ISO

ISO

Abbrev. for Infrared Space Observatory, an orbiting infrared astronomy observatory launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) on top of an Ariane-4 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, Nov. 1995. The 2.5-tonne, 5.3-meter-long ISO was the most sensitive infrared satellite of its time, using four detectors cryogenically cooled by liquid helium to capture and study weak infrared radiation from such sources as cold gas and dust clouds and regions of star birth and star death, as well as quasars and remote galaxies. Lying in the focal plane of a telescope with a 60-centimeter mirror, the four detectors were (1) an infrared camera (ISOCAM) covering the range 2.5–17 μm; (2) a photopolarimeter (ISOPHOT) functioning between 2.5 and 240 μm; (3) a shortwave spectrometer covering the 2.4–45 μm band; and (4) a longwave spectrometer operating between 45 and 196.8 μm. These instruments revealed numerous hitherto unknown objects that were ‘visible’ only in infrared light. The satellite operated for about 30 months. Its mission ended in Apr. 1998 when its coolant finally ran out.

Collins Dictionary of Astronomy © Market House Books Ltd, 2006

International Standards Organization, International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

A body which promotes the development of world-wide standards and which publishes such standards.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

ISO

International Organization for Standardization

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ISO

(1) For the light measurement standard, see ISO speed.

(2) For the optical disc format standard, see ISO image.

(3) (International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland, www.iso.ch) An organization that sets international standards, founded in 1946. The U.S. member body is the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). ISO deals with all fields except electrical and electronics, which is governed by the older International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). With regard to information processing, ISO and IEC created JTC1, the Joint Technical Committee for information technology.

ISO carries out its work through more than 185 technical committees and 2,700 subcommittees and working groups and is made up of standards organizations from more than 95 countries, some of them serving as secretariats for these technical bodies.

Full, Correspondent and Subscriber Members
Of the 164 ISO member bodies, more than a hundred are full members that influence ISO standards development. Approximately 50 Correspondent members attend meetings as observers. A handful of Subscriber members stay up-to-date on ISO activities but do not sell or adopt ISO standards nationally as do all the others. See ISO/IEC.

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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Iso

 

a lime-sulfur chemical decoction for combating mites and ticks (acaricide).

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.