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The standard of standard-setting

Nature Physics volume 19, page 298 (2023)Cite this article

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Standards recommended by the International Organization for Standardization are often hidden in plain sight. Angelique Botha, Chair of ISO/TC 334 for Reference Materials, tells us where to look.

The organization’s name is said to be derived from the Greek ‘isos’, meaning ‘equal’, to avoid different abbreviations, such as IOS in English or OIN in French for Organisation Internationale de Normalisation. However, Willy Kuert, one of the delegates of the meeting in London in 1946, remembered it differently: “I recently read that the name ISO was chosen because ‘iso’ is a Greek term meaning ‘equal’. There was no mention of that in London!”1

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References

  1. Friendship Among Equals: Recollections from ISO’s First Fifty Years (ISO, 1997); available at https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/about%20ISO/docs/en/Friendship_among_equals.pdf

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  1. National Metrology Institute of South Africa (NMISA), Pretoria, South Africa

    Angelique Botha

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  1. Angelique Botha
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Correspondence to Angelique Botha.

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Botha, A. The standard of standard-setting. Nat. Phys. 19, 298 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01934-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01934-z

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