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Joseph’s Answer
Metrology is the science of measurements (try not to confuse it with meteorology, the study and prediction of weather).
There's lots of different properties people want to measure, including lengths and sizes; masses; temperature; chemical constituents; even radiation. I work in radiation measurement, and although I generally identify more as a physicist, my role could equally be described as a radiation metrologist. The subfields can be quite different and require different skills and knowledge, so generally people specialise into one area of metrology, so you generally see things described as (subfield) metrology rather than just "metrology".
In general, though, metrology is all about getting accurate measurements, but no measurement is "perfect" - there's always some measurement uncertainty; and understanding the uncertainty of measurements and how uncertainties in different parts of a measurement combine is a big part of metrology. That is often quite mathematical, so a good metrologist is therefore also usually a good mathematician and statistician.
Another important aspect of metrology is calibration and traceability - this is all about making sure that what you measure is the same as what someone else would measure - usually this involves a chain of calibrations or references. For example, does your thermometer read the same as the one in the local calibration lab; then does their thermometer correctly measure the reference heat source in the national metrology institute (eg NIST); and how do they relate their primary heat standard to the International System of Units (SI).
If you do see the term metrology or metrologist without a subfield attached, from my personal experience, they're probably talking about one of two things. One is primary standards metrology - the people that work in the national standards institutes and produce the primary reference standards that are directly connected to SI properties - like the reference kilogram that they've matched to SI using a kibble balance.
The other field that sometimes you see just called "metrology" on its own is dimensional metrology - this is measuring the size and shape of things very precisely. You often see dimensional metrology used in industry to measure industrial components to very high tolerances, for example using a Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM), where you tap a probe across the surface of an item - the probe knows very precisely how far it moves each time, so you build up a very accurate "map" of the item being measured.
Research the different subfields of metrology and find out which you're attracted to more than others
There's lots of different properties people want to measure, including lengths and sizes; masses; temperature; chemical constituents; even radiation. I work in radiation measurement, and although I generally identify more as a physicist, my role could equally be described as a radiation metrologist. The subfields can be quite different and require different skills and knowledge, so generally people specialise into one area of metrology, so you generally see things described as (subfield) metrology rather than just "metrology".
In general, though, metrology is all about getting accurate measurements, but no measurement is "perfect" - there's always some measurement uncertainty; and understanding the uncertainty of measurements and how uncertainties in different parts of a measurement combine is a big part of metrology. That is often quite mathematical, so a good metrologist is therefore also usually a good mathematician and statistician.
Another important aspect of metrology is calibration and traceability - this is all about making sure that what you measure is the same as what someone else would measure - usually this involves a chain of calibrations or references. For example, does your thermometer read the same as the one in the local calibration lab; then does their thermometer correctly measure the reference heat source in the national metrology institute (eg NIST); and how do they relate their primary heat standard to the International System of Units (SI).
If you do see the term metrology or metrologist without a subfield attached, from my personal experience, they're probably talking about one of two things. One is primary standards metrology - the people that work in the national standards institutes and produce the primary reference standards that are directly connected to SI properties - like the reference kilogram that they've matched to SI using a kibble balance.
The other field that sometimes you see just called "metrology" on its own is dimensional metrology - this is measuring the size and shape of things very precisely. You often see dimensional metrology used in industry to measure industrial components to very high tolerances, for example using a Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM), where you tap a probe across the surface of an item - the probe knows very precisely how far it moves each time, so you build up a very accurate "map" of the item being measured.
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