Howard P. Layer
Dr.
Howard P. Layer grew up in New York City, attended Brooklyn
Technical High School, and received a Ph.D. in Physics from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He came to the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (formerly known as the National
Bureau of Standards) in 1965 as a National Academy of Sciences,
National Research Council post-doctoral research associate.
He developed the Iodine Stabilized HeNe Laser Length Standard
while in the Length and Mass Division, Center for Basic Standards.
In cooperation with other scientists and engineers at NIST, he
has applied this instrument to a variety of precision length measurements
from calibrating gage block interferometers to establishing a
length standard based on the cesium clock, the instrument which
defines the second and a defined value for the speed of light.
The laser length standard is being used by the scientific community
to realize electrical units and determine the value of several
fundamental constants, and by industry to calibrate laser displacement
measuring systems.
Dr. Layer has received two IR100 awards for the 100 most
significant developments of the year, the Department of Commerce
Bronze and Silver Medals, and is a fellow of the American Physical
Society.
A contribution by the Precision
Engineering Division of the Manufacturing
Engineering Lab at the National
Institute of Standards and Technology.
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