Walter Orr Roberts

Building HAO, NCAR, and a Foundation for Scientific Innovation in Boulder

Early photograph of the National Bureau of Standards building with the Flatirons visible in the background.

Boulder, Colorado

National Bureau of Standards opens in Boulder

The Central Radio Propagation Laboratory of the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology) opened in 1954, becoming the first national laboratory in Boulder. Many factors were involved in choosing Boulder for the lab, but among them were the close working relationship between NBS and HAO and the presence of CU with its growing scientific departments. Walter Orr Roberts was a proponent of the choice as he sought to strenghten the scientific community in Boulder (Bassi, A Scientific Peak, 59-74). Photo credit: National Institute of Standards and Technology Digital Collections, Gaithersburg, MD 20899.

Learn More ⧉