Vital to the best practices of thermographers is the clear and concise use of language and terminology. Our recommendations for repair, for instance, must communicate in ways that produce the results we intend. To simply say "fix it," is typically not adequate. Our reports should include simple "boilerplate" that defines terms—especially given how tempted we are to use jargon! I know we struggle in our classes with the diverse meanings assigned to terms like "range," "ambient," and "temperature."
One term most thermographers probably will not need to define is "smoot." But Oliver Smoot has contributed a great deal in his career with ASTM and ISO standards organizations and thermographers owe him, for that reason, at least a passing understanding of his less well-known contribution as the originator of this unit of the measure of length. As a freshman at MIT he had the dubious honor of being used as the unit measure (5'7") of the Mass Ave bridge (364.4 Smoots + one ear) and the term has not only stuck but has also become an official unit of measure (try checking distance on Google Earth in Smoots!). You can find further details at:
http://web.mit.edu/spotlight/smoot-salute/
During a recent trip to Cambridge to work with an ISO IR medical standards committee, I captured the attached photo of Prof. Francis Ring (who many of you will remember for his keynote at our 2008 Thermal Solutions conference) and Dr. David Pascoe (professor of sports medicine at Auburn), at the 100 Smoot mark. While I don't suggest we should all begin giving our "distance to object" measurements in Smoots, it is an amusing thought! More on the standards work we were doing will be forthcoming, but let me tell you it will be ground breaking regardless of the units used.
You may also want to view the webinar by Prof. Ring, "A Brief History of Infrared Thermography," which can be found on our website at: https://www.thesnellgroup.com/CourseDetails.aspx?id=37. As the Chair of the William Herschel Society in Bath, England, there is no one I know who can better speak to the topic. Enjoy!
Thermally Yours,
John
ASNT NDT Level III #48166
The Snell Group
www.thesnellgroup.com
www.thermalsolutions.org
800-636-9820