The Admiralty Research Laboratory, or ARL, was a research laboratory that supported the work of the UK Admiralty in Teddington, London, England.

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^[1], 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; underwater ballistics; visual aids; acoustics; infra-red radiation; photography and assessment techniques.^[2] It moved to Teddington so that it could benefit from the expertise of the National Physical Laboratory^[3]

Notable Employees

Notable people who worked at the ARL included:

• Francis Crick (from 1940-1947) who helped to design magnetic and acoustic mines^[4]
• Martin Beale (from 1951-1960) who developed techniques for mathematical optimisation^[5]
• Edward Lee
• Jack Good (1959-1962)^[6]
• R. V. Jones (1938-1939)^[7]
• Charles Drysdale (superintendent 1921-1929) ^[8]
• Cyril Hilsum (1947-1950)
• Peter Wright (during the Second World War)^[9]
• Albert Beaumont Wood

Notes & References

1. ↑ Shield of Empire - The Royal Navy and Scotland, Brian Lavery, Birlinn 2007, ISBN 9781841585130
2. ↑ National Archive Information
3. ↑ 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
4. ↑ Bio at Wellcome Trust
5. ↑ Obituary in The Times Sat Dec 28th 1985, p8
6. ↑ Bio here
7. ↑ RV Jones Papers
8. ↑ British Library of Political and Economic Science
9. ↑ Bio-details here