PeopleNPL's reputation relies on great people and exceptional scientists.
For over 100 years we have employed physicists, mathematicians, engineers, and more recently, chemists and biologists working on measurement science and the many wider areas that this leads to.
Executive Team
Short biographies of NPL's senior management team.
This includes Brian Bowsher, NPL's Managing Director.
NPL Fellows
Biographies of NPL's Senior Science Fellows, Fellows, Emeritus Senior Fellows and Senior Fellows.
NPL Directors
Since its creation in 1899, NPL has been led by a number of notable individuals. You can see biographies of all 20 directors.
Some of our notable scientists
Michael de Podesta
Michael de Podesta was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his outstanding commitment and passion for science communication. Michael was one of the first Science Ambassadors at NPL, going out to schools and the community to bring science to life. Michael is now a key Science Ambassador mentor, giving many NPL staff the confidence to go out to schools and colleges and promote
science. Michael’s work on the redefinition of the kelvin, through an improved determination of the Boltzmann constant using an acoustic thermometer, was recently featured in Nature.Graham Sims
Graham Sims has recently celebrated his 43rd anniversary of working at NPL. During these 43 years, Graham has helped establish NPL as one of the foremost research institutes in the world and is personally recognised internationally for leadership of standardisation for composites material.
Richard Brown
Richard Brown has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and was also the winner of the RSC’s SAC Silver Medal. As part of this he delivered a lecture entitled ‘Environmental analytical measurements: from the laboratory to the field’ at Pfizer’s European Headquarters for R&D. Richard was also the co‑author of ‘Establishing SI traceability for measurements of mercury vapour’, with NPL’s Andrew Brown, that won the CITAC (Cooperation on International Traceability in Analytical Chemistry) Award for the Most Important Paper on Metrology in Chemistry.Alan Turnbull
Alan Turnbull’s world-leading expertise in corrosion has been further recognised by winning the Willis Rodney Whitney Award from NACE International. Alan was key in NPL becoming one of only two suppliers to a major oil company for their Inherently Reliability Facilities flagship programme.John Pethica
John Pethica, NPL’s Chief Scientific Advisor, has become Physical Secretary and Vice-President of the Royal Society, replacing Sir Martin Taylor. The Society is the UK National Academy of Science, and elects Fellows from the UK and the Commonwealth. It is governed by a Council of 21 Fellows, including five Honorary Officers: President, Treasurer, two Secretaries (physical sciences and life sciences) and Foreign Secretary.
Supporting our staff
We recognise that people are the most important part of any organisation and as such we try to support our staff in the best way possible.
NPL's Continuous Professional Development Scheme
NPL’s Continuous Professional Development Scheme has been recognised by the Institute of Physics (IOP) as a scheme that demonstrates best practice in the training of physicists
Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents
We maintain a high level of health and safety on site and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has consistently commended our health and safety record.
Volunteering
NPL actively supports staff who wish to volunteer for community work. Staff who engage in work such as School Governors, Scout Leadership and St John Ambulance can request up to five days time off for volunteering per year.
Two Ticks Disability
Jobcentre Plus has approved NPL to be a user of the Two Ticks Disability Symbol. This means that NPL is committed to employing disabled people and will look to continuously support and develop the careers of any disabled members of staff.