National Institute of Standards and Technology
![Chart of NBS activities, 1915.](/Images/godic/202502/19/Wheeled_chart_of_National_Bureau_of_Standards_activities,_19152439.jpg")
![A spectrometer in use at the NBS in 1948.](/Images/godic/202502/19/SpectroscopyResearch_0122439.jpg")
![Advanced Measurement Laboratory Complex in Gaithersburg](/Images/godic/202502/19/NIST_AML_building2439.jpg")
![Boulder Laboratories](/Images/godic/202502/19/NIST_in_the_mist2439.jpg")
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), known between 1901 and 1988 as the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), is a measurement standards laboratory, also known as a National Metrological Institute (NMI), which is a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce. The institute's official mission is to: