NPL:- National Physical Laboratory
NPL stands for National Physics Laboratory. It is the National Metrology Institute of India and a Premier Research Laboratory in the field of Physical Sciences. It was developed with a view to paving way for using science and technology as a means for industrial growth and development, as well as to give the fillip to the fledgling Indian industry. The foundation stone for the laboratory on January 4, 1947, by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister and it was one of the first National Laboratory to be set-up under the CSIR. The NPL building was inaugurated on January 21, 1950, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the then Deputy Prime Minister of India. Since then, 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 become one of the leading national institutions for research in a whole gamut of areas in the Physical Sciences.