Prof. Venu Gopal Achanta becomes the 7th Indian to be elected as a member of International Committee for Weight and Measures

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Prof. Venu Gopal Achanta, Director, CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL), New Delhi, has been elected as a member of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM). The 27th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) meeting was held on 15-18 November, 2022 at Paris, France.

Prof. Achanta is among the 18 members elected from different countries and he is the 7th Indian to be elected to the CIPM.  The first Indian to be elected as a member of CIPM was Dr. K.S. Krishnan, the founder Director of CSIR-NPL. The last Indian to be elected was Prof. E. S. R. Gopal, the then Director, and CSIR-NPL (1991-1997).

At present, 64 countries are members of CGPM and it meets every 4 years at the International Bureau of Weight and Measure (BIPM), France.

The CIPM is a supreme international committee which functions under the authority of the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM).

CGPM was set up under the Meter Convention signed on 20th May 1875 in Paris. It is responsible for development and implementation of International Systems of Unites, universally abbreviated as SI.

The CSIR-NPL, the National Metrology Institute (NMI) of India was established by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi on January 4, 1947. The Government of India enacted the “Standards of Weights and Measures Act” for the first time in 1956 to ensure that every citizen has access to uniform standards of weights and measures based on the SI units. India became the member of the CGPM in 1957.