to itself. The visiting researchers get the benefit of NBS facilities and expertise in their work, and they return to their companies with broadened background and capability. Recently NBS has been putting increased emphasis on the Research Associate Program, and industry has been participating enthusiastically. Among the companies sponsoring new Research Associates are AiResearch Manufacturing Company, American Cyanamid Company, Control Data Corporation, Dow Chemical Company, International Business Machines Corporation, Ferro Corporation, The Procter and Gamble Company, and the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Company. GENERAL TRENDS Future requirements of American industry, commerce and science dictate the future of NBS. These requirements, and means of monitoring and evaluating them, have received particular attention during the past year. Ability to fulfill the traditional NBS role of leadership in developing the measurement methods and standards needed for industry, commerce, and science is being severely challenged by the rapid advances and wide application of science and technology. As industry and society are becoming more complex and technically oriented, NBS programs are also changing. Even in specifically technical 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 greater precision, meaning and usefulness. The trend is for NBS to become increasingly concerned with broader social, economic, and political problems and programs of the Nation. Solutions of many of these problems-in areas such as transportation, pollution, resource development, education, power development, and health-depend on technology, and in particular the ability to measure, control, produce, or evaluate meaningful parameters in order to diagnose, treat, engineer and evaluate safe, reliable, useful products. NBS now assumes responsibility for developing data for decision making on such questions as what transportation system is best suited for the northeast corridor of the United States, what are the performance requirements for low cost housing, and other systems problems involving a combination of technology, economics, logistics, and sociology. In support of these new activities, NBS has taken advantage of the rapid advance in management tools and procedures and has developed a technical analysis program which provides service not only for NBS operations and programs but also for other Government agencies to aid in their decisions, efficiency and effectiveness. To some, these newer system responsibilities may seem removed from historical Bureau interest in measurement. In fact, these new responsibilities are simply an extension of the measurement concepts and disciplines into new areas needing evaluation and quantification. Research on the safety performance of vehicles is concerned with evaluating in a scientific manner the performance of the parts, subsystems and systems of an automobile or other vehicle-as well as the people involved. In most cases methodology used in measuring the important phenomena may be identical to that used in the more traditional work of NBS. Standards, measurement methods, and procedures are now being developed for the computer industry, transportation networks, and industrial operations in much the same manner that the electrical and mechanical or ceramic industries were assisted in the past. In all cases, the end product is a number or set of numbers which defines material, device, or system performance. These numbers are the basis for informed decision and action. THE NATIONAL MEASUREMENT SYSTEM All of this activity points up the need for looking at the complex measurement process as a system. Measurement is a basic and necessary activity in all aspects of human endeavor, and especially in science and technology. In order to define meaningful goals and insure a smoothfunctioning national measurement activity, decisions must be made in light of the systems concept. Measurement activities are rapidly changing and increasing in complexity, so much so that it would be useful to take a fresh look at our national measurement system as a whole and up-date our understanding of how its components interact. The following section describes the Bureau's current concepts of the national measurement system. THE NATIONAL MEASUREMENT SYSTEM The rapid advancement of technology in the twentieth century has been responsible for the development of a wide variety of complex systems, ranging from those of hardware—such as automobiles, aircraft, missiles, and computers-to social systems involving both hardware and people in various combinations of networks. Examples of these social systems include the Nation's communication, transportation, defense, education, medical, and legal systems. A SYSTEMS APPROACH TO MEASUREMENT The national measurement system is still another social system which has grown up in the United States, albeit with little formal recognition. Recently, there has been increased awareness and understanding of the all-pervasive nature of the Nation's measurement activities and of their economic importance. In their totality these social systems-the transportation system, the legal system, and so on-form the environment in which the individual must live and function. Diverse as they are, these systems have important features in common. Each has multiple interfaces with the others and with their counterparts in other nations, and each consists of two fundamentally different sub-systems closely interacting to form the total system. The two interlocking sub-systems are the "intellectual system” and the "operational system." The intellectual, or conceptual, system consists of a body of rules, laws, conventions, procedures, or definitions ordered into a unified rational structure. This type of system is universally applicable, much like the laws of physics and chemistry. It forms the basis for the construction and functioning of the operational system. The operational system consists of a set of functional elements each having certain inputs and outputs. These elements interact with each other under the guidance of some central control to accomplish a particular function or mission. In any social system, the functional elements and subsystems are organizations of people. Each such organization performs an appropriate function, in accordance with the corresponding intellectual system, to accomplish the overall mission. Our national measurement system is part of an international system used by all leading nations of the world, and is the result of a worldwide progression toward increasing sophistication of measurement, both in concepts and in operation. The National Bureau of Standards is a vital element in the measurement system. NBS serves as a focal point for many of the Nation's measurement activities. BASIC SOCIAL NEEDS Three general, ever present needs of our society have brought the national measurement system into being. In meeting these needs, the measurement system, working together with other social systems, enables society to accomplish national objectives such as space exploration, quality education, adequate defense, an improved standard of living, consumer welfare. The three needs are: (1) Basic measurements and standards.-The nationwide need for a complete and consistent system of physical measurement, properly coordinated with those of other nations, requires the ability to make accurate, reliable, precise, and compatible measurements in terms of a common language of units and methodology. (2) Matter-materials data and standards.-There is continuing need for a systematic and readily accessible body of accurate, reliable, precise, and consistent data on the properties of materials in different environments, and for information, reference materials, and conceptual knowledge that will make possible the effective use of such data. (3) Technological measurements and standards. To an increasing extent, the economy has come to depend on exchange in the marketplace of products and services having a high technological content. This creates a need both for uniformity of product characteristics and for a language for stating user requirements in terms of the performance capabilities of products and standards. IMPORTANCE OF THE SYSTEM Estimates of activity within the U.S. measurement system include the measurements made every day by each person-ranging from the relatively crude ones of checking the time or temperature, reading the speedometer, or buying steak by the pound, to the highly sophisticated and often exquisitely complex measurements made in the laboratories of science and industry. Rough estimates indicate some 20 billion measurements are being made every day in this country. Industries that account for two-thirds of the gross national product invest about $14 billion a year in measurement and expend about 1.3 million man-years in the process. Some $25 billion is invested in measuring instruments and this investment is being increased by some $412 billion each year. In addition, some $20 billion is invested in research to provide measurement data and about $3 billion a year is being added to this amount. Altogether the annual U.S. investment in measurement is about $50 billion. Operation of the system is more than 90 percent self-financed through its own internal system of charges, fees, and so on. The remainder is contributed by the Federal, state, and local governments. Studies have been made of the growth pattern of manufacturing industries in relation to the amount they invest in measurement. It is strikingly evident that the industries growing most rapidly are those that invest, in proportion to output, the most in measurement. FUNCTION OF THE NATIONAL MEASUREMENT SYSTEM The essential function of the national measurement system is to provide a quantitative basis in measurement for (1) interchangeability and (2) decisions for action in all aspects of daily life-public affairs, commerce, industry, science, and engineering. Interchangeability is of fundamental importance in modern society. Once a measurement system with a set of agreed-upon units and standards has been established, it will serve as a firm basis for the interchange of goods and services in the mass markets of modern commerce, of machine parts and devices in industry, and of scientific and technical information. Such a system makes it possible for any plant to mass-produce materials, parts, and systems that are interchangeable with those made in plants in other parts of the country. Without this basis for interchangeability, the industrial economy we know today could not exist. Likewise, if results obtained in one laboratory are to be useful in another, they must be expressed in a measurement system common to both laboratories; otherwise, confusion would result when two laboratories attempted to exchange information. Twentieth-century man must make numerous decisions throughout the day, and many of these decisions are based on measurement. For example, an aircraft pilot must read a number of measurement output dials in order to make vital decisions during a flight. In previous times, with fewer planes traveling at slower speeds, less information was needed. But today, with commercial and private aircraft clogging major airports and new designs which permit air travel at supersonic speeds, an entire new range of highly accurate information must be immediately available to aid pilots in making split second decisions. Similiar needs exist in many areas of daily activity and especially in science and technology. Bureau scientists can measure time accurate to a few parts in 1012—many orders of magnitude greater than needed by the man on the street-but one hundred times less than the accuracy being sought by technicians involved in the space program. The needs of defense programs, high speed transportation systems, complex computer operations, and may more scientifically oriented activities made possible by the rapidly expanding technology demand readily available, highly accurate measurement. To the extent that the needed measurement and associated techniques are not available, technological advancement will be correspondingly hampered. To provide a basis for both interchangeability and decision-making throughout the Nation, all measurement must be compatible with each other. The airplane pilot's decisions based on measurement must be compatible with the measurement of others if he is to stay on course, |