• DocumentCode
    112513
  • Title

    Nature is Exact!

  • Author

    Kibble, Bryan

  • Volume
    18
  • Issue
    2
  • fYear
    2015
  • fDate
    Apr-15
  • Firstpage
    31
  • Lastpage
    32
  • Abstract
    In my first undergraduate year, I had to do a practical experiment involving a soap film stretched over a circular aperture. A small pressure difference across the film distorted it into a portion of a spherical surface, which could form an image of a needle placed at its centre of curvature. The quality of this image astonished me ??? it was as good as that of the best lens. I remarked on this ability of a simple bubble to form a surface correct to within a wavelength of light to my college tutor. "Ah!" he said, "you see, nature is exact." So, instead of giving my old job description as "establishing the SI as the basis of all measurement," which does not sound the most exciting task in the world, I could have said "finding out whether nature is indeed exact, and to what extent we can use its exactness," which sounds more interesting.
  • Keywords
    Measurement techniques; Metrology; Research and development;
  • fLanguage
    English
  • Journal_Title
    Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine, IEEE
  • Publisher
    ieee
  • ISSN
    1094-6969
  • Type

    jour

  • DOI
    10.1109/MIM.2015.7066681
  • Filename
    7066681