ABSTRACT
In 1971, representatives from 16 countries, from 16 international and national organizations, and from 5 industrial companies came to a conference center in Northern Virginia to meet with representatives from the Agency for International Development (AID) of the US Department of State and the National Bureau of Standards (NBS). The entire multi-country team assembled at NBS for a week's workshop to examine critically and debate NBS measurement and standardization services, with emphasis on voluntary standards, calibration programs, certified reference materials, standard reference data management, and NBS relations in support of industry. To fulfill the dreams of industrializing economies (IEs), Glenn Schweitzer, head of AID's Office of Science and Technology, in cooperation with Edward L. Brady at NBS, developed the idea of cosponsorship of this Seminar. Through familiarity with the technical rigor of NBS metrology, the concept of self-evaluation with self-assurance of measurement quality spread to many IE laboratories.
