Industrial measurement - a reflection on progress from 1960 to 2060

摘要

It is just over 50 years since the first commercial laser was produced, and since then the laser has been an increasingly important tool for the metrologist. As well as the laser a number of other inventions have contributed to some major advances in the technology that we use to measure the products that we make. We have moved from a predominantly manual process using mechanical gauges and reference artefacts, to a process that is largely automated, using computers to control coordinate measuring machines, or systems that gather vast numbers of coordinates using light or X-rays to digitise the objects of scrutiny. However, as with many things, quantity does not necessarily imply quality, and it would be easy to be misled into thinking that our ability to measure things in the 21st century is way in advance of our technology of 50 years ago. This talk will discuss aspects of what we call 'progress' and how we measure it, and look forward to what developments we might see or want in the next 50 years.