Admiralty Research Laboratory

Former UK military research laboratory

Admiralty Experimental Station

Dissolved1977Superseding agency

Admiralty Surface Weapons Establishment

JurisdictionGovernment of the United KingdomHeadquartersAdmiralty Building
Whitehall
LondonParent DepartmentAdmiralty, Ministry of Defence

The Admiralty Research Laboratory^[1] (ARL) was a research laboratory that supported the work of the UK Admiralty in Teddington, London, England from 1921 to 1977.^[2]

History

During the First World War, the Anti-Submarine Division of the Admiralty had established experimental stations at Hawkcraig (Aberdour) and Parkeston Quay, Harwich, with out-stations at Dartmouth and Wemyss Bay, to work on submarine detection methods. The Admiralty also established an experimental station at Shandon, Dumbartonshire,^[3] working with the Lancashire Anti-Submarine Committee and the Clyde Anti-Submarine Committee, which subsequently moved to Teddington in 1921, becoming the Admiralty Research Laboratory.

Its main fields of research expanded to include oceanography (it housed the National Institute of Oceanography, 1949–1953); electromagnetics and degaussing; underwater ballistics; visual aids; acoustics; infra-red radiation; photography and assessment techniques.^[4] It moved to Teddington, southwest of London, so that it could benefit from the expertise of the National Physical Laboratory.^[5]

Notable employees

Notable people who worked at the ARL included:

Francis Crick (from 1940 to 1947) who helped to design magnetic and acoustic mines^[6]
Martin Beale (from 1951 to 1960) who developed techniques for mathematical optimisation^[7]
Edward Lee
Jack Good (1959–1962)^[8]
R. V. Jones (1938–1939)^[9]
Charles Drysdale (superintendent 1921–1929)^[10]
Cyril Hilsum (1947–1950)
Alister Watson (1940s–1965), suspected Soviet spy.^[11]
Peter Wright during the Second World War; as a degaussing specialist)^[12]^[13]
Thomas Gaskell (during the Second World War)
Albert Beaumont Wood

Notes and references

^ Archives, The National. "ADMIRALTY RESEARCH LABORATORY". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. National Archives, 4 December 1957. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
^ Archives, The National. "Records of Research Establishments". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. National Archives, 1874–1991. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
^ Shield of Empire – The Royal Navy and Scotland, Brian Lavery, Birlinn 2007, ISBN 978-1-84158-513-0
^ National Archive Information
^ R. V. Jones Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Vol. 342, No. 1631, "A Discussion on the Effects of the Two World Wars on the Organization and Development of Science in the United Kingdom" (Apr. 15, 1975), pp. 481–490
^ Bio at Wellcome Trust Archived 2007-04-26 at the Wayback Machine
^ Obituary in The Times Sat Dec 28th 1985, p8
^ Bio here
^ RV Jones Papers Archived April 6, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
^ British Library of Political and Economic Science
^ Wright, Peter; Greengrass, Paul (1987). Spycatcher. pp. 250–260. ISBN 0-85561-166-9.
^ Bio-details here Archived August 7, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
^ Peter Wright, Spycatcher, Toronto 1987, Stoddart Publishers, Chapter 2.

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