Patrick Abbott with the apparatus used for the vacuum-to-air mass change studies at NIST. Photo credit: NIST
Patrick Abbott, who earned his BS in physics from IUP in 1985, has retired from the National Institute of Standards and Technology after a 30-year career as a physicist.
Patrick was a member of the Pressure and Vacuum Group from 1992 to 2007, where he was responsible for the realization and dissemination of the pascal (Pa; SI unit of pressure) between 10-7 and 10-1 Pa.
In 2007, he joined the Mass and Force Group and was a part of NIST's team of scientists that worked on the redefinition of the SI mass unit (the kilogram) in 2019.
Since retirement, Patrick has become a full-time Christian minister.