Possible variations of the fine structure constant $\alpha$ and their   metrological significance
  We briefly review the recent experimental results on possible variations of the fine structure constant $\alpha$ on the cosmological time scale and its position dependence. We outline the theoretical grounds for the assumption that $\alpha$ might be variable, mention some phenomenological models incorporating a variable $\alpha$ into the context of modern cosmology and discuss the significance of possible $\alpha$ variations for theoretical and practical metrology. 
K.A. Bronnikov, S.A. Kononogov