 Sun-Earth Relationships 

.5 Field Engineering 

.6 Radio Warning Services 

83 RADIO PROPAGATION ENGINEERING 

.1 Data Reduction Instrumentation 

.4 Radio Noise 

.5 Tropospheric Measurements 

.6 Tropospheric Analysis 

.7 Propagation-Terrain Effects 

.8 Radio Meteorology 

.9 Lower Atmosphere Physics 

723 

Dr. Frederick W. Brown 

Samuel W. J. Welch 

Dr. John J. Sopka 

H. E. Brown 

Dr. Edwin L. Crow 

Dr. Richard N. Thomas 

Dr. John T. Jefferies 

Dr. James R. Wait 

Samuel W. J. Welch 

Jessie B. Berkley 

Herbert D. Stansell 

Roy W. Stockwell, Jr. 

Barton F. Betts 

Paul S. BaIlif 

Richard G. Bulgin 

Russell B: Scott 

Dr. Robert B. Jacobs 

Bascom W. Birmingham 

Dr. R. Joseph Corruccini 

Victor J. Johnson 

Dr. John M. Richardson 

Myron C. Selby 

Alvin H. Morgan 

John L. Dalke 

Dr. Richard C. Mockler 

Harvey W. Lance 

Dr. William Culshaw 

Robert W. Beatty 

Dr. Frederick W. Brown (Acting) 

Dr. Ernest K. Smith, Jr. 

A. Glenn Jean, Jr. 

Dr. Kenneth Davies 

Walter B. Chadwick 

Robert W. Knecht 

Harry G. Sellery 

J. Virginia Lincoln 

Kenneth A. Norton 

Walter E. Johnson 

William Q. Cnchlow 

Martin T. Decker 

Philip L. Rice 

Robert S. Kirby 

Bradford R. Bean 

Dr. Moody C. Thompson, Jr. 
85 RADIO SYSTEMS .2 HF and VHF Research 

.4 Modulation Research 

.5 Antenna Research 

.6 Navigation Systems 

87 UPPER ATMOSPHERE AND SPACE PHYSICS 

.1 Upper Atmosphere and Plasma Physics 

.5 Ionosphere and Exosphere Scatter 

.7 Airglow and Aurora 

.8 Ionospheric Radio Astronomy 

1' Laboratories located in Boulder, Colorado. 

FIELD STATIONS 2 METROLOGY Lamp Inspector, Brookline, MA 

Visual Landing Aids Field Laboratory, Arcata, CA 

Master Railway Track Scale Depot, Clearing, IL 

10 BUILDING TECHNOLOGY Concreting Materials Section 

Allentown, PA 

Denver, CO 

San Francisco, CA 

Seattle WA 

CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY Anchorage Station, Anchorage, AK 

Antarctica Station, Byrd & South Pole 

Barrow Station, Barrow, AK 

Bill Station, Douglas WY 

Cheyenne Mountain Station, Colorado Springs, CO 

Fort Belvoir Station. Fort Belvoir, VA 

Fritz Peak Station, Rollinsville, CO 

Front Royal Station, Front Royal, VA 

Gun Barrel Hill Station, Boulder, CO 

Hygiene Station, Boulder, CO 

Kekaha Station, Koloa, Kauai, HA 

Kolb Station, Boulder, CO 

Lafayette Site, Lafayette, CO 

Lima Site, Lima, Peru 

Long Branch Station, Havana, IL 

Maui Station WWVH, Puunene, Maui, HA 

Puerto Rico Station, Ramey AFB 

Shickley Site, Shickley, NE 

Table Mesa Station, Boulder, CO 

RADIO STANDARDS LABORATORY Beltsville Station WWV 

Maui Station WWVH 

724 

Richard C. Kirby 

William F. Utlaut 

William C. Coombs 

Herman V. Cottony 

Gifford Hefley 

Dr. C. Gordon Little 

Roger M. Gallet 

Dr. Kenneth L. Bowles 

Dr. Franklin E. Roach 

Robert S. Lawrence 
JANUARY 1963 

30 DIREcToR's OrncE 

Deputy Director 

Associate Directors, Technical 

Associate Director, Administrative 

Director, Boulder Laboratories 

Assistant to the Director 

Assistant to the Director for Weights and Measures 

Administration 

Special Research Assistant and Senior Research Fellow 

Senior Research Fellow 

Consultant to the Director 

International Relations 

Director Emeritus 

Library 

NBS Reactor Program 

I ELECTRICITY 

.1 Resistance and Reactance 

.2 Electrochemistry 

.3 Electrical Instruments 

.4 Magnetic Measurements 

.5 Dielectrics 

.6 High Voltage 

2 METROLOGY 

.1 Photometry and Colorimetry 

.2 Refractometry 

.3 Photographic Research 

.4 Length 

.5 Engineering Metrology 

.6 Mass and Scale 

.7 Volumetry and Densimetry 

3 HEAT 

.1 Temperature Physics 

.2 Heat Measurements 

.3 Cryogenic Physics 

.7 Equation of State 

.8 Statistical Physics 

4 RADIATION PHYSICS 

.1 X-Ray 

.2 

.3 

.4 

.5 .6 

.7 

Dr. Allen V. Astin 

Dr. Robert D. Huntoon 

Dr. Lauriston S. Taylor (Acting) 

William A. Wildhack 

Robert S. Walleigh 

Russell B. Scott (Acting) 

George E. Auman 

William S. Bussey 

Dr. Ugo Fano 

Dr. Herbert P. Broida 

Douglas E. Parsons 

Dr. Franz L. Alt 

Dr. Lyman J. Bnggs 

Sarah Ann Jones 

Dr. Carl 0. Muehlhause 

Dr. Chester H. Page 

Vacant 

Dr. Walter J. Hamer 

Dr. Francis M. Defandorf 

Irvin L. Cooter 

Dr. John D. Hoffman 

Dr. F. Ralph Kotter 

Alvin G. McNish 

Louis E. Barbrow 

Dr. Francis E. Washer 

Calvin S. McCamy 

Theodore R. Young 

Irvin H. Fullmer 

Paul E. Pontius 

John C. Hughes (Acting) 

Dr. Ralph P. Hudson 

James F. Swindells 

Dr. Defoe C. Ginnings 

Dr. Ernest Ambler 

Joseph Hilsenrath 

Dr. Melville S. Green 

Dr. Herman W. Koch (Acting) 

Dr. Harold 0. Wyckoff 

Dr. Wilfrid B. Mann 

Dr. Martin Berger (Acting) 

Dr. Herman W. Koch 

Dr. Scott W. Smith 

Louis Costrell 

Dr. Randall S. Caswell 

Radioactivity 

Radiation Theory 

High Energy Radiation 

Radiological Equipment 

Nucleonic Instrumentation 

Neutron Physics 

725 
5 ANALYTICAL AND INORGANIC CHEMISTRY 

.1 Pure Substances 

.2 Spectrochemistry 

.3 Solution Chemistry 

.4 Standard Reference Materials 

.5 Applied Analytical Research 

.6 Crystal Chemistry 

6 MECHANICS 

.1 Sound 

.2 Pressure and Vacuum 

.3 Fluid Mechanics 

.4 Engineering Mechanics 

.5 Rheology 

.8 Combustion Controls 7 POLYMERS 

.1 Macromolecules Synthesis and Structure 

.2 Polymer Chemistry 

.3 Polymer Physics 

.4 Polymer Characterization 

.5 Polymer Evaluation and Testing 

.6 Applied Polymers Standards and Research 

.8 Dental Research 

8 METALLURGY 

.1 Engineering Metallurgy 

.3 Microscopy and Diffraction 

.4 Metal 

.5 Metal Physics 

.6 Electrolysis and Metal Deposition 

9 INORGANIC SOLIDS 

.1 Engineering Ceramics 

.2 Glass 

.3 Solid State Chemistry 

.5 Crystal Growth 

.6 Physical Properties 

.7 Crystallography 

10 BUILDING RESEARCH 

.1 Structural Engineering 

.2 Fire Research 

.3 Mechanical Systems 

.4 Organic Building Materials 

.5 Codes and Safety Standards 

.6 Heat Transfer 

.7 Inorganic Building Materials 

.9 Metallic Building Materials 11 APPLIED MATHEMATICS 

.1 Numerical Analysis 

.2 Computation 

.3 Statistical Engineering 

.4 Mathematical Physics 

.5 Operations Research 

726 

Dr. Harry C. Allen, Jr. 

Dr. Frank L. Howard 

Bourdon F. Scribner 

Dr. Roger 0. Bates 

John L. Hague 

Dr. John K. Taylor 

H. Steffen Peiser 

Bruce L. Wilson 

Dr. Richard K. Cook 

Dr. Daniel P. Johnson 

Dr. Galen B. Schubauer 

Lafayette K. Irwin 

Dr. Robert S. Marvin 

Frank R. Caldwell 

Dr. Gordon M. Kline 

Dr. Donald McIntyre 

Dr. Leo A. Wall 

Dr. EIio Passaglia 

Dr. Norman P. Bekkedahl 

Dr. Robert D. Stiehler 

Dr. Robert B. Hobbs 

William T. Sweeney 

Dr. Lawrence M. Kushner 

Samuel J. Rosenberg 

Herbert C. Vacher 

George A. Ellinger 

Dr. Lawrence M. Kushner 

Dr. Abner Brenner 

Dr. Alan D. Franklin 

Milton D. Burdick 

Clarence H. Habner 

Vacant 

Dr. Fred Ordway 

Dr. John B. Wachtman, Jr. 

Howard F. McMurdie 

Dr. Allan A. Bates 

David Watstein 

Dr. Alexander F. Robertson 

Paul R. Achenbach 

Dr. William W. Walton 

Vacant 

Henry E. Robinson 

Dr. Bruce E. Foster 

William N. Harrison 

Dr. Edward W. Cannon 

Dr. Philip J. Davis 

Dr. Don I. Mittleman 

Dr. Churchill Eisenhart 

Dr. William H. Pell 

Dr. Alan J. Goldman 
12 DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS 

.1 Components and Techniques 

.2 Computer Technology 

.3 Measurements Automation 

.4 Engineering Applications 

.5 Systems Analysis 

13 ATOMIC PHYSICS 

I Spectroscopy 

.2 Infrared Spectroscopy 

.3 Far Ultraviolet Physics 

.4 Solid State Physics 

.5 Electron Physics 

.6 Atomic Physics 

.7 Plasma Spectroscopy 

14 INSTRUMENTATION 

.1 Engineering Electronics 

.2 Electron Devices 

.3 Electronic Instrumentation 

.4 Mechanical Instruments 

.5 Basic Instrumentation 

15 PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY 

.1 Thermochemistry 

.2 Surface Chemistry 

.3 Organic Chemistry 

.4 Molecular Spectroscopy 

.5 Elementary Processes 

.6 Mass Spectrometry 

.7 Photochemistry 

17 OFFICE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 34 OFFICE OF TECHNICAL INFORMATION 

.1 Information 

.2 Editorial 

.3 Publications 

.4 Photographic Services 

.5 Graphic Arts 

40 ACCOUNTING 

.1 Reports and Billing 

.2 Classification 

.3 Tabulation 

.4 Voucher Examination 

.5 Test Administration 

.6 Payroll 

41 PERSONNEL .2 Recruitment and Placement 

.3 Salary and Wage Administration 

.4 Employee Relations and Training 

.5 Operations and Procedures 

.6 Medical Office 

727 

Samuel N. Alexander 

Robert D. Elbourn 

James A. Cunningham 

Raymond T. Moore 

Samuel N. Alexander (Acting) 

Samuel N. Alexander (Acting) 

Dr. Karl 0. Kessler 

Dr. William C. Martin, Jr. 

Dr. Earle K. Plyler 

Dr. Robert P. Madden 

Dr. Hans P. R. Frederikse 

Dr. John A. Simpson 

Dr. Harold S. Boyne 

Dr. Wolfgang L. Wiese 

0. Franklin Montgomery 

Gustave Shapiro 

Charles P. Marsden 

0. Franklin Montgomery (Acting) 

Arnold Wexler 

Joshua Stern 

Dr. Merrill B. Wallenstein 

Dr. Merrill B. Wallenstein 

Dr. Ralph Klein 

Dr. Horace S. Isbell 

Dr. David E. Mann 

Dr. Robert E. Ferguson 

Dr. Henry M. Rosenstock 

Dr. James R. McNesby 

Malcolm W. Jensen 

W. Reeves Tilley 

Paul E. Walsh 

William K. Gautier 

John E. Carpenter 

Warren P. Richardson 

Conrad F. Peters 

James P. Menzer 

Pearl E. Miller 

Vacant 

Walter G. Shackleford 

Matilda Udoff 

Mark D. Cassidy 

Kathryn L. Rock 

George R. Porter 

Henry C. Bothe 

Charles V. Ramey 

Ruth B. Armsby 

Helen V. Courtney 

Dr. Glen Pincock 
42 ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES 

.1 Records and Communications 

.2 Special Services 

.3 Janitorial Services 

.4 Guard Services 

.5 Transportation Services 

.6 Security Office 

43 Suoi's 

.1 Instrument Shop #1 

.2 Instrument Shop #2 

.3 Instrument Shop #3 

.4 Instrument Shop #4 

.5 Instrument Shop #5 

.7 Welding and Sheet Metal Shop 

.8 Optical Shop 

.9 Tool Crib 

.11 Glassblowing Shop 

44 SUPPLY .3 Procurement 

.4 Property Management 

Harry P. DaIzell 

Howard L. Sampson 

Walter J. Rabbitt 

Robert C. Howey 

Capt. William J. Kane 

Charles W. Anderson 

Harry P. Dalzell 

Frank P. Brown 

John R. Hettenhouser 

George A. Rheinbold 

George A. Rheinbold 

Philip Pfaff, Jr. 

John L. Pararas 

Harold E. Brown 

Frank P. Brown (Acting) 

Lewis H. Brigham 

Leonardo Testa 

George B. Kefover 

Charles B. Kipps 

Fred H. Johncox 

45 MANAGEMENT SERVICES 46 BUDGET 47 INTERNAL AUDIT Arthur J. Muller 

Dr. James E. Skillington, Jr. 

Jacob Seidenberg 

50 PLANT 

.1 Heating and Air Conditioning 

.2 Electric Shop 

.3 Piping 

.4 Construction Shop 

.5 Paint Shop 

.6 Labor Services 

.7 Metal Shop 

.9 Grounds 

*BOULDER LABORATORIES 79 Director's Office 

Executive Officer 

Consultant— Math Group, Computation Facility 

Consultant— Mathematical Physics and Educational 

Director 

Consultant— Statistics 

Consultant— Radio Wave Propagation 

Consultant— Physics of the Atmosphere 

728 

Frank P. Brown (Acting) 

James S. Powers 

Vacant 

Vacant 

John A. King 

Howell C. Walker 

Roy B. Powell 

Donald I. Thompson 

William R. Stevenson 

Russell B. Scott (Acting) 

Samuel W. J. Welch 

Dr. John J. Sopka 

H. E. Brown 

Dr. Edwin L. Crow 

Dr. James R. Wait 

Dr. David M. Gates 
80 ADMINISTRATIVE 

.1 Management Planning 

.2 Fiscal Office 

.3 Personnel 

.4 Supply 

.5 Engineering Services 

.6 Office Services 

.7 Plant 

.8 Shops 

81 CRYOGENIC ENGINEERING LABORATORY 

.1 Cryogenic Equipment 

.2 Cryogenic Processes 

.3 Properties of Materials 

.4 Cryogenic Technical Services 

CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY 

82 IONOSPHERE RESEARCH AND PROPAGATION 

.5 Ultra Low Frequency Research 

.1 LFandVLFResearch 

.2 Ionosphere Research 

.3 Prediction Services 

.4 Sun-Earth Relationships 

.5 Field Engineering 

.6 Radio Warning Services 

.7 Vertical Soundings Research 

83 TROPOSPHERE AND SPACE TELECOMMUNICATIONS 

.1 Data Reduction Instrumentation 

.4 Radio Noise 

.5 Tropospheric Measurements 

.6 Tropospheric Analysis 

.7 Propagation-Terrain Effects 

.8 Radio Meteorology 

.9 Lower Atmosphere Physics 

85 RADIO SYSTEMS 

.1 Applied Electromagnetic Theory 

.2 HF and VHF Research 

.3 Frequency Utilization 

.4 Modulation Research 

.5 Antenna Research 

.6 Radiodetermination 

87 UPPER ATMOSPHERE AND SPACE PHYSICS 

.1 Upper Atmosphere and Plasma Physics 

.2 High Latitude Ionospheric Physics 

.5 Ionosphere and Exosphere Scatter 

.7 Airglow and Aurora 

.8 Ionospheric Radio Astronomy 

729 

Samuel W. J. Welch 

Jessie B. Berkley 

Herbert D. Stansell 

Roy W. Stockwell, Jr. 

Barton F. Betts 

Paul S. Ballif 

Richard G. Bulgin 

Edgar A. Yuzwiak 

John L. Hutton 

Bascom W. Birmingham (Acting) 

Dr. Robert B. Jacobs 

Bascom W. Birmingham 

Dr. R. Joseph Corruccini 

Victor J. Johnson 

Dr. C. Gordon Little 

Dr. Ernest K. Smith, Jr. 

Dr. Wallace H. Campbell 

A. Glenn Jean, Jr. 

Dr. Kenneth Davies 

M. Pokempner (Acting) 

Robert W. Knecht 

Harry 0. Selleiy 

J. Virginia Lincoln 

John W. Wright 

Kenneth A. Norton 

Walter E. Johnson 

William Q. Crichlow 

Martin T. Decker 

Philip L. Rice 

Robert S. Kirby 

Bradford R. Bean 

Dr. Moody C. Thompson, Jr. 

Richard C. Kirby 

J. Ralph Johler 

William F. Utlaut 

George W. Haydon 

Clark C. Watterson (Acting) 

Herman V. Cottony 

Gifford Hefley 

Dr. C. Gordon Little 

Roger M. Gallet 

Dr. Hugh J. A. Chivers 

Dr. Kenneth L. Bowles 

Dr. Franklin E. Roach 

Robert S. Lawrence 
RADIO STANDARDS LABORATORY Dr. John M. Richardson 

91 RADIO STANDARDS PHYsics 

.2 Radio Broadcast Service 

.3 Radio and Microwave Materials 

.4 Atomic Frequency and Time Interval Standards 

.6 Radio Plasma 

.7 Millimeter-Wave Research 

92 RADIO STANDARDS ENGINEERING 

.1 HF Electrical Standards 

.2 HF Calibration Services 

.3 HF Impedance Standards 

.7 Microwave Calibration Services 

.8 Microwave Circuit Standards 

.9 Low Frequency Calibration Services 

95 JOiNT INSTITUTE FOR LABORATORY ASTROPHYSICS, 

NBS GROUP 

* Laboratories located in Boulder, Colorado. 

FIELD STATIONS 

METROLOGY 

Visual Landing Aids Field Laboratory, Arcata, CA 

Master Railway Track Scale Depot, Clearing, IL 

10 BUILDING RESEARCH Inorganic Building Materials Section 

Denver, CO 

San Francisco, CA 

Seattle WA 

CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY Anchorage Station, Anchorage, AK 

Antarctica Station, Byrd & South Pole 

Barrow Station, Barrow, AK 

Bill Station, Douglas WY 

Broadcast Station WWV, Greenbelt, MD 

Broadcast Station WWVH, Puunene, Maui, HA 

Cheyenne Mountain Station, Colorado Springs, CO 

Erie Station, Erie, CO 

Fort Belvoir Station, Fort Belvoir, VA 

Fritz Peak Station, Rollinsville, CO 

Front Royal Station, Front Royal, VA 

Gun Barrel Hill Station, Boulder, CO 

Hygiene Station, Boulder, CO 

Kekaha Station, Koloa, Kauai, HA 

Koib Station, Boulder, CO 

Lafayette Site, Lafayette, CO 

Lima Site, Lima, Peru 

Long Branch Station, Havana, IL 

Puerto Rico Station, Ramey AFB 

Shickley Site, Shickley, NE 

Table Mesa Station, Boulder, CO 

730 

Dr. L. Yardley Beers 

Alvin H. Morgan 

John L. Dalke 

Dr. Richard C. Mockler 

Dr. Karl B. Persson 

Dr. Robert W. Zimmerer (Acting) 

Dr. George E. Schafer 

Charles M. Allred 

Robert C. Powell (Acting) 

Robert C. Powell 

Roy E. Larson 

Robert W. Beatty 

Frank D. Weaver (Acting) 

Dr. Lewis M. Branscomb 
July 1, 1964 

100 OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR 

Director 

Deputy Director 

Assistant to the Director 

Assistant to the Director 

Assistant to the Director, Automatic Data Processing 

Senior Research Fellow 

Senior Research Fellow 

Senior Research Fellow 

102 OFFICE OF PUBLIC INFORMATION 103 TECHNICAL ANALYSIS GROUP 104 OrncE OF PROGRAM PLANNING AND EVALUATION Associate Director for Resources Planning 

120 ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR ADMINISTRATION 

Associate Director 

121 ACCOUNTING Deputy Chief 

.01 Reports and Billing 

.02 Classification 

.03 Tabulation 

.04 Voucher Examination 

.05 Payroll 

122 ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES Assistant Chief 

.01 Records and Communications 

.02 Special Services 

.03 Janitorial Services 

.04 Guard Services 

.05 Transportation Services 

.06 Security Office 

123 BUDGET AND MANAGEMENT 

.01 Budget 

.02 Management Analysis 

Dr. Allen V. Astin 

Dr. lrl C. Schoonover 

George E. Auman 

Clarence N. Coates 

W. Howard Gammon 

Dr. Churchill Eisenhart 

Dr. Ugo Fano 

Dr. James R. Wait 

A. Victor Gentilini 

Dr. Shirleigh Silverman 

Robert S. Walleigh 

Jacob Seidenberg 

Homer McIntyre 

Pearl E. Miller 

Edgar H. MacArthur 

Frederick I. Baum (Acting) 

Matilda Udoff 

Kathryn L. Rock 

Harry P. DaIzell 

Karl L. Hafen 

Howard L. Sampson 

Walter J. Rabbitt 

Robert C. Howey 

Capt. William J. Kane 

Charles W. Anderson 

Harry P. DaIzell 

Dr. James E. Skillington, Jr. 

Eugene C. Denne 

John B. Tallerico 

124 INTERNAL AUDIT 125 PERSONNEL Assistant Chief 

.01 Board of Civil Service Examiners 

.02 Recruitment and Placement 

.03 Salary and Wage Administration 

.04 Employee Relations and Training 

.05 Operations and Procedures 

.06 Medical Office 

731 

Harold F. Whittington 

George R. Porter 

Henry C. Bothe 

Warren J. Barker 

Henry C. Bothe 

Charles V. Ramey 

Ruth B. Armsby 

Edith C. Lewis 

Dr. A. S. Cross 
Assistant Chief 

.01 Steam-Chilled Water Generation 

.02 Electric Shop 

.03 

.04 

.05 

.06 

.07 

.08 

127 SUPPLY 

Metal Shop 

Air Conditioning and Refrigeration 

Deputy Chief 

.01 Storeroom 

.02 General Services 

.03 Procurement 

.04 Property Management 

M. Bernard Goetz (Acting) 

M. Bernard Goetz 

James S. Powers 

Robert W. Miller 

Gerard John Finan 

John A. King 

Berkley E. Wigglesworth 

Roy B. Powell 

Donald I. Thompson 

Donald I. Thompson 

William R. Stevenson 

George B. Kefover 

Arthur L. Longwell 

Walter C. Bonner (Acting) 

Fred H. Johncox (Acting) 

Charles B. Kipps 

Harold 0. Nicholas 

140 ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR TECHMCAL SUPPORT 

Associate Director 141 TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS Assistant Chief 

.01 Information 

.02 Editorial 

.03 Publications 

.04 Photographic Services 

.05 Graphic Arts 142 RESEARCH INFORMATION .0! Library 

Dr. Lauriston S. Taylor 

W. Reeves Tilley 

William K. Gautier 

Robert T. Cook (Acting) 

William K. Gautier 

John E. Carpenter 

Warren P. Richardson 

Conrad F. Peters 

Dr. Lauriston S. Taylor (Acting) 

Sarah Ann Jones 

143 RADIATION SAFETY 

.01 Health Services 

Dr. Lauriston S. Taylor (Acting) 

Dr. Abraham Schwebel 

144 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Vacant 

154 INSTRUMENT SHOPS Assistant Chief 

.01 Instrument Shop #1 

.02 Instrument Shop #2 

.03 Instrument Shop #3 

.04 Instrument Shop #4 

.05 Instrument Shop #5 

.06 Glassblowing 

.07 Welding and Sheet Metal Shop 

.08 Optical Shop 

.09 Tool Crib 

732 

Frank P. Brown 

Winfield L. Drissel 

John R. Hettenhouser 

Walter A. Koepper 

Charles E. Taylor 

Philip Pfaff, Jr. 

Philip Pfaff, Jr. 

Enrico Deleonibus 

Harold E. Brown 

Stanley W. Gerner 

Lewis H. Brigham 

126 PLANT 

Piping 

Construction Shop 

Gaithersburg Plant Services 

Labor Services 

.09 Grounds 
*160 MANAGER, BOULDER LABORATORIES 

OFFICE OF THE MANAGER, BOULDER LABORATORIES Manager 

Consultant— Statistics 

Consultant—Math Group and Computation Facility 

Consultant — Mathematical Physics 

*161 ADMINISTRATIVE, BOULDER LABORATORIES 

.01 Consultant— Engineering 

.10 Management Planning 

Personnel 

Fiscal 

Supply 

Office Services 

Plant Engineering 

Shops 

200 INSTITUTE FOR BASIC STANDARDS 

Director 

Associate Director, Measurement Services 

201 OFFICE OF STANDARD REFERENCE DATA 

Thermodynamics and Transport Data 

Chemical Kinetics 

Information Systems 

205 APPLIED MATHEMATICS 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

.01 Numerical Analysis 

.02 Computation 

.03 Statistical Engineering 

.04 Mathematical Physics 

.05 Operations Research 

211 ELECTRICITY 

.01 Resistance and Reactance 

.02 Electrochemistry 

.03 

.04 

.05 

.06 

.07 

Russell B. Scott 

Dr. Edwin L. Crow 

Dr. John J. Sopka 

H. E. Brown 

Samuel W. J. Welch 

Paul S. Ballif 

Mrs. J. Berkley 

Roy W. Stockwell 

Herbert D. Stansell 

Barton F. Betts 

Richard G. Bulgin 

Edgar A. Yuzwiak 

John L. Hutton 

Dr. Robert D. Huntoon 

William A. Wildhack 

Dr. Edward L. Brady 

Dr. Everett R. Johnson 

Dr. Stephen A. Rossmassler 

Dr. Franz L. Alt 

Dr. Edward W. Cannon 

Dr. Hansjorg Oser 

Ida Rhodes 

Dr. William J. Youden 

Dr. Morris Newman 

Dr. Don 1. Mittleman 

Joseph M. Cameron 

Dr. William H. Pell 

Dr. Alan J. Goldman 

Dr. Chester H. Page 

Chester Peterson 

Dr. Walter J. Hamer 

Francis L. Hermach 

Irvin L. Cooter 

Dr. Arnold H. Scott 

Dr. F. Ralph Kotter 

Dr. Forest K. Harris 

212 METROLOGY 

Assistant Chief 

.11 Photometry and Colorimetry 

.12 Refractometry 

.13 Photographic Research 

.21 Length 

.22 Engineering Metrology 

.31 Mass and Volume 

733 

Alvin G. McNish 

Dr. Deane B. Judd 

Louis E. Barbrow 

Dr. Francis E. Washer 

Calvin S. McCamy 

Theodore R. Young 

Irvin H. Fullmer 

Paul E. Pontius 

.20 

.30 

.40 

.50 

.60 

.70 

Electrical Instruments 

Magnetic Measurements 

Dielectrics 

High Voltage 

Absolute Electrical Measurements 
213 MECHANICS 

Consultant 

Consultant 

.01 Sound 

.02 Pressure and Vacuum 

.03 Fluid Mechanics 

.04 Engineering Mechanics 

.05 Rheology 

.06 Combustion Controls 

Bruce L. Wilson 

Dr. John M. Frankland 

Edward C. Lloyd 

Dr. Richard K. Cook 

Dr. Daniel P. Johnson 

Dr. Galen B. Schubauer 

Lafayette K. Irwin 

Dr. Robert S. Marvin 

Frank R. CaIdwell 

221 HEAT 

Assistant Chief, Thermodynamics 

.01 Temperature Physics 

.02 Heat Measurements 

.03 Cryogenic Physics 

.04 Equation of State 

.05 Statistical Physics 

222 AToMIc PHYSICS 

.01 Spectroscopy 

.02 Infrared and Microwave Spectroscopy 

.03 Far Ultraviolet Physics 

.04 Solid State Physics 

.05 Electron Physics 

.06 Atomic Physics 

.07 Plasma Spectroscopy 

223 PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY Consultant 

Consultant 

.01 Chemical Kinetics Information Center 

.02 Theoretical Chemistry 

.11 Thermochemistry 

.21 

.31 

.41 

.51 .52 

.53 

Surface Chemistry 

Organic Chemistry 

Molecular Spectroscopy 

Elementary Processes 

Mass Spectrometry 

Photo Chemistry and Radiation Chemistry 

*224 LABORATORY ASTROPHYSICS 231 RADIATION PHYSICS 

.01 Radiation Theory 

Dr. Ralph P. Hudson 

Dr. Charles W. Beckett 

James F. Swindells 

Dr. Defoe C. Ginnings 

Dr. Ernest Ambler 

Joseph Hilsenrath 

Dr. Melville S. Green 

Dr. Karl G. Kessler 

Dr. William C. Martin, Jr. 

Dr. David R. Lide, Jr. 

Dr. Robert P. Madden 

Dr. Hans P. R. Frederikse 

Dr. John A. Simpson 

Dr. Harold S. Boyne 

Dr. Wolfgang L. Wiese 

Dr. Merrill B. Wallenstein 

Dr. William L. Clinton 

Edward J. Prosen 

Dr. Ransom B. Parlin - Dr. Morris Krauss 

Donald D. Wagman 

Dr. Ralph Klein 

Dr. Horace S. Isbell 

Dr. David E. Mann 

Dr. Robert E. Ferguson 

Dr. Harry M. Rosenstock 

Dr. James R. McNesby 

Dr. Lewis M. Branscomb 

Dr. Herman W. Koch 

Dr. Haakon A. Olsen RADIOLOGICAL PHYSICS BRANCH 

.11 X-ray Physics 

.12 Dosimetry 

.13 X-ray Standards 

NUCLEAR PHYSICS BRANCH 

.21 Radioactivity 

.22 Neutron Physics 

.23 Photonuclear Physics 

.24 Nuclear Spectroscopy 

734 

Dr. J. W. Motz 

Dr. J. W. Motz 

Dr. Scott W. Smith 

Dr. Harold 0. Wyckoff 

Dr. Herman W. Koch 

Dr. Wilfnd B. Mann 

Dr. Randall S. Caswell 

Dr. Everett G. Fuller 

Dr. Raymond W. Hayward 
Accelerator Branch 

.31 Accelerator Engineering 

.32 Radiation Physics Instrumentation 

.33 Accelerator Physics 

*250 RADIO STANDARDS LABORATORY Scientific Consultant 

*251 RADIO STANDARDS PHYSICS Assistant Chief 

Consultant 

.01 Frequency-Time Dissemination Research 

.02 Frequency-Time Broadcast Services 

.03 Radio and Microwave Materials 

.04 Atomic Frequency and Time Interval Standards 

.06 Radio Plasma 

.07 Microwave Physics 

*252 RADIO STANDARDS ENGINEERING Consultant 

Consultant 

:21 .22 

.23 

.31 .32 

300 INSTITUTE FOR MATERIALS RESEARCH 

Director 

Deputy Director 

302 OFFICE OF STANDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS 

310 ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY Assistant Chief 

.01 Radiochemical Analysis 

.02 Spectrochemical Analysis 

.03 Electrochemical Analysis 

.04 Quantitative Separations 

.05 Analysis and Purification 

311 POLYMERS Consultant 

Consultant on Polymers 

Dr. James E. Leiss 

Dr. James E. Leiss 

Louis Costrell 

Dr. James E. Leiss 

Dr. John M. Richardson 

Dr. David M. Kerns 

Dr. L. Yardley Beers 

Dr. George E. Hudson 

Dr. Paul F. Wacker 

Alvin H. Morgan 

David H. Andrews 

John L. Dalke 

Dr. Richard C. Mockler 

Dr. Karl B. Persson 

Dr. Robert W. Zimmerer (Acting) 

Dr. George E. Schafer 

Robert W. Beatty 

Myron C. Selby 

Frank D. Weaver (Acting) 

Dr. K. R. Wendt 

Charles M. AlIred 

Robert C. Powell 

Roy E. Larson 

Dr. Maurice B. Hall 

Dr. Irl C. Schoonover (Acting) 

Dr. Harry C. Allen Jr. (Acting) 

Dr. W. Wayne Meinke 

Dr. W. Wayne Meinke 

Dr. Roger G. Bates 

Dr. James R. DeVoe 

Bourdon F. Scnbner 

Dr. Roger G. Bates 

RoIf A. Paulson (Acting) 

Dr. John K. Taylor 

Dr. John D. Hoffman 

Dr. John I. Lauritzen, Jr. 

Dr. Samuel G. Weissberg 

Dr. Lawrence A. Wood 

Dr. Donald McIntyre 

Dr. Leo A. Wall 

Dr. Elio Passaglia 

Dr. Norman P. Bekkedahl 

Wilitam T. Sweeney 

Low Frequency Calibration Services 

HF Calibration Services 

HF Electrical Standards 

HF Impedance Standards 

Microwave Calibration Services 

Microwave Circuit Standards 

Consultant on Rubber 

.01 Macromolecules, Synthesis and Structure 

.02 Polymer Chemistry 

.03 Polymer Physics 

.04 Polymer Characterization 

.05 Dental Research 

735 
.10 Federal Standards and Specification Labo atory 

Consultant onLeather 

Consultant on Mathematical Statistics 

Consultant on Paper 

Consultant on Textiles 

I I Product Evaluation and Testing 

Procurement Systems 

Evaluation Criteria 

Performance Research 

312 METALLURGY 

Assistant Chief 

Consultant 

.01 Engineering Metallurgy 

.02 Alloy Physics 

.03 Lattice Defects and Microstructures 

.04 Corrosion 

.05 Metal Physics 

.06 Electrolysis and Metal Deposition 

.07 Crystallization of Metals 

313 INORGANIC MATERIALS 

Consultant 

Consultant 

.01 Inorganic Chemistry 

.02 Glass 

.03 

.04 

.05 

.06 

314 REACTOR RADIATIONS 

*315 CRYOGENICS 

Assistant Chief 

Consultant 

.01 Cryogenic Technical Services 

.02 Cryogenic Data Center 

.03 Cryogenic Properties of Solids 

.04 Properties of Cryogenic Fluids 

.05 Cryogenic Systems 

.06 Cryogenic Metrology 

.07 Cryogenic Fluid Transport Processes 

400 INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED TECHNOLOGY 

Director 

Deputy Director 

Consultant 

Assistant to the Director, International Standards 

.01 Pilot Projects and Programs 

.02 Invention and Innovation 

.03 Domestic Technology Information 

.04 AID Technology Information 

Dr. Robert B. Hobbs (Acting) 

Dr. Joseph R. Kanagy 

John Mandel 

Jack L. Harvey (Acting) 

Dr. Herbert F. Schiefer 

Vacant 

Vacant 

Dr. Robert D. Stiehler 

Vacant 

Dr. Lawrence M. Kushner 

George A. Ellinger 

Leroy L. Wyman 

Samuel J. Rosenberg 

Dr. Lawrence H. Bennett 

Dr. A. William Ruff, Jr. 

George A. Ellinger 

Dr. Robert E. Howard 

Dr. Abner Brenner 

Dr. Robert L. Parker 

Dr. Harry C. Allen, Jr. 

Dr. Gilbert Gordon 

Dr. Ellis R. Lippincott 

Dr. Thomas D. Coyle 

Clarence H. Hahner 

Vacant 

H. Steffen Peiser 

Dr. John B. Wachtman, Jr. 

Howard F. McMurdie 

Dr. Carl 0. Muehlhause 

Bascom W. Birmingham 

Dr. R. Joseph Corruccini 

Alan F. Schmidt 

William A. Wilson 

Victor J. Johnson 

Dr. Richard H. Kropschot 

Dr. R. Joseph Corruccini 

Dudley B. 

Dr. Thomas M. Flynn 

Raymond V. Smith 

Dr. Donald A. Schon 

John P. Eberhard 

Joseph L. Swedock 

Dr. Archibald T. McPherson 

Vacant 

Daniel V. DeSimone 

Eric A. Tietz 

Vacant 

.12 

.13 

.14 

High Temperature Chemistry 

Crystal Chemistry 

Physical Properties 

Crystallography 

736 
402 OFFICE OF TECHNICAL SERVICES Dr. Donald A. Schon 

403 OFFICE OF INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Robert L. Stern 

404 OFFICE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES Malcolm W. Jensen 

405 OFFICE OF ENGINEERING STANDARDS Commodity Standards 

Technical Standards Coordination 

Vacant 

Alfred S. Best 

Joan Hartman 

410 TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION CENTER 

.10 Document Management Branch 

.20 Document Analysis and Reference Branch 

.30 Automated Systems and Services Branch 

.40 Customer Relations Branch 

.50 Plans and Development Branch 

.60 Administrative Services Branch 

.70 Joint Publications Research Service 

421 BUILDING RESEARCH, 

.01 Structural Engineering 

.02 Fire Research 

.03 Mechanical Systems 

.04 Organic Building Materials 

.05 Codes and Safety Standards 

.06 Heat Transfer 

.07 Inorganic Building Materials 

.08 Metallic Building Materials 

Bernard M. Fry 

Paul W. Larsen 

Lillian A. Hamnck 

Vacant 

James E. Wheat 

Jeremiah F. Harrington 

John L. Demarest 

Thomas W. Miller 

Dr. Allan A. Bates 

David Watstein 

Dr. Alexander F. Robertson 

Paul R. Achenbach 

Dr. William W. Walton 

Dr. Allan A. Bates (Acting) 

Henry E. Robinson 

Dr. Bruce E. Foster 

Dwight G. Moore 

422 INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT TECHNOLOGY Vacant 

423 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PILOT 

.01 Components and Techniques 

.02 Computer Technology 

.03 Measurements Automation 

.04 Engineering Applications 

.05 Systems Analysis 

Samuel N. Alexander 

James P. Nigro 

Robert D. Elbourn 

James A. Cunningham 

Raymond T. Moore 

James P. Nigro 

Samuel N. Alexander (Acting) 

424 PERFORMANCE TEST DEVELOPMENT Vacant 

425 INSTRUMENTATION 

.01 Engineering Electronics 

.02 Electron Devices 

.03 Electronic Instrumentation 

.04 Mechanical Instruments 

.05 Basic Instrumentation 

426 TRANSPORT SYSTEMS 

737 

G. Franklin Montgomery 

Gustave Shapiro 

Charles P. Marsden 

G. Franklin Montgomery (Acting) 

Arnold Wexler 

Joshua Stern 

Dr. Siegfried M. Breuning 
427 TEXTILES AND APPAREL TECHNOLOGY CENTER 

Consultant 

Mathematician 

Industrial Specialist 

Consultant 

Consultant 

.01 Contract Research Program 

.02 Technical Support Program 

Robert L. Stem (Acting) 

Gary K. Stonebraker 

Jerome A. Yurow 

Gary C. McKay 

Robert H. Ramsey 

Ernest R. Kaswell 

Vacant 

Vacant 

*500 CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY 

Director 

Deputy Director 

Senior Research Fellow 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

CRPL Liaison and Program Development 

Consultant Radio Wave Propagation 

*582 IONOSPHERE RESEARCH AND PROPAGATION Assistant Chief 

Consultant 

Consultant 

.05 Ultra Low Frequency Research 

.10 LF and VLF Research 

.20 Ionosphere Research 

.30 Prediction Services 

.40 Sun-Earth Relationships 

.50 Field Engineering 

.60 Radio Warning Services 

.70 Vertical Soundings Research 

*583 TROPOSPHERE AND SPACE TELECOMMUNICATIONS Consultant 

Consultant, Terminal Equipment 

.10 Data Reduction Instrumentation 

.40 Radio Noise 

.50 Tropospheric Measurements 

.60 Tropospheric Analysis 

.70 Spectrum Utilization Research 

.80 Radio Meteorology 

.90 Lower Atmosphere Physics 

Dr. C. Gordon Little 

Jack W. Herbstreit 

Dr. James R. Wait 

Kenneth A. Norton 

Roger M. Gallet 

A. Glenn Jean, Jr. 

Alan H. Shapley 

Dr. James R. Wait 

Robert W. Knecht 

Thomas N. Gautier 

Dr. Lawrence R. Megill 

Dr. H. Herbert Howe 

Dr. Wallace H. Campbell 

Douglass D. Crombie 

Dr. Kenneth Davies 

Margo Leftin 

Dr. Thomas E. VanZandt 

Harry G. Sellery 

J. Virginia Lincoln 

John W. Wright 

Robert S. Kirby (Acting) 

Dr. David M. Gates 

Edwin F. florman 

Walter E. Johnson 

William Q. Crichlow 

Martin T. Decker 

Philip L. Rice 

Albrecht P. Barsis 

Bradford R. Bean 

Dr. Moody C. Thompson, Jr. 

*585 RADIO SYSTEMS Assistant Chief 

Assistant Chief 

Consultant 

.10 Applied Electromagnetic Theory 

.20 HF and VHF Research 

.30 Frequency Utilization 

.40 Modulation Research 

.50 Antenna Research 

.60 Radiodetermination 

738 

Richard C. Kirby 

Donald W. Patterson 

William F. Utlaut 

George W. Haydon J. Ralph Johler 

Lowell H. Tveten 

George W. Haydon 

Clark C. Watterson 

Herman V. Cottony 

Gifford Hefley 
*587 UPPER ATMOSPHERE AND SPACE PHYSICS Dr. Ernest K. Smith, Jr. 

Assistant Chief Dr. Floyd L. Taylor 

Consultant Dana K. Bailey 

Consultant Dr. George C. Reid 

Consultant Dr. Ralph J. Slutz 

.10 Upper Atmosphere and Plasma Physics Vacant 

.20 High Latitude Ionospheric Physics Dr. Hugh J. A. Chivers 

.30 Atmospheric Collision Processes Dr. Eldon E. Ferguson 

.50 Ionosphere and Exosphere Scatter Dr. Kenneth L. Bowles 

.70 Airglow and Aurora Dr. Franklin E. Roach 

.80 Ionospheric Radio Astronomy Robert S. Lawrence 

*Laboratories located in Boulder, Colorado. 

FIELD STATIONS 

500 CENTRAL RADIO PROPAGATION LABORATORY 

Radio Propagation Field Station. Anchorage, AK 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Barrow, AK 

lonosonde and Conjugate Points Station, Byrd Station, Antarctica 

Radio Noise Station, USNS ElTanin, Antarctica 

Conjugate Points Station, Charlevoix, Quebec 

Western Test Range, Lompoc (Point Arguello), CA 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Akron, CO 

Boulder Magnetic Observatory, Boulder, CO 

Cheyenne Mountain Radio Propagation Station, Colorado Springs, CO 

HF/VHF Research Section Radio Propagation Transmissions Site, Erie, CO 

Standard Frequency Stations WWVB/WWVL, For Collins, CO 

Antenna Research Test Site, Green Mountain Mesa, CO 

Radio Meteorological Field Site, Radio Noise Station and Telemetry 

Recording Station, Gun Barrel Hill, CO 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Haswell, CO 

Ionosphere Research Field Station, Koib, CO 

VLF/ELF Propagation Station, Lafayette, CO 

Fritz Peak Observatory, Aurora and Airglow Station, Rollinsville, CO 

Radio Propagation Research Station, Table Mesa, CO 

Radio Noise Recording Station, Koloa, Kauai, HA 

Radio Propagation and Standard Frequency Station WWVH, Puunene, Maui, HA 

Radio Propagation Transmissions Station, Havana, IL 

Standard Frequency Station WWV, Greenbelt, MD 

Radio Noise Recording Station, Warrensburg, MO 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Mangum, OK 

Jicamarca Radar Observatory, Lima, Peru 

Radio Propagation Field Station, Ft. Belvoir, VA 

Radio Noise Station, Front Royal, VA 

Ionosphere Sounding Station, Wallops Island, VA 

Bill Radio Noise Recording Station, Douglas, WY 

212 METROLOGY 

Visual Aids Field Laboratory, Arcata, CA 

Master Railway Track Scale Depot, Clearing, IL 

739 
410.70 TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION CENTER, JOINT PUBLICATIONS RESEARCH SERVICE 

San Francisco. CA 

New York, NY 

421.07 BUILDING RESEARCH, INORGANIC BUILDING MATERIALS San Francisco, CA 

Denver, CO 

Seattle, WA 

740 
DECEMBER 9, 1966 

100 OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR 

Director 

Deputy Director 

Assistant to the Director 

Assistant to the Director 

Senior Research Fellow 

Senior Research Fellow 

101 OFFIcE OF INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Assistant Chief 

102 OFFIcE OF PUBLIC INFORMATION 105 OFFICE FOR ACADEMIC LIAISON Associate Director for Academic Liaison 

106 OFFICE OF ENGINEERING STANDARDS LIAISON AND ANALYStS 107 OFFICE FOR PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION 

Dr. Allen V. Astin 

Dr. In C. Schoonover 

George E. Auman 

Clarence N. Coates 

Dr. Churchill Eisenhart 

Dr. Kurt E. Shuler 

Robert L. Stern 

Peter R. de Bruyn 

A. Victor Gentilini 

Dr. Shirleigh Silverman 

Dr. George S. Gordon 

120 OFFICE OF ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR ADMINISTRATION 

Associate Director Robert S. Walleigh 

121 ACCOUNTING Deputy Chief 

.01 Reports and Billing 

.03 Tabulation 

.05 Payroll 

.10 Cost and Payments Branch 

.16 Accounts Payable 

.18 Project Accounting 

James P. Menzer 

Homer Mcintyre 

Pearl E. Miller 

Ralph A. Bryson 

Kathryn L. Rock 

Henry L. Kenno 

Matilda Udoff 

Robert F. Martin 

122 ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES Assistant Chief 

Fire Department 

.01 Mail and Distribution 

.02 Special Services 

.03 Janitorial Services 

.04 Guard Services 

.05 Transportation Services 

.06 Security Office 

123 BUDGET AND MANAGEMENT 

.01 Budget 

.02 Management Analysis 

George W. Knox 

Karl L. Hafen 

Charles 0. Baker 

Howard L. Sampson 

Waiter J. Rabbitt 

Robert C. Howey 

Capt. William J. Kane 

Charles W. Anderson 

George W. Knox 

Dr. James E. Skillington, Jr. 

Eugene C. Denne 

Walter W. Weinstein 

124 INTERNAL AUDIT 

741 

Harold F. Whittington 
125 PERSONNEL 

Assistant Chief 

.01 Board of Civil Service Examiners 

.02 Recruitment and Placement 

.03 Salary and Wage Administration 

.04 Employee Relations and Training 

.05 Operations and Procedures 

.06 Medical Office 

126 PLANT 

Assistant Chief 

.01 Steam-Chilled Water Generation 

.02 Electric Shop 

.03 Piping Shop 

.04 Construction Shop 

.06 Labor Services 

.07 Metal Shop 

.08 Air Conditioning and Refrigeration 

.09 Grounds 

127 SUPPLY Deputy Chief 

.01 Storeroom Services 

.02 General Services 

.03 Procurement 

.04 Property Management 

George R. Porter 

Henry C. Bothe 

Warren J. Barker 

Henry C. Bothe 

Charles V. Ramey 

Robert F. Bain 

Edith C. Lewis 

George H. L. Dillard, MD 

M. Bernard Goetz (Acting) 

M. Bernard Goetz 

James S. Powers 

Robert W. Miller 

Gerard John Finan 

John A. King 

Roy B. Powell 

Donald I. Thompson 

Dominic J. Giampietro 

William R. Stevenson 

George B. Kefover 

Fred H. Johncox 

Walter C. Bonner 

Norman H. Taylor (Acting) 

Richard A. Levi 

Harold G. Nicholas 

*160 EXECUTIVE OFFICER FOR BOULDER SUPPORT 

Executive Officer 

.10 Management Planning 

.20 Technical Information Office 

*161 ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES .30 Fiscal 

.40 Supply 

.50 Office Services 

.70 Drafting Services 

*162 SHOPS .10 Instrument Shop I .20 Instrument Shop 2 .30 Instrument Shop 3 .40 Welding-Sheet Metal 

.50 Grinding Shop 

.51 Electroplating Shop 

.60 Glass Blowing Shop 

*163 PLANT .10 Design and Construction 

.20 Plant Services 

.30 Maintenance and Operations 

742 

Samuel W. J. Welch 

Yvonne C. Stahnke (Acting) 

Jack R. Craddock 

Barton F. Betts (Acting) 

Clarence Martella (Acting) 

Barton F. Betts 

Richard G. Bulgin 

Victor J. Pfannenstiel (Acting) 

Rodney S. Perrill 

Vernon E. Hill 

Donald E. Harriman 

Herman K. Stump 

James H. McCarron 

Henry C. Leistner 

Dale L. Smith 

H. L. Hoyt 

Edgar A. Yuzwiak 

William L. Arnold 

Roy J. Stadlbauer, Sr. 

Edward G. Clark 
140 OFFICE OF ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT 

Associate Director 

International Relations 

Vacant 

Dr. Ladislaus L. Marton 

141 OrncE OF TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS Assistant Chief 

.01 Information 

.02 Editorial 

.03 Publications 

.04 Photographic Services 

.05 Graphic Arts 

142 RESEARCH INFORMATION 

.01 Library 

W. Reeves Tilley 

William K. Gautier 

Robert T. Cook 

William K. Gautier 

John E. Carpenter 

Warren P. Richardson 

Conrad F. Peters 

Vacant 

Sarah Ann Jones 

143 OFFICE OF RADIATION SAFETY 

.01 Health Physics 

145 INSTRUMENT SHOPS Assistant Chief 

.0! Instrument Shop #1 

.02 Instrument Shop #2 

.03 Instrument Shop #3 

.04 Instrument Shop #4 

.05 Instrument Shop #5 

.06 Glassblowing 

.07 Welding and Sheet Metal Shop 

.08 Optical Shop 

.09 Tool Crib 

.10 

146 MEASUREMENT ENGINEERING Electronic Instrumentation 

Electronic Optical Development 

Microwave and Mechanical Instrumentation 

200 INSTITUTE FOR BASIC STANDARDS 

Director 

Deputy Director 

Deputy for Radio Standards 

Associate Director, Measurement Services 

201 OFFICE OF STANDARD REFERENCE DATA 

Chemical Kinetics 

Colloid and Surface Chemistry 

Data File 

Information Services 

Information Systems Design 

Nuclear Data 

Thermodynamics and Transport Data 

Dr. Abraham Schwebel (Acting) 

Dr. Abraham Schwebel 

Frank P. Brown 

Winfield L. Dnssel 

John R. Hettenhouser 

Walter A. Koepper 

Charles E. Taylor 

Philip Pfaff, Jr. 

John R. Pidgeon 

Enrico Deleonibus 

Harold E. Brown 

Stanley W. Gerner 

Lewis H. Brigham 

Frank P. Brown (Acting) 

G. Franklin Montgomery 

Robert J. Carpenter 

M. Leighton Greenough 

Robert 0. Stone 

Dr. Robert D. Huntoon 

Dr. Merrill B. Wallenstein 

Dr. Helmut M. Altschuler (Acting) 

William A. Wildhack 

Dr. Edward L. Brady 

Dr. Stephen A. Rossmassler 

Dr. Howard J. White, Jr. 

Dr. Alfred Weissberg 

Dr. Herman M. Weisman 

Dr. Franz L. Alt 

Dr. David Goldman 

Dr. Everett R. Johnson 

.01 

.02 

.03 

743 
205 APPLIED MATHEMATICS 

Deputy Chief for Program Planning 

Consultant 

.01 Numerical Analysis 

.03 Statistical Engineering 

.04 Mathematical Physics 

.05 Operations Research 

211 ELECTRICITY 

Resistance and Reactance 

Electrochemistry 

Electrical Instruments 

Magnetic Measurements 

High Voltage 

Absolute Electrical Measurements 

Dr. Edward W. Cannon 

Dr. Alan J. Goldman 

Dr. Hansjorg Oser 

Dr. Morris Newman 

Joseph M. Cameron 

Dr. Hansjorg Oser (Acting) 

Dr. Alan J. Goldman 

Dr. Chester H. Page 

Chester Peterson 

Dr. Walter J. Hamer 

Francis L. Hermach 

Irvin L. Cooter 

Dr. F. Ralph Kotter 

Dr. Forest K. Harris 

212 METROLOGY 

Consultant 

Assistant Chief 

.10 Optical Metrology Branch 

.11 Photometry 

.13 Image Optics and Photography 

.14 Colonmetry and Spectrophotometry 

.15 Radiometry 

.20 Length Metrology Branch 

.21 Length 

.22 Engineering Metrology 

.30 Mass and Volume Branch 

.31 Mass and Volume 

Alvin G. McNish 

Dr. Francis E. Washer 

Dr. Deane B. Judd 

Louis E. Barbrow 

Charles A. Douglas 

Calvin S. McCamy 

Isadore Nimeroff 

George A. Hornbeck 

Theodore R. Young 

Theodore R. Young 

Arthur G. Strang 

Paul E. Pontius 

Paul E. Pontius 

213 MECHANICS Consultant 

.01 .04 

.05 

.20 

.21 .22 

.23 

.24 

.30 

.31 .32 

.33 

221 HEAT 

Assistant Chief for Thermodynamics 

Assistant Chief for Thermometry 

.02 Heat Measurements 

.03 Cryogenic Physics 

.04 Equation of State 

.05 Statistical Physics 

.06 Molecular Energy Levels 

.11 Temperature 

.12 Radiation Thermometry 

744 

Bruce L. Wilson 

Dr. Daniel P. Johnson 

Martin Greenspan (Acting) 

Lafayette K. Irwin 

Dr. Robert S. Marvin 

Edward C. Lloyd 

Edward C. Lloyd (Acting) 

Stanley Ruthberg 

Seymour Edelman 

Arnold Wexler 

Dr. Galen B. SchL tuer Fillmer W. Ruegg 

Dr. Gershon Kuhn 

Dr. Galen B. Schubauer (Acting) 

Dr. Ralph P. Hudson 

Dr. Charles W. Beckett 

James F. Swindells 

Dr. Defoe C. Ginnings 

Dr. Ralph P. Hudson (Acting) 

Joseph Hilsenrath 

Dr. Melville S. Green 

Dr. Arnold M. Bass 

Dr. Harmon H. Plumb 

Dr. Henry J. Kostkowski 

.01 .02 

.03 

.04 

.06 

.07 

Sound 

Engineering Mechanics 

Rheology 

Mechanical Measurements Branch 

Pressure Measurements 

Vacuum Measurements 

Vibration Measurements 

Humidity Measurements 

Fluid Mechanics Branch 

fluid Meters 

Hydraulics 

Aerodynamics 
222 ATOMIC PHYSICS 

.01 Spectroscopy 

.02 Infrared and Microwave Spectroscopy 

.03 Far Ultraviolet Physics 

.05 Electron Physics 

.06 Atomic Physics 

.07 Plasma Spectroscopy 

223 PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY Consultant 

.1 1 Thermochemistry 

.21 Surface Chemistry 

.51 Elementary Processes 

.52 Mass Spectrometry 

.53 Photo Chemistry 

.54 Radiation Chemistry 

*224 LABORATORY ASTROPHYSICS Deputy Chief 

231 RADIATION PHYSICS 

.01 Radiation Theory 

.10 Radiological Physics Branch 

.11 X-ray Physics 

.12 Dosimetry 

.13 X-ray Standards 

.20 Nuclear Physics Branch 

.21 Radioactivity 

.22 Neutron Physics 

.23 Photonuclear Physics 

.24 Nuclear Spectroscopy 

.30 Accelerator Branch 

.31 Accelerator Engineering 

.32 Radiation Physics Instrumentation 

.33 Accelerator Physics 

*250 RADIO STANDARDS LABORATORY Scientific Consultant 

*251 RADIO STANDARDS PHYSICS Assistant Chief 

.01 Frequency-Time Dissemination Research 

.02 Frequency-Time Broadcast Services 

.03 Radio and Microwave Materials 

.04 Atomic Frequency and Time Standards 

.05 Quantum Electronics 

.06 Radio Plasma 

745 

Dr. Karl G. Kessler 

Dr. William C. Martin, Jr. 

Dr. David R. Lide, Jr. 

Dr. Robert P. Madden 

Dr. John A. Simpson 

Dr. Harold S. Boyne 

Dr. Wolfgang L. Wiese 

Dr. Robert E. Ferguson 

Edward J. Prosen 

Donald D. Wagman 

Dr. Ralph Klein 

Dr. David Garvin 

Dr. Harry M. Rosenstock 

Dr. James R. McNesby 

Dr. Pierre J. Ausloss 

Dr. Lewis M. Branscomb 

Dr. Stephen J. Smith 

Dr. Randall S. Caswell (Acting) 

Dr. Martin J. Berger 

Dr. Joseph W. Motz 

Dr. Joseph W. Motz 

Dr. Scott W. Smith 

Dr. Ben Petree (Acting) 

Vacant 

Dr. Wilfnd B. Mann 

Dr. Randall S. Caswell 

Dr. Everett G. Fuller 

Dr. Raymond W. Hayward 

Dr. James E. Leiss 

Dr. James E. Leiss 

Louis Costrell 

Dr. Samuel Penner 

Dr. Helmut M. Altschuler (Acting) 

Dr. David M. Kems 

Dr. L. Yardley Beers 

Dr. George E. Hudson 

Alvin H. Morgan 

David H. Andrews 

John L. Dalke 

James A. Barnes (Acting) 

Dr. Donald A. Jennings (Acting) 

Dr. Karl B. Persson 
*252 RADIO STANDARDS ENGINEERING Consultant 

Consultant 

.21 HF Calibration Services 

.22 HF Electrical Standards 

.23 HF Impedance Standards 

.31 Microwave Calibration Services 

.32 Microwave Circuit Standards 

.42 Electromagnetic Fields Standards 

300 INSTITUTE FOR MATERIALS RESEARCH 

Materials Evaluation Laboratory 

Consultant on Leather 

Consultant on Mathematical Statistics 

.11 Materials Evaluation and Testing 

.12 Procurement Systems 

.13 Evaluation Criteria 

.14 Performance Research 

302 OFFICE OF STANDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS Inorganic Standards Coordinator 

Metal Standards Coordinator 

Organic Standards Coordinator 

310 ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY Assistant Chief 

Consultant 

.01 Radiochemical Analysis 

.02 Spectrochemical Analysis 

.03 Electrochemical Analysis 

.04 Analytical Coordination Chemistry 

.05 Microchemical Analysis 

.06 Analytical Mass Spectrometry 

.07 Organic Chemistry 

.08 Activation Analysis 

.09 Separation and Purification 

311 POLYMERS Deputy Chief 

Consultant 

Consultant on Polymers 

Consultant on Rubber 

.01 Polymer Dielectrics 

.02 Polymer Chemistry 

.03 Polymer Physics 

.04 Molecular Properties 

.05 Dental Research 

.06 Polymer Characterization 

Dr. Charles M. Alired (Acting) 

Robert W. Beatty 

Myron C. Selby 

Dr. Karl R. Wendt 

Paul A. Hudson (Acting) 

Alfred E. Hess (Acting) 

Roy E. Larson 

Dr. Maurice B. Hall 

Dr. Ramon C. Baird 

Dr. Gordon K. Teal 

Dr. Robert B. Hobbs 

Dr. Joseph R. Kanagy 

Dr. John Mandel 

Dr. Sanford B. Newman 

Donald G. Fletcher 

Dr. Robert D. Stiehler 

William K. Wilson 

Dr. W. Wayne Meinke 

John L. Hague 

Robert E. Michaelis 

Thomas W. Mears 

Dr. W. Wayne Meinke 

Dr. Roger G. Bates 

Dr. Charles P. Saylor 

Dr. James R. DeVoe 

Bourdon F. Scribner 

Dr. Roger G. Bates 

Dr. Oscar Menis 

Dr. John K. Taylor 

William R. Shields 

Dr. Horace S. Isbell 

Dr. James R. DeVoe 

Dr. David H. Freeman 

Dr. John D. Hoffman 

Dr. Norman 

Dr. John I. Lauritzen, Jr. 

Dr. Samuel G. Weissberg 

Dr. Lawrence A. Wood 

Dr. Martin G. Broadhurst 

Dr. Leo A. Wall 

Dr. Elio Passaglia 

Dr. Cornelis A. J. Hoeve 

William T. Sweeney 

Dr. Emanuel Horowitz 

Director 

.10 

746 
312 METALLURGY 

Consultant 

Engineering Metallurgy 

Alloy Physics 

Lattice Defects and Microstructures 

.04 Corrosion 

.05 Metal Physics 

.06 Electrolysis and Metal Deposition 

.07 Crystallization of Metals 

313 INORGANIC MATERIALS Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Inorganic Chemistry 

Glass 

High Temperature Chemistry 

.04 Crystal Chemistry 

.05 Physical Properties 

.06 Crystallography 

.07 Solid State Physics 

314 REACTOR RADIATIONS 

Assistant Chief 

Consultant 

.01 Cryogenic Technical Services 

.02 Cryogenic Data Center 

.03 Cryogenic Properties of Solids 

.04 Properties of Cryogenic Fluids 

.05 Cryogenic Systems 

.06 Cryogenic Metrology 

.07 Cryogenic Fluid Transport Processes 

Dr. Lawrence M. Kushner 

George A. Ellinger 

Dr. Melvin R. Meyerson 

Dr. Lawrence H. Bennett 

Dr. A. William Ruff, Jr. 

Dr. Jerome Kruger 

Dr. John A. Simmons 

Dr. Abner Brenner 

Dr. Robert L. Parker 

Dr. Ernest Ambler 

Dr. Marvin L. Cohen 

Dr. Gilbert Gordon 

Clarence H. Hahner 

Dr. Ellis R. Lippincott 

Dr. Howard F. McMurdie 

Dr. James M. Stewarl 

Dr. Thomas D. Coyle 

Dr. Wolfgang Hailer 

Dr. William S. Horton 

H. Steffen Peiser 

Dr. John B. Wachtman, Jr. 

Dr. Stanley Block 

Dr. Hans P. R. Frederikse 

Dr. Carl 0. Muehlhause 

Bascom W. Birmingham 

Dr. R. Joseph Corruccini 

Alan F. Schmidt 

William A. Wilson 

Victor J. Johnson 

Dr. Richard H. Kropschot 

Dr. R. Joseph Corruccini 

Dudley B. Chelton 

Dr. Thomas M. Flynn 

Raymond V. Smith 

400 INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED TECHNOLOGY 

Director 

Deputy Director 

402 ENGINEERING STANDARDS 403 OFFICE OF ENGINEERING STANDARDS SERVICES .01 Product Standards 

.02 Engineering Standards Information 

404 OFFICE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 

747 

John P. Eberhard 

Dr. Lawrence M. Kushner 

Malcolm W. Jensen 

Donald R. MacKay (Acting) 

Donald R. MacKay 

William J. Slattery 

Malcolm W. Jensen 

.01 

.02 

.03 

.01 .02 

.03 

*315 CRYOGENICS 
406 OFFICE OF INVENTION AND INNOVATION 

.01 Innovation Studies and Analyses 

.02 Invention Programs 

Daniel V. DeSimone 

Daniel V. DeSimone (Acting) 

Leonard S. Hardland 

410 CLEARINGHOUSE FOR FEDERAL AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION Director Bernard M. Fry 

Deputy Director Herbert Sauter 10 Document Distribution and Reproduction Branch Paul W. Larsen 

.30 Automated Systems and Services Branch Clifford R. Paulson 

.40 Customer Relations Branch James E. Wheat 

.60 Administrative Services Branch Joseph 0. Coyne 

.70 Joint Publications Research Service Edward A. Thibault 

.80 Document Processing Branch George K. Taylor 

421 BUILDING RESEARCH Deputy Chief 

.01 Structures 

.02 Fire Research 

.03 Environmental Engineering 

.04 Materials and Composites 

.05 Codes and Standards 

425 ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTATION 

.01 Engineering Electronics 

.02 Electron Devices 

.05 Basic Instrumentation 

427 TEXTILE AND APPAREL TECHNOLOGY CENTER 431 TECHNICAL ANALYSIS Benefit-Cost Studies 

Corridor Simulation 

Economic Benefit Studies 

Economic Systems Studies-Models 

Engineering Studies 

Innovation Studies 

450 CENTER FOR COMPUTER SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY 

Director 

Assistant to Director 

451 OFFICE FOR INFORMATION STANDARDS 452 TECHNICAL INFORMATION EXCHANGE 

Dr. Allan A. Bates 

Paul R. Achenbach 

Dr. Edward 0. Pfrang 

Dr. Alexander F. Robertson 

Henry E. Robinson 

Dr. William W. Walton 

Dr. Bruce E. Foster 

Myron G. Domsitz 

Gustave Shapiro 

Charles P. Marsden 

Joshua Stern 

Dr. F. Cecil Brenner 

Dr. W. Edward Cushen 

Dr. Reginald V. Hobbah 

Abraham E. Karp 

Dr. Joseph D. Crumlish 

Marshall K. Wood 

Cleveland Hopkins 

Dr. George Suzuki 

John P. Eberhard (Acting) 

W. Howard Gammon 

Joseph H. Wegstein (Acting) 

Margaret R. Fox (Acting) 

453 COMPUTER SERVICES 

748 

Irvin V. Voltin 
454 MANAGEMENT APPLICATIONS PLANNING W. Howard Gammon (Acting) 

455 SYSTEMS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Ethel C. Marden (Acting) 

456 INFORMATION PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY James P. Nigro (Acting) 

457 INFORMATION SCIENCES Mary Elizabeth Stevens (Acting) 

* Laboratories located in in Boulder, Colorado. 

FIELD STATIONS 

Visual Landing Aids Laboratory, Arcata, CA 

U.S. Joint Publications Research Service, San Francisco, CA 

Master Railway Track Scale Depot, Clearing, IL 

Radio Station WWV, Greenbelt, MD 

U.S. Joint Publications Research Service, New York, NY 

Ionosphere Research Station, Wallops Island, VA 

Inorganic Building Materials Section Laboratory, Seattle, WA 

Standard Frequency Stations WWVB/WWVL, Fort Collins, CO 

Radio Propagation and Standard Frequency Station WWVH, Puunene, Maui, HA 

Standard Frequency Station WWV, Greenbelt, MD 

749 
June 14, 1968 

100 OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR 

Director 

Deputy Director 

Assistant to the Director 

Assistant to the Director 

Assistant to the Director for Metric Study 

Senior Research Fellow 

101 OFFICE OF INDUSTRIAL SERVICES 102 OFFICE OF PUBLIC INFORMATION 105 OFFIcE OF ACADEMIC LIAISON Associate Director for Academic Liaison 

106 OFFIcE OF ENGINEERING STANDARDS LIAISON 

107 OFFICE OF PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION 

Dr. Allen V. Astin 

Dr. In C. Schoonover 

George E. Auman 

Clarence N. Coates 

Alvin G. McNish 

Dr. Churchill Eisenhart 

Dr. George S. Gordon 

A. Victor Gentilini 

Dr. Shirleigh Silverman 

Dr. A. Allan Bates 

Dr. Robert D. Huntoon 

120 OFFICE OF ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR ADMIMSTRATION 

Associate Director Robert S. Walleigh 

Deputy Associate Director for Administration Paul H. Schrader 

121 Accounting 

Deputy Chief 

.01 Reports and Billing 

.03 Tabulation 

.05 Payroll 

.10 Cost and Payments Branch 

.16 Accounts Payable 

.18 Project Accounting 

122 ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES Assistant Chief 

Fire Protection Service 

.01 Mail and Distribution 

.02 Special Services 

.03 Janitorial Services 

.04 Guard Services 

.05 Transportation Services 

.06 Security Office 

123 BUDGET Deputy Chief 

125 PERSONNEL Assistant Chief 

.02 

.03 

.04 

.05 

.06 

James P. Menzer 

Homer Mcintyre 

Pearl E. Miller 

Ralph A. Bryson 

Katheryn L. Rock 

Henry L. Kenno 

Matilda Udoff 

Robert F. Martin 

George W. Knox 

Karl L. Hafen 

Charles 0. Baker 

Howard L. Sampson 

Walter J. Rabbitt 

Robert E. Roberts 

Capt. William J. Kane 

Charles W. Anderson 

George W. Knox 

Dr. James E. Skillington, Jr. 

Eugene C. Denne 

George R. Porter 

Henry C. Bothe 

Henry C. Bothe 

Roy V. Stapleton 

Robert F. Bain 

Vacant 

George H. L. Dillard, MD 

Recruitment and Placement 

Salary and Wage Administration 

Employee Development and Relations 

Operations and Procedures 

Medical Office 

750 
126 PLANT Hylton Graham 

Assistant Chief 

.01 Steam-Chilled Water Generation 

.02 Electric Shop 

.03 Piping Shop 

.04 Construction Shop 

.06 Labor Services 

.07 Metal Shop 

.08 Air Conditioning and Refrigeration 

.09 Grounds 

127 SUPPLY Deputy Chief 

.01 Storeroom Services 

.02 Travel Office 

.03 Procurement 

.04 Property Management 

.05 Telephone Office 

128 MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 

Consultive Services 

Records Management Officer 

Administrative Issuances 

Management Surveys 

Management Systems 

141 OFFIcE OF TECHNICAL INFORMATION AND PUBLICATIONS 

Assistant Chief 

.01 Special Activities 

.02 Editorial 

.03 Publications 

.04 Photographic Services 

.05 Graphic Arts 

.06 Computer Assisted Printing 

142 LIBRARY 145 INSTRUMENT SHOPS Assistant Chief 

.01 Instrument Shop #1 

.02 Instrument Shop #2 

.03 Instrument Shop #3 

.04 Instrument Shop #4 

.05 Instrument Shop #5 

.06 

.07 

.08 

.09 

.10 

M. Bernard Goetz 

James S. Powers 

Robert W. Miller 

Gerard J. Finan 

John A. King 

Roy B. Powell 

Donald I. Thompson 

Dominic J. Giampietro 

William R. Stevenson 

George B. Kefover 

Norman H. Taylor 

Walter C. Bonner 

Mary H. Jenner 

Frank Tallerico (Acting) 

Robert E. Wilson 

Pat Hafen 

John T. Hall 

Wayne B. Davis 

Walter W. Weinstein 

Elizabeth M. Henley 

Iris M. Lloyd 

Joseph C. Aubele 

Dr. Ladislaus L. Marton 

W. Reeves Tilley 

William K. Gautier 

Robert T. Cook 

William K. Gautier 

John E. Carpenter 

Warren P. Richardson 

Conrad F. Peters 

Rubin Wagner 

Dr. Elizabeth L. Tate 

Frank P. Brown 

Winfield L. Drissel 

Stanley W. Gerner (Acting) 

Walter A. Koepper 

Charles E. Taylor 

Phillip Pfaff, Jr. 

John R. Pidgeon 

Enrico Deleonibus 

Harold E. Brown 

Stanley W. Gerner 

Herbert Robinson (Acting) 

Frank P. Brown (Acting) 

140 OFFICE OF ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT 

Associate Director Vacant 

International Relations 

Glassblowing 

Welding and Sheet Metal Shop 

Optical Shop 

Tool Crib 

Electroplating 

751 
146 MEASUREMENT ENGINEERING 

.01 Electronic Instrumentation 

.02 Electronic Optical Development 

.03 Microwave and Mechanical Instrumentation 

200 INSTITUTE FOR BASIC STANDARDS 

Director 

201 OFFICE OF STANDARD REFERENCE DATA Atomic and Molecular Data 

Chemical Kinetics 

Colloid and Surface Chemistry 

Information Services 

Information Systems Design 

Mechanical Properties 

Nuclear Data 

Solid State Properties 

Thermodynamics and Transport Data 

205 APPLIED MATHEMATICS 

.01 Numerical Analysis 

.02 Operations Research 

.03 Statistical Engineering 

.04 Systems Dynamics 

211 ELECTRICITY 

.01 Resistance and Reactance 

.02 Electrochemistry 

.03 Electrical Instruments 

.06 High Voltage 

.07 Absolute Electrical Measurements 

212 METROLOGY 

Assistant Chief 

.10 Optics Metrology Branch 

.11 Photometry 

.13 Image Optics and Photography 

.14 Colorimetry and Spectrophotometry 

.20 Length Metrology Branch 

.21 Length 

.22 Engineering Metrology 

.30 Mass and Volume Branch 

.31 Mass and Volume 

213 MECHANICS 

Consultant 

.0! Sound 

.04 Engineering Mechanics 

.05 Rheology 

.20 Mechanical Measurements Branch 

.21 Pressure Measurements 

.22 Vacuum Measurements 

.23 Vibraton Measurements 

.24 Humidity Measurements 

.30 Fluid Mechanics Branch 

.31 Fluid Meters 

.32 Hydraulics 

.33 Aerodynamics 

752 

0. Franklin Montgomery 

Robert J. Carpenter 

M. Leighton Greenough 

Robert 0. Stone 

Dr. Ernest Ambler 

Dr. Edward L. Brady 

Dr. Stephen A. Rossmassler 

Dr. Lewis H. Gevantman 

Dr. Howard J. White, Jr. 

Dr. Herman M. Weisman 

Joseph Hilsenrath 

Dr. Lewis H. Gevantman 

Dr. David Goldman 

Dr. Lewis H. Gevantman 

Dr. Howard J. White, Jr. 

Dr. Edward W. Cannon 

Dr. Morris Newman 

Dr. Alan J. Goldman 

Joseph M. Cameron 

Dr. Hansjorg Oser 

Dr. Chester H. Page 

Chester Peterson 

Dr. Walter J. Hamer 

Francis L. Hermach 

Dr. F. Ralph Kotter 

Dr. Forest K. Harris 

Theodore R. Young (Acting) 

Dr. Deane B. Judd 

Louis E. Barbrow 

Charles A. Douglas 

Calvin S. McCamy 

Isadore Nimeroff 

Theodore R. Young 

John S. Beers (Acting) 

Arthur G. Strang 

Paul E. Pontius 

Paul E. Pontius 

Edward C. Lloyd (Acting) 

Dr. Daniel P. Johnson 

Martin Greenspan 

Lafayette K. Irwin 

Dr. Robert S. Marvin 

Edward C. Lloyd 

Edward C. Lloyd (Acting) 

Stanley Ruthberg 

Roscoe L. Bloss 

Arnold Wexler 

Vacant 

Fillmer W. Ruegg 

Dr. Gershon Kuhn 

Vacant 
221 HEAT 

Assistant Chief for Thermodynamics 

.02 Heat Measurements 

.03 Cryogenic Physics 

.04 Equation of State 

.05 Statistical Physics 

.06 Molecular Energy Levels 

.11 Temperature 

.12 Radiation Thermometry 

222 ATOMIC PHYSICS 

.01 Spectroscopy 

.02 Infrared and Microwave Spectroscopy 

.03 Far Ultraviolet Physics 

.05 Electron Physics 

.06 Atomic Physics 

.07 Plasma Spectroscopy 

*270 OFFICE OF DEPUTY DIRECTOR, lBS/BOULDER 

Deputy Director 

.01 Office of Program Development and Evaluation 

.02 Office of Management Systems 

*271 RADIO STANDARDS PHYSICS Consultant 

Consultant 

.01 Solid State Electronics 

.05 Quantum Electronics 

.06 Plasma Physics 

*272 RADIo STANDARDS ENGINEERING Consultant 

Consultant 

.21 Calibration Services 

.22 HF Electrical Standards 

.23 HF Impedance Standards 

.31 Microwave Calibration Services 

.32 Microwave Circuit Standards 

.42 Electromagnetic Fields Standards 

*273 TIME AND FREQUENCY 

Assistant Chief 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

.01 Frequency-Time Dissemination Research 

.02 Frequency-Time Broadcast Services 

.04 Atomic Frequency-Time Standards 

*274 LABORATORY ASTROPHYSICS Deputy Chief 

753 

Dr. Ralph P. Hudson 

Dr. Charles W. Beckett 

Dr. Defoe C. Ginnings 

Dr. James F. Schooley (Acting) 

Dr. Max Klein 

Dr. Melville S. Green 

Dr. Arnold M. Bass 

Dr. Harmon H. Plumb 

Dr. Henry J. Kostkowski 

Dr. Karl 0. Kessler 

Dr. William C. Martin, Jr. 

Dr. David R. Lide, Jr. 

Dr. Robert P. Madden 

Dr. John A. Simpson 

Dr. Richard D. Deslattes 

Dr. Wolfgang L. Wiese 

Bascom W. Birmingham (Acting) 

Dr. Thomas M. Flynn 

Roy W. Stockwell, Jr. 

Dr. Harold S. Boyne (Acting) 

Dr. L. Yardley Beers 

T. W. Russell 

Dr. Robert J. Mahler 

Dr. Donald A. Jennings 

Dr. Karl B. Persson 

Dr. Helmut M. Altschuler 

Robert W. Beatty 

Myron C. Selby 

Dr. Karl R. Wendt 

Charles M. AlIred 

Robert C. Powell 

Cletus A. Hoer (Acting) 

Roy E. Larson 

Dr. Maurice 13. Hall 

Dr. Ramon C. Baird 

Dr. James A. Barnes 

Roger E. Beehler 

R. Lowell Fey 

Dr. George E. Hudson 

Alvin H. Morgan 

James L. Jespersen 

Peter P. Viezbicke (Acting) 

Dr. Donald W. Halford 

Dr. Lewis M. Branscomb 

Dr. Stephen J. Smith 

311 POLYMERS 

Consultant on Polymers 

Consultant on Rubber 

Consultant for Dental Materials 

.01 Polymer Dielectrics 

.02 Polymer Chemistry 

.03 Polymer Crystal Physics 

.04 Molecular Properties 

.05 Dental Research 

.06 Polymer Characterization 

Polymer Interfaces 

Thermophysical Properties 

Dr. R. R. Stromberg (Acting) 

Dr. Samuel G. Weissberg 

Dr. Lawrence A. Wood 

William T. Sweeney 

Dr. Martin G. Broadhurst 

Dr. Leo A. Wall 

Dr. Ronald K. Eby 

Dr. Cornelis A. J. Hoeve 

George R. Dickson 

Dr. Comelis A. J. Hoeve (Acting) 

Dr. Robert R. Stromberg 

Dr. Alden B. Bestul 

312 METALLURGY 

.01 Engineering Metallurgy 

.02 Alloy Physics 

.03 Lattice Defects and Microstructures 

.04 Corrosion 

.05 Metal Physics 

.06 Electrolysis and Metal Deposition 

.07 Crystallization of Metals 

313 INORGANIC MATERIALS Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

.01 Inorganic Chemistry 

.02 Inorganic Glass 

.03 High Temperature Chemistry 

.05 Physical Properties 

.06 Crystallography 

.07 Solid State Physics 

316 PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY 

Consultant 

.11 Thermochemistry 

.21 Surface Chemistry 

.5 1 Elementary Processes 

.52 Mass Spectrometry 

.53 Photo Chemistry 

.54 Radiation Chemistry 

400 INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED TECHNOLOGY 

Dr. Elio Passalia 

Dr. Melvin R. Meyerson 

Dr. Lawrence H. Bennett 

Dr. A. William Ruff, Jr. 

Dr. Jerome Kruger 

Dr. John R. Manning 

Dr. Abner Brenner 

Dr. Robert L. Parker 

Dr. John B. Wachtman, Jr. (Acting) 

Dr. Arthur I. Bienenstock 

Dr. M. Cardona 

Dr. Gilbert Gordon 

Dr. Y. Haven 

Dr. Ellis R. Lippincott 

Dr. Howard F. McMurdie 

H. Steffen Peiser 

Dr. James M. Stewart 

Dr. Thomas D. Coyle 

Dr. Wolfgang Hailer 

Dr. William S. Horton 

Dr. Sheldon H. Wiederhom 

Dr. Stanley Block 

Dr. Hans P. R. Fredenkse 

Dr. James R. McNesby (Acting) 

Edward J. Prosen 

Dr. George T. Armstrong (Acting) 

Dr. Ralph Klein 

Dr. David Garvin 

Dr. Henry M. Rosenstock 

Dr. James R. McNesby 

Dr. Pierre J. Ausloss 

Director Dr. Lawrence M. Kushner 

402 ENGINEERING STANDARDS 

755 

Malcolm W. Jensen 

.07 

.08 
403 OFFICE OF ENGINEERING STANDARDS SERVICES .02 Standards Information 

.03 Mandatory Standards 

404 OFFICE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 

Assistant Chief 

406 OrncE OF INVENTION AND INNOVATION 

.01 Innovation Studies Program 

.02 Invention Programs 

.03 Engineering Education Program 

408 OFFICE OF VEHICLE SYSTEMS RESEARCH 

Deputy Chief 

.01 Tire Systems 

.02 Occupant Restraint Systems 

.03 Braking Systems 

410 CLEARINGHOUSE FOR FEDERAL SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL Director 

Deputy Director 

.10 Document distribution and Reproduction Branch 

.30 Automated Systems and Services Branch 

.60 Administrative Operations Branch 

.70 Joint Publications Research Service 

.80 Document Processing Branch 

411 PRODUCT EVALUATION 

.01 Plastics and Textiles 

.02 Fibrous Systems 

.03 Viscoelastic Materials 

.04 Paper Evaluation 

.06 Fabric Flammability 

412 NBSIGSA TEST AND DEVELOPMENT 

Deputy Chief 

421 BUILDING RESEARCH Deputy Chief 

Consultant to Chief 

.01 Structures 

.02 Fire Research 

.03 Environmental Engineering 

.04 Materials Durability and Analysis 

.05 Codes and Standards 

.06 Building Systems 

.07 Scientific and Professional Liaison 

425 ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTATION Assistant to Chief 

Consultant 

.01 Semiconductor Characterization 

.02 Electron Devices 

.03 Instrumentation Applications 

.04 Semiconductor Processing 

756 

Donald R. MacKay 

William J. Slattery (Acting) 

Donald R. MacKay (Acting) 

Malcolm W. Jensen 

Harold F. Wollin 

Daniel V. DeSimone 

Joseph D. Crumlish 

Leonard S. Hardland 

John M. Tascher 

Paul J. Brown 

Dr. F. Cecil Brenner (Acting) 

Dr. F. Cecil Brenner 

Richard W. Armstrong 

Robert J. Forthofer 

INFORMATION Hubert E. Sauter 

Peter F. Urbach 

Alvin W. Alexander 

Mitchell A. Krasny 

Joseph G. Coyne 

Gustav Blackett 

George K. Kudravetz (Acting) 

Dr. Sanford B. Newman 

Karl F. Plitt 

Donald G. Fletcher 

George E. Decker (Acting) 

William K. Wilson 

James V. Ryan 

Philip J. Franklin 

Dr. Roger W. Curtis 

Dr. James R. Wright 

Paul R. Achenbach 

Dr. Bruce E. Foster 

Dr. Edward 0. Pfrang 

Dr. Alexander F. Robertson 

Henry E. Robinson 

William C. Cullen 

Gene A. Rowland 

Robert W. Blake 

Dr. William W. Walton 

Myron 0. Domsitz 

Gustave Shapiro 

Charles P. Marsden 

Dr. W. Murray Bullis 

Judson C. French 

Joshua Stem 

Dr. Joseph A. Coleman 
431 TECHNICAL ANALYSIS 

Deputy Chief 

.01 Corridor and Highway Studies 

.02 Systems Analysis and Human Factors 

.03 Economic Analysis 

.04 Development of New Methodology 

450 CENTER FOR COMPUTER SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY 

Director 

Deputy Director 

Consultant 

451 OFFIcE FOR INFORMATION PROCESSING STANDARDS 452 TECHNICAL INFORMATION EXCHANGE 

453 COMPUTER SERVICES 

455 SYSTEMS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 

Dr. W. Edward Cushen 

Dr. George Suzuki 

Abraham E. Karp 

Cleveland Hopkins 

Dr. Howard E. Morgan 

Dr. George Suzuki 

Dr. Herbert R. J. Grosch 

William C. Bieber 

Mary Elizabeth Stevens 

Dr. Joseph 0. Harrison, Jr. 

Margaret R. Fox 

W. Bruce Ramsay (Acting) 

Ethel C. Marden 

456 INFORMATION PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY 500 CENTER FOR RADIATION RESEARCH 

James P. Nigro 

Director 

Deputy Director 

.01 Radiation Theory 

.02 Health Physics 

501 REACTOR RADIATION 

.01 Reactor Operations 

.02 Engineering Services 

.03 Neutron Solid-State Physics 

.04 Radiation Effects 

502 LINAC RADIATION 

.01 Linac Operations 

.02 Radiation Physics Instrumentation 

.03 Photonuclear Physics 

.04 Electronuclear Physics 

503 NUCLEAR RADIATION 

.01 Neutron Physics 

.02 Radioactivity 

.03 Nuclear Spectroscopy 

504 APPLIED RADIATION 

.01 X-ray Physics 

.02 Dosimetry 

* Laboratories located in Boulder, Colorado. 

757 

Dr. Carl 0. Muehlhause (Acting) 

Dr. Randall S. Caswell (Acting) 

Dr. Martin J. Berger 

Dr. Abraham Schwebel 

Dr. Robert S. Carter (Acting) 

Tawfik M. Raby (Acting) 

James P. Knight 

Dr. Robert S. Carter 

Vacant 

Dr. James E. Leiss (Acting) 

Dr. James E. Leiss 

Louis Costrell 

Dr. Everett G. Fuller 

Dr. Samuel Penner 

Dr. Harry H. Landon (Acting) 

Dr. Harry H. Landon 

Dr. Wilfred B. Mann 

Dr. Raymond W. Hayward 

Dr. Joseph W. Motz (Acting) 

Dr. Joseph W. Motz 

Thomas P. Loftus (Acting) 
FIELD STATIONS 

Visual Landing Aids Laboratory, Arcata, CA 

U.S. Joint Publications Research Service, San Francisco, CA 

Scientific Observations and Measurements Site, Poor Man's Mine, Four Mile Canyon, Boulder, CO 

Standard Frequency Stations WWVB/WWVL, Fort Collins, CO 

Radio Propagation and Standard Frequency Station WWVH, Puunene, Maui, HA 

Master Railway Track Scale Depot, Clearing, IL 

U.S. Joint Publications Research Service, New York, NY 

758 
January 6, 1969 

100 OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR 

Director 

Deputy Director 

Assistant to the Director 

Assistant to the Director 

Assistant to the Director 

Special Assistant for Program Planning 

Assistant to the Director for Metric Study 

Senior Research Fellow 

105 OFFICE OF ACADEMIC LIAISON Associate Director for Academic Liaison 

Dr. Allen V. Astin 

Dr. Lawrence M. Kushner (Acting) 

Dr. Robert D. Huntoon 

George E. Auman 

Clarence N. Coates 

Dr. Robert E. Ferguson 

Alvin G. McNish 

Dr. Churchill Eisenhart 

Dr. Shirleigh Silverman 

120 OFFICE OF ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR ADMIMSTRATION 

Associate Director Robert S. Walleigh 

Deputy Associate Director for Administration Paul H. Schrader 

121 ACCOUNTING Deputy Chief 

.01 Reports and Billing 

.03 Tabulation 

.05 Payroll 

.10 Cost and Payments Branch 

.16 Accounts Payable 

.18 Project Accounting 

122 ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES Assistant Chief 

Fire Protection Service 

.01 Mail and Distribution 

.02 Special Services 

.03 Janitorial Services 

.04 Guard Services 

.05 Transportation Services 

123 BUDGET Deputy 

125 PERSONNEL Assistant Chief 

.02 Recruitment and Placement 

.03 Salary and Wage Administration 

.04 Employee Development and Relations 

.05 Operations and Procedures 

.06 Medical Office 

759 

James P. Menzer 

David B. Shreve 

Pearl E. Miller 

Ralph A. Bryson 

Kathryn L. Rock 

Henry L. Kenno 

Matilda Udoff 

Robert F. Martin 

George W. Knox 

Vacant 

Charles 0. Baker 

Howard L. Sampson 

Walter J. Rabbitt 

Robert E. Roberts 

Capt. William J. Kane 

Charles W. Anderson 

Dr. James E. Skillington, Jr. 

Eugene C. Dcnne 

George R. Porter 

Henry C. Bothe 

Dale J. Houston 

Roy V. Stapleton 

Robert F. Bain 

Peggy A. Bickel 

George H. L. Dillard, MD 
126 PLANT Hylton Graham 

127 SUPPLY Deputy Chief 

.01 Storeroom Services 

.02 Travel Office 

.03 Procurement 

.04 Property Management 

.05 Telephone Office 

George B. Kefover 

Norman H. Taylor 

Walter C. Bonner 

Mary H. Jenner 

Gordon A. Cauley, Jr. 

Robert E. Wilson 

Pat Hafen 

128 MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIzATION 

Consultive Services 

Records Management Officer 

Administrative Issuances 

Management Surveys 

Management Systems 

John T. Hall 

Wayne B. Davis 

Walter W. Weinstein 

Marguerite R. Hubanks 

Iris M. Lloyd 

Joseph C. Aubele 

STAFF AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT UNITS REPORTING TO THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR 143 OFFICE OF INDUSTRIAL SERVICES 144 OFFICE OF ENGINEERING STANDARDS LIAISON 145 INSTRUMENT SHOPs 

Assistant Chief 

.01 Instrument Shop #1 

.02 Instrument Shop #2 

.03 Instrument Shop #3 

.04 Instrument Shop #4 

.05 Instrument Shop #5 

.06 Glassblowing 

.07 Welding and Sheet Metal Shop 

.08 Optical Shop 

.09 Tool Crib 

.10 Electroplating 

146 MEASUREMENT ENGINEERING 

.01 Electronic Instrumentation 

.02 Electronic Optical Development 

.03 Microwave and Mechanical Instrumentation 

760 

Dr. George S. Gordon 

Dr. A. Allan Bates 

Frank P. Brown 

Winfield L. Drissel 

Earl L. Schwenk 

Walter A. Koepper 

Charles E. Taylor 

Phillip Pfaff, Jr. 

John R. Pidgeon 

Enrico Deleonibus 

Harold E. Brown 

Stanley W. Gerner 

Herbert Robinson (Acting) 

Frank P. Brown (Acting) 

0. Franklin Montgomery 

Robert J. Carpenter 

M. Leighton Greenough 

Robert 0. Stone 

Assistant Chief M. Bernard Goetz 

.01 Steam-Chilled Water Generation James S. Powers 

.02 Electric Shop Robert W. Miller 

.03 Piping Shop Gerard J. Finan 

.04 Construction Shop John A. King 

.06 Labor Services Roy B. Powell 

.07 Metal Shop Donald I. Thompson 

.08 Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Dominic J. Giampietro 

.09 Grounds William R. Stevenson 
150 OFFICE OF THE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR INFORMATION PROGRAMS 

Associate Director Dr. Edward L. Brady (Acting) 

151 OFFICE OF STANDARD REFERENCE DATA Atomic and Molecular Data 

Chemical Kinetics 

Colloid and Surface Chemistry 

Information Services 

Data Systems Design 

Mechanical Properties 

Nuclear Data 

Solid State Properties 

Thermodynamics and Transport Data 

152 Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information 

Director 

Deputy Director 

.10 Document Distribution and Reproduction Branch 

.30 Automated Systems and Services Branch 

.60 Administrative Operations Branch 

.70 Joint Publications Research Service 

.80 Document Processing Branch 

153 OFFICE OF TECHNICAL INFORMATION AND PUBLICATIONS Assistant Chief 

.01 Special Activities 

.02 

.03 

.04 

.05 

.06 

Editorial 

Publications 

Photographic Services 

Graphic Arts 

Computer Assisted Printing 

Dr. David R. Lide, Jr. (Acting) 

Dr. Lewis H. Gevantman 

Dr. Lewis H. Gevantman 

Dr. Howard J. White, Jr. 

Dr. Herman M. Weisman 

Joseph Hilsenrath 

Dr. Lewis H. Gevantman 

Dr. David Goldman 

Dr. Lewis H. Gevantman 

Dr. Howard J. White, Jr. 

Hubert E. Sauter 

Peter F. Urbach 

Alvin W. Alexander 

Mitchell A. Krasny 

Joseph G. Coyne 

Gustav Blackett 

George K. Kudravetz (Acting) 

W. Reeves Tilley 

William K. Gautier 

Robert T. Cook 

William K. Gautier 

John E. Carpenter 

Warren P. Richardson 

Conrad F. Peters 

Rubin Wagner 

154 LIBRARY 

.01 Resources Development 

.02 Reader Services 

.03 Library Auxiliaries 

155 OFFICE OF PUBLiC INFORMATION 

156 OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 

200 INSTITUTE FOR BASIC STANDARDS 

Director 

Assistant Director 

Scientific Assistant to the Director, LBS Consultants for Fundamental Constants 

.01 Office of Measurement Services 

205 APPLIED MATHEMATICS 

.01 Numerical Analysis 

.02 Operations Research 

.03 Statistical Engineering 

.04 Systems Dynamics 

761 

Dr. Elizabeth L. Tate 

Ruth J. Manning 

Maggie Cason 

Dr. Elizabeth L. Tate (Acting) 

A. Victor Gentilini 

Dr. Ladislaus L. Marton 

Dr. Ernest Ambler 

Dr. R. Joseph Corruccini (Acting) 

Dr. Ian R. Bartky 

Dr. Richard D. Deslattes 

Dr. Peter L. Bender 

Joseph M. Cameron (Acting) 

Dr. Edward W. Cannon 

Dr. Morris Newman 

Dr. Alan J. Goldman 

Dr. Joan Rosenblatt (Acting) 

Dr. Hansjorg Oser 
211 ELECTRICITY 

.01 Resistance and Reactance 

.02 Electrochemistry 

.03 Electrical Instruments 

.06 High Voltage 

.07 Absolute Electrical Measurements 

212 METROLOGY 

Assistant Chief 

Consultant in Photometry 

.11 Photometry 

.13 Image Optics and Photography 

.14 Colorimetry and Spectrophotometry 

.21 Length 

.22 Engineering Metrology 

.31 Mass and Volume 

213 MECHANICS Assistant Chief for Fluid Mechanics 

Consultant 

.01 Sound 

.02 Vibration Measurements 

.04 Engineering Mechanics 

.05 Rheology 

.06 Fluid Meters 

.07 Hydraulics 

.08 Aerodynamics 

.20 Mechanical Measurements Branch 

.21 Pressure Measurements 

.22 Vacuum Measurements 

.24 Humidity Measurements 

221 HEAT 

Assistant Chief for Thermodynamics 

.02 Heat Measurements 

.03 Cryogenic Physics 

.04 Equation of State 

.05 Statistical Physics 

.1 I Temperature 

.12 Radiation Thermometry 

222 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS 

.01 Spectroscopy 

.02 Infrared Spectroscopy 

.03 Far Ultraviolet Physics 

.04 Molecular Spectroscopy 

.05 Electron Physics 

.06 Atomic Physics 

.07 Plasma Spectroscopy 

762 

Dr. Chester H. Page 

Chester Peterson 

Dr. Walter J. Hamer 

Francis L. Hermach 

Dr. F. Ralph Kotter 

Dr. Forest K. Hams 

Theodore R. Young (Acting) 

Dr. Deane B. Judd 

Louis E. Barbrow 

Charles A. Douglas 

Calvin S. McCamy 

Isadore Nimeroff 

John S. Beers (Acting) 

Arthur G. Strang 

Paul E. Pontius 

Lafayette K. Irwin (Acting) 

Philip S. Klebanoff 

Dr. Daniel P. Johnson 

Martin Greenspan 

Roscoe L. Bloss 

Douglas R. Tate (Acting) 

Dr. Robert S. Marvin 

Fillmer W. Ruegg 

Dr. Gershon Kuhn 

Philip S. Kiebanoff 

Edward C. Lloyd 

Edward C. Lloyd (Acting) 

Stanley Ruthberg 

Arnold Wexler 

Dr. Ralph P. Hudson 

Dr. Charles W. Beckett 

Dr. Defoe C. Ginnings 

Dr. James F. Schooley (Acting) 

Dr. Max Klein 

Dr. Raymond D. Mountain (Acting) 

Dr. Harmon H. Plumb 

Dr. Henry J. Kostkowski 

Dr. Karl G. Kessler 

Dr. William C. Martin, Jr. 

Dr. Arthur G. Maki (Acting) 

Dr. Robert P. Madden 

Dr. Jon T. Hougen (Acting) 

Dr. John A. Simpson 

Dr. Richard D. Deslattes 

Dr. Wolfgang L. Wiese 
*270 OFFICE OF DEPUTY DIRECTOR, lBS/BOULDER 

Deputy Director 

.01 Office of Program Development and Evaluation 

.02 Office of Management Systems 

*271 RADIO STANDARDS PHYSICS Consultant 

Consultant 

.01 Solid State Electronics 

.05 Quantum Electronics 

.06 Plasma Physics 

*272 RADIO STANDARDS ENGINEERING Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

.23 

.24 

.25 

.31 

.32 

.42 

HF Impedance Standards 

RF Transmission and Noise 

RF Power and Voltage 

Microwave Calibration Services 

Microwave Circuit Standards 

Electromagnetic Fields Standards 

*273 TIME AND FREQUENCY 

Assistant Chief 

Consultant 

Consultant 

.01 Frequency-Time Dissemination Research 

.02 Frequency-Time Broadcast Services 

.04 Atomic Frequency-Time Standards 

*274 LABORATORY ASTROPHYSICS Deputy Chief 

*275 CRYOGENICS 

Associate Chief 

Consultant 

.01 Cryogenic Technical Services 

.02 Cryogenic Data Center 

.03 Cryogenic Properties of Solids 

.04 Properties of Cryogenic Fluids 

.05 Cryogenic Systems 

.06 Cryogenic Metrology 

.07 Cryogenic Fluid Transport Processes 

*281 ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES 

.01 Supply 

.02 Office Services 

.03 Drafting Services 

763 

Bascom W. Birmingham (Acting) 

Dr. Thomas M. Flynn 

Roy W. Stockwell, Jr. 

Dr. Harold S. Boyne (Acting) 

Dr. L. Yardley Beers 

Thomas W. Russell 

Dr. Robert J. Mahler 

Dr. Donald A. Jennings 

Dr. Karl B. Persson 

Dr. Helmut M. Altschuler 

Robert W. Beatty 

John L. Dalke 

Dr. David M. Kerns 

Myron C. Selby 

Eldred C. Wolzien 

Leslie E. Huntley (Acting) 

Charles M. Alired 

Paul A. Hudson 

Roy E. Larson 

Dr. George E. Schafer 

Dr. Ramon C. Baird 

Dr. James A. Barnes 

Roger E. Beehier 

R. Lowell Fey 

Dr. George E. Hudson 

James L. Jespersen 

Peter P. Viezbicke 

Dr. Donald W. Halford 

Dr. Lewis M. Branscomb 

Dr. Stephen J. Smith 

Dudley B. Chelton (Acting) 

Dr. Richard H. Kropschot 

Alan F. Schmidt 

William A. Wilson 

Victor J. Johnson 

Dr. Robert L. Powell 

Dwain E. Diller 

Robert W. Arnett 

Douglas B. Mann 

Raymond V. Smith 

Barton F. Betts 

J. S. Roettenbacher 

Richard G. Bulgin 

Victor J. Pfannenstiel 
*282 INSTRUMENT 

Consultant-Engineering 

.01 Instrument Shop I .02 Instrument Shop 2 .03 Welding-Sheet Metal 

.04 Glass Blowing Shop 

*283 PLANT Deputy Chief 

.01 Construction-Maintenance 

.02 Special Services 

.03 Custodial Services 

300 INSTITUTE FOR MATERIALS RESEARCH 

Director 

Assistant to the Director 

302 OFFICE OF STANDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS 

Deputy Chief 

310 ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY 

Consultant 

.01 Radiochemical Analysis 

.02 Spectrochemical Analysis 

.03 Electrochemical Analysis 

.04 Analytical Coordination Chemistry 

.05 Microchemical Analysis 

.06 Analytical Mass Spectrometry 

.07 Organic Chemistry 

.08 Activation Analysis 

.09 Separation and Purification 

311 POLYMERS Consultant on Rubber and Polymers 

.01 Polymer Dielectrics 

.02 Polymer Chemistry 

.03 Polymer Crystal Physics 

.04 Molecular Properties 

.05 Dental Research 

.06 Polymer Characterization 

.07 Polymer Interfaces 

.08 Thermophysical Properties 

312 METALLURGY 

.01 Engineering Metallurgy 

.02 Alloy Physics 

.03 Lattice Defects and Microstructures 

.04 Corrosion 

.05 Metal Physics 

.bu and Metal Deposition 

.07 Crystallization of Metals 

764 

Rodney S. Pemll 

Jay N. Edmondson 

Vernon E. Hill 

Henry C. Leistner 

James H. McCarron 

H. L. Hoyt 

Edgar A. Yuzwiak 

George M. Musick, Jr. 

Robert W. Eddy 

Williams D. Hitchcock 

Wilmer L. Schweikert 

Dr. John D. Hoffman 

Dr. Emanuel Horowitz 

Dr. W. Wayne Meinke 

Joseph P. Cali 

Dr. W. Wayne Meinke 

Dr. Charles P. Saylor 

Dr. James R. DeVoc 

Bourdon F. Scribner 

Dr. Roger G. Bates 

Dr. Oscar Menis 

Dr. John K. Taylor 

William R. Shields 

Dr. Robert Schaffer 

Dr. Philip D. LaFleur 

Dr. David H. Freeman 

Dr. Ronald K. Eby (Acting) 

Dr. Lawrence A. Wood 

Dr. Martin G. Broadhurst 

Dr. Leo A. Wall 

Dr. Ronald K. Eby 

Dr. Comelis A. J. Hoeve 

Dr. James M. Cassel (Acting) 

Dr. Comelis A. J. Hoeve (Acting) 

Dr. Robert R. Stromberg 

Dr. Alden B. Bestul 

Dr. Elio Passalia 

Dr. Melvin R. Meyerson 

Dr. Lawrence H. Bennett 

Dr. A. William Ruff, Jr. 

Dr. Jerome Kruger 

Dr. John R. Manning 

Dr. Abner Brenner 

Dr. Robert L. Parker 
313 INORGANIC MATERIALS 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

.01 Inorganic Chemistry 

.02 Inorganic Glass 

.03 High Temperature Chemistry 

.05 Physical Properties 

.06 Crystallography 

.07 Solid State Physics 

316 PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY 

Consultant 

.1 I Thermochemistry 

.21 Surface Chemistry 

.51 Elementary Processes 

.52 Mass Spectrometry 

.53 Photo Chemistry 

.54 Radiation Chemistry 

400 INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED TECHNOLOGY 

Director 

402 ENGINEERING STANDARDS 

403 OFFICE OF ENGINEERING STANDARDS SERVICES 

.01 Product Standards 

.02 Standards Information 

.03 Mandatory Standards 

404 OFFICE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 

Assistant Chief 

406 OFFICE OF INVENTION AND INNOVATION 

.01 Innovation Studies Program 

.02 Invention Programs 

.03 Engineering Education Program 

408 OFFICE OF VEHICLE SYSTEMS RESEARCH 

Deputy Chief 

.01 Tire Systems 

.02 Occupant Restraint Systems 

.03 Braking Systems 

411 PRODUCT EVALUATION 

.01 Plastics and Textiles 

.02 Fibrous Systems 

.03 Viscoelastic Materials 

.04 Paper Evaluation 

.06 Fabric Flammability 

765 

Dr. John B. Wachtman, Jr. 

Dr. Arthur I. Bienenstock 

Dr. Gilbert Gordon 

Dr. Ellis R. Lippincott 

Dr. Howard F. McMurdie 

H. Steffen Peiser 

Dr. James M. Stewart 

Dr. Thomas D. Coyle 

Dr. Wolfgang HaIler 

Dr. William S. Horton 

Dr. Sheldon H. Wiederhom 

Dr. Stanley Block 

Dr. Hans P. R. Frederikse 

Dr. James R. McNesby (Acting) 

Edward J. Prosen 

Dr. George T. Armstrong 

Dr. Ralph Klein 

Dr. David Garvin 

Dr. Henry M. Rosenstock 

Dr. Milton D. Scheer 

Dr. Pierre J. Ausloss 

Dr. Howard E. Sorrows (Acting) 

Malcolm W. Jensen 

Donald R. MacKay 

Herbert A. Philo 

William J. Slattery (Acting) 

Donald R. MacKay (Acting) 

Malcolm W. Jensen 

Harold F. Wollin 

Daniel V. DeSimone 

Joseph D. Crumlish 

Leonard S. Hardland 

John M. Tascher 

Paul J. Brown 

Dr. F. Cecil Brenner (Acting) 

Dr. F. Cecil Brenner 

Richard W. Armstrong 

Robert J. Forthofer 

Dr. Sanford B. Newman 

Karl F. Plitt 

Donald G. Fletcher 

George E. Decker (Acting) 

William K. Wilson 

James V. Ryan 
421 BUILDING RESEARCH Deputy Chief 

Consultant to Chief 

.01 Structures 

.02 Fire Research 

.04 Materials Durability and Analysis 

.05 Codes and Standards 

.06 Building Systems 

.07 Scientific and Professional Liaison 

.10 Sensory Environment Branch 

.1 1 Environmental Engineering 

.12 Psycho-Physics 

.13 Building Transport Systems 

425 ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY Consultant 

.01 Semiconductor Characterization 

.02 Electron Devices 

.03 Instrumentation Applications 

.04 Semiconductor Processing 

431 TECHNICAL ANALYSIS Deputy Chief for Project Operations 

Deputy Chief for Quality Control 

Socio-Economic Studies 

Simulation and Transportation Studies 

Operations Research in Behaviorial Science 

Post Office Studies 

Corridor Model System 

Systems Analysis for Commerce 

500 CENTER FOR RADIATION RESEARCH 

Director 

Deputy Director 

.01 Radiation Theory 

.02 Health Physics 

501 REACTOR RADIATION 

.01 Reactor Operations 

.02 Engineering Services 

.03 Neutron Solid-State Physics 

.04 Radiation Effects 

502 LINAC RADIATION 

.01 Linac Operations 

.02 Radiation Physics Instrumentation 

.03 Photonuclear Physics 

.04 Electronuclear Physics 

503 NUCLEAR RADIATION 

.01 Neutron Physics 

.02 Radioactivity 

.03 Nuclear Spectroscopy 

766 

Dr. James R. Wright 

Harry E. Thompson (Acting) 

Dr. Bruce E. Foster 

Dr. Edward 0. Pfrang 

Irwin A. Benjamin 

William C. Cullen 

Gene A. Rowland 

Robert W. Blake 

Dr. William W. Walton 

Paul R. Achenbach 

Frank J. Powell (Acting) 

Herbert Robinson (Acting) 

Paul R. Achenbach (Acting) 

Myron G. Domsitz 

Charles P. Marsden 

Dr. W. Murray Bullis 

Judson C. French 

Joshua Stem 

Dr. Joseph A. Coleman 

Dr. W. Edward Cushen 

Abraham E. Karp 

Dr. George Suzuki 

Dr. George Suzuki (Acting) 

Louis C. Santone 

Dr. June R. Cornog 

William F. Druckenbrod 

Ralph E. Schofer 

John W. Locke 

Dr. Carl 0. Muehlhause (Acting) 

Dr. Randall S. Caswell (Acting) 

Dr. Martin J. Berger 

Dr. Abraham Schwebel 

Dr. Robert S. Carter (Acting) 

Tawfik M. Raby (Acting) 

John H. Nicklas 

Dr. Robert S. Carter 

Vacant 

Dr. James E. Leiss (Acting) 

Dr. James E. Leiss 

Louis Costrell 

Dr. Everett G. Fuller 

Dr. Samuel Penner 

Dr. Harry H. Landon (Acting) 

Dr. Harry H. Landon 

Dr. Wilfred B. Mann 

Dr. Raymond W. Hayward 
504 APPLIED RADIATION Dr. Joseph W. Motz (Acting) 

.01 X-ray Physics Dr. Joseph W. Motz 

.02 Dosimetry Dr. Robert Loevinger 

600 CENTER FOR COMPUTER SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY 

Director Dr. Herbert R. J. Grosch 

Consultant Mary Elizabeth Stevens 

.10 Manager-Pattern Recognition and Description Program Joseph i-I. Wegstein 

610 OFFiCE FOR INFORMATION PROCESSING STANDARDS Dr. Joseph 0. Harrison, Jr. 

620 OFFICE FOR COMPUTER INFORMATION Margaret R. Fox 

630 COMPUTER SERVICES W. Bruce Ramsay (Acting) 

640 SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT Charles T. Meadow 

650 INFORMATION PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY James P. Nigro 

* Laboratories located in Boulder, Colorado. 

FIELD STATIONS 

Visual Landing Aids Laboratory, Arcata, CA 

U.S. Joint Publications Research Service, San Francisco, CA 

Scientific Observations and Measurements Site, Poor Man's Mine, Four Mile Canyon, Boulder, CO 

Standard Frequency Stations WWVB/WWVL, Fort Collins, CO 

Radio Propagation and Standard Frequency Station WWVH, Puunene, Maui, HA 

Master Railway Track Scale Depot, Clearing, IL 

U.S. Joint Publications Research Service, New York, NY 

767 
September 2, 1969 

100 OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR 

Director 

Deputy Director 

Assistant to the Director 

Assistant to the Director 

Assistant to the Director 

105 OrncE OF ACADEMIC LIAISON Associate Director for Academic Liaison 

Dr. Lewis M. Branscomb 

Dr. Lawrence M. Kushner 

Dr. Robert D. Huntoon 

George E. Auman 

Clarence N. Coates 

Dr. Shirleigh Silverman 

120 OFFICE OF ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR ADMINISTRATION 

Associate Director Robert S. Walleigh 

Deputy Associate Director for Administration Paul H. Schrader 

121 ACCOUNTING Deputy Chief 

.01 Reports and Billing 

.03 Tabulation 

.05 Payroll 

.10 Cost and Payments Branch 

.16 Accounts Payable 

.18 Project Accounting 

122 ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES Assistant to the Chief 

.01 Mail and Distribution 

.02 Special Services 

.03 Janitorial Services 

.04 Physical Security 

.05 Transportation Services 

.06 Safety and Fire Protection 

123 BUDGET Deputy 

125 PERSONNEL Assistant Chief 

.02 Recruitment and Placement 

.03 Salary and Wage Administration 

.04 Employee Development and Relations 

.05 Operations and Procedures 

.06 Medical Office 

126 PLANT Assistant Chief 

.01 Steam-Chilled Water Generation 

.02 Electric Shop 

.03 Piping Shop 

.04 Construction Shop 

768 

James P. Menzer 

David B. Shreve 

Pearl E. Miller 

Henry R. Robinette, Jr. 

Kathryn L. Rock 

Henry L. Kenno 

Matilda Udoff 

John W. Wisner 

George W. Knox 

Walter J. Rabbitt 

Howard L. Sampson 

Nicholas C. Chaconas 

Robert E. Roberts 

Capt. William J. Kane 

Charles W. Anderson 

Lyman E. Pevey, Jr. 

Dr. James E. Skillington, Jr. 

Eugene C. Denne 

George R. Porter 

Henry C. Bothe 

Dale J. Houston 

Roy V. Stapleton 

Robert F. Bain 

Peggy A. Bickel 

George H. L. Dillard, MD 

Hylton Graham 

M. Bernard Goetz 

James S. Powers 

Robert W. Miller 

Kenneth L. Lowe 

John A. King 
.06 Labor Services 

.07 Metal Shop 

.08 Air Conditioning and Refrigeration 

.09 Grounds 

127 SUPPLY Deputy Chief 

.01 Storeroom Services 

.02 Travel Office 

.03 Procurement 

.04 Property Management 

.05 Telephone Office 

128 MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 

Consultive Services 

Administrative Issuances 

Management Surveys 

Management Systems 

STAFF UNITS REPORTING TO THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR 

143 OrncE OF INDUSTRIAL SERVICES 

144 OFFICE OF ENGINEERING STANDARDS LIAISON 

Roy B. Powell 

Donald 1. Thompson 

Dominic J. Giampietro 

William R. Stevenson 

Norman H. Taylor 

Vacant 

Walter C. Bonner 

Mary H. Jenner 

Gordon A. Cauley, Jr. 

Robert E. Wilson 

Pat Hafen 

John T. Hall 

Wayne B. Davis 

Marguerite R. Hubanks 

Iris M. Lloyd 

Joseph C. Aubele 

Dr. George S. Gordon 

Dr. A. Allan Bates 

150 OFFICE OF THE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR INFORMATION PROGRAMS 

Associate Director Dr. Edward L. Brady 

Assistant to the Associate Director Paul H. Kratz (Acting) 

Consultant Dr. Ladislaus L. Marton (Acting) 

151 OFFICE OF STANDARD REFERENCE DATA Atomic and Molecular Data 

Chemical Kinetics 

Colloid and Surface Chemistry 

Information Services 

Data Systems Design 

Mechanical Properties 

Nuclear Data 

Solid State Properties 

Thermodynamics and Transport Data 

Dr. David R. Lide, Jr. 

Dr. Lewis H. Gevantman 

Dr. Lewis H. Gevantman 

Dr. Howard J. White, Jr. 

Dr. Herman M. Weisman 

Joseph Hilsenrath 

Dr. Lewis H. Gevantman 

Dr. David Goldman 

Dr. Lewis H. Gevantman 

Dr. Howard J. White, Jr. 

152 CLEARINGHOUSE FOR FEDERAL SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION Director Hubert E. Sauter 

Assistant Director, Operations Joseph G. Coyne 

.10 Document Distribution and Reproduction Branch Alvin W. Alexander 

.30 Automated Systems and Services Branch Mitchell A. Krasny 

.60 Administrative Operations Branch Joseph 0. Coyne (Acting) 

.70 Joint Publications Research Service Gustav Blackett 

.80 Document Processing Branch George K. Kudravetz 

769 
153 OFFICE OF TECHNICAL INFORMATION AND PUBLICATIONS Assistant Chief 

.01 Special Activities 

.02 Editorial 

.03 Publications 

.04 Photographic Services 

.05 Graphic Arts 

.06 Computer Assisted Printing 

154 LIBRARY 

.01 Resources Development 

.02 Reader Services 

.03 Library Auxiliaries 

155 OFFICE OF PUBLIC INFORMATION 156 OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 

200 INSTITUTE FOR BASIC STANDARDS 

Director 

Assistant Director 

Senior Research Fellow 

Consultants for Fundamental Constants 

.01 Office of Measurement Services 

205 APPLIED MATHEMATICS 

Deputy Chief for Program Planning 

.01 Numerical Analysis 

.02 Operations Research 

.03 Statistical Engineering 

.04 Systems Dynamics 

211 ELECTRICITY 

Deputy Chief 

.01 Resistance and Reactance 

.02 Electrochemistry 

.03 Electrical Instruments 

.06 High Voltage 

.07 Absolute Electrical Measurements 

212 METROLOGY 

Deputy Chief 

Consultant in Photometry 

.11 Photometry 

.13 Image Optics and Photography 14 Spectrophotometry 

.21 Length 

.22 Engineering Metrology 

.31 Mass and Volume 

770 

W. Reeves Tilley 

Robert T. Cook 

Robert T. Cook 

Donald V. Baker 

W. Reeves Tilley (Acting) 

Warren P. Richardson 

Conrad F. Peters 

Rubin Wagner 

Dr. Elizabeth L. Tate 

Ruth J. Manning 

Maggie Cason 

Marvin A. Bond, Jr. 

A. Victor Gentilini 

H. Steffen Peiser (Acting) 

Dr. Ernest Ambler 

Dr. R. Joseph Corruccini 

Dr. Churchill Eisenhart 

Dr. Richard D. Deslattes 

Dr. Peter L. Bender 

Joseph M. Cameron 

Dr. Edward W. Cannon 

Dr. Alan J. Goldman 

Dr. Morris Newman 

Dr. Alan J. Goldman 

Dr. Joan Rosenblatt 

Dr. Hansjorg Oser 

Dr. Chester H. Page 

Francis L. Hermach (Acting) 

Chester Peterson 

Dr. Walter J. Hamer 

Francis L. Hermach 

Dr. F. Ralph Kotter 

Dr. Forest K. Harris 

Dr. Karl 0. Kessler (Acting) 

Dr. John A. Simpson (Acting) 

Louis E. Barbrow 

Charles A. Douglas 

Calvin S. McCamy 

Dr. Robert P. Madden (Acting) 

Paul E. Pontius (Acting) 

Arthur G. Strang 

Paul E. Pontius 
213 MECHANICS Assistant Chief for Fluid Mechanics 

Consultant 

.01 Sound 

.02 Vibration Measurements 

.03 Humidity Measurements 

.04 Engineering Mechanics 

.05 Rheology 

.06 Fluid Meters 

.07 Hydraulics 

.08 Aerodynamics 

221 HEAT 

.03 Cryogenic Physics 

.04 Equation of State 

.05 Statistical Physics 

.07 Pressure Measurements 

.11 Temperature 

.12 Radiation Thermometry 

222 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS 

Deputy Chief 

.01 Spectroscopy 

.02 Infrared Spectroscopy 

.03 Far Ultraviolet Physics 

.04 Molecular Spectroscopy 

.05 Electron Physics 

.06 Atomic Physics 

.07 Plasma Spectroscopy 

.08 Vacuum Measurements 

*270 OFFICE OF DEPUTY DIRECTOR, lBS/BOULDER 

Deputy Director 

Senior Research Fellow 

Senior Research Fellow 

.01 Office of Program Coordination 

.02 Executive Assistant to the Deputy Director 

771 

*271 RADIO STANDARDS PHYSICS Consultant 

Consultant 

.01 Solid State Electronics 

.05 Quantum Electronics 

.06 Plasma Physics 

*272 RADIO STANDARDS ENGINEERING Associate Chief 

Senior Research Scientist 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Lafayette K. Irwin 

Philip S. Klebanoff 

Dr. Daniel P. Johnson 

Martin Greenspan 

John D. Ramboz 

Arnold Wexler 

Roscoe L. Bloss 

Dr. Robert S. Marvin 

Fillmer W. Ruegg 

Dr. Gershon Kuhn 

Philip S. Klebanoff 

Dr. Ralph P. Hudson 

Dr. Harvey Marshak (Acting) 

Dr. Max Klein 

Dr. Raymond D. Mountain 

Dr. Peter L. Heydemann (Acting) 

Dr. Harmon H. Plumb 

Dr. Henry J. Kostkowski 

Dr. Karl G. Kessler 

Dr. John A. Simpson (Acting) 

Dr. William C. Martin, Jr. 

Dr. Arthur G. Maki 

Dr. Robert P. Madden 

Dr. Jon T. Hougen 

Dr. Chris E. Kuyatt (Acting) 

Dr. Richard D. Deslattes 

Dr. Wolfgang L. Wiese 

Stanley Ruthberg 

Bascom W. Birmingham 

Dr. H. Alastair Gebbie 

Richard N. Thomas 

Dr. Thomas M. Flynn 

Roy W. Stockwell, Jr. 

Dr. Harold S. Boyne 

Dr. L. Yardley Beers 

Thomas W. Russell 

Dr. Robert J. Mahler 

Dr. Donald A. Jennings 

Dr. Karl B. Persson 

Dr. Raymond C. Sangster 

Harvey W. Lance 

Dr. Helmut M. Altschuler 

Robert W. Beatty 

Dr. David M. Kerns 

Myron C. Selby 

Eldred C. Woizien 
.23 HF Impedance Standards 

.24 RF Transmission and Noise 

.25 RF Power and Voltage 

.31 Microwave Calibration Services 

.32 Microwave Circuit Standards 

.42 Electromagnetic Fields Standards 

*273 TIME AND FREQUENCY 

Assistant Chief 

Consultant 

Consultant 

.01 Frequency-Time Dissemination Research 

.02 Frequency-Time Broadcast Services 

.04 Atomic Frequency-Time Standards 

*274 LABORATORY ASTROPHYSICS *275 CRYOGENICS Associate Chief 

Consultant 

.01 Cryogenic Technical Services 

.02 Cryogenic Data Center 

.03 Cryogenic Properties of Solids 

.04 Properties of Cryogenic fluids 

.05 Cryogenic Systems 

.06 Cryogenic Metrology 

.07 Cryogenic Fluid Transport Processes 

.08 Cryoelectronics 

*281 ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES 01 Supply 

.02 Office Services 

*282 INSTRUMENT SHOPS Consultant-Engineering 

.01 Instrument Shop I .02 Instrument Shop 2 

.03 Welding-Sheet Metal 

.04 Glass Blowing Shop 

*283 PLANT Consultanat 

.01 Construction-Maintenance 

.02 Special Services 

.03 Custodial Services 

300 INSTITUTE FOR MATERIALS RESEARCH 

Director 

Institute Scientists 

Special Scientific Assistants 

Statistical Consultant 

772 

Leslie E. Huntley 

Charles M. AlIred 

Paul A. Hudson 

Roy E. Larson 

Dr. George E. Schafer 

Dr. Ramon C. Baird 

Dr. James A. Barnes 

Roger E. Beehler 

R. Lowell Fey 

Dr. George E. Hudson 

James L. Jespersen 

Peter P. Viezbicke 

Dr. Donald W. Halford 

Dr. Stephen J. Smith (Acting) 

Dudley B. Chelton 

Dr. Richard H. Kropschot 

Alan F. Schmidt 

Jesse Hord (Acting) 

Victor J. Johnson 

Dr. Robert L. Powell 

Dwain E. Diller 

Robert W. Arnett 

Douglas B. Mann 

Raymond V. Smith 

Dr. Robert A. Kamper 

Barton F. Betts 

J. S. Roettenbacher 

Richard 0. Bulgin 

William A. Wilson 

Jay N. Edmondson 

Vernon E. Hill 

Henry C. Leistner 

James H. McCarron 

H. L. Hoyt 

Edgar A. Yuzwiak 

0. C. Hahn 

Robert W. Eddy 

William D. Hitchcock 

Wilmer L. Schweikert 

Dr. John D. Hoffman 

Dr. John 1. Lauritzen 

Dr. Robert J. Rubin 

Dr. John L. Torgesen 

H. Thomas Yolken 

Dr. John Mandel 
302 OFFICE OF STANDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS 

Inorganic Standards Coordinator 

Metal Standards Coordinator 

Organic Standards Coordinator 

Assistant for Technical Liaison 

310 ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY Consultant 

.01 Radiochemical Analysis 

.02 Spectrochemical Analysis 

.03 Electrochemical Analysis 

.04 Analytical Coordination Chemistry 

.05 Microchemical Analysis 

.06 Analytical Mass Spectrometry 

.07 Organic Chemistry 

.08 Activation Analysis 

.09 Separation and Purification 

311 POLYMERS Deputy Chief 

Consultant on Rubber and Polymers 

.01 Polymer Dielectrics 

.02 Polymer Chemistry 

.03 Polymer Crystal Physics 

.04 Molecular Properties 

.05 Dental Research 

.06 Polymer Characterization 

.07 Polymer Interfaces 

.08 Thermophysical Properties 

312 METALLURGY 

.01 Engineering Metallurgy 

.02 Alloy Physics 

.03 Lattice Defects and Microstructures 

.04 Corrosion 

.05 Metal Physics 

.06 Electrolysis and Metal Deposition 

.07 Crystallization of Metals 

313 INORGANIC MATERIALS Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

Consultant 

.01 Inorganic Chemistry 

.02 Inorganic Glass 

.03 High Temperature Chemistry 

.05 Physical Properties 

.06 Crystallography 

.07 Solid State Physics 

773 

Joseph P. Cali (Acting) 

John L. Hague 

Robert E. Michaelis 

Thomas W. Mears 

Hugh F. Beeghly 

Dr. W. Wayne Meinke 

Dr. Charles P. Saylor 

Dr. James R. DeVoe 

Bourdon F. Scribner 

Dr. Roger G. Bates 

Dr. Oscar Menis 

Dr. John K. Taylor 

William R. Shields 

Dr. Robert Schaffer 

Dr. Philip D. LaFleur 

Dr. David H. Freeman 

Dr. Ronald K. Eby 

Dr. Robert R. Stromberg 

Dr. Lawrence A. Wood 

Dr. Martin G. Broadhurst 

Dr. Leo A. Wall 

Dr. Darrell H. Reneker 

Dr. Peter H. Verdier (Acting) 

Dr. James M. Cassel 

Dr. Peter H. Verdier (Acting) 

Dr. Robert R. Stromberg 

Dr. Martin G. Broadhurst (Acting) 

Dr. Elio Passalia 

Glenn W. Geil (Acting) 

Dr. Lawrence H. Bennett 

Dr. A. William Ruff, Jr. 

Dr. Jerome Kruger 

Dr. John R. Manning 

Dr. Abner Brenner 

Dr. Robert L. Parker 

Dr. John B. Wachtman, Jr. 

Dr. Arthur I. Bienenstock 

Dr. Gilbert Gordon 

Dr. Ellis R. Lippincott 

Dr. Howard F. McMurdie 

Dr. James M. Stewart 

Dr. Thomas D. Coyle 

Dr. Wolfgang Hailer 

Dr. Thomas D. Coyle (Acting) 

Dr. Sheldon H. Wiederhom 

Dr. Stanley Block 

Dr. Hans P. R. Frederikse 
316 PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY 

Assistant Chief 

Consultant 

Research Chemist 

.1 I Thermochemistry 

.21 Surface Chemistry 

.5 I Elementary Processes 

.52 

.53 

.54 

Mass Spectrometry 

Photo Chemistry 

Radiation Chemistry 

INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED TECHNOLOGY 

Director 

Deputy Director 

.01 Fire Research and Safety Office 

.02 Office of Flammable Fabrics 

403 OFFICE OF ENGINEERING STANDARDS SERVICES 

.01 Product Standards 

.02 Information 

.03 Mandatory Standards 

404 OFFICE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES Assistant Chief 

406 OFFICE OF INVENTION AND INNOvATIoN 

.01 Innovation Studies Program 

.02 Invention Programs 

.03 Engineering Education Program 

.04 Manager, Metric Study Program 

408 OFFICE OF VEHICLE SYSTEMS RESEARCH Deputy Chief 

.01 Tire Systems 

.02 Occupant Restraint Systems 

.03 Braking Systems 

411 PRODUCT EVALUATION Consultant 

.01 Plastics and Textiles 

.02 Fibrous Systems 

.03 Viscoelastic Materials 

.04 Paper Evaluation 

421 BUILDING RESEARCH 

Deputy Chief 

.01 Structures 

.02 Fire Research 

.04 Materials Durability and Analysis 

.05 Codes and Standards 

.06 Building Systems 

.07 Scientific and Professional Liaison 

.10 Sensory Environment Branch 

.11 Environmental Engineering 

.12 Psychophysics 

.13 Building Transport Systems 

774 

Dr. James R. McNesby (Acting) 

Dr. Arnold M. Bass 

Edward J. Prosen 

Blanton C. Duncan 

Dr. George T. Armstrong 

Dr. Ralph Klein 

Dr. David Garvin 

Dr. Henry M. Rosenstock 

Dr. Milton D. Scheer 

Dr. Pierre J. Ausloss 

Dr. Howard E. Sorrows (Acting) 

Malcolm W. Jensen (Acting) 

Dr. John A. Rockett 

Dr. Elio Passaglia (Acting) 

Donald R. MacKay 

Herbert A. Philo 

William J. Slattery (Acting) 

Donald R. MacKay (Acting) 

Thomas M. Stabler (Acting) 

Harold F. Wollin 

Daniel V. DeSimone 

Joseph D. Crumlish 

Leonard S. Hardland 

John M. Tascher 

Alvin 0. McNish 

Paul J. Brown 

Dr. F. Cecil Brenner (Acting) 

Dr. F. Cecil Brenner 

Richard W. Armstrong 

Robert J. Forthofer 

Dr. Melvin R. Meyerson (Acting) 

Dr. Robert D. Stiehier 

Karl F. Putt 

Donald G. Fletcher 

George E. Decker (Acting) 

William K. Wilson 

Dr. James R. Wright 

Harry E. Thompson 

Dr. Edward 0. Pfrang 

Irwin A. Benjamin 

William C. Cullen 

Gene A. Rowland 

Robert W. Blake 

James L. Haecker 

Paul R. Achenbach 

Frank J. Powell 

John F. Haildane 

Paul R. Achenbach (Acting) 
425 ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY 

Assistant to Chief 

Consultant 

.01 Semiconductor Characterization 

.02 Electron Devices 

.03 Instrumentation Applications 

.04 Semiconductor Processing 

431 TECHNICAL ANALYSIS 

Deputy Chief for Project Operations 

Deputy Chief for Quality Control 

Socio-Economic Studies 

Simulation and Transportation Studies 

Operations Research in Behaviorial Science 

Post Office Studies 

Corridor Model System 

TAD Planning and Justice Department Studies 

445 INSTRUMENT SHOPS Assistant Chief 

.01 Instrument Shop #1 

.02 Instrument Shop #2 

.03 Instrument Shop #3 

.04 Instrument Shop #4 

.05 Instrument Shop #5 

.06 Glassblowing 

.07 Welding and Sheet Metal Shop 

.08 Optical Shop 

.09 Tool Crib 

.10 Electroplating 

446 MEASUREMENT ENGINEERING 

.01 .02 

500 CENTER FOR RADIATION RESEARCH 

Director 

Deputy Director 

.01 Radiation Theory 

.02 Health Physics 

501 REACTOR RADIATION 

.01 Reactor Operations 

.02 Engineering Services 

.03 Neutron Solid-State Physics 

.04 Radiation Effects 

502 LINAC RADIATION 

.01 Linac Operations 

.02 Radiation Physics Instrumentation 

.03 Photonuclear Physics 

.04 Electronuclear Physics 

Myron 0. Domsitz 

Gustave Shapiro 

Charles P. Marsden 

Dr. W. Murray Bullis 

Judson C. French 

Joshua Stem 

Dr. Joseph A. Coleman 

Dr. W. Edward Cushen 

Abraham E. Karp 

Dr. George Suzuki 

Dr. George Suzuki (Acting) 

Louis C. Santone 

Dr. June R. Comog 

William F. Druckenbrod 

Ralph E. Schofer 

John W. Locke 

Frank P. Brown 

Winfield L. Drissel 

Earl L. Schwenk 

Walter A. Koepper 

Charles E. Taylor 

Phillip Plaff, Jr. 

John R. Pidgeon 

Enrico Deleonibus 

Harold E. Brown 

Stanley W. Gerner 

Herbert Robinson (Acting) 

Frank P. Brown (Acting) 

0. Franklin Montgomery 

Robert J. Carpenter 

M. Leighton Greenough 

Robert 0. Stone 

Dr. Carl 0. Muehlhause 

Dr. Randall S. Caswell 

Dr. Martin J. Berger 

Dr. Abraham Schwebel 

Dr. Robert S. Carter 

Tawfik M. Raby (Acting) 

John H. Nicklas 

Dr. Robert S. Carter 

Vacant 

Dr. James E. Leiss 

Dr. James E. Leiss 

Louis Costrell 

Dr. Everett G. Fuller 

Dr. Samuel Penner 

Electronic Instrumentation 

Electronic Optical Development 

.03 Microwave and Mechanical Instrumentation 

775 
503 NUCLEAR RADIATION 

.01 Neutron Physics 

.02 Radioactivity 

.03 Nuclear Spectroscopy 

504 APPLIED RADIATION 

.01 X-ray Physics 

.02 Dosimetry 

600 CENTER FOR COMPUTER SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY 

Director 

Consultant 

Consultant 

10 Manager-Pattern Recognition and Description Program 

610 OFFICE OF INFORMATION PROCESSING STANDARDS .01 Planning and Coordination 

.02 Hardware Standards 

.03 Software Standards 

.04 Applications and Data Standards 

.05 ADP Management Standards 

620 OFFICE OF COMPUTER INFORMATION 630 COMPUTER SERVICES 

Assistant Chief 

.01 Business Applications 

.02 Scientific Applications 

.03 Computer Operations 

.04 Systems Programming and Training 

640 SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT 

.01 Programing Research 

.02 Information Science 

.03 Management Systems 

.04 Instructional Systems 

650 INFORMATION PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY 

.01 Measurements Automation 

.02 Computer Systems 

.03 Performance Measurements * Laboratories located in Boulder, Colorado. 

FIELD STATIONS 

Dr. Harry H. Landon 

Dr. Harry H. Landon 

Dr. Wilfred B. Mann 

Dr. Raymond W. Hayward 

Dr. Joseph W. Motz 

Dr. Joseph W. Motz 

Dr. Robert Loevinger 

Dr. Herbert R. J. Grosch 

Mary Elizabeth Stevens 

Madeline B. Henderson 

Joseph H. Wegstein 

Dr. Joseph 0. Harrison, Jr. 

Vacant 

Vacant 

Vacant 

Vacant 

Vacant 

Margaret R. Fox 

W. Bruce Ramsay 

Loretta M. Allison 

Martin R. Shaver 

Dr. Robert J. Arms 

Peter J. O'Hara 

Dr. Robert J. Arms (Acting) 

Charles T. Meadow 

Charles T. Meadow (Acting) 

Dr. Stephen J. Tauber 

John F. Wood 

Charles T. Meadow (Acting) 

James P. Nigro 

Raymond T. Moore 

Thomas N. Pyke, Jr. 

Arthur A. Ernst 

Visual Landing Aids Laboratory, Arcata, CA 

U.S. Joint Publications Research Service, San Francisco, CA 

Scientific Observations and Measurements Site, Poor Man's Mine, Four Mile Canyon, Boulder, CO 

Standard Frequency Stations WWVB/WWVL, Fort Collins, CO 

Radio Propagation and Standard Frequency Station WWVH, Puunene, Maui, HA 

Master Railway Track Scale Depot, Clearing, IL 

U.S. Joint Publications Research Service, New York, NY 

776 
APPENDIX J 

SITE INFORMATION AND MAPS 

GAITHERSBURG AND BOULDER 

777 
BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES OF THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS 

GAITHERSBURG, MARYLAND 

1970 

Year Construction Occupancy Assignable Building Name Begun Completed Date Square Feet 

(in operation) 

101 Administration 6-18-62 7-12-65 7-12-65 308,493 102 Gate House 5-1-69 3-1-70 2-19-70 170 

202 Engineering Mechanics 7-19-61 10-1-63 6-1-63 46,111 

206 Concreting Materials 3-1-66 3-1-68 3-1-68 5,418 220 Metrology 8-21-63 2-14-66 2-14-66 109,130 221 Physics 8-21-63 3-28-66 3-28-66 111,505 222 Chemistry 8-21-63 2-28-66 2-28-66 79,496 223 Materials 8-21-63 4-27-66 4-27-66 78,060 224 Polymers 8-21-63 6-6-66 6-6-66 78,597 225 Instrumentation 8-21-63 8-3-66 8-3-66 104,621 226 Building Research 8-21-63 10-3-66 9-8-66 64,388 230 Fluid Mechanics 6-1-67 6-1-69 6-1-69 50,080 231 Industrial 2-8-66 2-8-68 2-8-68 4.0,615 233 Sound 9-20-65 2-27-68 2-27-68 21,247 235 Reactor 4-25-63 8-23-65 8-23-65 61,086 236 Hazards 4-15-66 4-15-68 5-15-68 6,505 237, 238 Non-Magnetic 6-3-64 2-14-68 2-14-68 4,352 245 Radiation 6-18-62 8-20-65 4-15-64 88,104 301 Supply & Plant 6-18-62 10-15-64 10-15-64 103,807 302 SCWGP 7-19-61 7-21-64 4-1-63 27,551 303 Service 6-18-62 5-4-64 5-4-64 12,262 304 Instrument 6-18-62 12-4-64 12-4-64 53,552 305 Cooling Tower 7-19-61 7-21-64 306 Electrical Substation 7-19-61 1-2-64 4-1-63 308 Bowman House* 1-1-52 1-1-53 5-15-69 3,826 

TOTAL 1,352,843 

Main Site Land — 575 acres Date Acquired: August 1958 to May 1970 *Existing Structure Dates are approximate 
779 

c'J 
BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES OF THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS 

BOULDER, COLORADO 

1970 

Date Assignable 

Building Name (in operation) Square Feet 

BI Radio Building: Library, Auditorium, 

Center Spine, Wing I, Wing 2, Wing 3, Wing 4 1954 200,257 

BI Wing 5 1962 77,928 

BI Wing 6 1959 26,000 

B2 Cryogenics, South and North Half 1952 45,702 

B2 Cryogenics, Wing "B" 1962 9,800 

B3 Liquefier 1952 20,024 

B4 Camco 1951 15,403 

B5 Heavy Equipment 1951 2,850 

B8 Cryogenic Mesa Test Site 1953 2,400 

B9 Gas Meter 1958 312 

BlO Green Mountain Antenna Building 1958-1973 209 B II Vertical Incidence 1958 408 

B14 Field Strength Calibration 1958 278 

B17 Hydrogen Storage Tanks B 18 Tube Tanks (Hydrogen) Storage 

B21 Maintenance Garage 1963 3,968 

B22 Warehouse 1964 17,280 

B23 Cooling Tower 1957-1989 312 

B24 Plasma Physics' 1967 27,328 

B25 North Shop 1966 3,200 

B26 Ground Scanner Site 

B27 High Frequency Field Site 

B28 Microwave Antenna Range 

TOTAL 453,659 

Main Site Land: 217 acres Date Acquired: June 14, 1950 

Used by the Environmental Science Services Administration. 

780 
10 

781 
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE AND REFERENCES 

SOURCES: 

NBS/NIST Publications 

A list of Bureau publications and their history is given in Appendix H. Detailed information about 

individual publications is provided in NBS Circular 460 and supplement (1901—1957), NBS Miscellaneous 

Publication 240 and supplement (1957—1966), and NBS/NIST Special Publication 305 and supplements (1966 

to the present). A complete set of Bureau publications, with the exception of the NBS Reports (graybacks), is 

kept in the NIST Library. The reports are located at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. 

The Bureau's Annual Reports were used to provide a framework for the technical work discussed in the 

chapters. These reports, with various titles as listed in Appendix H, are complete except for the war years 

1943—1945, when as an economy measure, the reports were sent in manuscript form to the secretary of commerce. Other Government Documents 

The annual hearings before the House Subcommittee dealing with appropriations for the Department of 

Commerce were used extensively to provide information on budget, personnel, program. renovation, and 

construction requests. Other House and Senate hearings and reports provided documentation in specific 

instances of Bureau history or science-in-general in the Federal Government. Publications of other agencies of 

the Federal Government were also valuable sources for material relevant to the work of the Bureau. 

Background 

Histories of world science, American social life, and the political climate set the scene for each chapter 

and put the work of the Bureau into proper context. Handbooks, textbooks, and technical papers and reports were studied and cited. Interviews with current and former NBS/NIST staff were recorded and extensive use of oral histories in the NIST Library collection were reviewed. Local and national newspapers were consulted, 

particularly in controversial cases such as the AD-X2 affair and E.U. Condon's resignation. 

Unpublished 

The National Archives and Records Administration, repository for the record copy of NBS/NIST 

documents in Record Group 167, provided a rich source of information in the correspondence files of the 

director. At NIST, the director's files, consisting of the director's correspondence that comprises the working 

files of the Director's Office, were made available and provided information for the later chapters. Another 

useful source was the general records of the Department of Commerce. These records, although inactive, were located at the department. 

The archives of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia provided a wealth of information 

about the ordeal of E. U. Condon with the House Committee on Un-American Activities. 

Abbreviations in Footnotes 

Certain abbreviations and shortened forms of titles are used in the footnotes. MFP is Measures for 

Progress by Rexmond C. Cochrane; Annual Report is one of the many NBS annual report titles listed in 

Appendix H; NARA is the National Archives and Records Administration, repository of NBS/NIST official 

records; DOC is the Department of Commerce; NIST RHA denotes the official records kept in the NIST 

Records Holding Area until they are sent to the Federal Records Center in Suitland, MD; and the History 

Project File kept for this history, and the NIST History File are located in the NIST Library. Other 

abbreviations used are explained where appropriate. 

SELECTED REFERENCES: 

Achenbach, Paul R. Building Research at the National Bureau of Standards, NatI. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Building 

Science Series 0. Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 1970. 

National Bureau of Standards. Annual Reports, FY 1902—FY 1985. Title varies, see Appendix H. 

783 
Beal, Karma A., ed. NBS/NIST, A Historical Perspective, A Symposium in Celebration of NISTs Ninetieth 

Anniversary, March 4, 1991, NatI. Inst. Stand. Technol. (U.S.) Special Publication 825. Washington, D.C.: 

National Bureau of Standards, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 1992. 

Briggs, Lyman J. NBS War Research: The National Bureau of Standards in World War I!. Washington, D.C.: 

National Bureau of Standards, U.S. Dept. Of Commerce, 1949. 

Broder, David. The Parry's Over: The Failure of Politics in America. New York: Harper and Row, 1972. 

Behind the Front Page. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987. 

Burns, James MacGregor. The Crosswinds of Freedom: From Roosevelt to Reagan—America in the Last Half 

Century. New York: Vintage Books, 1990. 

Bush, Vannevar. Science, the Endless Frontier: a Report to the President on a Program for Postwar Scientific 

Research. 1945. Reprint, Washington, D.C.: National Science Foundation, 1960. 

Carr, Robert K. The House Committee on Un-American Activities. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, l952 

Caro, Robert A. The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power. New York: Knopf, 1982. 

Cochrane, Rexmond C. Measures for Progress: A History of the National Bureau of Standards. NatI. Bur. Stand. 

(U.S.) Miscellaneous Publication 275. Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, U.S. Dept. of 

Commerce, 1966. 

Condon, E. U. "Reminiscences of a Life In and Out of Quantum Mechanics." International Journal of Quantum 

Chemistry. Symposium no. 7. (1973): 7-22. 

Diggins, John Patrick. The Proud Decades: America in War and Peace, 1941-1 960. New York: W. W. Norton, 

1988. 

Doctorow, E. L. Ragtime. New York: Random House, 1974. 

Drew, Elizabeth. Politics and Money: The New Road to Corruption. New York: Macmillan, 1983. 

Essers, Florence, and Jacob Rabinow, eds. The Public Need and Role of the Inventor: Proceedings of a Conference held in Monterey, California, June 11-14, 1973. NatI. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Special Publication 388. 

Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 1974. 

Fulibright, J. William. The Arrogance of Power. New York: Random House, 1966. 

Goldman, Eric F. The Crucial Decade—and After: America, 1945-1960. New York: Vintage Books, 1960. 

Goodman, Walter. The Committee: The Extraordinary Career of the House Committee on Un-American 

Activities. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1968. 

Hellemans, Alexander, and Bryan Bunch. The Timetables of Science. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988. 

Hestenes, Magnus R., and John Todd. NBS-INA—The Institute for Nwnerical Analysis—UCLA 1947—1 954. 

NatI. Inst. Stand. Technol. (U.S.) Special Publication 730. Washington. D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, U.S. 

Dept. of Commerce, 1991. 

Huskey, Harry D. "The National Bureau of Standards Western Automatic Computer (SWAC)." Annals of the' 

History of Computing 2, no. 2 (1980): 111-121. 

"The SWAC, The National Bureau of Standards Western Automatic Computer." In A History of 

Computing in the Twentieth Century. New York: Academic Press, 1980: 419-431. 

Jesperson, James, and Jane Fitz-Randolph. From Sundials to Atomic Clocks. NatI. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) 

Monograph 155. Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 1977. 

Johnson, Paul. Modern Times: The Worldfrom the Twenties to the Eighties. New York: Perennial Library, 1985. 

Katz, James Everett. Presidential Politics and Science Policy. New York: Praeger, 1978. 

Keith, Caroline H. For Hell and a Brown Mule: The Biography of Senator Millard E. Tydings. Lanham, MD: 

University Press of America, 1990. 

Kelvin, William Thomson, 1st Baron. Popular Lectures and Addresses, v. 1, Constitution of Matter, 2nd ed. 

London: Macmillan, 1891. 

Kevies, Daniel J. 1987. The Physicists: The History of a Scientific Community in Modern America. 

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987. 

784 
Kimberly, Arthur E., and Bourden W. Scribner. Summary Report of Bureau of Standards on Preservation of 

Records. NatI. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Miscellaneous Publication 154. Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of 

Standards, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 1937. 

Lambright, W. Henry. Presidential Management of Science and Technology: The Johnson Presidency. 

Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985. 

Lawrence, Samuel A. The Battery Additive Controversy. University, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1962. 

Lemann, Nicholas. The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How it Changed America. New 

York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991. 

Lomask, Milton. A Minor Miracle: An Informal History of the National Science Foundation. Washington, 

D.C.: National Science Foundation, 1976. 

Mackay, Donald R., ed. A Glossary of Standards-Related Terminology. Nati. Inst. Stand. Technol. (U.S.) 

NISTIR 89-4 194. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Dept. of 

Commerce, 1989. 

Magnuson, Warren 0., and Jean Carper. The Dark Side of the Marketplace: The Plight of the American 

Consumer. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1968. 

Manchester. William. The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America, 1939-1972. Boston: Little, 

Brown, 1974. 

May, Elaine Tyler. Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era. New York: Basic Books, 

1988. 

Nadel, Mark V. The Politics of Consumer Protection. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1971. 

National Academy of Sciences (U.S.). Ad Hoc Committee for the Evaluation of the Present Functions of the 

National Bureau of Standards. A Report to The Secretary of Commerce by the Ad Hoc Committee for the 

Evaluation of the Present Functions of the National Bureau of Standards: A Report on the Present Functions 

and Operations of the National Bureau of Standards with Their Evaluation in Relation to Present National 

Needs and Recommendations for the Improvement and Strengthening of the Bureau. Washington, D.C.: 

National Academy of Sciences, 1953. 

National Academy of Sciences (U.S.). Committee on Battery Additives. Report of the Committee on Battery 

Additives of the National Academy of Sciences. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, 1953. 

National Academy of Sciences (U.S.). Special Advisory Committee. The Role of the Department of 

Commerce in Science and Technology: A Report to the Secretary of Commerce by a Special Advisory 

Committee of the National Academy of Sciences. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, 1960. 

National Science Foundation (U.S.). Organization of the Federal Government for Scientific Activities. 

Washington, D.C.: National Science Foundation, 1956. 

Newhouse, John. War and Peace in the Nuclear Age. New York: Knopf, 1989. 

Nixon, Richard M. Six Crises. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1969. 

O'Neill, William L. American High: The Years of Confidence, 1945-1960. New York: The Free Press, 1986. 

Page, Chester H., and Paul Vigoureux, eds. The International Bureau of Weights and Measures, 1875-1975. 

Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Special Publication 420. Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, U.S. 

Dept. of Commerce, 1975. 

Pais, Abraham. Inward Bound: Of Matter and Forces in the Physical World. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986. 

Passaglia, EIio. Science: Evidence, Truth & Integrity. Nat!. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Special Publication 690. 

Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 1985. 

Perry, John. The Story of Standards. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1955. 

Price, Don K. Government and Science: Their Dynamic Relationship in American Democracy. New York: 

New York University Press, 1954. 

Reedy, George E. The Twilight of the Presidency from Johnson to Reagan. New York: New American Library, 1987. 

785 
Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House. Boston: Houghton 

Mifflin, 1965. 

The Cycles of American History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986. 

Shapely, Deborah, and Rustum Roy. Lost at the Frontier. Philadelphia: lSl Press, 1985. 

Smith, Bruce L. R. American Science Policy Since World War 1!. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings InstitutiOn, 1990. 

Smith, Ralph W. The Federal Basis for Weights and Measures. Nati. Bur. Stands. (U.S.) Circular 593. 

Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 1958. 

Smyth, Henry D. Atomic Energy for Military Purposes, the Official Report on the Development of the 

Atomic Bomb Under the Auspices of the United States Government, 1940-1945. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1945. 

Snyder, Wilbert F., and Charles L. Bragaw. Achievement in Radio: Seventy Years of Radio Science, Technology, Standards, and Measurement at the National Bureau of Standards. NatI. Bur. Stands. (U.S.) Special 

Publication 555. Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 1986. 

Stone, I. F. The Haunted Fifties: 1952-1963. Boston: Little Brown, 1963. 

Taylor, Barry N. Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI). Nati. Inst. Stand. Technol. 

(U.S.) Special Publication 811, 1995 ed. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Standards and Technology, 

1995. 

Taylor, Barry N. and Chris E. Kuyatt. Guidelines for Evaluating and Expressing the Uncertainty of NIST 

Measurement Results. NatI. Inst. Stand. Technol. (U.S.) Technical Note 1297, 1994 ed. Washington, D.C.: 

National Institute of Standards and Technology, 1994. 

Taylor, Lauriston S. X-Ray Measurements and Protection, 1913- 1964: The Role of the National Bureau of 

Standards and the National Radiological Organizations. Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Special Publication No. 

625. Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 1981. 

Todd, John. "John Hamilton Curtiss, 1909-1977." Annals of the History of Computing 2, no. 2 (1980): 

104-110. 

Trager, James. The People's Chronology. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1979. 

Tuchman, Barbara. The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam. London: Cardinal, 1990. 

Unesco. National Science Policies of the U.S.A.: Origins, Development and Present Status. Paris, Unesco, 

1968. 

United States. Bureau of Standards. War Work of the Bureau of Standards. Nati. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) 

Miscellaneous Publication 46. Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 

1921. 

United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Small Business. Battery AD-X2. Hearings Before the 

Select Committee on Small Business, United States Senate, Eighty-third Congress, First Session, on Investigation of Battery Additive AD-X2, March 31, June 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26, 1953. 

Annual Report of the Select Committee on Small Business, U.S. Senate, 25 March 1954. 

United States. Library of Congress. Legislative Reference Service. "AD-X2: The Difficulty of Proving a Negative." Chapter 3 in Technical Information for Congress: Report to the Subcommittee on Science, 

Research, and Development of the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, 

9/st Cong., 1st sess. 1969. 

United States. National Bureau of Standards. Preservation of the Declaration of Independence and the 

Constitution of the United States of America. NatI. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Circular 505. Washington, D.C.: 

National Bureau of Standards, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 1951. 

United States. National Bureau of Standards. Report on Battery Additives by the National Bureau of 

Standards. NatI. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Report 2447. Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, U.S. 

Dept. of Commerce, 1953. 

Weber, Gustavus A. The Bureau of Standards: Its History, Activities and Organization. Baltimore: Johns 

Hopkins Press, 1925. 

786 
INDEX 

This index is arranged word by word. Letters and numbers are sorted up to the end of the first word or 

comma, and then stop. All other characters are sorted as a space. The second and following words are sorted 

only when two or more entries begin with the same word. Page numbers followed by an "n" indicate the 

information is found in a footnote. Bold page numbers indicate photographs. 

A 

Abramowitz, Milton, 264 

absolute ampere, 197—200 absolute measurements, 197 absolute radiometer, 545 

absolute units, 537—538 

acceptance testing, 226, 283, 284 

Achenbach, Paul R., 253n, 591 Acheson, Dean, 5 acidity standards, 220—221 acoustic impedance, 229 

acrylic aircraft canopies, 233 

Activation Analysis Section, 569 

Ad-Hoc Cryogenic Engineering Panel, 308n 

AD-X2. See Battery AD-X2 

Adams, John Quincy, 48 

Adams, Leason H., 355 

adiabatic demagnetization, 207, 210 

adiabatic furnace, 260 

Administration Building, 484 

Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), 

294, 398, 438, 582—586 

Aerodynamics Section, 226n 

Aerospace Industries Association, 377 

Agency for International Development, 384, 509 

Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance 

Act of 1954, 303 

Agricultural University of Wageningen, The 

Netherlands, 554 

air cleaners, testing, 257 

air flow, 226, 227, 257 

Air Navigation Development Board, 276 

air pollution, 143, 220, 293 

Air Research and Development Command, 192 air turbulence, 226 

aircraft components, plastic, 233 

aircraft engineering, 227 

aircraft performance, 226—227 airglow projects, 443, 

Albert, Carl, 469 

Aldrin, Edwin E., Jr., 460 

Alexander, Samuel N., 42, 43, 261, 432, 502 

Allen, John J., Jr., 129 Allen V. Astin Measurement Science Award, 316 

Alley, C.O., 525n, 526n 

Alloy Data Center, 429 

Alloy Physics Section, 428 

alloys, studies of, 238, 239 

Alcuette I satellite, 445 

Alpher, Ralph, 11 Alt, Franz L., 262 

Aluminum Company of America, 257 

aluminum foil reflective insulation, 257 

Alvarez, Luis W., 38 

amateur radio operators, 530 

Ambler, Ernest 

787 

adiabatic demagnetization research, 206, 207 

director, Institute for Basic Standards (IBS), 

468 

interview with, 209 

nonconservation of parity, 147, 207—2 12 nuclear orientation techniques, 208 

superconducting semiconductors, 561 

American Apparel Manufacturers Association, 337 

American Association for the Advancement of 

Science, 5, 144 

American Association of Clinical Chemistry 

(AACC), 55 1—552 American Ceramic Society, 177n, 252 

American Chemical Society (ACS), I 19n, l77n, 

329, 332—333 

American Crystallographic Association, 252 

American Dental Association, 33, 236 

American Foundrymen's Association, 31 American Institute of Electrical Engineers, I 19n, 

I 77n 

American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical 

Engineers, ll9n, 177n American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and 

Petroleum Engineers, 512 

American Institute of Physics (AlP), I l9n, l77n, 332—333 American Iron and Steel Institute, 254 

American National Standards Institute (ANSI), 

260, 559 
American Petroleum Institute, 32 

American Physical Society 

on A.V. Astin's dismissal, 117, 120 

Division of Electron Physics, 216 

Donald F. Hornig's speech, 462—463 

meetings, 70 

NSRDS assistance, 329 

support of E.U. Condon, 163 

American Society for Testing and Materials 

(ASTM) as advisory committee, 177n 

electronic materials, 438 

National Measurement System, 512 

silicon resistivity, 586, 588 

Smoke Density Chamber, 598 

standard x-ray patterns, 252 

American Society of Civil Engineers, I l9n 

American Society of Mechanical Engineers, I 19n, 

I 77n 

American-Soviet Science Society (ASSS), 159, 

163 

American Standards Association (ASA), 177n, 

260, 559 

American University, 565 

American Window Glass Company, 52 

ammeters, calibrating, 23 

ammonia clock, 12, 368 

ammonium dihydrogen phosphate, 583, 585 

AMOS IV computer, 433, 434 

ampere, absolute, 197—200 

amyl acetate lamp, 546 

analysis of experimental data, 265 

Analysis of Material and Structural Failures 

Program, Metallurgy Division, 579 

Analytical and Inorganic Chemistry Division, 

318, 419, 438 

analytical chemistry, 219, 580 

Analytical Chemistry Division, 343, 419—420, 

521, 568, 569 

anemometers, 226, 227, 257 

angstrom, 37n 

Angstrom, Anders J., 545 

anthropomorphic dummies, 498—500 

Apollo II mission, 460, 525, 526 

Apollo 14 mission, 525 

Apollo Program, 289 

applications standards, Center for Computer 

Sciences and Technology, 559 

Applied Analytical Research Section, 419 

applied mathematics, 66 

applied mathematics and computers, 40—44, 

261—269, 431 

Applied Mathematics Division, 26 1—269, 305, 

430—432, 503, 507 

788 

Applied Mathematics Executive Council, 261 

Applied Polymers Standards and Research 

Section, 319 

Applied Research Award, 316 

appropriations, wartime, 30 

Aquella, 71, 74—79 architectural acoustics, 229 

arctic radar network, 254 

Armstrong, Neil A., 287, 460 

Army Ballistic Missile Agency, 288 

Army-McCarthy hearings, 140—141 Army Office of Ordnance Research, 206 

Army Ordnance Corps, 99 

Army Ordnance Department, 41 Army Quartermaster Corps, 257 

Army Signal Corps, 433 

artifacts v. natural standards, 37—40 artificial radioactivity, 56 

ASCII, 559—560 

Asphalt Roofing Industry Bureau, 257—258 

asphalt studies, 450 

assassinations, 287, 292 

Associated Advertising Clubs of the World, 83 

Association of American Battery Manufacturers, 

95 

Association of American Steel Manufacturers, 31 Astin, Alexander William, 172 

Astin, Allen V. 

1965 Annual Report, introduction, 465 

anniversary, fiftieth, 154 

appointed acting director, 102 

appointment of S.N. Alexander, 432 

Battery AD-X2 

correspondence with J.M. Ritchie, lO6n 

interview with, 107n 

letter from V.P. Dalmas, 104n 

letter to H.H. Lehman, 102 

publication of scientific results, 124 

reinstatement, 129—130 

resignation, 114—I 15, 120 

scientific freedom, 134 

testimony, POD Hearings, III 

testimony, SSCSB Hearings, 72, 75, 94, 

105, 106, 123—124, 126 

biography, 171—173 

Boulder-Washington relations, 3 19—322 dedication of IT&T Laboratory, 284 

dedication of NBS Boulder Laboratories, 189 

LEO activities, 471—472 

ESSA, 492—493 

establishment of JILA, 324—325, 327 

establishment of the Samuel Wesley Stratton 

Award, 313—3 15 fire research, 505 
Astin, Allen V. (continued) 

flagpole, 488n 

Gaithersburg facilities, 475—478, 4.81, 482 

General Conference for Weights and 

Measures, 350 

interview with, 62 

letter from R.H. Bahmer, 53n 

letter to G.M. Wheatley, 260 

letter to J.H. Hollomon, 483n 

letter to J.L. McClellan, 513n 

LINAC, 416 

meeting with Boulder Chamber of 

Commerce, 188 

memorandum from D.E. Parsons, 74n 

memorandum from I.C. Schoonover, 413 

memorandum from J.H. Hollomon 

Cryogenics Laboratory, 310 

NBS and Commercial Laboratories, 381 

memorandum from N.E. Golovin 

Bureau of Aeronautics Programs, 

300—301 

NBS Requirements and Plans for a Nuclear Research Reactor, 413 

Working Fund Work Policy Statement, 

301 

memorandum from N.L. Christeller, 302 

memorandum to D.R. Baldwin, 497, 503n 

memorandum to heads of executive 

departments, 432 

memorandum to J.F. Kincaid, 469n 

memorandum to J.H. Hollomon 

ADP Report to the President, 503n 

Engineering and Commodity Standards 

Activities, 380 

Engineering Standards, 381 

Issuance of Joint NI1-I-NBS Statement on Open Housing, 472 on JILA, 328—329 

Program for Building Research, 309 

Proposed Augmentation of 1966 NBS 

RTS Budget Submission, 502 

memorandum to L.H. Hodges, 338 

memorandum to R.E. Giles, 496 

memorandum to W.F. Rapp, 508, 514 

memorandum to W. Williams, 305 

mission statement, 298, 307 

NRC-NBS postdoctoral research program, 191 Planning-Programming-Budgeting System, 

473 

proposal from R.M. White, 492 

Refinement of Values for the Yard and the 

Pound, 385n 

retirement, 470, 518—521, 598 

standards, responsibility for, 495—496 

Astin, Allen V. (continued) 

Study Paper on Major Needs of the National 

Bureau of Standards, 305—306 

United States National Committee, 440 

weights and measures for the states, 555, 558 

White House Panel on Civilian Technology, 

NIPS proposal, 340 

Astin, Catherine, 172 

Astin, John Allen, 172 

Astin, Margaret L. (formerly Mackenzie, 

Margaret L.), 172 

Astin Award, 316 

ASTM. See American Society for Testing and 

Materials (ASTM) 

astronomical time, 372—373, 374 

astrophysics research, 322—329, 403—404 

Atlas missile, 288, 289 

atmospheric corrosion, 239—240 

atmospheric turbulence, theoretical studies, 276 

atomic and molecular physics research, 402—410 

Atomic and Radiation Physics Division, 66, 161, 

213—218, 318 

atomic bomb, effect on science, 6 

atomic clocks, 11, 368—372 

ammonia molecule clock, 12 

frequency standards, 272, 277 

time dissemination, 532 

Atomic Collision Cross Section Information 

Center, 554 

Atomic Energy Act of 1946, 13 Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) 

clearance for E.U. Condon, 165 

Cryogenics Engineering Laboratory, 183 

Division of Biology and Medicine, 588 

formation of, 6—7, 12—13, 157 

organic chemistry research, 223 

photonuclear research, 215 

radioactive fallout patterns, 267 

radioactive sugars, 223—224 

reactions of refractory materials, 251 

site investigations for, 476 as sponsoring agency, 35, 66, 131, 192 

Super (bomb), 185 

Technical Analysis Division projects, 509 

atomic energy development, control of, 158 

Atomic Energy Levels, 403 

Atomic Energy Levels Data Center, 554 

atomic nucleus study by electron scattering, 

563—565 

Atomic Physics Division, 213—218, 402—410 

gyromagnetic ratio of the proton, 39 1—392 organizational, 323n 

semiconductor research, 438, 560 

Atomic Physics Laboratory, 213 

Atomic Physics Section; 213, 323 

789 
atomic transition probabilities, 404, 435 

atomic weights, 580—582 

atomic weights, determining, 215 

Auman, George E., 470, 471, 473 

auroral region, 275 

automatic data processing (ADP), 500—504 

Automatic Data Processing Equipment Act. See 

Federal Property and Administrative Services 

Act of 1949, amendment 

automatic scanning photoelectric spectrometer, 

220 

automatic field-intensity measurement equipment, 

275 

automatic weather stations, 436 

automobile clutches, 36 

automobile engines, 205—206 

automobile safety, 458, 494—500 

automotive lead-acid batteries 

battery mud, 86 

charging efficiency, 86 

cutaway view, 84 

sulfation, 85 

tests on, 86-87 

automotive spark plugs, testing, 35 

awards, performance, 313—317 

B 

Babinet, Jacques, 37 

background radiation, 464 

Bahmer, Robert H., SOn, 53n 

Bain, Robert F., 471n 

balance, double-beam, 230 

Baldwin, David R., 497, 503n 

Bardeen, John, 11,47,148 

Barger, Richard L., 527 

barium-titanate powders, 251 

Barnes, 1. Lynus. 581n 

Bamett, John D., 360, 361 

Bartlett, Edward L., 383 

Baruch, Bernard, 3 Basic Instrumentation Section, 192n 

Bass, Arnold M., 318, 400, 401 

BAT guided missile, 18 

Battelle Memorial Institute, 579 

battery additives research and testing, 80—84, 

97, 113 

Battery AD-X2 

chemical composition, 96, 102, 103 

guarantee, 80 

instructions on package, 135 

military tests, 93, 99 

MIT test, 105, 110 

NBS tests, 94—100, 105—107, 133 

790 

Battery AD-X2 (continued) 

political cartoons, 118 

results, 133—136 

statistical design of tests, 265 

suicide test, 265 test for House committee, 104 test for Senate committee, 105 

tests for FTC, 102—104 

tests for POD, 102—104 

See also Protecto-Charge 

battery mud, 86 

battery research and testing, 80—84, 94 

Bay, Zoltan, 528, 529 

Bay of Pigs invasion, 287, 289 

beam loading, 450 

Beattie, James A., 109 

Beckett, Charles W., 398 

Beehler, Roger E., 371 

Beene, James C., 127 

beer meters, testing, 35 

Beers, L. Yardley, 318 

Bekkedahl, Norman P., 3l9n 

Belanger, Brian, 534n 

Bell, Karl E., 471n 

Bell Telephone Laboratories, 146 

Bender, Peter L., 314, 315, 39 1—392, 525n, 526 

Bendigo, Bruce B.; 130n 

Bennett, John A., 240, 576n, 577 

Bennett, Lawrence H., 429n 

Bennett, Wallace F., 116 

benzoic acid (7C-l4) standard sample, 216 

Bergstrom, John C., 565n 

Berkner, Lloyd V., 439 

Berky, Dean B., 187 

Berlin Wall, 287 

Bernstein, Barry, 390 

Bertozzi, William, 565n 

Best, Alfred S., 382 

betatron, 56, 59 

Bethe, Hans, II 

Better Business Bureaus, 83 

Bickford, Nathan, 567 

Big Bang theory, 11 Big Four conference in Geneva, 141 Biggs, Kathryn E., 471 

Bikini Atoll, 158 

BIPM. See International Bureau of Weights and 

Measures (BIPM) 

Birge, Raymond T., 278 

Birmingham, Bascom W., 186, 470 

bismuth-silver thermopile, 546 

blackbodies, 387—388, 389, 545, 546 

blackbody wavelength, 545, 546 

Blame, Lamdin R., 279, 280 
Bleany, Brebis, 208 

Block, Herbert, 139 

Block, Stanley, 358, 360—361 blood extender, 224 

Blum, William, 218—219 

Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA), 

New York City, 76 

Boggs, Kent D., 441 

bolometer, 545 

bolometric voltage, 543 

bolovac standard, 543 

Bolton, Elmer K., 132 

Bolton, Wilbur W., 478, 481 

bombs, 5, 6, 147, 185, 186 

bone-conduction hearing aids, 229 

borate-alkali systems, studies, 249 

Bottone, Paul W., 532 

Boulder Chamber of Commerce, 183—184, 188 

Boulder Laboratories 

Boulder-Washington relations, 3 19—322 cryogenic facility, 185—187 dedication, 188, 189 

director, 3 19—320 

land acquisition and appropriations, 184—185 site selection, 182—184 

Bow, Clarence, 336 

Bow, Frank T., 345-346 

Bowen, Harold G., 42 

Boyd, Alan S., 497 

Boyd, W. Hunter A., 18 

Brady, Edward L., 330—331, 333, 514 

Bragg, William Lawrence, 570 

brake fluid standard, 495—496 

braking systems, study, 500 

Branscomb, Anne, 520 

Branscomb, Lewis M. 

article in Physics Today, 328 

Atomic and Radiation Physics Division, 213 

Atomic Physics Division, 318, 323n 

Atomic Physics Section, 323 

interviews, 324—325 

Laboratory Planning Committee, 478n 

photodetachment of electrons from negative 

atomic and molecular ions, 404 

selection as director, 470, 518—522 

Brattain, Walter, I I Brenner, Abner, 219 

Bnckwedde, Ferdinand G., 185, 203, 206, 207, 

209 

bridge collapse study, 576—579 

Bridges, Styles, 288 

Bridgman, Percy W., 358 

Briggs, John D., SOn 

791 

Briggs, Lyman J. 

accounting of the Bureau's military work, l6n 

Aquella, 74—79 

Organic Act revision, 149, 151, 152 

radiation programs, 59 

report on Charters of Freedom, 49 

5-1 Committee, 157 on storage batteries, 83—84 sundial, 485 

United States National Committee, 440 

British Physical Society, 191 British standards, 555 

Brizee, W., 95 

broadcast stations. See radio stations 

Brode, Wallace R. as associate director, 176 as chairman of the NBS Editorial Committee, 

I 16n 

letter to C.J. Lapp, 190 

memorandum from W.S. Hinman, 117, 119 as NBS acting director, 117, 119 

Broida, Herbert P., 206, 399—401, 478n 

Bronk, Detlev W., 119, 120, 304 

Bronze Medal, award, 315—316 

Brookhaven National Laboratory, 408, 569 

Brooks, Jack, 500, 504 

Brooks Act. See Federal Property and 

Administrative Services Act of 1949, 

amendment 

Brown. Frederick W., 188, 189, 319—320, 322 

Brown, Linda, 142 

Brown, Oliver, 142 

Brown, Paul J., 497 

Brownell, Herbert, Jr., 166 

Bruckner, Benjamin, 223 

Brunswick Laboratory, 582 

bubble chamber, liquid hydrogen, 187, 447—448 

Buck, Elizabeth Hawthorn, 48n 

Buckley, Oliver, 145—146 

Budenz, Louis, 3 Building and Housing Division, 253 

building components, performance, 591 

building research, Second Kelly Committee 

Report, 309 

Building Research Advisory Board, 308, 309, 336 

Building Research Division 

disaster investigation, 592—595 

fire research, 595—598 

Fire Research Section, 507 

fire standards, 521 

in Institute for Applied Technology, 344 

performance concept, 590—592 

programs, 449—452 

standards programs, 521 
building structures, thermal insulating capacity, 

257 

Building Technology Division, 253—261, 305, 380, 

422, 449—452 Bullis, W. Murray, 586n 

Bunting, Elmer N., 357—358 

Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer), U.S. Navy, 200, 

300—301, 390, 426 

Bureau of Animal Industry, 457 

Bureau of Chemistry, Department of Agriculture, 

218, 457 

Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 218 

Bureau of Naval Weapons, 390, 436 

Bureau of Public Roads, 304n, 436, 577 

Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, U.S. Navy, 267 

Bureau of the Budget (BOB) 

ADP advisory council, 432 

Circular A-7l, "Responsibilities for the 

Administration and Management of 

Automatic Data Processing Activities, 

502—504 

Federal Information Processing Standards, 

558, 559 

Planning-Programming-Budget System, 472 See also Office of Management and Budget 

(0MB) 

Bureau of the Census, computer for census results, 41 Bureau of Yards and Docks, U.S. Navy, 258 

Burgess, George K., 329, 368n, 389 

Burnett, Harry C., 577 

Burns, James MacGregor, 455 

Burton, I., 95n 

Bush, Vannevar 

heading the Office of Scientific Research and 

Development (OSRD), 7—8 letter to G. Dunn, 150 

Organic Act revision, 150, 152 report on basic research, 9 Science, the Endless Frontier, 8, 294 

scientific activities during the war, 145 Butrymowicz, Daniel B., 429n 

Byers, Horace R., 304n 

C 

Calibration and Measurement Services Committee, 

378 

calibrations 

bone-conduction hearing aids, 229 

of capacity standards, 226 

check standard, 535—536 

definition, 282n 

electrical instruments and equipment, 194 

792 

calibrations (continued) 

Electronic Calibration Center, 377—378 

of force-measuring devices, 229, 362—367 

gage blocks, 239, 346—349 

high pressure, 355—362 

laser wavelength, 522—524 

length, 194 

limited to basic standards, 283 

of mass standards, 533—537 

of measurement standards, 34—35, 37 

of mechanical instruments, 226 

National Measurement System, 31 photoelectric pyrometer, 205 

using radio-frequency standards, 542—544 

Radio Standards Division, 277, 395, 397—398 schedule of services and fees, 379 

sound and vibrations, 228 

standard samples for, 3 1—32, 379—380 

standardizing laboratories, 284—285 temperature, 353—355 

transducers, pressure and displacement, 436 

of viscometers, 204 See also measurements; standards 

Califano, Joseph A., Jr., 506n 

Calvert, Wynne, 444 

Cambridge Laboratories, United States Air Force, 

586 

Cameron, Joseph R., 534 

Campbell, William R., 243n 

Canadian spy trials, 3 candle, standard, 546 

Cannon, Edward W., 262 

Cantazaro, Edward, 581n 

Capacity, Density, and Fluid Meters Section, 318 

Cape Canaveral, Mercury Control Center, 445 

Capper, Arthur, 163 carbohydrate chemistry. 222 

carbon- 14 standard samples, 380 

carbon dating, II, 380 

carbon-filament incandescent lamps, 546 

carbonates, study of, 251 

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 5 Carr, Francis, 140 

Carrion, Walter, 525n 

Carson, Rachel, 293, 462 

Carter, Gesina C., 429n 

Carter, Robert S., 414, 567 

Casella, Russell C., 212—213 

Caskey, Charles T., 464 

Caswell, Randall S., 414 

Catholic University, 565 

cat's whisker/silicon-rectifier harmonic crystal 

mixer, 528 

Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, 297 

cobalt gamma-ray standards, 32 

Coblentz, William W., 410, 546, 547 

Cochran, A.L., 311 

Cochran, William G., 132n 

coded character set, 559 

Codes and Specifications Section, 254 

Codling, Keith, 405—407 Cohen, E. Richard, 279, 281 Cohen, Marvin L., 560, 561, 563 

Cohn, Roy, 140 

coin-weighing machine, 195 cold-neutron source, 568 

Cold War, 3, 4, 6 

Cole, W. Sterling, 158 collagen, structure of, 234, 235 

College of American Pathologists (CAP), 551 Collett, Charles T., 318 

Collins, Michael, 460 

colloid chemistry, 218, 224 

color measurements, 194 

color television, 147, 148 

Colorado National Guard Radar Armory, 188 Colson, James P., 425 

Columbia Broadcasting System, 148 

Colwell, Jack H., 561 

combinatorial analysis, 43 1—432 Combustion and Controls Section, 226n, 228 

combustion chamber, 228 

Comet aircraft, 6, 147 Commerce Science Fellowship Program, 505 

Commission on Atomic Weights and Isotopic 

Abundances, 582 

Committee F- I on Materials for Electron Devices 

and Microelectronics, ASTM, 586 

Committee for Medical Research, 7 Committee for the Definition of the Meter, 349 

Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). 303. 

commodity standards, 38 —382, 521 

commodity testing. See product testing 

communications satellites, 295 

communism 

containment, 4, 6 

international, 3, 4, 141 policy of President Eisenhower, 141, 166 

compact oscilloscope, 195 complex dielectrics, 219 

Compton, Karl 1., 163 Computation Laboratory, 261, 264, 432, 503 

computation work, 26 1—269 computer explosion, 11, 40—44 Computer Science and Technology Center, 503 

Computer Service Center, 432 

Computer Sharing Exchange, 432 

794 

computers 

AMOS IV, 433, 434 

and applied mathematics, 40—44, 261—269, 431 component development, 433 

DYSEAC, 267, 268 

EDSAC, 43 

ENIAC, II, 41 IBM, 146 PILOT, 433 

programs, 433—435 RCA 501, 295 

SEAC, 42—44, 263, 265, 266, 267 

STATAC-SCOOP, 267 

SWAC, 43, 263, 266, 267, 269 

UNIVAC, 41-42, 146 

concrete research and testing, 246, 247, 254—255, 

449—450 

Concreting Materials Section, 246, 422 

Condon, Edward Uhler 

appearance before budget committee, 

269—270 

applied mathematics program, 41 Aquella, letter to Forbes and Reader's 

Digest, 78 

Atomic and Radiation Physics Division, 161, 

213 

Battery AD-X2 

correspondence with K.B. Willson, 93, 

98 

correspondence with M. Randall, 90, 92, 

94 

correspondence with W.F. Knowland, 91—92 

letter to H.H. Lehman, 101 memorandum from G.W. Vinal, 93 

statement to NBBB, 93 

biography, 154—159 Bureau's peacetime functions, 66 

Circular 474, Automotive Antifreezes, 74 

creativity, 63 as director of NBS, 66n, 156 on instrumentation, 192 

letter from C.E. LeMay, 7 

letter to J.D. Briggs, 50n 

Los Alamos Primer, 157 

low-temperature physics research, 206 

memorandum to H.S. Truman, 167 

radiation programs, 59 

radio propagation and radio standards 

research criteria, 182—183 resignation, 102, 168 

security issues, 13, 159—170 
Condon, Edward Uhier (continued) 

staff support, 166—167 stripped of security clearances, 14 

Condon, Emilie (formerly Honzik, Emilie), 156, 

160, 162, 163, 165—166 Condon Award, 316 

Conference on creative engineering education, 516 

Conference on Phenomena in the Neighborhood 

of Critical Points, 572 

Connor, John T., 470, 489 

Connor, William S., 279, 280c 

constant-temperature oven, 278 

Constitution and Microstructure Section, 246 

constitution diagrams, 239 

Constitution of the United States, preservation of, 

47—53, 234 

construction materials, fire tests, 595—596 

Consultative Committee on Thermometry (CCT), 

541 

Consumer Advisory Council, 457 

Consumer Credit Protection Act, 459 Consumer Product Safety Act of 1972, 493 

Consumer Product Safety Commission, 493 consumer protection legislation, 456—459, 493 

continuous-wave lasers, 522 

convertible funds, 300—302 

Cook, Herbert D., 523 

Cooke, Earl, 499 

Coolidge tube, 57 

Cooper, John W., 407n, 409n 

Cooper, Leon N., 148 Coplon, Judith, 165 

copper plate, Declaration of Independence, 48 

copper salts, effects on fur skins, 236 

copper studies, 238 

cordless microphone, 195 

corn syrup, analysis of, 219 

corner-cube retroreflectors, 525—526 Corona Laboratories, 67, 182 

corrosion research, 28—29, 239—240, 241, 428 

Corrosion Section, 238, 239—240, 241, 428 

cosmic noise studies, 273—275 

cosmic radiation, 56 

cost benefit analysis, 509 

Cottington, Robert L., l3On 

cotton, structure of, 234 

Council of Economic Advisors, 457 

Cousteau, Jacques, 293 

CPT theorem, 212, 296 

crack growth behavior, 573—575 

Craig, D. Norman, 55, lIOn, I30n, 58ln 

Crannell, Hall L., 565n 

creative engineering education, 516 

creep studies, 233, 238 

795 

Creitz, E. Carroll, 49n, SIn, 52 

Crick, Francis H.C., II, 296 

Cntchfield, Charles L., 200 

critical opalescence, 571 

critical phenomena, 569—572 

Crittenden Award, 316 

Cronkite, Walter, 455 Cryogenic Engineering Data Center, 449 

Cryogenic Engineering Division, 305 

organizational, 181, 186, 187, 305, 319 

research, 445—449 

Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory, 183, 195 AEC work, 185—187 

mission, 308—309, 310 

organizational, 318, 343 

Cryogenic Engineering Section, 186 

cryogenic equipment, 447—449 

cryogenic liquids production, 449 

Cryogenic Physics Section, 541 

cryogenic physics research, 207—207, 446—447 

Cryogenics Division, 522, 541, 584 

Crystal Data Center, 554 

crystal growth and characterization, 582—586 

crystal structure determination, 252, 358, 360, 

568—569 

crystal time-of-flight instrument, 568 

crystalline inorganic compounds, thermal 

decomposition, 251 

crystallization, 220, 425 

Crystallization of Metals Section, 428 Cuban missile crisis, 289—290 

Cullen, William C., 26ln 

currency counter, 35 

Currie, DO., 525n 

Curtis, Alexander J., 393n 

Curtis, Roger W., 199 

Curtiss, John H., 41, 42, 261, 262, 265 

Curtiss, Leon F., 32 

Cushen, W. Edward, 508 

Customs Service, determining import duties, 34, 

224 

Cutkosky, Robert D., 199—200 

D Daddario, Emilio Q., 464 

Daisy Decelerator, 499 

Dalmas, Victor P., 104n Danby, Gordon, 296 

dark-hemisphere effect from solar flares, 276 

data centers, NSRDS, 553 

data networks, National Measurement System, 511 

Data Processing Systems Division, 261, 263, 267, 

305, 433—436 
Davis, John W., 595 

Davis, Raymond, I 13n 

Davis, Raymond, Jr., 464 

Day, G.W., 548n 

dead-weight loaded-piston gage, 356 

dead-weight machines, 363—367 

Debye, Peter J., 572 

Declaration of Independence, preservation of, 

47—53, 234 

Defense Atomic support Agency, 412 

Deficiency Appropriation Act, 1950, 180n 

degradation of polymers, 233, 426 

materials studies for, 258 

polymer degradation studies, 426—427 support of fundamental research, 309—3 10 technical support for, 131 weapons development for, 193 Department of Energy, 517, 582 

Department of Housing and Urban Development 

(HUD), 509, 591, 592, 595—596 

Department of Science, proposal for, 339 

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research 

(U.K.), 273 

Department of the Interior, 509 

Department of the Treasury, 195 Department of Transportation (DOT), 29, 497, 

508, 577 

Department of Transportation Act, 458 

De Simone, Daniel V., 515 

detector-based radiometry, 545, 548 

detente, 141 

detergents in solution, 224 

dextran, 224 

Laboratory 

differential equations, 263, 264 

dosimetry research, 411, 418 

double-beam balance, 230 

Douglas, Paul, 458 

draft lottery, 565—567 

drifting process, 589 

Driscoll, Raymond L., 198—200, 314, 316, 

39 1—392 Drullinger, Robert E., 281n 

dry bomb, 186 

dry-powder fire extinguishers, 260 

Dryden, Hugh, 18 

DuBridge, Lee A., IOn, 131n, 146, 461, 463 

DutIes, John Foster, 141 DuMond, Jessie W.M., 278—279, 281 

Dunn, Gano, 149, 150 

Dunstan, Lura P., 581n 

data standards, Center for Computer Sciences and 

Technology, 559 

Davis, D.D., 533n Diamond, Harry, 172 diamond-anvil cell, 229, 357—362, 423 

Diamond Ordnance Fuze Laboratory, 66—67, 301, 

302. See also Harry Diamond Ordnance 

Dibeler, Vernon H., 318, 42ln, 58ln 

Dicke, R.H., 525n, 526n 

dielectric properties of polymers, 200, 392—394 

Dielectric Section, 200, 392 

dielectric work, 219, 250 

Dietzen, Robert, 185 

degradation research, 426 

Dellinger, J. Howard, 272 

Democratic National Committee, 520 

density-driven flow, 228 

Dental Research Section, 232, 236—237, 319n 

Department of Agriculture, 218, 258 

Department of Commerce (DOC) 

Commerce Science Fellowship Program, 505 

EEO program, 317, 470 

NBS reorganization, 1964, 338—345 Office of Science and Technology, 381 Panel on Invention and Innovation, 515, 516 

performance awards, 313 

post of assistant secretary for science and 

technology, 294 

security clearances, 166 

transportation study, Northeast Corridor, 508 

Department of Defense (DOD) 

Advanced Research Projects Agency 

(ARPA), 398 

diffusion by vacancies, 429 

Diffusion Data Center, 429 

Diffusion in Metals Data Center, 554 

dilution refrigerator, 541 

disaster investigation, 592—595 

Distant Early Warning (DEW) arctic radar 

network, 254 

Distillation Products Industries, 552 

distribution-free methods, 265 

Division of Biology and Medicine, Atomic 

Energy Commission, 588 

Division of Building and Housing, Department of 

Commerce, 253 

divisional laboratories, 34 

DNA molecular structure, II, 296 

Doctorow, E.L., 28n 

document retrieval system for physico-chemical 

data, 421 Domen, Steve R., 41 In 

Domsitz, Myron G., 586n 

Donnelly, Paul C., I3On 

donut in synchrotron, 61 

Doppler shift, 375, 527 

Dorsey, N. Ernest, 57—58, 197, 198, 279, 534 

796 
dynamic periphery, 27 dynamometers, 229, 231 

DYSEAC computer, 267, 268 

E 

E layer, radio propagation, 443 

Early Bird satellite, 465 

Earth-Moon trajectory, 44 

earthquakes, 508, 594 

Earth's oblateness, calculating effects of, 430, 431 

Eastern Europe, Yalta agreement, 3 Eastman Kodak Corporation, 52 

Eberhard, John P., 468 

Eby, Ronald K., 425 

Echo satellite, 295 

Eckert, J. Presper, II, 41 economic issues, 29 1—293, 459, 460—465 

ECR- 10 (Electrically Compensated Receiver), 549 

Edminster, T.W., 311 

EDSAC computer, 43 

Edward Bennett Rosa Award, 315 

Edward Uhler Condon Award, 316 

EEO. See Equal Employment Opportunity 

Eigenvalue problems, 263 

Eight-fold way, 296, 412 

Einstein, Albert, 163 

Eisenhart, Churchill 

Battery AD-X2 

FTC hearings, I 30n 

POD hearings, I IOn suicide test, 265 as chief of the Statistical Engineering 

Laboratory, 265, 266 

on E.U. Condon, 155 

interviews, l68n, 340 

NIPS proposal, 340 

recognition, 313 

reliability of measurements, 534 

Eisenhower, Dwight D. 

A.V. Astin's resignation, 114 

dedication of NBS Boulder Laboratories, 

188, 189 

integration, 291 

Khrushchev's visit, 289 

policy toward communism, 141, 166 

reaction to sputniks, 288 

refusal to sign the Geneva accords, 291 

science advisors, 146, 294 

speech at Dartmouth University, 140 

Eisenhower-Nixon ticket, 112 

elastomers, 232, 233, 234 

Elder, Frank R., 405n 

797 

electrical apparatus, testing, 35 

electrically calibrated radiometer, 548—549 

electrical resistance, 390 

electrical standards, 20—21, 22, 196—200, 537—540 

electrical units, international, 537—538 

Electricity and Electronics Division, 181, 239, 

261, 317, 436 

Electricity and Optics Division, 38 

Electricity Division, 181, 193—200, 317, 390—394, 

436 

ElectrochemicaI Properties of interfaces, 

Agricultural University of Wageningen, The 

Netherlands, 554 

electrochemistry, 28 

Electrochemistry Section, 8 1—82, 87 

electrodeposition, 218—219, 224, 225, 585 

Electrodeposition Section, 318, 419 

electrodynamometer, 199 

electrolytic theory, 87 

Electromagnetics Division, 548 

electron-beam interferometer, 216, 217 

Electron devices Section, 192n 

electron emissions, measurement of angular 

asymmetry, 208 

electron optics, 409 

Electron Physics Section, 216, 407, 408—410 

electron scattering, 408—409, 563—565 

electron synchrotron, 405—408 

electron tubes, testing, 35 

Electronic Calibration Center, 277, 377—378 

Electronic Computers Section, 261, 263, 266—267 

electronic devices and instruments, 195 

Electronic Instrumentation Division, 586n 

Electronic Instrumentation Section, 1 92n 

Electronic Research Center, NASA, 586 

electronic revolution, 146 

electronic scanning microscope, 436 

Electronic Technology Division, 586n, 588 

Electronics and Ordnance Division, 172. See also 

Harry Diamond Ordnance Laboratory 

Electronics Division 

computers, 42, 263, 266—267 

equipment, 195 

organizational, 181, 261 

electrophoresis, detergents in solution, 224 

electroweak theory, 464 

Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, 

456 

Eli Whitney Laboratory, 285 

Ellenberger, William 1., 475 

Ellett, Alexander, 65 

Ellinger, George A., 242n, 244n 

ellipsometry, 426, 427 

Elmendorf Air Force Base (Anchorage, Alaska), 16 
Elwell, LB., 528n F 

Enameled Metals Section, 246 

enameled steel panels, 249 

Energy-Related Inventions Program, 517 

Engine Fuels Section, 318 

Engineering and Related Standards Committee, 

378 

Engineering Electronics Section, l92n 

Engineering Mechanics Laboratory, 482, 483 

Engineering Mechanics Section, 226n 

Engineering Metallurgy Section, 428 

ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and 

Computer), II, 41 Eniwetok, 267 

environmental issues, 28, 142—143, 293, 456 

Environmental Science Services Administration 

(ESSA), 271, 322, 466, 492—493 

ephemeris second, 373 

epochal time, 367n, 372 

Epsom salts, 82 

Epstein, Edward S., 492 

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), 317, 

470—472 

Equal Employment Opportunity Award, 316 

Equal Pay Act of 1963, 317 

Equation of State Section, 571 equilibrium diagrams, 253 

equipment for cryogenics programs, 447—449 error voltage in servo-feedback systems, 195 Essen, L., 373n 

Eugene Casson Crittenden Award, 316 

eugenol, 237 

Evans, William H., 42 In, 554 

Evenson, Kenneth M., 28 In, 528—529 

Everiti, William L., I3ln 

Evers, Medgar, 287, 292 

Executive Order 8587 (first public statement of 

U.S. Government nondiscrimination policy), 317 

Executive Order 9835 (loyalty investigations of 

Federal civilian employees), 13 Executive Order 10590 (equal opportunity for all 

qualified persons), 317 

Executive Order 10807 (formed the Federal 

Council for Science and Technology), 294 

Executive Order 11717 (Government-wide data 

processing standards transferred to secretary of 

commerce), 560 

experimental data, analysis, 265 

experimental design, 265 

Explorer I satellite, 288, 439 

explosions, studies of, 264 

extended ASCII character set, 560 

extraterristrial noise studies, 273—275 

extreme value theory, 265 

798 

fabrics, flammability, 260 

Fabry-Perot interferometer, 396, 529 

face centered cubic (FCC) metals, 430 

Fahrenheit scale, 44 

failure analysis activity, 576—579 

Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, 459, 466, 493 

Faller, James E., 525n, 526 

Fano, Ugo, 61, 62, 312, 409 

Fano factor, 589 

Faraday constant, 54—55, 391 fatigue studies, 238 

Faubus, Orville, 291 Faust, Charles L., 2 FCC (face centered cubic) metals, 430 

Federal Aviation Agency (FAA), 436, 598 

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 161, 162, 

164, 165, 569 

Federal Council for Science and Technology 

(FCST) 

Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and 

Technical Information, 513 

fire research, 309, 504—505 

formation of, 146, 294 

Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, 

324 

National Hydraulics Laboratory, 311 National Standard Reference Data System, 

330, 553—554 

Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 457 

Federal Highway Administration, 577 

Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS), 

522, 558—560 

Federal Information Processing Standards 

Publications (FIPS PUBS), 559. 

Federal Nonnuclear Energy Research and 

Development Act of 1974, 517 

Federal Policy on National Standard Reference 

Data System, 330 

Federal Property and Administrative Services Act 

of 1949, amendment, 466, 500, 504, 558 

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) 

AD-X2 hearings, 128, 130 

AD-X2 testing, 83, 95, 103 Aquella, 76, 77 

complaints against Pioneers, 94—95, 128—129 

concerned with false advertising claims, 282 

formation of, 457 

letter from V.L. Smithers, 95 

NBS reports to 95, 96 

NBS testing for, 71 Federation of American Scientists, I I 6n 
Feinstein, Hymin J., liOn 

Ference, Michael, Jr., 304n 

Ferguson, Homer, 125 

Ferguson, Robert E., 318, 421n, 473 

Fermi, Enrico, 61 Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, 464 

ferromagnetic alloys, study of, 392 

Feynman, Richard, 11 fibrous materials, spontaneous ignition of, 

259—260 

field-intensity measurement equipment, 

automatic, 275 

field stations, 14—IS, 16, 246, 272, 274 

field-strength recording stations, 275 

Fieser, Louis F., 552 

Film Optical Scanning Device for Input to Computers (FOSDIC), 195, 436—437 

fine-structure constant, 396 

FIPS PUBS. See Federal Information Processing 

Standards Publications 

fire extinguishers, 259, 260 

Fire Protection Section, 254 

fire research, 259—260, 309—310, 451—452, 

504—507, 595—598 

Fire Research and Safety Act of 1968, 458, 466, 

506—507 

Fire Research Section, 507 

fire safety program, 505—506 

Fire Technology Division, 507 

Fivozinsky, Sherman P., 564, 565 

flagpole, 488n 

flame photometry, 219 

flame spread, 259 

flammable fabrics, 260 

flammable Fabrics Act, 260, 457, 459, 466, 

493—494. 506 

Flanigan, John, 520—521 Flanigan, Peter, 520—521 Fletcher, Donald 0., 471 

flood, Daniel J., 300 

flood investigation, Fairbanks, Alaska, 593 

floor materials, study of, 258 

floor, Roof, and Wall Coverings Section, 254 

florman, Edwin R., 279, 280—281 flow in liquids, 228 

fluid flow processes in cryogenics, 446 

Fluid Mechanics Section, 226n 

foamed concrete, 255 

Foley, Thomas, 458 

Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 457, 569 

Food Stamp Act of 1964, 456 

force-measuring devices for calibrations, 229, 

362—367 

force standards, 229 

Forman, Richard A., 360 

Fort Collins, CO, 376—377, 529—530 

FORTRAN, 146 

forward scatter propagation, 273 

FOSDIC (Film Optical Scanning 

to Computers), 195, 436—437 

FOSDIC IV storage device, 437 

Fowler, Howland A., 540 

fractional melting, 220, 221 

fracture mechanics, 573—575 

Franken, P.A., 526n 

Franklin, Alan D., 319, 478n 

Franklin, Philip J., 381 

Frederikse, Hans P. R., 561 

free-air ionization chamber, 58 

freedom riders, 292 

free-floating weather buoy, 195 

Free Radicals Program, 206, 399—402 

Free Radicals Research Section, 206, 318, 400 

freezing-point temperature standard, 551 

frequency 

of light, 527—529 

low frequency propagation, 276 

proton precession, 55n, 391 

radio dissemination of, 374—377 

standards, 277, 368—372, 542—544 

time dissemination, 374 

UHF range, 272—273 

VHF range, 272—273, 443 

Frequency Utilization Research Section, 272 

Fridinger, Tomas, 584 

Friendly, Alfred, l62n 

Fröhlich theory, 46—47 Frye, Paul M., 304n 

fuel metering, 390 

Fugassi, J. Paul, l32n 

Fuller, Everett 0., 554 

fundamental constants 

Faraday constant, 54-55, 391 

fine-structure constant, 396 

Josephson constant, 538—539 

proton gyromagnetic ratio, 391—392 

Rydberg constant, 403 

speed of light, 278—281, 396 

Gagarin, Yuri, 288 

gage blocks, 239, 346—349, 536 

Gaither Report, 146 

Device for Input 

standards and, 54—55 Stefan-Boltzmann constant, 546 

G 

799 
Gaithersburg facilities 

construction and relocation, 487—489 

cost estimates, budget requests and 

appropriations, 475—476, 477—478, 

481—483, 489 

dedication, 489 

facilities after WWII, 474—475 

facilities requirements and design, 480—481, 

483—484, 487, 488n 

flagpole, 488n 

Gaithersburg Planning Group, 478, 488 

gates, 485 

Kelly Committee Report on physical plant, 

475 

Laboratory Planning Committee, 478, 480, 

487n 

land acquisition, 479 

Newton apple tree, 474, 490 

policy of dispersal, 475 

site description, 490—491 

site selection, 476—477 

staff relocation, 488—489 

sundial, 485 

test wall, 491 

Gaithersburg Planning Group, 478, 488 

Galbraith, John Kenneth, 291. 333 

Galler. Gerald M., 433 

gallium alloys for dental fillings. 237 

Gammon, Howard, 502 

Gamow, George, 11 Gardner, Irvine C.. 193, 301n, 318 

Gamer, C.C., 102, 103n 

Gamer, Ernest L., 581n 

Garvin, David, 554 

Garwin, Richard L., 212 

gas anaysis programs. 220 

gas phase reaction kinetics. 554 

gates, 485 

Gatterer, Lawrence E., 532 

Gear Metrology Laboratory, 387, 388 

Geist, Jon, 548—549 

Gelfin, Samuel, 163 

Gell-Mann, Murray, 296, 412 

General Conference for Weights and Measures 

(CGPM), 350, 352, 365, 372, 373, 386 

General Electric Company, 56 

General Motors, 458 

General Services Administration (GSA), 257, 380, 

476, 559 

Geological Survey, 569 

George A. Uriano Award, 316—317 

geosynchronous satellite, 532 

germanium diodes, 43 

germanium radiation detectors, 588—589 

800 

GI bill of rights, 2 Gifford, William E., 185 

Giles, Robert E., 323, 327, 496 

Gilles, Louis, 51 Gilliam, Otis R., 280 

Gilman, John J., 573 

Glashow, Sheldon, 464 

glass 

entropy of, 250 

fracture mechanics, 573—575 

optical, 248 

research, 248—250 

SRMs, 550-551 

transition, 233 

Glass Section, 246 

Glauber's salts, 82 

Glennon, Barbara M., 404n 

Godfrey, Arthur, 148 

golden age of science, 294—297 

Golden, William T., 145 

Goldman, Eric F., The Crucial Decade—and 

After: America, 1945-1960 on Eastern Europe, 3 on McCarthyism, 140 on national turbulence, 5 post-World War 11 economic issues, 2 on Sinclair Weeks, 112 

on Soviet challenge, 143 

Gold Medal, award, 313 

Golovin, Nicholas E. 

associate director, 176 

Bureau of Aeronautics programs study, 

300—301 

Gaithersburg facilities, 478, 480, 481 

Institute for Applied Science proposal, 

30 1—302 nuclear reactor program. 413 

Working Fund Work Policy Statement, 3Oln 

Goodman, Walter, 170 

Goodwin, Norman, 104 

Gordon, James P., 147, 296 

Gordon, Kermit, SOln 

Gordon Report, 501—502 

Gordy, Walter, 280 

Graham, Hylton, 478 

Gramlich, John W., 581n 

Grand Unified Theories, 54n 

graphite for nuclear reactors, measurement, 251 

Great Society, 287, 456, 457—458 

Green, Melville S., 318, 569—572 

Griffith criterion for fracture, 573 

Gross, Daniel, 26 In, 597 

gross national product (GNP), 142, 143—144 

Groves, Leslie R., 169 
GR-S (Government Rubber-Styrene), 233, 234 

Gruening, Ernest, 383 

guarded-field ionization chamber, 58 

guided-missile research laboratory, 67, 182 guided missiles, 18, 182 

gyromagnetic ratios, 55n, 39 1—392, 397 

H 

Haddon, William, Jr., 497 

Hagan, Lucy B., 403n 

Hagenauer, Rene, 74—76, 79 

Haggerty, Patrick E., 468 

Hall, John L., 328, 527 

Hall, R.G., 373n 

Hall, William G., 2l8n 

halogen compounds, 82 

Hamer, Walter J. 

Battery AD-X2 

correspondence with 

FTC hearings, 130n 

POD hearings, I IOn 

report, 102n 

chief of the Electrochemistry Section, 81, 82 

determination of the Faraday constant, 55n 

Hamilton, C.A., 548n 

Hammel, E.F., 185n 

Handbook 50, X-ray Protection Design, 2l5 

Handbook 52, Maximum Permissible Amounts of 

Radioisotopes in the Human Body and 

Maximum Permissible Concentrations in Air 

and Water, 215 

Handbook 53, Recommendations for the Disposal 

of Carbon-14 Wastes, 215 

Handbook 55, Protection Against 

Betatron-Synchrotron Radiations Up to 100 

Million Electron Volts, 215 

Handbook 56, Safe Handling of Cadavers 

Containing Radioactive Isotopes, 215 

Handbook 77, Precision Measurement and 

Calibration, 379 

Handicapped Children's Early Education 

Assistance Act, 456 

Harding, Warren G., 49 

hard superconductor, 563 

hardware standards, Center for Computer Sciences 

and Technology, 559 

Harriman, Averell, 161—162, 164-165 

Harris, Forrest K., 540 

Harris, Jack A., 90, 95 

Harry Diamond Ordnance Laboratory, 66—67, 

131, 1 32n. See also Diamond Ordnance Fuze 

Laboratory 

Hart, Philip, 458 

Harvard University, 569 

Hayden, Carl 1., 477 

Hayward, Raymond W., 147, 209—212 

hearing measurements, 229 

Heat and Power Division, 181, 203—207 

heat content of radiation, 544n 

Heat Division, 181 critical phenomena, 569—572 

Free Radicals Program, 399—402 International Practical Temperature Scale, 541 organizational changes, 181, 318, 390 

responsibilities, 398—399, 560 

heated-thermocouple anemometer, 257 

Heating and Air Conditioning Section, 254 

heat transfer studies, 256, 446—447 

Hefner (amyl acetate) lamp, 546 

helium liquefier, 206 

helium-neon laser, 351, 522, 524, 527 

helium research, 45 

helium, study of absorption spectrum, 407 

Heller, Walter, 333 

Henry, Robert L., 201 

Herman, Robert, Ii 

Herring, Frank W., 304n 

Herschel, Friedrich W., 544 

Herzfeld, Charles M., 318, 402n 

hexagonal (HCP) crystal, 430 

Heydemann, Peter L.M., 357 

High Altitude Observatory, Hawaii, 403 

High Energy Radiation Section, 416 

high-energy x rays, 214—215 

high-field cryogenic magnet, 448 

high-frequency field-strength meter, 395 

High Frequency Standards Section, 272 

high-pressure research, 355—362 

high-temperature drop calorimeter, 250 

Higher Education Act of 1965, 456 

Highway Safety Act of 1966, 458 

Hill, David, 120 

Hillig, William B., 573 

Hilsenrath, Joseph, 188—191, 318, 433—434, 571 

Hinman, William S., Jr., 117, 119 Hipple, John A., 55, 392n 

Hiss, Alger, 5 Hobbs, Robert B.,.3l9 

Hocker, L.O., 528 

Hodges, Luther, 333, 338, 483, 495 

Hoffman, James 1., 55, 96n, I IOn, 392, 428 

Hoffman, John D. 

chief of Dielectrics Section, 330 

chief of Polymers Division, 394 

dielectric properties of polymers, 200, 

392—394 

J.M. Ritchie, 100 

801 
Hoffman, John D. (continued) 

director, Institute for Materials Research, 469 

interviews, 66n, 340 

Laboratory Planning Committee, 478n 

NIPS proposal, 340 

Hogness, Thorfin R., 158 

Holilield, Chet, 159—163 Holley, Robert W., 296 

Holloman Air Force Base, 498—500 

Hollomon, J. Herbert 

Civilian Industrial Technology (CIT), 

333—337, 340n 

EEO activities, 317 

ESSA, 492 

fire research, 504, 505n on JILA, 329 

letter from A.V. Astin, 483n 

memorandum from A.V. Astin 

ADP Report to the President, 503n 

Engineering and Commodity Standards 

Activities, 380 

Engineering Standards, 381 Issuance of Joint NIH-NBS Statement on Open Housing, 472 

Program for Building Research, 309 

Proposed Augmentation of 1966 NBS 

RTS Budget Submission, 502 

memorandum to A.V. Astin 

Cryogenics Laboratory, 310 

NBS and Commercial Laboratories, 381 memorandum to J.A. Califano, Jr., 506 

National Center of Fire Technology, 504 

National Institutes for Physical Sciences 

(NIPS), 340—342 Planning-Programming-Budgeting (PPB) 

system, 473 

resignation, 469 

Hollomon, Margaret, 469 

Honzik, Emilie, 156, 160, 162, 163, 165—166 

Hoover, Herbert, 253, 381 Hoover, J. Edgar, 165, 166, 

Hoppes, Dale D., 147, 209—212 

Homig, Donald F., 332n, 462—463, 492 

Horton, Avery T., 471, 583 

Hosler, William R., 561 hot-wire anemometer, 226, 227 

House Committee on Interstate and Foreign 

Commerce, report for, 109, 151 House Committee on Un-American Activities, 13, 

159, 167, 168, 169 House Select Committee on Small Business, 104 

House Subcommittee on Science, Research, and 

Development of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 509n 

802 

Housing and Home Finance Agency (HHFA), 255 

Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965, 

456 

housing systems, 255, 591—592, 595—598 

Howard, Paul L., 2, 97, 99n 

Howard, Paul T., 218 

Hudson, Ralph P. adiabatic demagnetization research, 206, 207 

demonstration of low temperature equipment, 

154 

nonconservation of parity, 147, 207—2 12 nuclear orientation techniques, 208 

Humphrey, Hubert H., 121—123, 339, 456 

Hunt, Franklin L., 57—58 Huntoon, Robert D., 313 

Appropriations Hearings for 1961, 349 

associate director, 176 

deputy director, 312 

director of Institute for Basic Standards 

(IBS), 342, 468 

Institute for Applied Science proposal, 301—302 

interview, 65 

mission statement, 310 

National Measurement System, 3 In, 510—512 

Office of Program Development and 

Evaluation, 468, 473 

retirement, 470 

Hurricane Camille, investigation, 594 

Huskey, Harry D., 42n 

Hutchisson, Elmer, 350 

hydraulic testing machine, 366, 367 

Hydraulics Laboratory, 311 Hydraulics Section, 226n 

hydrogen, impurities in, 220 

hydrogen bomb, 147, 185, 186 hydrogen cyanide gaseous maser, 396 

hydrogen liquefaction plant, 187 

hydrogen liquefier, 186, 206 

hygrometers, 436 

I 

IBM Corporation, 146, 435 

IDMS technique, 580 

IGY. See International Geophysical Year 

incandescent lamps, testing, 27 

indium antimonide, 214 

Industrial Building, demolition of, 474 

Industrial Equipment Technology Division, 344 

inelastic scattering, 568, 569 

Information Technology Division, 344, 503 

infrared spectra of chemical compounds, 222 

infrasonic waves, 390 
inertia-disk dynamometer, 500 

Insecticides, Fungicides, and Rodenticides Act, 

293 

Institute for Applied Science proposal, 301—302 

Institute for Applied Technology (IAT), 341—344, 

468, 515—518, 521, 590—592 

Institute for Basic Standards (IBS), 342, 343, 468, 

521, 560 

Institute for Materials Research (IMR), 342, 343, 

468, 521 

Institute for Numerical Analysis (INA), 43, 67, 

176, 261, 262, 266 

Institute for Telecommunication Sciences and 

Aeronomy, 493 

Institute of Metrology (U.S.S.R.), 349 

Institute of Physics (U.K.), 252 

Institute of Radio Engineers, I 19n, 177n 

instrument network, National Measurment 

System, 511 

Instrument Society of America, 192 

Instrumentation Division 

organizational, 192, 318, 344, 390 

research, 436—438, 586—588 

instrumentation program, 191—192 

insulation research, 257, 446 

Interagency Committee on Data Processing, 432 

Interdepartmental Committee on Fire Research, 

505 

Interdepartmental Committee on Scientific 

Research and Development, 145 

Interdepartmental Radio Advisory Committee, 376 

Interdisciplinary Research Relevant to the 

Problems of our Society Program, 464 

interferometers 

electron-beam, 216, 217 

Fabry-Perot, 396, 529 

Michelson, 35 1—352, 396, 523 

internal friction, study of, 423—424 

Internal Revenue Service, 569 

International Association of Fire Chiefs, 505 

International Astronomical Union (IAU), 324 

International Bureau of Weights and Measures 

(BIPM) 

definition of the maintained volt, 538 

prototype standards, 19, 21, 194, 349—350 

revisions to the IPTS, 1968, 541 

International Committee for Weights and 

Measures (CIPM), 372, 386, 538 

International Congress of Radiology, 57 

International Copper Research Association, 429 

International Critical Tables of Numerical Data 

of Physics, Chemistry and Technology, 329 

International Electrical Congress of 1893, 22 

international electrical units, 196, 537—538 

803 

International Electrotechnical Commission, 438 

International Geophysical Year (IGY), 272, 275, 

288, 438, 439—443 

International Pound, 385—386 

International Practical Temperature Scale (IPTS), 

45n, 203—204, 541 

international prototype standards, 19, 21, 194, 394 

International Pyrheliometer Comparison, Third, 

549 

International Radio Conference, 375 

International Radio Consultative Committee 

(CCIR), 273, 375 

International Standards Organization (ISO), 559 

International System of Units (SI), 386—387, 511 

International Telegraph and Telephone 

Consultative Committee (CCITT), 559 

International Temperature See International 

Practical Temperature Scale 

International Union of Pure and Applied 

Chemistry, 329, 582 

International Yard, 385—386 

International Year of the Quiet Sun (IQSY), 443 

Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory, 150, 

180, 270—271, 301. See also Central Radio 

Propagation Laboratory (CRPL) 

Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), 25, 29, 

457, 509 

invention and innovation, 515—518 

ion-exchange columns, 220 

ionic conduction, 28—29 

ionosphere, 273, 274, 275, 442—443 

Ionosphere Explorer / satellite, 445 

Ionosphere Research and Propagation Division, 

318 

Ionospheric Research Laboratory, 67, 272 

Ionospheric Research Section, 272 

IPTS. See International Practical Temperature 

Scale (IPTS) 

IQSY (International Year of the Quiet Sun), 443 

iron, 219, 239 

iron-chromium-nickel-molybdenum system, 239 

iron salts, 82 

Irwin, Lafayette K., 366n 

Isbell, Horace S., 224, 421n 

Ising model, 571 

isothermal distillation, 220 

isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) 

technique, 580 

isotope effect, in superconductivity, 44—47 isotopes, 38 

isotopic abundances, 580—582 

isotopic composition, 215, 550 

Ives, Lewis K., 430n 
Jackson, Henry, 295 

Jacob, François, 296 

Jacobs, Robert B., 186 

Jaffe, Irving, 421n 

Javan, All, 528 

Javelin rocket, 444—445 

J 

Jeffries, John T., 324 

Jeffries, Zay, 132 

Jeffries Committee Report, 132—133 Jennings, Donald A., 281n 

Jespersen, James L., 533n 

jet engines 

blades, 219, 239, 247, 248 

combustion and controls, 228 

fuels, 205—206 

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 53, 288 

JILA. See Joint Institute for Laboratory 

Astrophysics 

Johnson, Charles M., 280 

Johnson, Daniel P., 318 

Johnson, Edwin C., 182, 184 

Johnson, Lyndon B. 

attitude toward scientists, 4.62, 463 

automatic data processing report, 501 

Bureau of the Budget report, 501 

civil rights, 287, 292—293 

FIPS standards, 559 

Great Society, 456, 457—458 

legislation, 506 

NBS dedication, 489 

Planning-Programming-Budgeting System, 

472 

Vietnam War, 453, 456 

Johnson, Paul (author), 291, 454 

Johnson. Paul B. (governor), 385 

Johnson, Thomas S., 525n 

Johnson, Victor J., 185 

Johnson noise, 541 

Joint Committee on Atomic Energy (Congress), 161 Joint Committee on Chemical Analysis by 

Powder Diffraction Methods, 252 

Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics 

(JILA), 170, 322—329 

Joint Resolution of 1836, customary standards, 

555 

Joint Resolution To promote the maintenance of 

international peace and security in southeast 

Asia, 453 

Josephson, Brian D., 297, 538 

Josephson constant, 538—539 

Josephson effect, 297, 538—540, 541 

804 

Josephson junction arrays, 540, 541, 542 

Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data 

(JPCRD), 332—333 

Judd, Dean, 3Oln 

Jupiter, 275, 403 

Jupiter-C rocket, 288 

Kaeser, Robert S., 2l2n 

Kahan, Daniel J., 429n 

Kamas, G., 533n 

K 

Kamper, Robert A., 541, 542 

Kanagy, Joseph R., 319n 

Kaplan, Joseph, 440 

Karo, H. Arnold, 385n, 492 

Kauai, Hawaii, WWVH, 531 

Kaula, W.M., 525n 

Keams, Doris, 456 

Kearsley, Elliot A., 390n 

Keller, Andrew, 393 

Keller, W.E., 185n 

Kelly, Mervin J., 119, 130, i7ln, 174, 304 

Kelly Committee Report on applied mathematics and computers, 

26 1—263, 268—269 

on the Atomic and Radiation Physics 

Division, 213, 411 on Atomic Energy Commission work, 175 

on the Building Technology Division, 254 on calibrations, 229 on the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory, 

271 

on the Chemistry Division, 222 

convertible v. nonconvertible funds, 300—301 on electrodeposition, 219. 224 on the Heat and Power Division, 203 

impact on NBS, 130—132, 181, 193, 344 

justification for appropriations increase, 178 on materials research, 23 1—232 on measurement mission, 206 

on the Mechanics Division, 226 on the Metallurgy Division, 238, 428 on military work, 175, 176 

on the Mineral Products Division, 246 

on NBS operations, 173—177 on NBS research, development, and technical 

service capabilities, 113, 130—133 on the physical plant, 475 

recommendations accomplished, 297 

response of management, 193 on testing, 282—283 

See also Second Kelly Committee Report 
Kelvin, William Thomson, Baron, 26 

Kelvin scale, 44—45 Kendrew, John C., 296 

Kennan, George, containment of communism, 4 

Kennedy, Edward M., 464 

Kennedy, John F. 

acquiescence to overthrow of Ngo Dinh 

Diem, 291 

affirmative action policy, 317 

assassination, 292 

automatic data processing review, 501 

Bay of Pigs invasion, 287, 289 

civil rights, 291, 292 consumer rights, 457 

Cuban missile crisis, 289—290 

science advisors, 295 

space race, 288—289, 295, 445, 460 

White House Panel on Civilian Technology, 

333 

Kennedy, Robert F., 287, 455, 456 

Kent, Morton E., 165 

Kerst, Donald W., 56 

Kessler, Karl, 405 

Khoury, Freddy A., 425n 

Kieffer, Lee J., 554 

Killian. James R., Jr., 146 

kilogram, standard, 19—20, 21, 226, 229 

Kimberly. Arthur E., 49 

Kincaid, John F., 469, 519 

kinetic theory, 569—572 

King, Martin Luther, Jr., 142, 287, 291, 292, 455 

Kinzel, Augustus, 304n 

Kirby, Richard C., 317 

Kirkwood, John G., l32n 

Kirstein, Arthur F., 366n 

Kispert, M.G., IOSn, 108n 

Kistiakowsky, George B., 462 

Klein, J.A., 280 

Klein, Ralph, 421n 

Kline, Francis J., 565n 

Kline, Gordon M., 50, 319, 394 

klystron frequency, 528 

Knecht, Robert W., 4.44n 

Knight, James, 567 

Knight shifts, 429 

Knowland, William, 90—92 Koonce, Calvin S., 561, 562, 563 

Korea, Republic of, 6 

Korean War, 6, 7, 16, 137—139 

Kornberg, Arthur, 147—148, 296 

Kotter, F. Ralph, 478n 

Kowalski, Stanley, 565n 

Kropschot, Richard H., 186 

Kruger, Jerome, 426, 427, 428 

805 

Krushchev, Nikita S., 141, 289, 290 

krypton-86 lamp, 351, 352 

krypton-86 standard of length, 194, 349—350 

Kurti, Nicholas, 206, 208 

Kusch, Polykarp, 369 

Kushner, Lawrence M. 

chief of Metallurgy Division, 319 

deputy director of NBS, 470 

Institute of Applied TechnologyT, 468, 469 

Laboratory Planning Committee, 478n 

Metal Physics Section, 238, 428 

Kuyatt, Chris E., 409 

L 

Laboratoire de I' Accélerature Lini.aire, Orsay, 

France, 565 

Laboratoire Su isse de Recherches 1-lorologeres, 

374 

laboratory astrophysics, 403—404 

laboratory blackbody, 545, 546 

Laboratory Planning Committee, 478, 480, 487n 

Lafferty, Walter, 410 

Laidler, Keith J., 104, 107—109, 127, 134 

Lamb, Willis, 10—Il 

Lamb shift, II 

LaMer, Victor K., l32n 

Lamm, Ralph A., 18 

lamp standards, 547 

Lance, Harvey W., 378 

Landon, Harry H., 414, 567 

Langmuir, Robert V., 405n 

Lapp. Claudioi., 190 

laser-ranging, 526 

lasers for length measurements, 351—353, 522—529 

Lattice Defects and Microstructure Section, 428 

Lauritzen, John I., Jr., 393n, 394 

Law, C.A., 55n 

Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, 447 

lead isotopic composition standards, 550 

lead-silica glass standard sample, 550 

lead titanate-lead zirconate system, 250 

leap seconds, 374 

leather, studies of, 234—235 

Leather Section, 232, 3l9n 

Lederman, Leon M., 212n 

Leedy, H.A., 304 

Lee, Richard, 205 

Lee, Thomas G., 45ln 

Lee, Tsung Dao, 147, 207—208, 212 

legislation 

automobile safety, 495—498 

fire safety, 505—507 
legislation (continued) 

Great Society, 456—459 

NBS responsibilities, 493—494 

for state weights and measures, 384 

Legislative Reference Service, Technical 

Information Congress, Report to Subcommittee on Science, Research, and 

Development of the Committee on Science and 

Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, 

91st Congress, April 15, 1969, Chapter 

Three—AD-X2: The Difficulty of Proving a Negative, 127 

Lehman, Herbert H., 101—102 Leipper, Dale F., 304 

LeMay, Curtis E., 7 length standards, 37—40, 345—353, 522—524, 

526—527 

Leopold, L.B., 311 

lepton particles, 296 

Letter Circular 302, Battery Compounds and 

Solutions, 83, 93, 99 

Letter Circular 586, List of Publications of 

Interest to the General Public, 72 

Letter Circular 696, List of Publications of 

Interest to the General Public, 72 

Levine, Samuel, 421n 

levulose, 223n 

Lewett, George P., 517 

Lewis. G.N., 87 

Libbey-Owens-Ford Company, 51 Libby. Willard, 11, 147 

library. NBS, 486, 490—491 

Library of Congress, Charters of Freedom, 47, 49, 

50, 53 

Lick Observatory, 526 

Lide, David R., Jr., 332, 410 

light as a standard, 37—40. 194, 278—28 I, 349—353 

Lightbody, John W., Jr., 564, 565 

Lilienthal, David E., 165 linear accelerator (LINAC), 412, 415—419, 

563—565 

Lippincott, Ellis R., 357 

Lippman, Walter, 454 

liquid deuterium, 185, 186 

liquid hydrogen, 445—447 

liquid-level indicator and control system, 195 

liquid-scintillation counters, 216 

liquids, flow in, 228 

lithium deuteride (LiD), 186 

lithium diffusion in germanium, 589 

Little. C. Gordon, 318. 342, 468 

load failure of building structures in a fire, 452 

Loftus, Joseph J., 451 

Longsworth, Lewis G., 132n 

806 

LORAN (Long Range Navigation) tables, 264 

low-temperature physics research, 206-213 

loyalty investigations, 13, 70 

Lubbock, Texas, tornado, 593—594 

Luders, Gerhart, 212, 296 

luminous intensity, 546 

lunar distance determination, 525 

lunar landings, 295, 445, 460 

Lunik II satellite, 295 

Luther, Gabriel 0., 529 

Lyklema, Johannes, 554 

Lyons, Harold A., 12, 368n 

M 

MacArthur, Douglas, 138—139 

MacDonald, G.J.F., 525n 

Machine Development Laboratory, 261 

machine translation, 431, 432 

Macromolecules: Synthesis and Structure Section, 3 l9n 

macroscopic single crystals, 214 

Madden, Robert P., 405—407 

Maginot line, 75 

magnetic drum memory, 267, 269 

magnetic fluid clutch, 35, 36 

magnet technology, cryogenic, 448—449 

Magnuson, Warren, 458 

Maiman, Theodore H., 296 

maintenance of the volt, 537—540 

Maki, Arthur, 410 

Malenkov, Georgi M., 141 Mallinger, Arnold J., 365 

Malmberg. Cyrus 0., 130n 

Manhattan Project, 157, 219n, 580 

Manley, John, 65n 

Mann, David E., 188, 189, 190, 318, 421n 

manned lunar landings, 295, 445 

Manning, John R., 429, 554 

Mao communism, 4 

Maritime Administration, 304n, 509, 

Markowitz, W., 373n 

Marlow, William F., 216 

Mars, 403 

Marshall, George C., 139—140 

Marshall, Richard E., 464 

Marshall Plan, 4 

Martin, William C., 403n, 554 

Marton, Claire, 2l8n 

Marton, Ladislaus L. (Bill), 216, 218n 

Maruyama, Xavier K., 565n 

Marvin, Robert S., 204—205, 318 
Mass and Scale Section, 318 

mass measurements, 533—537 

Mass Section, 229 mass spectrometers, 580, 581 mass spectrometry, 215, 220, 580 

Mass Spectrometry Section, 318, 421n mass standards, 555—558 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 

105, 107—110, 565 

master index plate, 388 

Matarrese, L.M., 528n, 529n 

materials research, 23 1—232, 421 

cryogenics industry, 446—449 

Inorganic Solids Division, 422—424 

Metallurgy Division, 27, 238—240, 426, 427, 

428—430 

Mineral Products Division, 27, 246—253, 

422—424 

Organic and Fibrous Materials Division, 27. 

232—237, 424—427 

Polymers Division, 424—427 

Ship failures, 240—246 

mathematical analysis in mathematical physics, 

266 

Mathematical Physics Section, 262, 266 

mathematical tables, calculation of, 264 

Mathematical Tables Project, 40—41, 264 

Mathusa, Jesse L., I l3n 

matrix inversion, 263 

mattresses, cigarette ignition, 259 

Mauchly, John W., Il, 41 Maui, Hawaii, WWVH, 531 

Maxwell, Emanuel, 46, 47, 206 

May, Elaine Tyler, 137 

Mayall, R. Newton, 485 

Mayer, Joseph E., 132n 

McBumey, John W., 103n 

McCarthy, Eugene, 455 

McCarthy, Joseph, 139—141 McCarthyism, 5, 70, 139, 140 

McClellan, Delmar W., 53 

McClellan, John L., 339, 513n 

McDonald Observatory, 526 

McGovern, George, 456 

Mcintyre, Donald, 319n 

McKinley, Clyde, 308n 

McLane, Lewis, 555 

McLeish, Archibald, 49 

McMahon, Brien, 157 

McMurdie, Howard F., 358 

McNish, Alvin G., 183, 318 

McPherson, Archibald T., lO7n, 176 

Meal, Janet Hawkins, 190 

mean-field theories, 570 

807 

Mearns, David C., 48n 

Measurement Assurance Program (MAP), 533 

537, 540 

Measurement Standards Laboratory, 67, 272 

measurements 

absolute, 197 

calibration and, 37, 377—379 

color, 194 

electrical, 196-200, 542—544 

electron energy loss, 216 

graphite for nuclear reactors, 251 

isotopic composition, 215 

large forces, 362—367 

laser frequency, 527—529 

length, 37—40, 345—353, 522—527 

mechanical properties of materials, 226 

noise level, 228 

optical radiation, 548 

physical properties of glasses. 249 

pressure, 229, 355—362 

radiation intensity, 545 

radiative emissivity of building structures, 

257 

in radioactivity, 215 

radio propagation, 276, 277 

radio standards for, 277, 395 

silicon resistivity, 586—588 

smoke density, 597—598 

sound and vibrations, 226, 228—229 

spectral lines, 403 

speed of light, 278-281, 396 

standard weights and measures for the states, 

382—385 

temperature, 203—204, 353—355, 541—542 

thermal conductivity, 220, 450 

thermal properties of matter, 204—205 

time and frequency, 367—377 

tracer gas, 257 

uniformity of, 32 

water-vapor permeability of materials, 234, 

258—258 

See also calibrations; standards 

Mechanical Instruments Section, l92n, 226n, 318 

Mechanical Metallurgy Section, 238, 428 

mechanical standards, 226 

Mechanics Division 

measurement standards, 389—390 

organizational changes, 31 8 pressure calibration services, 356 

research, 226—230 

ship failures, 242, 243 

mechanized production of electronics (MPE), 

201, 202 

Medlock, Robert W., 216 
Meggers, William F., 37n, 38—39, 324 

MehI, Robert F., I 19n 

Meinke. W. Wayne, 380, 420 

Meissner, Walther, 45 

Meissner effect. 562 

Melting points of polymers, 393—394 

Menzel, Donald H., I 19n 

merchant ships, failure of, 242—246 

mercury-198 lamp, 39 

Mercury Control Center, Cape Canaveral, 445 

mercury line, compared to cadmium line, 40 

mercury-silver amalgam for dental fillings, 237 

Meredith, James, 291 

Merganthaler Linotype Company. 435 

Meschke, Ray, 567 

metal crystals study, 428—429 

Metal Physics Section, 238, 319, 428 

Metallurgy Division, 27, 29, 23 1—232 cryogenic magnet technology, 448 

electrodeposition, 218—219 

ellipsometry, 426 

gage blocks, 346—349 

organizational changes, 318, 319, 419 

Point Pleasant Bridge collapse, 576—579 

research, 238—240, 428—430 

ship failures, 240—246 

meter, standard, 19—20 Metric System Study, 466, 493, 494 

Metrology Division, 318, 387 

metrology training center, 384 

Meyerson, Melvin R., 346, 347, 577 

Michelson, Albert A., 37—38 Michelson interferometer, 35 1—352, 396, 523 

microphones, calibration of, 228 

microwave spectroscopy research, 410 

Microwave Standards Section, 272 

microwaves, 275 

Mielczarek, Stanley R., 407n, 409n 

Mielenz, Klaus D., 524 

military tests on AD-X2, 93 

military work, WW II, l6n 

Miller, John M., l97n, 198 

Mineral Products Division, 27, 23 1—232, 319, 

246—253, 422—424 

Minesinger, R.R., 450n 

Minuteman missile, 288 

Missile Instrumentation Section, 192 

missiles, 18, 264, 182, 427 

Mitchell, Neal, 591 

Mixture C. See Battery AD-X2 

mobile research unit, 276 

Modern Waterproofing Paint Company, 76, 77 

modular design of electronics (MDE), 201, 202 

molebdenum, electrodeposition of, 225 

molecular clock, 12, 368 

molecular genetics, II 

Molecular Kinetics Section, 318, 421n 

molecular sieve, 224 

molecular spectroscopy research, 410 

Molecular Spectroscopy Section, 318, 42ln 

Molecular Structure and Properties of Gases 

Section, 421n 

molecular weight, determination of, 224 

Molotov, Vyacheslav M., 141 molybdenum, electrodeposition, 225 

Mondale, Walter, 458 

Monod, Jacques, 296 

Monte Carlo methods, 44, 263 

Montgomery, G. Franklin, 192, 318, 586n 

Montgomery County, Maryland, 47 1—472, 509 

Montoya, Joseph, 458 

Moore, Dwight, 249 

Moore, Larry J., 58ln 

Moore Sitterly, Charlotte E., 324, 554 

Morgan, Alvin H., 532 

Morley, Edward W., 37—38 morphological stability theory, 429 

Morrison, Philip, 9 

Moscow Planetarium, 144 

Moses, Lincoln E., 566 

motor truck speed governors, testing, 35 

Mountain, Raymond D., 572 

Moyer, James W., 400n 

MPE wafer pattern printer, 201 

Muehlhause, Carl 0., 413, 414, 567 

Mueller, Frederick H., 304, 385n 

muffle furnace, 451 

Mulholland, J.D., 525n 

Mullen, Lewis 0., 542 

Mulligan, Joseph F., 278 

multiple radiation scattering calculations, 412 

Mundt, Karl, 141 

muon particles, 296 

Murdock, Harris H, 76, 79 

Murphy, Thomas J., 581n 

N 

Nachtman, Otto, 213 

Nader, Ralph, 458, 459, 462 

National Academy of Engineering (NAE), 509—5 10 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) 

Building Research Advisory Board, 336 

Charters of Freedom, 48 

evaluation of NBS research, development, 

and technical service capabilities, 113, 

130—133, 509—510 

808 
National Academy of Sciences (continued) 

International Geophysical Year, 439 

NRC-NBS postdoctoral research associates, 188—191 Office of Critical Tables, 329 

recommendation for A.V. Astin as director, 171 Space Science Board, 294, 323 

study of science and technology in Dept. of 

Commerce, 304 

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics 

(NACA), 204, 226, 288 

National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, 288 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

(NASA) 

CRPL space technology, 445 

formation of, 288 

mathematical physics studies, 430, 431 

polymer degradation studies, 426—427 

retroreflector experiments, 526 

silicon resistivity, 586 

National Applied Mathematics Laboratories 

(NAML), 42, 261—262, 268 

National Archives, Charters of Freedom, 48, 53 

National Better Business Bureau (NBBB), 83, 

92—93, 94—95, 96—99 

National Bureau of Standards (NBS) 

accuracy and uniformity, 26, 27 

aerial photographs, 15, 183, 486 

anniversary, fiftieth, 2, 153—154 

arbitrational v. regulatory responsibility, 24—26 awards, 313—317 

Boulder Laboratories, 182—188, 189 

Boulder-Washington relations, 319—322 

budgetary matters, 177—181, 298—303, 

466—467 

colloquia, 70 

cooperation between scientists, 64—65 corporate laboratory, 34 

description, 14—18, 23, 33, 137, 465—466 

EEO, 317, 470—472 

evaluation panels, 113, 130—133, 509—510 

field stations, 14—15, 16, 246, 272, 274 

formation of, 1, 19 Gaithersburg facilities, 474—491 

growth, 297—298 

leadership (1964), 468—470 

loyalty investigations, 13, 70 

mission, 21, 33—34, 152—153 

organizational structure (1950), 17—18 project criteria, 181 publications, 35—36, 71—74, 162n 

regulatory responsibility, 260 

809 

National Bureau of Standards (continued) 

reorganization, 1964, 338—345 

research funds, 179 

Senior Lunch Club, 69 

South Building, 69 

technical symposia, 153—154 

technical work, 34—37 Visiting Committee, 113, 119—120, 130, 149 

Washington, D.C. campus, 14, 15, 64 

Working Capital Fund, 180 

working environment, 62—70 See also names of specific divisions or sections 

National Bureau of Standards Reactor (NBSR), 

413—415, 488, 567—569 

National Capital Parks Police, tire wear tests, 35 

National Center of Fire Technology, 310, 504 

National Commission on Fire Prevention and 

Control, 507 

National Commission on Product Safety, 459, 

493, 506 

National Conference of Standards Laboratories 

(NCSL), 285, 378—379, 512 

National Conference of State Building Codes and 

Standards, 31, 32 

National Conference on Weights and Measures, 

31, 32, 177n, 384 

National Council of American-Soviet Friendship 

(NCASF), 163 

National Cryogenic Data Center, 309 

National Defense Research Committee (NDRC), 7, 

156, 157 

National driver register, 496 

National Environmental Science Service, 493 

National Environmental Services Administration, 

492 

National Fire Protection Association, 505 

National Foundation on the Arts and the 

Humanities, 456 

National Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968,458 

National Highway Safety Bureau (NHSB), 497 

National Hydraulics Laboratory, 305, 311 

National Institute for General Medical Sciences, 

551 

National Institute of Building Research, 309 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

(NIST), 342 

National Institutes for Physical Sciences (NIPS), 

338—342 

National Institutes for Science and Technology 

(NIST), 342 

National Institutes of Health (NIH), 9, 551 

National Inventors Council (NIC), 515—517 

National laboratories, 6—7 
National Measurement System, 31 510—512, 588 Nefflen, Karl F., 351 

National Motor Vehicle Safety Advisory Council, 

496 

National Physical Laboratory (U.K.), 39 

National Research Council (NRC) 

Building Research Advisory Board, 336 

evaluation of NBS research, development, 

and technical service capabilities, 509—5 10 infrared spectra data, 222 

International Critical Tables of Numerical 

Data of Physics, Chemistry and 

Technology, 329 

NRC-NBS postdoctoral research associates, 

189—190 

Office of Critical Tables, 329 

National Research Foundation, 8 National Science Foundation (NSF) 

charter revised, 464 

education of scientists, 145 

establishment of, 8, 145, 294 

Interdisciplinary Research Relevant to the 

Problems of our Society program, 464 

International Geophysical Year, 439 

JILA funding, 327n 

mission, 152, 339 

R&D expenditures, 143n 

Research Information Center and Advisory 

Service on Information Processing, 436 structure of, debates, 10 National Standard Reference Data System 

(NSRDS), 222, 329—333, 511, 553—554 

National Technical Information Service (NTIS), 

515 

National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 

1966, 458, 466, 496, 497 

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), 

458. 576 

Natta, Giulio, 147 

natural polymers, 232, 234, 424 

natural-ratio isotopic composition standards. 550 

natural rubber, 232, 233, 234 

natural standards v. artifacts, 37—40 Naval Board of Investigation, 242, 243 

Naval Medical Center, 264 

Naval Observatory, 374 

Naval Ordnance Laboratory (NOL), 568 

Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), 561 

NBS I, atomic clock, 370 

NBS II, atomic clock, 371 

NBS atomic clocks, 368—372 

NBS/GSA Test Development Division, 381 

NBS Safety Award, 316 

Ne'eman, Yu'val, 296, 412 

810 

negative ion states, 409 

Nelson, Gaylord, 458 

Nesbitt, Lloyd B., 46, 47 

Nethercot, Arthur J., Jr., 280 

Neumann, John von, II 

neutrino observatory, 464 

neutrinos, 296 

neutron flux measurements, 551 

New York Quartermaster Purchasing Agency, 265 

Newhouse, John, 65n 

Newton, Quigg, 326 

Newton apple tree, 474, 490 

Ney, Wilbert R., 34.6n 

Ngo Dinh Diem, 291 

Nicholas, Warren W., 61 nickel studies, 238 

night airglow, 276 

NIPS. See National Institutes for Physical 

Sciences (NIPS) 

Nirenberg, Marshall, 296, 464 

nitrogen tetroxide, effects on natural cellulosic 

fibers, 236 

Nixon, Richard M., 5, 170, 456, 463, 521 

Nobel Prize, lIn, 207 

noble gases, study of absorption spectrum, 407 

noise measurements, 228, 274—275 

nonclassical scaling laws, 572 

nonconservation of parity in weak interactions, 207—2 13 nonconvertible funds, 300-301 

nonlinear differential equations, 264 

nonlinear theory of viscoelastic substances, 390 

nonrotating projectiles prox imity-fuze program, 65 

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 4 

North Korea, 6, 137—139 

Northeast Corridor, transportation study, 508 

Norton, Kenneth A., 183 

NSRDS. See National Standard Reference Data 

System (NSRDS) 

NSRDS 60, Atomic Energy Levels—The Rare 

Earth Elements, 403 

nuclear magnetic resonance of metals and alloys, 

429 

nuclear quadrupole moments, 215 

nuclear radiation detectors, 588—589 

nuclear reactor, NBS, 413—415, 483, 567—569 

nuclear reactors, coatings, 247, 248 

nuclear reactors, preparing pure mercury, 38 

nuclear structure research, 411 

Numerical Analysis Section, 262 

numerical evaluation of integrals, 263 

Nutting, Perley G., 545 
0 

Oakford, Robert V., 566 

Oakland Better Business Bureau (OBBB), 89, 90, 

94 

Oakley, Charles H., 25 

oblateness of Earth, calculating effects of, 430, 

431 

O'Brien, J.T., 565n 

O'Brien, W.C., 110, III 

occupant restraint systems, 498—500 

ocean-based weather station, 437 

Ochoa, Severo, 147, 296 

Ochsenfeld, R., 45 

O'Connell, Maurice, 2 O'Connor, Blake 

career impact of Battery AD-X2 controversy, 

134 

correspondence with J.A. Stratton, 105, 109 

meetings with A.V. Astin, 107—108 POD fraud order, III, 113 

SSCSB, 105 

octane-number rating of gasoline engine fuels, 205 

Odishaw, Hugh, 66, 439n 

Oehme, Reinhard, 212 

Office of Auto Safety Research, 497 

Office of Basic Instrumentation, 192, 318, 436 

Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization, 309, 

412 

Office of Critical Tables, NAS-NRC, 329 

Office of Defense Mobilization (0DM), 146 

Office of Energy-Related Inventions, 517 

Office of Engineering Standards, 343—344, 382 

Office of Equal Opportunity, 470 

Office of Fire Research and Safety, 507 

Office of Industrial Services, 343 

Office of Information Processing Standards, 559 

Office of Information Programs, 514 

Office of International Relations, 514 

Office of Invention and Innovation (OIl), 515—518 

Office of Management and Budget (0MB), 560 

Office of Naval Research (ONR), 10, 41—42, 47, 

192, 575 

Office of Program Development and Evaluation, 

473 

Office of Public Information, 514 

Office of Science and Technology (Department of 

Commerce), 381 

Office of Science and Technology (OST, 

Executive Office of the President), 295 

Office of Scientific Research and Development 

(OSRD), 7, 40—41, 65, 145, 331 

Office of Standard Reference Data (OSRD), 331, 

343, 514, 553 

811 

Office of Standard Reference Materials (OSRM), 

343, 380, 521, 550 

Office of Technical Information and Publications, 

514 

Office of Technical Services (OTS), 304n, 343, 

513 

Office of Technology Innovation, 517 

Office of the Air Controller, 265, 267 

Office of the Army Chief of Engineers, 257, 258 

Office of the Director of Defense Research and 

Engineering, 294 

Office of Transportation, Northeast Corridor study, 

508 

Office of Vehicle Systems Research (OVSR), 

497—500 

Office of Weights and Measures (Coast and 

Geodetic Survey), 385 

Office of Weights and Measures (OWM, National 

Bureau of Standards), 20, 21, 343, 382 

Ohm's law, 537 

Okabe, Hideo, 422 

Olsen, P. Thomas, 540 

Olson Construction Company, 188 

omegatron, 55 

OMNIFORM I computer program, 433—434 

OMNITAB computer program, 433—434 

Ondik, Helen M., 554 

O'Neill, William L., 142 

Onnes, Kamerlingh, 45 

Onsager, Lars, 571 

Operation Breakthrough, Housing and Urban 

Development, 592 

Operation Crossroads, 158 

operations research, 265, 431, 507—509 

Oppenheimer, Robert, 14 

optical glass, 24.8 optical radiation measurements, 548 

Optics and Metrology Division, 193—194, 239, 

318, 34.6—347, 387—389 

Optics Division, 213 

Ordnance Development Division, 172 

Organic Act 

in 1901, 23—24 

1950 revision of, 149—153, 282 

advisory service to Government agencies, 

268—269 

functions, 19, 23—24, l75n 

measurement standards, 30—31 Public Law 84-940 (Working Capital Fund), 

178 

Organic and Fibrous Materials Division, 27, 232 

237, 319, 392, 424—427 

Organic chemistry research, 222—224 

Organic Chemistry Section, 421n 
Organic Coatings Section, 218, 318 

Organic Plastics Section, 232 

Organization of American States, 516 

Ornstein, Leonard S., 571 

orthophosphates, crystal structure, 252 

Oscilloscope, compact, 195 

other agency (OA) funds, l5n, 30, 179—180, 

300—302 

Ottinger, Richard, 458 

Overman Act, 30 

over-water tropospheric propagation, 276 

ozone, effects on cotton, 236 

P 

Page, Chester H., 317, 386 

Pais, Abraham, I In 

Panel on Invention and Innovation, 515, 516 

panoramic x-ray machine, 237 

paper, durability studies, 235—236 

Paper Section, 232, 319 

parity, nonconservation experiment, 207—2 13 Parker, James W., 131n 

Parry, J.V.L., 373n 

Parsons, Douglas E., 74n 

particle physics, 296, 412, 464 

Passaglia, Elio, 319n, 426, 577 

passive films, 428 

patent activities, modeling, 508 

Patent Office, 48, 304n, 508 

Pauli, Wolfgang, 212, 296 

Paulsen, Paul J., 581n 

Peagram, George B., 168—169 

Pearson, Cornelius, 250 

Pearson, Drew, 115 

Peiser. H. Steffen, 318, 424, 535. 582—583 Pellam, John R., 206, 399 

Pellat balance, 198—200 

Penner, Samuel, 563, 564, 565 

Penzias, Arno A., 464 

Pereira & Luckman (architectural firm), 184 

permanent—press clothing, 295 

performance concept, Building Research Division, 

590—592 

Performance Test Development Division, 344 

permeability of free space, 537 

permutation tables, 566 

Perutz, Max, 296 

Peterson, Esther, 458 

petroleum industry, 32, 194 

Pfeiffer, Earl R., 561, 562 

Pfeiffer, John E.. IOn 

phase diagrams, 239, 252—253 

812 

Phase Diagrams for Ceramists, 252 

phase transitions in polymer mixtures, 572 

Phelan, Robert J., Jr., 548n 

photodetachment of electrons from negative ions, 

403 

photoelectric pyrometer, 205 

photoelectric spectrometer, automatic scanning, 

220 

photographic dosimetry, 411 

photography, practical work, 194 

photometric standards, 387—388, 546 

photometry, 544, 546 

photometry laboratory, 23 

photometry of mercury-vapor lights, 194 

photonuclear data, 554 

photonuclear research, 59, 215 

physical chemistry, 218 

Physical Chemistry Division, 318, 343, 419, 421 

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (P1'B), 

349, 524 

Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (PTR), 19, 

22, 546 

physiological monitor, 195, 196 

Picatinny Arsenal, 568 

Pierce, John A., 375 

Piermarmni, Gasper J., 358, 360—361 

piezoelectric work, 250—251 

PILOT computer, 433 

Pilot Program in Mass, 535 

Pioneers, Inc., 88, 94, 103, 104. See also Ritchie, 

Jess M. 

Pitzer, Kenneth S., 131n 

PL-480 money, Special Foreign Currency 

Program, 303 

Planck, Max, 545, 546, 548 

Planning-Programming-Budgeting (PPB) system, 

472—474 

plasma, blood substitute, 224 

plasma arc apparatus, 354 

plasma oscillations, 275 

plasma physics, 430 

plastic deformation of metals, 239 

plastics, studies of, 232, 233 

Plastics Section, 319n 

platinum blackbody, 387—388, 389 

platinum-iridium kilogram, 19—20, 21, 226, 229 

platinum-iridium meter bar, 37, 194 

Plotkin, H.H., 525n, 526n 

Plyler, Earle K., 279, 280, 410 

Point Pleasant Bridge collapse, 576—579 

polarimetry, determining sugar content of 

solutions, 224 

Polaris missile, 288 

Polaris submarine, 146 
polar missile attack warning system, 254 

Policy Committee for Mathematics, 177n 

polio vaccine, 147 

Polk, Louis, 350 

Pollock, Clifford R., 281n 

pollution control, 293 

pollution studies, 28, 220 

Polychlorotrifluoroethylene (PCTFE), 392—393 

polycrystalline ceramics at high temperatures, 

251—252 

polyisobutylene, 233 

Polymer Characterization Section, 319n 

polymer chemistry, 224 

Polymer Chemistry Section, 319n 

polymer crystals, 393—394 

Polymer Evaluation and Testing Section, 3l9n 

Polymer Physics Section, 3l9n 

polymer research, 232—237, 392—394, 425—426, 

571 

Polymer Structure Section, 232, 392 

polymers, melting point, 393—394 

Polymers Division, 200, 319, 394, 424—427, 

polystyrene-cyclohexane solutions, 571 

Pontius, Paul E., 534 

Poorman, Fred S., 478n, 482 

Porcelain and Pottery Section, 246 

porcelain-coated metals, 247, 248 

Portland Cement Association, 247 

postdoctoral research associates, 188—191 Post Office Department (POD) 

Battery AD-X2 

complaint against Pioneers, Inc., 103 

fraud hearings, 110—Ill 

fraud order, III, 128 

NBS tests for, 83, 102 

cost-benefit analysis, 509 

mail fraud concerns, 282 

mail handling, 436 

NBS testing for, 71 nuclear reactor forensic work, 569 

tire wear tests, 35 

Postulate of Measurement, 534 

postwar America, 137—143 postwar chemical industries, 222 

Poultney, S.K., 525n 

pound, refining values for, 385—386 

pound-force, defining, 365 Powell, Robert L., 186 

Powers, Gary, 287, 289 

Powers, Joseph W., lO3n Pratt Institute, School of Architecture, 595—596 

precision balance, 556 

predictive analysis system, 432 

President's Commission on the Patent System, 516 

813 

President's Committee on Consumer Interests, 458 

President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC), 

146, 294 

Pressure and Vacuum Section, 318 

pressure measurements, 229, 355—362 

Preston, Prince H., 179, 299, 477, 482 

Price, Don K., 7 Priestley, H., 407n 

Prima Products, Inc., 78n 

primary standard kilogram, 19—20, 21, 226, 229 

prime numbers, 263 

private standards laboratories, 285 

product testing 

end of, 380—381 

examples of, 34—35 of government purchases, 27, 246, 247, 

282—284 

Kelly Committee Report. 282 

for private individuals, 75 

and publications, 7 1—74 for regulatory agencies, 71, 73, 282 

See also Aquella; Battery AD-X2 

profiling procedure, 432 

Project Tinkertoy, 195, 200—203 

Prosen,EdwardJ., 42ln 

Protecto-Charge, 87—89, 12 1—123. See also 

Battery AD-X2 

proton gyromagnetic ratio, 39 1—392 proton precession frequency, 55n, 391—392 

proving ring, million-lb capacity, 365 

proximity-fuze program, 65 

proximity fuzes, 219 

Proxmire, William, 458 

Pruiti, John 5., 41 In 

Pryce, Maurice H.L., 208 

Public Buildings Service (PBS), 476, 479 

public opinion, Battery AD-X2, 115—I 18 Publication Board, 513 

pulsed lasers, 522 

Pure Food Act, 457 

pure materials, preparation, 239 

Pure Substances Section, 419 

purification methods, 219—220. 221 

pursuit cars, testing, 35 

pyrheliometer, 549 

Q 

QSL cards, 530 

quantum electrodynamics, II 

quantum Hall effect, 540 

quantum mechanical systems, 207n 

quasar discovery, 295—296 

Quick, 0. Willard, 240 
R 

Rabi, 1.1., 65n, 146, 369 

Rabinow, Jacob 

Bureau life, 63 

magnetic fluid clutch, 36 

memorandum on security problems, 167 

National Inventors Council, 515, 516n, 517n 

Raby, Tawfik, 567 

racial violence, 454, 455 

racism, 142 

Radebaugh, Ray., 541n 

radiation, 56, 212, 214, 545 

Radiation Control for Health and Safety Act of 

1968, 459, 466 

radiation detectors, 588—589 

radiation intensity detectors, 545 

Radiation Physics Division, 318, 411—412, 

415—419, 503 

Radiation Physics Laboratory, 59, 213, 482 

radiation theory, 412 

Radiation Theory Section, 212 

Radiation Thermometry Section, 541 

radiative emissivity of building structures, 

measurement, 257 

radio carbon dating, 11, 380 

Radio Communications and Systems Division, 317 

radio-frequency standards, 272, 374—377, 542—544 

radio noise, 273—275, 443 

radio operators, 530 

radio propagation, 14, 272—273, 445 

Radio Propagation Engineering Division, 181, 272, 

438 

Radio Propagation Physics Division, 181, 272, 

318, 438, 440 

Radio signals, 276 

Radio Standards Division, 181. 272. 277. 395—398 

Radio Standards Engineering Division, 318, 343 

Radio Standards Laboratory, 318, 319, 375 

Radio Standards Physics Division, 318, 343 

radio stations 

WWV, 14—15, 17, 272. 274. 374—375, 529, 

530, 531, 533 

WWVB, 375, 376—377, 529 

WWVH, 14—IS, 272, 274, 375, 53 1—532 WWVL, 376—377, 529 

radio weather forecasts, 150, 270—271 

radio weather prediction service, 67 

radioactive fallout patterns, 267 

radioactive isotopes, 215 

radioactive sugars, 222—224 

radioactivity, 21, 215 

Radioactivity Section, 213, 216 

radioactivity standards, 411, 412 

814 

Radiological Society of North America, 

Standardization Committee, 57—58 radiometry, 544—549 

Radiometry Section, 213 

radium, 32, 35, 215 

radium gamma-ray standards, 32 

radon standards, 32, 35 

railroad accidents, study of materials, 29—30 

railway-scale test car, 25 

Ramberg, Walter, 226, 301n 

Ramsey, Norman F., 369n 

Ramspeck Act, 317 

Randall, Merle 

"6 Reasons Why You Should Use Battery 

'Protecto-Charge' ", 88 

correspondence with E.U. Condon, 90, 92, 94 

correspondence with G.W. Vinal, 87, 89 

death, 100 

and G.N. Lewis, Thermodynamics and the 

Free Energy of Chemical Substances, 87 

Randall Test, 89, 103 

random number generating, 263 

random permutation, 566 

Rank, David H., 280 

Rapp, W.F., 508, 514 

rational approximations, 264 

Ray, James Earl, 455 

ray-tracing in lens design, 194 

Raybold, Robert C., 534 

Rayleigh current balance, 197, 198 

Raytheon Company, 42 

RCA 501 computer, 295 

Reactor Radiation Division, 503, 568 

Reactor Radiations Division, 343, 503 

Read, Michael E., 429n 

real-time television, 295 

Ream, Norman J., 503 

reference materials. See Standard Reference 

Materials (SRMs) 

reflective insulation, 257 

Refractories Section, 246 

refrigerated trailer trucks, 256—257 

refrigeration processes, 446 

refrigerator safety devices legislation, 457, 493 

Reich, Francis W., 183 

Reinhart, Frank W., 319n 

Remington Rand, 146 

Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1965, 493 

Reorganization Plan No. 5 of 1950, 151 Republican Eisenhower-Nixon ticket, 112 

Research Associates, 33 

Research Information Center and Advisory Service on Information Processing, 436 

Research Materials (RMs), 552 
resistor noise voltage, 541 

reverberation measurement, 229 

Reynolds, Charles A., 46, 47 

Rheology Section, Heat Division, 204, 390 

Rheology Section, Mechanics Division, 318 

Ribicoff, Abraham, 458 

Rice, F.O., 107n 

Rigby,F.D., 3lln 

Ring, John, 567 

Ritchie, Jess M. 

AD-X2 Hearings, 87n, 88—89, 99, 121—123 

correspondence with W.J. Hamer, 100 

criticism of Bureau tests, 107 

FTC complaint against, 129 

letter from A.V. Astin, 106 

letter from J.A. Harris, 90 

letter to W. Knowland, 90—91 POD mail fraud, 103, 110—111, 113 

political ambitions, 134 

political pressure by, 101, 104, 112 

president of Pioneers, Inc., 88 

suit against government, 129 

Ritter, Johann W., 544 

Rivers, Ralph J., 383 

RNA discoveries, 296, 464 

Roberts, Benjamin W., 554 

Roberts, Martin A., 49n 

Robertson, Alexander F., 452, 595, 597 

Robinson, Lloyd, 525n 

rocket propulsion systems, 446 

Rockett, John A., 507, 595 

Romanoff, Melvin, 240 

Roof Maintenance Manual, 258 

roofing conditions in military stations, 258 

Rooney, John, 177—178, 335, 336, 505 

Roosevelt, Franklin D., 7—8, 157 

Rosa, Edward B., l97n, 198, 279 

Rosenthal, Benjamin, 458 

Ross, Gaylon S., 221 

Rosser, J. Barkley, l3ln 

Rossini, Frederick D., 421n 

Rostow, Walter W., 455 

Roy, Rustum, 8n 

rubber research, 232—234 

Rubber Section, 232, 319n 

Ruff, Arthur W., Jr., 430n 

Rural Electrification Agency, 194 

Ruth, Ralph P., 280 

Ryan, James V., 452, 505—506 

Rydberg constant, 403 

Safety Award, 316 

Salam, Abdus, 464 

Salk, Jonas, 147 

Saltonstall, Leverett, 163 

Samuel Wesley Stratton Award, 313—315 

Samuelson, Robert J., 137 

San Fernando earthquake investigation, 593, 594 

595 

Sandy Bagg, anthropomorphic dummy, 498 

sapphire, fracture mechanics studies, 575 

satellites 

CRPL program, 443-445 

in geosynchronous orbit, 532 

in golden age of science, 295 

JOY effort and, 288, 439, 443 

orbit theory, 430 

See also names of specific satellites 

Sawyer, Charles W., 105, 151, 165, 171, 184 

scaling laws, 571, 572 

scanning photoelectric spectrometer, automatic, 

220 

scattering studies, 408—409, 534, 563—565 

Schafer, George E., 318 

Schaffer, Robert, 552 

Schedule A positions, 188—189 

Scheer, Milton, D., 402n 

Scheiber, Donald J., 393 

Scheick, William H., 336 

Schine, G. David, 140 

Schon, Donald A., 343, 468 

Schooley, James F., 561 

Schoonover, Irl C., 341 

Analytical and Inorganic Chemistry Division, 

318 

appointment as Bureau deputy director, 468 as chief of Material Products Division, 246 

crystal research, 582 

establishment of the Samuel Wesley Stratton 

Award, 313—314 

Institute for Materials Research (IMR), 342 

interview, 65 

memorandum to A.V. Astin 

NBS Reactor, 413 

NIPS proposal, 340 

retirement, 470, 519 

study of NBS programs, 3Oln 

Schreyer, Milton F., 78 

Schrieffer, John R., 148 

Schubauer, Galen B., 31 In 

S 

815 
Schwinger, Julian, II 

science 

effect of atomic bomb on, 6 

effect of decrease in Federal Government 

R&D expenditures, 460—464 

golden age of, 294—297 

growth of, 143—148, 464—465 

political impact of, 135 scientists, education of, 145 

SCOOP (Scientific Computation of Optimum 

Programs), 265, 267 

Scott, Arnold H., 393n 

Scott, Russell B. as chief of Cryogenic Engineering Division, 

187, 321 

design of cryogenic facility, 185, 186 

manager of Boulder Laboratories, 322, 343 

superconductivity research, 46 

Scribner, Bourdon F., lIOn, 130n 

Scribner, Bourdon W., 49 

Seaborg, Glenn T., l57n 

SEAC (Standards Eastern Automatic Computer) 

aircraft engineering calculations, 227 

in applied mathematics, 263, 265, 266, 267 

design and construction, II, 42—44, 433 

in electron physics, 218 

ray tracing in lens designs, 194 seat belt standard, 495—496 

Seaton. Michael, 324 

second, definition of the, 372—374 

Second International Congress of Radiology, 58, 

59 

Second Kelly Committee Report, 304-3 10, 438. 

See also Kelly Committee Report 

second sound in helium, 206 

Seeger, R.J., 31 In 

segregation. 29 1—293 Seigwarth, J.D., 541n 

Selby, Myron C., 543 

Selective Service System (SSS), 565—567 

self-ignition of fibrous materials, 259 

semiconductors. 214, 437—438, 450, 560—563, 

586—589 

Senate Committee on Government Operations, 

339n 

Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 139 

Senate Interstate Commerce Committee, 182 

Senate Select Committee on Atomic Energy, 160 

Senate Select Committee on Small Business 

(SSCSB), 104—105, 108, 121—127 

Sengers, Jan V., 572 

Sengers, Johanna M.H. Levelt, 572 

Senior Lunch Club, 69 sensor materials, cryogenic, 446 

816 

Serber, Robert, 157 

Serin, Bernard, 46, 47 

Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, 2n 

Shannon, Claude, 11 Shannon, James A., 471 

Shapely, Deborah, 8n 

Shapley, Alan H., 440 

Shapley, Harlow, 158 

Sheaffer, Craig R., 112—115, 130, 134 

Shelter Island conference, 10—11 Sher, Alvin H., 589 

Sherley Amendment, 457 

Shields, William R., 58ln 

ship failures, 242—246 

ship plate, interrupted longitudinal specimen, 244, 

245 

Shockley, William, II, 468 

shock waves, analysis of solar noise, 275 

Shuler, Kurt E., 313 

SI (Le Systènze International d'Unités), 386—387, 

511 

Sidey, Hugh, 289 

Siegwarth, James D., 541n 

silica, 252 

silicon resistivity, measurement, 586—588 

Silsbee, Francis B., 45—46, 193, 301, 317 

Silver, A.H., 541n 

Silver Bridge, 576—579 

Silver Medal, award, 313 

Simon, Sir Francis E., 208 

Simplified Commercial Practices Division, 253n 

Simpson, John A., 217, 407, 408—409 

simultaneous linear equations, 263 

Sinclair, Upton, 457 

Sirhan Sirhan, 456 

Sitterly, Charlotte E. Moore, 324, 554 

Skramstad, Harold K.. 18 

sky waves, 375 

Slutz, Ralph J., 43, 44n, 188, 318 

Small, James, G., 528 

Smathers, George A., 126 

Smith, Ernest K., Jr., 318, 322 

Smith, Leslie E., 53n 

Smith, Neil, 458 

Smith, Newbern, 183, 272 

Smith, Ralph W., 20n 

Smith, Stephen J., 323n 

Smithers, V.L., 95n 

smog components, identification, 220 

smoke density measurement, 597—598 

Smyth, Henry D., report, 5 Snider, Charles S., 371 

Snyder, Clarence L., I IOn, 130n 

Social Security Amendments of 1965, 456 
Society of Automotive Engineers, 495, 512 

soda-lime-silica glass standard Sample, 550 

software standards, Center for Computer Sciences 

and Technology, 559 

solar flares, 275, 276 

solid-state electronics, 43 

Solid State Physics Section, 238, 560 

Solution Chemistry Section, 419 

Sommer, Helmut, 55 

Sony, 146, 295 

Sorrows, Howard E., 468, 470 

Sotirov, Dimitrov, 165 

Soulen, Robert, 541 

sound and vibrations, 228—229 

sounding stations, 442—443 

sound level, measuring, 228 

sound propagation studies, 230 

Sound Section, 226n, 493 

South Korea, 6, 137—139 

Southern Christian Leadership Conference 

(SCLC), 291, 292 

Soviet Union, WW 11 alliance with, 3 space probes, 464 

space race, 143, 289, 295 

Space Science Board, National Academy of 

Sciences, 323 

Spadin, Paul, 525n 

Sparkman, John, 116, 126 

Sparks, Morgan, 468 

special central responsibilities, 310, 311 

Clearinghouse for Federal and Scientific 

Information, 514, 518 

fire research program, 507 

Central Radio Propagation Laboratory, 493 

Office of Invention and Innovation, 518 

Special Foreign Currency Program, PL-480 

money, 303 

Special Publication 300, Precision Measurement 

and Calibration, 32 

Special Study of NBS Programs Supported by 

Other Federal Agencies, 301 

Special World Intervals, 440 

spectral radiance and irradiance standards, 547 

Spectrochemistry Section, 419 

spectrographic analysis, 219 

spectrometers 

automatic scanning photoelectric, 220 

electron scattering, 564 

mass, 580, 581 

triple-axis, 568 

x-ray, 429 

spectrometric analysis of high-purity gases, 220 

spectroscopy, 37—40, 213—214, 403—404, 405—408 

817 

Spectroscopy Section, Atomic Physics Division, 

213 

speed of light, measurements, 54, 278—281 Spencer, Lewis V., 412n 

sperm candle, 546 

spontaneous ignition of fibrous materials, 259—260 

sputniks, 143, 144, 146, 288 

stacking fault studies, 430 

Staggers, Harley, 458 

Stalin, Joseph, 141 Standard Colors for Kitchen and Bathroom 

Accessories, 32 

standard kilogram, 19—20, 21, 226, 229 

standard reference data, 252, 553—554 

Standard Reference Data Act, 332, 466, 493 

Standard Reference Materials (SRMs), 379—380, 

425—426, 450, 550—552, 582. See alsostandard 

samples 

Standard Reference Materials Section, 419 

standard samples, 3 1—32. 34, 35, 380 

Atomic and Radiation Physics Division, 215, 

216 

Chemistry Division, 218, 219, 220, 223 

See also Standard Reference Materials 

(SRMs) 

standard x-ray patterns, 252 

standardizing laboratories, 284—285 

standards 

anthropomorphic dummy, 498—500 

blackbody, platinum, 387—388, 389 

calibrations, 3 1—32, 377—379 

candle, 546 

commodity, 381—382, 521 

comparison of, 30—31 customary standards, 555 

customary units, 20 

electrical, 20—21, 22—23, 390—39 1 Federal Information Processing Standards 

(FIPS), 556—560 

fundamental constants, 54—55, 278—281 

high pressures, 355—362 

kilogram, 19—20, 21, 226, 229 

large forces, 362—367 

length, 194, 345—353, 522—524 

mass, 533—537 

mechanical, 226 

national, 19—20, 21 

photometric, 194, 387—388 

provision and verification of, 2 1—23 radioactivity, 32, 411—412 

radio frequency, 272, 374—377, 395—397, 

542—544 

radiometry, 544—549 
standards (continued) 

radium, 215 

SI units, 386—387, 511 

spectral radiance, 547 

Standard Reference Data, 553—554 

Standard Reference Materials, 550—552 for the states, 555—558 

temperature measurements for, 203—204, 

353—355, 541—542 

time and frequency, 367—377 

Treaty of the Meter, 19 tungsten-filament lamps, 547 

voluntary, 28 

weights and measures, 31, 32, 382—386 x ray, 215 

See also calibrations; measurements 

Standards Eastern Automatic Computer (SEAC) 

See SEAC (Standards Eastern Automatic 

Computer) 

standards laboratories, private, 285 

Standards Western Automatic Computer (SWAC) 

See SWAC (Standards Western Automatic 

Computer) 

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, 464 

Stans, Maurice, 521 Stansbury, Carroll C., 301n 

Stark shifts, 397, 527 

STATAC-SCOOP computer, 267 

State of Maryland, weights and measures, 556—557 state weights and measures, 31, 32, 55, 555—558 statistical control, 534 

statistical design of experiments, 265—266 

Statistical Engineering Laboratory, 261, 265 

Statistical Physics Section, 569—572 

statistical thermodynamics, 398 

Statutory Advisory Committee, 308 

steady-state propagation. 276 

steel, fracture behavior, 238, 240—246 

Steel, Kurt, 77 

Stefan-Boltzmann constant. 546, 548 

Stegun, Irene A., 26411 Steiner, Bruce W., 388 

Stern, Robert L., 337n, 340 

Stiehler, Robert D., 319n 

Stone, William J., 48 

Stratton, Julius, 105, 109 

Stratton, Samuel Wesley, 19, 20 

Stratton Award, 313—315 Strauss, Lewis L., 383 

stress-corrosion cracking, 240 stress intensity factor, 575 

Strine, G.L., 396 

818 

Stromberg, Robert R., 426n 

strontium titanate; 561—563 

structural behavior during natural disasters, 

592—595 

structural endurance in fires, 452 

Structural Engineering Section, 254 

Stryker, Frances, 442 

Study Paper on Major Needs of the National 

Bureau of Standards, 305—306 

subnuclear particles, classifying, 296 

sugars with radioactive C14, 222—224 Suits, C. Guy, l3ln, 304n 

sulfation process, 85 

Sullivan, Donald B., 542 

Sullivan, Leonor, 458 

Sullivan, Walter, 439n 

Summerfield, Arthur, 113 sundial, 485 

sunspot cycle, 274, 439 

Super (bomb), 185 superalloys, 219 

superconducting junctions, 539 

superconducting semiconductors, 560—563 

Superconductive Materials Data Center, 554 

superconductivity, 44—47, 148 

superconductors, type II, 446, 563 

supersonic wind tunnel, 227 

SURF I (Synchrotron Ultra-Violet Radiation 

Facility), 406 

SURF II, 408 

Surface Chemistry Section, 421n 

SWAC (Standards Western Automatic 

Computer), 43, 263, 267, 433 

Sweeney, William T., 319n 

synchrotron, 61, 547 

synchrotron light, 405—408 

synthesis of sugars with radioactive C14, 222—224 synthetic fibers, II 

synthetic polymers, 232, 424—425 synthetic rubber, 222, 232—234 

Système International d'Unités (SI), 386—387, 511 

systems analysis, 507—509, 510 

Systems Research Laboratory, 67, 272 

T 

Tables of Random Permutations, 566 

TACAN air navigation system, 276 

Tate, Douglas R., 365n 

Tatlow, Richard H. (III), 336 

Taylor, Barry N., 373n, 386n, 539 
Taylor, Lauriston S. as chief of Atomic and Radiation Physics 

Division, 213 on Edward U. Condon, 168 

memorandum from R.S. Caswell, 414 

Radiation Physics Division, 318 

security issues, 166 

x-rays, 57, 58—59, 60 

World War II, 59 

Teal, Gordon K., 468 

technetium, 214 

Technical Analysis Division (TAD), 507—510 

Technical Documentation Center, 513 

techniques network, National Measurement 

System, 511 

television signals for time dissemination, 533 

Teistar satellite, 295 

Temmer, Georges M., 208 

temperature measurements 

in fire research, 596 

International Practical Temperature Scale, 

45n, 203—204, 541 

for standards, 353—355, 536, 541 

Temperature Section, 541 

temperature scales, 44—45 tensile bond specimen, 255 

tensile test, ship plate, 244 

Terman, Fred E., 132n 

terrestrial noise studies, 273—275 

Temen, Jean C., 541 test wall, 491 

testing 

examples, 34—35 products, 27 

Building Technology Division, 257—259 

end of testing, 380—381 

Kelly Committee Report, 282—284 

Mechanics Division, 226 

Mineral Products Division, 246—247 

policy on tests for private individuals, 75 

standardizing laboratories, 284—285 

and publications, 7 1-74 

for regulatory agencies, 71, 73, 282 

See also Aquella; Battery AD-X2 

Testing and Specifications Section, 232 

Textile and Apparel Technology Center, 337, 344 

Textiles Section, 232, 319n 

theoretical particle physics, 464 

theoretical studies, 306, 411 

thermal conductivity, 220, 450, 554 

thermal insulating capacity of building structures, 

257 

Thermal Metallurgy Section, 238, 428 

thermal properties of matter, 204 

819 

thermochemistry, 218, 221—222 

Thermochemistry Section, 421n 

thermocouples, 389, 446, 545 

thermodynamic data on organic compounds, 554 

thermodynamic properties research, 398—399 

thermodynamic studies on polymers, 233 

thermodynamics, 204—205, 398 

thermometers, 35, 44 

thermometry, 22 

Thermopane windows, 51 Thomas, Albert, 477 

Thomas, Elbert, 163 

Thomas, Harold A., 55, 392 

Thomas, J. Parnell, 13, 159, 164, 169 

Thomas, James L., 32 

Thomas, Richard N., 324, 328 

Thompson, A.M., 390 

Thompson, John G., 238 

Thornton, Dan, 189 

Thye,Edward,J., 113, 119, 121, 124—125 

tides, 228, 273 

Tilley, W. Reeves, 421n 

time and frequency, 367—377 

time dissemination, 374, 529—533 

tire grading system, 497—498 

tires, road tests, 35 

titanates, 219 

titanium studies, 238 

Titan missile, 288 

Tomarkin, Leandro W., 74—77, 79 

Tomonaga, Sin-Itiro, 11 tooth material, 236—237 

topside-sounding, 443—445 

tornado investigation, Lubbock, Texas, 593 

Touloukian, Y.S., 554 

Townes, Charles H., 147, 280, 296, 368n 

trailer trucks, refrigerated, 256 

training, state weights and measures, 384 

trajectory of missiles, calculation, 264 

transducers, pressure and displacement, 436 

transfer standard, 536 

transferred funds, 15n, 30, 179—180, 300—302 

transient propagation, 276 

transistor technology, II 

Transport Systems Division, 344 

transportation study, Northeast Corridor, 508 

trap-door codes, 263 

Treaty of the Meter, 19 triple-axis spectrometer, 568 

tritium, 185 

tropospheric propagation, 188, 276 

Tropospheric Propagation Research Section, 272 

Trowbridge, Alexander B., 469, 497, 519 
Truman, Harry S. 

appointment of A.V. Astin, 171 atomic bomb announcement, 5 Atomic Energy Commission direction, 6 

defending South Korea, 138 

dispersal order, 182 

Executive Order 9835, 13 formation of Interdepartmental Committee on Scientific Research and Development, 145 

formation of National Science Foundation, 

memorandum from E.U. Condon, 167 

military aid to Greece, 4 

Publication Board, 513 

Truman Doctrine, 4 

Tugwell, Rexford G., 457 

tungsten-filament lamps, 205, 547 

turbulence, 226 

Tydings, Millard, 139 

type II superconductors, 446, 563 

U 

U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, 146 

U-2 spy plane incident, 287, 289 

UHF range, 272—273 

Uhlenbeck, George E., 572 

underground corrosion, 28, 239—240, 241 

underground shelter, heat transfer experiments, 

256 

United States Air Force, communication system, 

273 

United States Air Force Cambridge Laboratories, 

586 

United States National Committee, 440 

UNI VAC (Universal Automatic Computer), 

41—42, 146 

Universal Time (UT), 373 

University of California, Radiation Laboratory, 

187, 447 

University of Colorado, Boulder. 326—328 

University of Illinois, Betatron technology, 56 

University of Maryland, 565 

University of Massachusetts, 565 

Upper Air Research Section, 272 

Upper Atmosphere and Space Physics Division, 

318 

Urey, Harold, 158 

Uriano Award, 316 

USA Standard Code for Information Interchange 

(USASCII), 559—560 

V 

Vaccine for polio, 147 

Vail, Richard B., 166 

Van Allen, James A., 439 

Van Arend, Peter C., 186 

Van Ness Street, N.W., 63, 64 

Van Valkenburg, Alvin, 253, 357—360 

Van Vleck, J.H., 1 l9n 

Van Zandt, Thomas E., 444 

Vander Sluis, Kenneth L., 280 

vapor lock, 446 

Velde, Harold H., 166 

ventilation parameter, 597 

very-high-field magnets, 44.8—449 

Veteran's Administration, 195, 196, 259 

VHF range, 272—273 

VHF signals, 443 

vibration generator, 195 

vibration pickups, calibration of, 228 

Vicentini-Missoni, Matilde, 572 

Vietnam War, 291, 453—456, 461, 462 

Vigoreux, Paul, 386 

Vinal, George W. 

Battery AD-X2 test report, 95 

chief of the Electrochemistry Section, 81 

correspondence with J.A. Harris, 90 

correspondence with K.B. Willson, 92, 93, 

94, 96—98, 

correspondence with M. Randall, 87, 89 

Letter Circular 302, revision, 93 

Letter Circular 504, Battery Additives, 97 

memorandum to E.U. Condon, 93 

Storage Batteries, 81 Vinogradoff, Dmitri I., 162 

Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 565 

viscoelastic substances, 390 

viscosity-measuring instruments, 204, 550 

Visiting Committee, 113, 119—120, 130, 149 

volt maintenance, 537—540 

voltmeters, calibrating, 23 

Volumetry and Densimetry Section, 318 

Voorhees, Walker, Smith, and Smith, 

architectural firm, 480, 4.81, 482 

Voting Rights Act of 1965, 456 

w 

Waals, Johannes van der, 570 

Wachtman, John B., Jr., 360, 423—424, 584 

wafer pattern printer, 201 

8—9 

820 
Wagman, Donald D., 42 In, 554 

Wagman, Frederick H., 53n 

Waidner, Charles W., 389 

Wait, James R., 3 13, 3 14 

Walker, Eric A., 6n 

Wall, Leo A., 3l9n, 478n 

wall, test, 491 

Wallace, George, 456 

Wallace, Henry A., 78, 149, 151, 152 

Walleigh, Robert S., 479 

associate director for administration, 470 

director of administration, 343, 598 

Gaithersburg facilities, 476n, 477, 478, 481 

Wallenstein, Merrill B., 318, 329, 331, 421, 473 

Walsh, John, 146 

Walsh, Philip J., 434 

Wampler, E. Joseph, 525n 

Ware, Charles, 414 

war-games model, theoretical analysis of, 264 

wartime appropriations, 30 

wartime development of synthetic rubber, 232n 

Washburn. Edward W., 329 

Waterman, Alan T., 9, 10 Water Pollution Control Act, 293 

waterproofing paint, 71, 74—79 

water-vapor permeability of materials, 234, 

258—259 

Watson, James D., II, 296 

wavelengths, 194, 214, 349—351, 522—524 

waves, magnitude of, 228 

Weather Bureau, 267, 304n, 433, 492, 508, 509 

weather stations, 436, 437 

Weber, Harold C., 104, 108, Ill, 126—127 Weeks, James J., 393 

Weeks, Sinclair 

Battery AD-X2 

A.V. Astin dismissal, 114 

A.V. Astin reinstatement, 129—130 

A.V. Astin requests, 113 

Kelly Committee Report, 130 

letter from D.W. Bronk, 120 

objectivity, 117 

testimony, AD-X2 Hearings, 112, 115 

dedication of NBS Boulder Laboratories, 189 

Gaithersburg facilities, 477 

NBS Open House, 154 as secretary of commerce, 112 

study of science and technology in Dept. of 

Commerce, 304 

weights and measures National Conference on, 32 

standards, 385—387 

for states, 31, 32, 382—385, 555—558 

Weinberg, Steven, 464 

Weinrich, Marcel, 2l2n 

Weir, Charles E., 253, 357—360 

Weisner, Jerome, 333 

Weiss, Pierre, 570 

Welch, Joseph, 140—141 Welch, S.W.J., 183 

welded ships, failure of, 242—246 

Wells, Joseph S., 28 In, 528n, 529n 

Wentzel, Gregor, 409 

Western Hemisphere Radio Warning Service, 443 

Westfall, F. Oliver. 38 

Westrate, J., 311 

wet bomb, 186 

Wheatly, George M., 260 

Whiddington, R., 407 

White, Robert M., 492 

White House Panel on Civilian Technology, 

333—334, 336 

white iron, 219 

Whitlock, Douglas, 336 

Wholesome Meat Act, 459 

Wholesome Poultry Products Act, 459 

Wichers, Edward, 218 

Wieber, Donald, 525n 

Wiederhorn, Sheldon M., 573—575 

Wiens, Jacob H., 38 

Wiese, Wolfgang L., 404n 

Wildhack, William A., 192, 382 

Wilkens, Maurice, 296 

Wilkes, Samuel S., l32n 

Wilkinson, D.T., 525n, 526n 

William P. Slichter Award, 316 

Williams, Clyde, l3ln 

Williams, Evan J., 570 

Williams, Morgan L.,'242n, 244n 

Williams, Walter, 178, 305 

Willson, Kenneth B. 

correspondence with G.W. Vinal, 92, 94, 96—98 letter from E.U. Condon, 93, 98 

letter from J.A. Harris, 95 

letter to P.L. Howard, 99 

Willys Motor Co., 203 

Wilson, Bruce L., 318, 366n 

Wilson, Charles E. ("Engine 112, 262, 

381 

Wilson, Kenneth, 572 

Wilson, Robert W., 464 

Wilson, William E., 554 

Wilson, Woodrow, 30 

wind tunnel, supersonic, 227 

Winer, Irvin, 525n 

821 
Wolkinson, Herman, I l4n 

Wolman, Abel, 13 In, 304n 

Wood, Lawrence A., 319n 

Working Capital Fund, l78n, 180 

Working Fund Work Policy Statement, 301n 

Worksman, Thelma, 236 

World Data Center A for Airglow and Ionosphere, 

441,442 

World Warning Agency, 440, 441 

World-Wide Seismology Net, 508 

Worthy, James C., I 14n, 130, 475 

Wright, J. Howard, 270 

Wright, James R., 450n, 590 

Wright, Wilbur H., 46 

Wright Air Development Command, 

polycrystalline ceramics, 25 1—252 Wu, Chien-Shiung, 147, 208—209, 212 

WWV radio station, 14, 17, 272 

field station, 274, 

frequency dissemination, 374—375 

time dissemination, 529, 530, 531, 533 

WWVB radio station, 375, 376—377, 529 

WWVH radio station, 14-15, 272, 274, 375, 

531—532 

WWVL radio station, 376—377, 529 

x 

Yost, Charles F., 582 

Young, Theodore R., 346n, 347, 426 

z 

Zalubas, Romuald, 403n 

Zapas, Louis J., 390n 

Zeeman shifts, 527 

Zeiger, Herbert J., 147, 296 

Zernike, Frits, 571 

zeroth postdoc, 190 

Ziegler, Guy C., 434 

Ziegler, Karl, 147 

Zimmerman, i.E., 541n 

zinc oxide, 237 

Zwanzig, Robert W., 421n 

Zwolinski, Bruno J., 554 

4 

Xerox Corporation, 295 

x-ray diffraction 

dental research, 236—237 

determination of crystal structure, 252 

powder patterns, 359 

for research on microstructure and 

piezoelectric properties, 250—251 

structure of myoglobin and hemoglobin, 296 

x-ray spectrometer, 429 x rays 

high-energy measurements, 21, 56—62, 

214—215 

medical use, 57, 59 

nuclear studies, 59 

protection from, 214—215 

standards, 21, 59, 215 

X-Rays Section, 213 

Y 

Yalta agreement, 3 Yang, Chen Ning, 147, 207—208, 212, 572 

yard. refining values for, 385—386 

Yates, Sidney R., 300, 353, 416 

822