Abstract

The National Physical Laboratory, NPL , is the UK’s National Measurement Institute. Its key role is maintaining and disseminating the UK’s national measurement system. This role supports trade, for instance by ensuring that a millimetre screw in the UK will fit into a millimetre hole drilled in Germany, and quality of life, for example by providing reliable measurements of dosimetry for radiotherapy that are traceable back to a national standard.

Most aspects of this role involve a mathematical model somewhere in their development or implementation, and NPL has a dedicated mathematics and modelling group to provide cross-cutting support and mathematical expertise. This talk provides an overview of NPL ’s work, a description of some of the maths & modelling group’s main technical interests, and discusses some examples where a mathematical model has played a key role in a measurement process.