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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department's Technology Administration, was founded in 1901 as the nation's first federal physical science research laboratory. Over the years, the scientists and technical staff at NIST have made solid contributions to a broad and varied range of technologies, including such things as image processing, DNA diagnostic "chips," smoke detectors, and automated error-correcting software for machine tools. Other areas in which NIST has had major impact include atomic clocks, X-ray standards for mammography, scanning tunneling microscopy, pollution-control technology, and high-speed dental drills.