National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom)
National measurement institution of the UK / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is the national measurement standards laboratory of the United Kingdom. It sets and maintains physical standards for British industry.
Established | 1900; 124 years ago (1900) |
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Research type | Applied Physics |
Field of research | Metrology |
Chief Executive Officer | Peter Thompson |
Staff | c. 1,000[1] |
Address | Hampton Road, Teddington, TW11 0LW, England, UK |
Location | 51°25′35″N 0°20′37″W |
Operating agency | Department for Science, Innovation and Technology |
Website | www |
Founded in 1900, the NPL is one of the oldest metrology institutes in the world. Research and development work at the laboratory has contributed to the advancement of many disciplines of science, including the development of early computers in the late 1940s and 1950s, construction of the first accurate atomic clock in 1955, and the invention and pioneering implementation of packet switching in the 1960s, which is today one of the fundamental technologies of the Internet.[2][3][4] The former heads of NPL include many individuals who were pillars of the British scientific establishment.[5][6]
NPL is based at Bushy Park in Teddington, west London. It is managed under the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and is one of the most extensive government laboratories in the United Kingdom.