Oral history of BTH Research Laboratory, recorded 1957
Reference
UK0108 NAEST 237
Date
1957
Scope and Content
This CD (43 minutes in length) provides an oral history of the early days of the BTH Research Laboratory mainly from its inception in 1924 (when what was originally known as Building 52 was built) up until the end of the 1940s. The history is provided through interviews with former employees of BTH Research Laboratory (mostly retired).
The interviews were conducted by Dr K J R Wilkinson (ex BTH and subsequently Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers) circa 1957 (date supported by material contained in the interviews). The original recording was uncovered by the family of Dr Wilkinson who transferred the material to CD in 2015.
Interviewees include;
1. Tommy Wadsworth. Retired from BTH in 1947 - present when the Research Laboratory was built. T Wadsworth was Head of the Electrical Section at the outset (for the first 4 years from 1924-1928 when there were 2 main sections) and was the Chief Assistant to Hugh Warren in the 1930s.
2. Professor Geoffrey Carter. Joined the laboratory in 1935 and left in 1946 for Oxford. In 1957 was a Professor of Electrical Engineering at Leeds.
3. E T Torbit.
4. E A Slater.
5. Elka Georg Linhart.
6. Professor C J Milner. Worked at the laboratory from 1936 to 1952. In 1957 was Chair of Applied Physics at NSW University of Technology, Sydney. In the interview he discusses working whilst at BTH on the cyclotron with Mark Oliphant , Professor of Physics at the University of Birmingham.
7. James Tuck. Worked at Los Alamos, USA, until after WWII when he returned to England to work at Oxford University. Worked at BTH between 1947 and 1948.
8. Charles Clinker (son of Reginald Charles Clinker). This is a copy of a BBC programme made in 1956 where Charles Clinker talks about his father R C Clinker (1874-1931), the first head of the BTH Research Laboratory.
9. A E Smith. Started at BTH Research Laboratory in November 1923 (as Building 52 was being constructed).
10. Sir Hugh Warren (1891-1961). Initially Deputy Chief of the laboratory under R C Clinker but took over from Clinker as Head of BTH Research Laboratory in 1929. Sir Hugh died 4 years after this interview in 1957.
[Digital files available (.wav format). The interviews are held in one file, 224Mb in size, and a commentary by Dr Wilkinson, made in the 1980s on some of the individuals interviewed is held in another file, 12Mb in size].
