The Hirst Research Centre, also known as the GEC Hirst Research Centre or GEC Research Laboratories, was established in 1919 at Wembley, Middlesex, by the

General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...

History

Formally opened in 1923, the site at East Lane, Wembley was one of the first specialised industrial research laboratories to be built in Britain. The centre was named after

Hugo Hirst Hugo Hirst, 1st Baron Hirst (26 November 1863 – 22 January 1943), known as Sir Hugo Hirst, Bt, between 1925 and 1934, was a German-born British industrialist. Born near Munich, Hugo Hirsch became a naturalized British subject in 1883 and change ...

, one of the founders of the company that would become the General Electric Company. One of the centre's most famous achievements was the production of the

cavity magnetron The cavity magnetron is a high-power vacuum tube used in early radar systems and currently in microwave ovens and linear particle accelerators. It generates microwaves using the interaction of a stream of electrons with a magnetic field whi ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the concept of which was established by

Randall Randall may refer to the following: Places United States *Randall, California, former name of White Hall, California, an unincorporated community * Randall, Indiana, a former town *Randall, Iowa, a city *Randall, Kansas, a city *Randall, Minnesot ...

and

Boot A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is c ...

working at

Birmingham University , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

. Staff of the centre were also important in developing

radars Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

for use during the war. The 60 m radio mast at the back of the building became, along with

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

, one of the landmarks of the area. Hirst was instrumental in setting up the National Grid system which provides power to the whole of the UK. The centre also worked on the design of electrical power systems for the British railway network. In the 1990s the organisation moved to

Borehamwood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly know ...

, Hertfordshire. After GEC left the Wembley site, it was used as the set for some scenes of the 1995 film ''

The Young Poisoner's Handbook ''The Young Poisoner's Handbook'' is a 1995 black comedy-drama film based on the life of Graham Young, more commonly known as "The Teacup Murderer". It was directed by Benjamin Ross and written by Ross and Jeff Rawle. The film stars Hugh O'Conor ...

''.

Notable Hirst employees and scientists

Clifford Paterson was the organisation's first director, and held that position until his death in 1948. Others working there included: * Derek Abbott *

Jean Bacon Jean Bacon (born 1942) is a British emeritus professor of distributed systems at the Computer Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, where she co-headed the Opera Research Group from its founding in the 1990s. Previously, she taught at Ha ...

* David Bevan *

Colin Cherry Edward Colin Cherry (23 June 1914 – 23 November 1979) was a British cognitive scientist whose main contributions were in focused auditory attention, specifically the cocktail party problem regarding the capacity to follow one conversati ...

* Robert James Clayton * Paul Hendricks * Cyril Hilsum * Daryl E. Hooper *

Daniel McCaughan Daniel V. McCaughan OBE is an electronic engineer, executive and researcher. McCaughan was born in Belfast where he attended St. Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School, Belfast. He proceeded to Queen's University Belfast from which he obtaine ...

* Sanjay Jha * Bernard de Neumann *

Clifford Copland Paterson Sir Clifford Copland Paterson Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (1879–1948) was an English scientist and electrical engineer. He was educated at Mill Hill School, the City and Guilds of London Institute, Finsbury Technical College, and Faraday ...

Michael Pepper Sir Michael Pepper (born 10 August 1942) is a British physicist notable for his work in semiconductor nanostructures. Early life Pepper was born on 10 August 1942 to Morris and Ruby Pepper. He was educated at St Marylebone Grammar School, a g ...

Derek Roberts Sir Derek Harry Roberts, (28 March 1932 – 17 February 2021) was an English engineer who twice served as provost of University College London (UCL), from 1989 to 1999 and again from 2002 to 2003.‘ROBERTS, Sir Derek (Harry)’, Who's Who 2 ...

* Bruce Robertson * Michael John Smith *

Boris Townsend George Boris Townsend MBE (13 April 1919 – 12 April 2006) was an English physicist who specialised in television engineering. He published a number of books and papers on television engineering. Early years Townsend was born in London during ...

Ian Robert Young Ian Robert Young (11 January 1932 – 27 September 2019) was a British medical physicist, known for his work in the field of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Life He was educated at Sedbergh School and later studied physics at Aberdeen Un ...

References

External links

Photo of part of the Hirst building in East Lane, Wembley

Job advertisement for GEC Hirst Research Center
''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publish ...

'', 7 July 1988, p.80 {{authority control Companies based in the London Borough of Brent Engineering research institutes Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Brent General Electric Company History of electronic engineering History of telecommunications in the United Kingdom Research and development in the United Kingdom Research institutes in London

History

Notable Hirst employees and scientists

See also

References

External links