Yesterday, May 20, 2015, we celebrated World Metrology Day. This is an annual commemoration of the signature by representatives of seventeen nations attending the Metre Convention, which was held on May 20, 1875. This convention set the stage for global acceptance and collaboration for “Metrology,” the science of measurement and its uniformity throughout the world. The importance of this milestone event becomes increasingly more significant as the world truly becomes a global marketplace.

On Dec. 20, 2013, the 68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2015 as the “International Year of Light and Light-Based Technologies.” The organizers behind World Metrology Day 2015 aligned with this global initiative and chose “Measurements and Light” as its theme.

These two topics seem a world apart, but in reality, they bring the world together. Light obviously plays a vital role in our lives, not just as sunlight and electrically generated light, but as a medium to perform and provide basic and advanced cutting-edge measurement capabilities. Without metrology, we have no means by which to research, to invent, to manufacture, or to ensure quality and accuracy even it its simplest forms.

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