World Colleges Information

The National Physical Laboratory was conceptualized in 1943 by the Governing Body of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), with a view to pave way for using science and technology as a means for industrial growth and development, as well as to give fillip to the fledgling Indian industry. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India, laid the foundation stone for the laboratory on January 4, 1947 and it was one of the first National Laboratory to be set-up under the CSIR. On January 21, 1950, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the then Deputy Prime Minister of India, inaugurated the NPL building. Over the years, the Laboratory has more than realized its primary mandate as the keeper of Measurement Standards for the nation while also substantially expanding its research activities to emerge as a leading national institution for research in a whole gamut of areas in the Physical Sciences.