	(145)
	(23)
	(33)
	(349)
	(0)
	(145)
	(14)
	(10)
	(284)
	(157)
	(90)
	(41)

Information

Wallard, Andrew

Andrew Wallard, until 2011, was Director of "Bureau International des Poids et Mesures" - an intergovernmental body on international territory near Paris. The BIPM is the organisation at the centre of world metrology. Here Andrew was responsible for an annual budget of some 10 Million Euro. The BIPM is the home of the world time scale and international prototype kilogramme, on which the SI measurements of time and mass are based. It is also extending its work into traceable measurements related to chemistry and laboratory medicine.

Andrew's post-University career started in science policy making at the Department of Trade and Industry in Whitehall. Here his work was a mixture of politics and science, but he found working the solution out was a huge satisfaction. He later returned to the NPL as a manager, where his mix of physics research skills and the management skills developed at the DTI were put to good use. He rose to the post of Deputy Director of the lab before being appointed Director of the BIPM in 2004.

The New Year 2011 marks the move of the Directorship of the BIPM from Professor Andrew J. Wallard into the hands of Professor Michael Kühne. Michael Kühne joined the BIPM in 2009 as Director Designate, before which he was a member of the Presidential Board of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Germany.

Upon his retirement, Prof. Wallard becomes Director Emeritus of the BIPM.

Articles of this author

Measurements in science and technology

Issue: KIPiS 2010 #2

Prof. Andrew J. Wallard, Director of the BIPM: Metrology has always had its eyes firmly fixed on practical steps in order to provide that «bridge to innovation ». Whitworth, that great British Victoria engineer said «You can only make as well as you can measure» and we are still faced with solving a measurement challenge so as to make a better product or to stimulate innovation. We are always trying to see why nature limits our ability to make a certain measurement, and then asking if the limit is a fundamental one or if, by coming up with some clever idea, we can go further. There is no doubt that metrology and science are interlinked and that the ability to make a better measurement opens up new opportunities.

No games without measurement

Issue: KIPiS 2008 #3

The slogan of the BIPM (International Bureau of Weights and Measures) for 2008 is reflected in the title of the article by the CEO of this organization Andrew Wallard. Measurements are very important and concern almost all aspects of society life. As for sport, measurements are the determinants for sportsmen and play a very important role for the assessment of their results. All equipment should work properly and exclude any defects. Lots of additional factors should be also taken into consideration, for example time, height, distance are the elements of athletics, but temperature of water in the swimming pool can also make an influence on the results of a sportsman therefore it should be exactly measured and so on. Sports metrology requires main rules compliance of fine measurement.
For more details read the whole article.

Current issue

#4 December 2021
KIPiS 2021 #4

Topic of the issue:

Modern instrumentation