Talk:National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom)

Physics Mid‑importance

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United Kingdom Mid‑importance

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History of Science Mid‑importance

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the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL)

The article tells us that

Others who have spent time at NPL include Harry Huskey, a computer pioneer; Alan Turing, one of the fathers of modern digital computing who was largely responsible for the early ACE computer design; Robert Watson-Watt, generally considered the inventor of radar, Oswald Kubaschewski, the father of computational materials thermodynamics and the numerical analyst James Wilkinson.

I don't have any of Kubaschewski's books at hand but somebody who does may like to check my memory, which tells me that Kubaschewski worked not at the NPL but at the National Chemical Laboratory (bluelinked, but to an article on some Indian institution), which was on the same suburban London site and whose building long ago became part of the NPL. A history of British government funding of science should show whether my "OR" (my memory) about the NCL in general is right or wrong. Morenoodles (talk) 11:22, 26 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Room Temperature Maser

Unsure if is also worth mentioning under the developments of NPL.

There are other recent developments That have happened at NPL as well. Such as work on the watt balance: http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/Kibble_balance

Which ones are worth setting in the section? — Preceding unsigned comment added by AndresMP.wiki (talk • contribs) 00:43, 19 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

As long as there are reliable sources, they can all be covered with due weight. Whizz40 (talk) 04:54, 19 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

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Updates to links and information

Hello,

I have noticed some information on this page which requires updating.

To be transparent, I am associated with this organisation but my suggestions only refer to facts and figures that require attention as well as updating some broken links within the citations section.

1. The article states there is a staff number of 750. The actual number is 1000+ as approved by National Physical Laboratory's HR department.

Done Whizz40 (talk) 23:31, 24 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

2. The first sentence in the article states "The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is the national measurement standards laboratory for the United Kingdom." The official term is National Metrology Institute. https://www.npl.co.uk/about-us/national-metrology-institute

Donein second paragraph of lead; kept plain English description in the lead. Whizz40 (talk) 23:31, 24 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

3. "Today, it is one of the most extensive government laboratories in the UK and has a "prestigious" reputation for its role in setting and maintaining physical standards for British industry." - This sentence places the word 'prestigious' in quotation marks but does is not associated with any quote or citation. Please can these quotation marks be removed.

Done Whizz40 (talk) 23:31, 24 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

4. The National Physical Laboratory was established in 1900 at Bushy House "to bring scientific knowledge to bear practically upon our everyday industrial and commercial life".[7] - The link to citation 7 is broken and needs to be updated to https://www.npl.co.uk/history

The quote also needs to be updated to: “NPL was founded in 1900 for "standardising and verifying instruments, for testing materials, and for the determination of physical constants.”

Done Whizz40 (talk) 23:31, 24 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

5. Citation 11 Sources of this information can be found here but will need further research: https://www.serco.com/uk/media-and-news/2014/national-physical-laboratory-contract-extension

Done Whizz40 (talk) 23:31, 24 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

6. Citation 13 references a press release from 2014 but is now a broken link. This page provides the same information: https://www.npl.co.uk/about-us/corporate-information/strategic-partners

7. Citation 24 refers to an article “60 years of the atomic clock” but links to the history page. Link directly to the NPL history brochure. https://www.npl.co.uk/getattachment/about-us/History/npl-history.pdf?lang=en-GB

8. Update citation 28 to https://www.npl.co.uk/about-us/locations/north-england for this information on the new website.

9. Citation 51 refers to a news article but again links straight to the overall news page. Link to NPLX page: https://www.npl.co.uk/about-us/people/nplx

10. Please also consider including more information around NPL’s research including: Redefinition of SI in history section. https://www.npl.co.uk/si-units https://www.npl.co.uk/si-units/the-redefinition-of-the-si-units National Timing Centre and timing. https://www.npl.co.uk/ntc / https://www.npl.co.uk/time-frequency

JdeBorel96 (talk) 14:15, 24 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Hi - Please note that wikipedia requires independent sources to be used (see WP:RS) so none of the sources listed above with the prefix https://www.npl.co.uk/ would qualify. Dormskirk (talk) 14:20, 24 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your input JdeBorel96. Non independent sources can be considered, per WP:NIS, provided they are used in an appropriate way, but what we really need are reliable independent sources for the above WP:RS. Are there any published independent soruces you can suggest? Many thanks. Whizz40 (talk) 19:52, 24 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Whizz40 item 3, "prestigious" is to be avoided as per MOS:WTW FuzzyMagma (talk) 21:06, 22 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks @FuzzyMagma. I improved the article accordingly. Whizz40 (talk) 08:01, 23 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]