Admiralty Research Laboratory

Department overview
Formed	1921
Preceding Department	Admiralty Experimental Station
Dissolved	1977
Superseding agency	Admiralty Surface Weapons Establishment
Jurisdiction	Government of the United Kingdom
Headquarters	Admiralty Building Whitehall London
Parent Department	Admiralty, 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