Michael Kühne was born in 1949.

After receiving a doctoral degree in 1977 he joined the PTB in Berlin, where he participated in the development of the PTB laboratory for vacuum-ultraviolet radiometry at the Berlin electron storage ring BESSY, and was appointed Head of this laboratory in 1986.

In 1991 Michael Kühne moved to "Thermometry" and assumed the position of Head of the PTB's Department of Temperature and Heat.

In 1992 he was awarded the "Habilitation" (postdoctoral lecturing qualification) and was appointed lecturer in the Department of Physics of the University of Hannover; in 1996 he was appointed adjunct professor.

In 2001 Prof. Kühne moved from Berlin to Braunschweig to become Head of the Staff Office of the PTB's Presidential Board, and in 2003 he became a member of the Presidential Board in the post of second vice-president.

Michael Kühne is a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Measurement Science and Technology and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, UK.

From June 2006 to March 2009, he was Chairperson first of EUROMET and then of EURAMET.

In November 2007, the CIPM elected Michael Kühne as Director Designate of the BIPM. He joined the BIPM as Deputy Director in April 2009.

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World Metrology Day 2009

To mark the ten-year anniversary of the CIPM MRA, this year's theme was "Measurements in Commerce". We invite you to read the message from the Director of the BIPM, and download the promotional products in a choice of languages.

http://www.worldmetrologyday.org

(An initiative realized by Dr P. Espina, BIPM)

The 22nd meeting of the JCRB took place at the BIPM, on 17 and 18 March 2009.

CIPM MRA documents and policies

Document CIPM MRA-D-05 "Comparisons in the CIPM MRA" was presented to the JCRB and a discussion was held on the requirements for comparisons. A new draft will be prepared and will be circulated among the RMOs for comments.

Document CIPM MRA-P-01 "Procedure for approval of new RMOs" was discussed and will be submitted to the CIPM for final approval.

All open-access documents relevant to the CIPM MRA (policy documents, guidance on CMCs, guidance on comparisons, and complementary information) can be reached from the main BIPM website by clicking here:

Feedback from the CCs and their Working Groups

To obtain formal feedback from the CCs and their Working Groups, a questionnaire was circulated in advance of the 22nd JCRB meeting. After analysing the responses, two main common problems were identified:
  - There is a need to improve the communication of resolutions and policies related to the CIPM MRA to the CCs and their Working Groups.
The discussion of this issue led to resolution 22/1: "The Executive Secretary will send an advance copy of the JCRB news section of the KCDB Newsletter to the RMO delegates." This action was undertaken for this issue of the KCDB Newsletter.
  - The inclusion of uncertainty components due to the device under test (DUT) is not done in a uniform way in all the CCs.
After a short discussion it was agreed that the CMCs should include the components of uncertainty due to the DUT, and only in those cases where the DUT is not included, the CMCs in the KCDB should include a note in the "comments" field stating this point. This conclusion will be included in document CIPM MRA-D-04 "Calibration and Measurement Capabilities in the context of the CIPM MRA".

Periodic review of CMCs

The JCRB noting that:
  - its statement about a five year review period for CMCs may have been misinterpreted,
  - RMO review of quality systems occurs every five years, and
  - recently a system of annual reports from NMIs and DIs was introduced in which NMIs and DIs report any changes which may affect CMCs,
resolves that:
the periodic review of published CMCs is performed by the RMOs and recommends that RMOs review the templates used for these annual reports to ensure that NMIs and DIs address this issue.

The JCRB further notes that in some areas the CCs may wish to make a specific decision on the review period and review procedure that apply to their community.

Accreditation of NMIs

The problems and advantages of harmonizing the processes for the review of quality systems of NMIs as used by the RMOs and by the accreditation bodies were discussed. The BIPM will continue to look for ways to harmonize the processes, to avoid unnecessary duplications of efforts.

Next JCRB meeting

The next JCRB meeting will be hosted by COOMET and held in Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, on 23 and 24 September 2009.

(Reported by Prof. L. Mussio, JCRB Executive Secretary)

  JCRB website

The key and supplementary comparisons database now covers 659 key comparisons (81 from the BIPM, 328 from the CCs, 1 from AFRIMETS, 85 from APMP, 29 from COOMET, 104 from EURAMET, and 31 from SIM) and 211 supplementary comparisons. Two new BIPM key comparisons were recently registered in the KCDB: BIPM.RI(II)-K1.Cu-64 and BIPM.RI(I)-K6. They correspond to novel work undertaken by the BIPM Ionizing Radiation Section.

Number of key comparisons and of supplementary comparisons registered in the KCDB: evolution since September 2003

Number of new comparisons registered in the KCDB
over the one-year period ending at the date indicated on the x-axis

One observes that 35 new supplementary comparisons have been registered over the last year. This is the highest rate ever observed, and reflects the awareness of the RMOs of the interest of declaring their internal exercises and posting the corresponding reports in the KCDB, mainly in support of their CMC claims. The number of newly registered key comparisons averages at about 40 per year.

Updated graphs illustrating the participation in key and supplementary comparisons were made available from the Statistics page of the KCDB on 2 June 2009.

On 5 June 2009, among the 659 key comparisons that were registered:
  - 87 corresponded to exercises prior to the implementation of the CIPM MRA (they were "Approved for provisional equivalence");
  - 73 of the 81 ongoing BIPM key comparisons had results published in the KCDB; these are regularly extended when new data become available; and
  - another 267 CC and RMO key comparisons had their final reports approved and posted in the KCDB website, and corresponding tables of numbers and graphs entered in the database.
All together, the KCDB currently displays a total of 1264 graphs of equivalence.

The results of some 97 RMO key comparisons are published in the KCDB. Linkage is also computed for bilateral key comparisons subsequent to full-scale CC key comparisons; their results are added on the appropriate graphs of equivalence. The final reports (or appropriate references) of about half of the supplementary comparisons registered in the KCDB are also posted in the KCDB.
Note that final reports of key and supplementary comparisons posted in the KCDB are also generally published in the series of Metrologia Technical Supplements.

(Reported by Dr C. Thomas, BIPM KCDB Coordinator)

Workshop on Physiological Quantities and SI Units
16-17 November 2009
Chairman: Prof. Michael Kühne, BIPM
Scientific Secretary: Dr Claudine Thomas, BIPM

Draft agenda

Increasing demands are being placed on metrologists and other experts to quantify the effects of a multitude of factors on the human body, and this requires the resolution of a number of complex scientific issues - including assuring the traceability of the measurements to the International System of Units (SI). The BIPM is therefore organizing a Workshop on Physiological Quantities and SI Units, which will take place at the BIPM on 16-17 November 2009. The aim is to bring together various interested communities - principally those concerned with traceable, reliable and comparable measurement, and those responsible for writing and applying specification standards and/or health and safety legislation.

The expected outcomes of the process initiated by the Workshop will be:
  - a collaboration aimed at relating the effects on the human body to measurements traceable to the SI or to other internationally agreed standards;
  - harmonization of terms and methods so that measurements made in different places can be related to each other, thereby enabling comparability of research work and a consistent approach to the estimation of effects on the human body;
  - best practice guides and/or documents which may be adopted as the basis for the measurement aspects of international standardization, regulation and/or legislation; and
  - a commitment by intergovernmental bodies and international organizations to work together and to encourage the application of the agreed best practices.
Participation at this event is restricted to experts nominated by the Intergovernmental Organizations, International Organizations, and National Metrology Institutes.

Workshop on Metrology at the Nanoscale
18-19 February 2010
Chairman: Dr Alan Steele, NRC
Scientific Secretary: Dr Joële Viallon, BIPM

The aim is to bring together representatives from the National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) with other communities involved in science, policy and standardization of nanotechnology to answer the following question: "What activities are required to establish an effective international infrastructure for metrology at the nanoscale?"
Further information regarding registration and the workshop programme will be made available as soon as possible through the KCDB Newsletter and on the BIPM website.

Access to the CPEM'2010 website

  Calendar of meetings held at the BIPM

  Other conferences, workshops and general assemblies