Peter Mason receives international award for outstanding contribution to the development of modern metrology
17th congress of the Russian Academy of Metrology: details of award ceremony.
The National Measurement and Regulation Office (NMRO) Director of International Peter Mason attended the seventeenth Congress of the Russian Academy of Metrology on 23 September 2015 and was 1 of 4 recipients of the Academy’s Mendeleev Grand Gold Medal.
The President of the Academy, Prof. Dr. Vladimir Okrepilov, said that:
in presenting the award the Academy intended to recognise Mr. Mason’s outstanding contribution to the development of modern metrology.
Also honored in this way was Dr. Barry Inglis, President of the International Committee of Weights and Measures. Both Mr. Mason and Dr. Inglis had earlier been elected honorary members of the academy, which consists of over 900 members drawn across the many different metrology institutes which operate in Russia at both the national and the local level.
Commenting on the award, Mr. Mason said:
that he felt extremely privileged to be honored in this way.
He recognised that it was very unusual for someone whose background was as an administrator rather than as a scientist or engineer to be given such recognition. He noted, however, that the contribution of Prof. Mendeleev, already a world renowned chemist, to the world of metrology had been essentially that of a gifted and energetic administrator.
The congress was held as part of the fourth international scientific and practical conference, which covered the trends and developments in the field of the economics of quality: ‘Metrological Provision in Economies for Current Condition’.
This conference had been organized to coincide with the 115th Anniversary of the State Regional Center for Standardization, Metrology and Testing in Saint Petersburg, ‘Test – St Petersburg’ and the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the body which is now Rosstandart, the Federal Agency on Technical Regulation and Metrology.
The Conference was addressed by both Aleksey Abramov, Head of Rosstandart, and Georgy Poltavchenko, the Governor of St Petersburg.
The International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML) is an intergovernmental treaty organisation which:
- develops model regulations, standards and related documents for use by legal metrology authorities and industry
- provides mutual recognition systems which reduce trade barriers and costs in a global market
- represents the interests of the legal metrology community within international organizations and forums concerned with metrology, standardization, testing, certification and accreditation
- promotes and facilitates the exchange of knowledge and competencies within the legal metrology community worldwide
- cooperates with other metrology bodies to raise awareness of the contribution that a sound legal metrology infrastructure can make to a modern economy