Admiralty Research Laboratory
The Admiralty Research Laboratory was a research laboratory that supported the work of the UK Admiralty. It was located in Teddington, London, England from 1921 to 1977.
History
During the First World War, the Anti-Submarine Division of the Admiralty had established experimental stations at Hawkcraig 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, 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 ; electromagnetics and degaussing; underwater ballistics; visual aids; acoustics; infra-red radiation; photography and assessment techniques. It moved to Teddington, south west of London, so that it could benefit from the expertise of the National Physical Laboratory.
Notable employees
Notable people who worked at the ARL included:- Francis Crick who helped to design magnetic and acoustic mines
- Martin Beale who developed techniques for mathematical optimisation
- Edward Lee
- Jack Good
- R. V. Jones
- Charles Drysdale
- Cyril Hilsum
- Alister Watson, suspected Soviet spy
- Peter Wright during the Second World War; as a degaussing specialist
- Thomas Gaskell
- Albert Beaumont Wood