Boulder
Overview of the History
of the Department of Commerce Boulder Labs
In 2004, the Boulder Labs celebrate their history in Boulder as NIST
marks the 50th anniversary of its dedication. For the event the National
Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, and the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration join in hosting a series of activities that are intended help
educate the staff and the community concerning the Boulder Labs’ historic and
current accomplishments and contributions to the city, state, nation, and
world. Furthermore, the celebration will
highlight the history and partnership of NIST, NOAA, and NTIA in a way that
promotes continued interagency cooperation, generates publicity for all three
agencies, and promotes pride in the Boulder staff for their contributions.
1949 On December 12, 1949, Secretary
of Commerce Charles Sawyer announced the selection of Boulder as the site for
the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), Central Radio Propagation Laboratory
(CRPL).
1950 After a two-month
campaign, the citizens of Boulder raised enough money to purchase the 325
Broadway site, and the Boulder Chamber of Commerce deeded the land to the
Federal government to build the Boulder NBS laboratories.
1951 Staff began to arrive in
Boulder, using the Armory on North Broadway as temporary facilities.
1952 Groundbreaking for the
Radio Building.
1954 Radio Building was
dedicated by President Eisenhower.
1965 The Central Radio
Propagation Laboratory was transferred from NBS to join the United States
Weather Bureau and the Coast and Geodetic Survey in a new scientific agency of
the Department of Commerce: the Environmental Science Services Administration
(ESSA).
1970 The Institute for
Telecommunications Sciences (ITS) was transferred from ESSA to the Commerce
Department’s Office of Telecommunications.
1970 The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was created through an Executive Order. NOAA brought the functions of the ESSA and a
group of agencies dealing with marine and oceanic services under a single
agency.
1978 NTIA,
the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, was created in 1978 as a result of an Executive Branch
reorganization that transferred and combined various functions of the White
House's Office of Telecommunications Policy (OTP) and the Commerce Department's
Office of Telecommunications (OT).
1988 The name of the National
Bureau of Standards (NBS) changed to the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST). In a move to consolidate all the DOC agencies on one site, a
new NOAA building was constructed and it was dedicated on November 20, 1998.
2001 NIST, JILA, and MIT scientists win the 2001 Nobel Prize for
Physics for their discovery of the Bose-Einstein condensate.
Contact
Information:
E-mail address: BL50@boulder.nist.gov
Last
revised: