Part 1 of Essay
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), agency of the United States Department of Commerce. The NIST was formerly known as the National Bureau of Standards (NBS); the name change occurred in January 1989. The NBS was established by Congress in 1901 as the central measurement laboratory of the federal govern ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... NIST provides facilities necessary for a complete and consistent system of basic physical and chemical measurements and standards in the United States, and it furnishes essential services leading to accurate and uniform measurements throughout the scientific community, industry, and commerce. In 1972, for example, agency scientists developed a helium-neon gas-laser technique that for the first time gave the precise measurement of the speed of light as 299,792.45 km/sec (186,282.396 mi/sec). The NIST also co ....