The Museum of the History of Science houses an unrivalled collection of early scientific instruments in the world’s oldest surviving purpose-built museum building, the Old Ashmolean on Broad Street, Oxford. One of those instruments, is now the KMLabs Picosecond Tape Measure! VIEW HERE
Instrument Description:
The KMLabs Tape Measure has been designated, "[the] first piece of scientific equipment from the 21st century" and is Manufactured or supplied by KMLabs (Kapteyn-Murnane Labs), Boulder, Colorado, USA. It is a White plastic case with red button; exactly 2 inches diameter. The tape reads in centimetres divided by millimetres one side, other side in tens and hundreds of picoseconds subdivided to an accuracy of 5 picoseconds; full length of tape 153 cm, 5100 ps. A light-picosecond is the distance light travels in a trillionth of a second, or 0.000000000001 seconds; 100 picoseconds equals 3 cm. The design has been updated throughout the years, to keep it 'fresh and new'.
