BIPM Full Form: History, Overview, Functions etc.

The BIPM Full Form is the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, which works together to establish measuring standards in four different fields: chemistry, ionising radiation, physical metrology, and coordinated universal time. Its headquarters are in Saint-Cloud, Paris. Older literature has referred to the organisation as IBWM.

The BIPM plays a significant part in preserving precise global time. It creates a single, official Coordinated Universal Time by combining, analysing, and averaging the recognised atomic time standards of all of the participating countries.

History

Following the signing of the Metre Convention, a treaty involving 17 Member States, the BIPM was established on May 20, 1875. (as of November 2018 there are now 59 members).

Its headquarters are located in the Pavillon de Breteuil in Saint-Cloud, France, a 4.35 ha (10.7 acres) land (formerly 2.52 ha or 6.2 acres) that the French government gave the Bureau in 1876. The location has been regarded as international territory since 1969, and the BIPM is granted all the benefits and rights provided to an intergovernmental organisation.

BIPM Overview

Function

1. The BIPM’s mandate is to establish the foundation for a single, consistent, and traceable system of measures for the entire world (SI). This work can take many different forms, including direct unit distribution and coordination through cross-national comparisons of measurement standards (as in electricity and ionising radiation).
2. Each time the General Conference meets, a draught of the BIPM Work Programme is offered for discussion together with the BIPM budget. The CIPM decides the final work schedule by the budget that the CGPM and CIPM have agreed upon.
3. At the moment, the BIPM primarily focuses on Its four departments—chemistry, ionising radiation, physical metrology, and time—to conduct scientific and technical work.
4. Work on coordination and liaison, including providing the secretariat for the CIPM Consultative Committees, some of their Working Groups, and the CIPM MRA, as well as institutional liaison with other organisations supporting the global quality infrastructure and other international organisations.
5. Programs for improving capacities and transferring knowledge to improve the performance of the Member States and Associates with evolving metrology systems in the global metrology community.
6. The International Network on Quality Infrastructure (INetQI), which supports and implements QI activities in metrology, accreditation, standardisation, and conformity assessment, counts the BIPM as one of its twelve member organisations.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)