Being from Colorado, I’m a big fan of winter sports: skiing, skating, snowboarding, hockey, bobsledding, and even curling. Like many people, I look forward to the Winter Olympics every four years.

The Olympics are a test of the world’s greatest athletes’ skills—skills they have spent their entire lives honing and perfecting. We all watch with rapt attention to see who can endure the most, move the fastest and most gracefully, and jump the farthest and highest.

Image credit: Sportpoint/shutterstock.com

But how do we know those things? Through measurement, of course. Measurements determine who wins gold or silver or bronze. Whether by a millimeter or millisecond, measurements are what tell us if we’ve just witnessed the breaking of a world record.

In many ways, measurements literally make history.

Image 1: Walt Copan enjoying a day of skiing at Arapahoe Basin, CO

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