Dear Reader, It has become a tradition that the Director of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) reports on its activities in the first issue of Metrologia of the year. As I have only recently been appointed Director of the BIPM, on 1 January 2011, I would like to briefly introduce myself before turning to the annual report. I am a physicist who, after obtaining a PhD from the University of Hannover in Germany in 1977, started my working life as a metrologist at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), the German National Metrology Institute. I worked initially in the field of EUV-radiometry and then in 1991 moved to thermometry. In 2003 I joined the senior management team of PTB, becoming a Member of the Presidential Board (equivalent to second vice-president). In 2006 I was elected as Chairperson of EUROMET and in 2007 became the Chairperson of EURAMET, its successor organization. My major task at EURAMET was to prepare the structures and processes that were needed for the realization of the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP). In 2009 I joined the BIPM as Director Designate and Deputy Director.
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