VIM – International Vocabulary of Metrology

Posted by Ivo Leito
Measurement science (metrology) is a lucky area in the sense that there a very good and authoritative “single-point-of-reference” terminology vocabulary available: the VIM (Vocabulaire international de métrologie, International Vocabulary of Metrology). The current edition – third edition – of VIM is available for download at http://www.bipm.org/en/publications/guides/vim.html
This edition of VIM was published in 2008 and it took took more than three years to complete because it was necessary to reach numerous compromises between experts from different measurement fields. Originally the same terms were used in different fields with different meanings. Avoiding this is one of the main ideas of VIM. The result was worth of the effort and the unification of terminology is is one of the most important merits of VIM. So, whenever writing something related to measurements it is a good idea to check the terminology proposed in VIM and use it.
This edition of VIM for the first time includes also some terms relevant to anlytical chemistry. Nevertheless, their number is still quite small.