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Post Office Research Station
The Post Office Research Station was first established as a separate section of the General Post Office in 1909. In 1921, the Research Station moved to Dollis Hill, north west London, initially in ex-army huts. The main permanent buildings at Dollis Hill were opened in 1933 by Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald. In 1968 it was announced that the station would be relocated to a new centre to be built at Martlesham Heath in Suffolk. This was formally opened on 21 November 1975 by Queen Elizabeth and is today known as Adastral Park. The old Dollis Hill site was released for housing, with the main building converted into a block of luxury flats and an access road named Flowers Close, in honour of Tommy Flowers. Much of the rest of the site contains affordable housing administered by Network Housing. World War II In 1943 the world's first programmable electronic computer, Colossus Mark 1, was built by Tommy Flowers and his team, followed in 1944 and 1945 by nine Colossus Mar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allen Coombs
Allen William Mark (Doc) Coombs (23 October 1911 – 30 January 1995) was a British electronics engineer at the Post Office Research Station, Dollis Hill. Coombs was one of the principal designers of the Mark II or production version of the Colossus computer used at Bletchley Park for codebreaking in World War II, and took over leadership of the project when Tommy Flowers moved on to other projects. Professor Brian Randell was researching the history of computer science in Britain for a conference on the history of computing held at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico on 10-15 June 1976, and got permission to present a paper on wartime development of the COLOSSI at the Post Office Research Station, Dollis Hill (in October 1975 the British Government released a series of captioned photographs from the Public Record Office). The interest in the “revelations” in his paper resulted in a special evening meeting when Randell and Cooombs answered further questions. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arnold Lynch
Arnold Lynch (3 June 1914 – 13 November 2004) was an English engineer, known for his work on an optical tape reader which was used in the construction of the Colossus, the first electronic computer. By 1944 ten Colossus computers were installed at Bletchley Park and used to read high-level (''Fish'' or ''Tunny'') German ciphers. Lynch joined the Post Office Research Station in 1936, specialising in the measurement of the electrical and magnetic properties of materials. He retired in 1974, but continued to come to work at NPL in the dielectric In electromagnetism, a dielectric (or dielectric medium) is an Insulator (electricity), electrical insulator that can be Polarisability, polarised by an applied electric field. When a dielectric material is placed in an electric field, electric ... area of RF and microwave electromagnetism up to the year of his death. The Maths, Art and Design Technology Department at Dame Alice Owen's School was named after Lynch, in thanks for hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Archibald Jones
Ralph (pronounced or ) is a male name of English origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Old High German ''Radulf'', cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms are: * Ralph, the common variant form in English, which takes either of the given pronunciations. * Rafe, variant form which is less common; this spelling is always pronounced . * Raif, a very rare variant. Raif Rackstraw from H.M.S. Pinafore * Ralf, the traditional variant form in Dutch, German, Swedish, and Polish. * Ralfs, the traditional variant form in Latvian. * Raoul, the traditional variant form in French. * Raúl, the traditional variant form in Spanish. * Raul, the traditional variant form in Portuguese and Italian. * Raül, the traditional variant form in Catalan. * Rádhulbh, the traditional variant form in Irish. First name Middle Ages * Ralph the Timid (died 1057), pre-Conquest Norman earl of Hereford, England * Ralph de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gil Hayward
Gilbert Osborne Hayward (16 October 1917—9 October 2011) was a World War II cryptographer and inventor of the first electronic seal security device. Career As a pupil at Kilburn Grammar School, Hayward became captivated by machines and science. At 19 he was the youngest member of the British Astronomical Association, and constructed his own reflecting telescope. He spent weeks in a junkyard to find parts with which he restored an old green Bentley and a Scott Super Squirrel motorcycle, which he then rode. Hayward's mother did not allow him go to university, his elder brother did not get accepted for Uni so Gil was not allowed to go. As a result, Hayward left school in 1934 at 16 to become an apprentice at Dollis Hill, where he collaborated with Dr Eric Speight on making the TIM speaking clock service. His apprenticeship taught him how to use machine tools and the foundation of early electronics which formed the basis of his inventive life. While at Dollis Hill, in April 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James H
James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (other), various kings named James * Prince James (other) * Saint James (other) Places Canada * James Bay, a large body of water * James, Ontario United Kingdom * James College, a college of the University of York United States * James, Georgia, an unincorporated community * James, Iowa, an unincorporated community * James City, North Carolina * James City County, Virginia ** James City (Virginia Company) ** James City Shire * James City, Pennsylvania * St. James City, Florida Film and television * ''James'' (2005 film), a Bollywood film * ''James'' (2008 film), an Irish short film * ''James'' (2022 film), an Indian Kannada-language film * "James", a television episode of ''Adventure Time'' Music * James (band), a band from Manchester ** ''James'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Dyott
Dick, Dicks, or Dick's may refer to: Media * ''Dicks'' (album), a 2004 album by Fila Brazillia * Dicks (band), a musical group * ''Dick'' (film), a 1999 American comedy film * "Dick" (song), a 2019 song by Starboi3 featuring Doja Cat * '' Dicks: The Musical'', a 2023 American black comedy film Names * Dick (nickname), an index of people nicknamed Dick * Dick (surname) * Dicks (surname) * Dick, a diminutive for Richard * Dicks, the pen name of Luxembourgish poet Edmond de la Fontaine (1823–1891) * Dicks., botanical author abbreviation for James Dickson (1738–1822) Places * Dicks Butte, a mountain in California * Dick, Michigan, an unincorporated community Other uses * ''Dick'' (slang), a dysphemism for the penis as well as a pejorative epithet * Dick's Drive-In, a Seattle, Washington-based fast food chain * Dick's Sporting Goods, a major sporting goods retailer in the United States * Dick's Sporting Goods Park, a soccer stadium in Denver, Colorado * Detective, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Bray (communications Engineer)
William John Bray CBE (10 September 1911 in Fratton, Portsmouth – 6 September 2004) was a communications engineer and director of research at the Post Office Research Station, between 1966 and 1975. In 1972 he presented the Bernard Price Memorial Lecture in South Africa. He was an early researcher of Earth–Moon–Earth communications. Articles * Bray, W.J. and Lowry, W.R.H. (1939). ''A New Short-wave Transatlantic Radio Receiver''. POEEJ 32 (1): 24-31 * Bray, W.J. (1948). ''The Possibilities of Super-High-Frequency Radio and Waveguide Systems for Telecommunications'', IPOEE Printed Paper No. 197, 1948. * Booth, C.F. and Bray, W.J. (1949). ''A report on microwave radio relay and waveguide systems studied in USA''. Report by Experimental and Development Branch of Post Office Engineering Department. (Copy held in UK National Archive WO 195/10701) * Bray, W.J. (1950). ''A Survey of Modern Radio Valves. Part 6(a). Valves for Use at Frequencies Above 3,000 Mc/s'', POEEJ 43 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prestel
Prestel was the Brand#Brand names and trademark, brand name of a videotex service launched in the UK in 1979 by BT Group#Post Office Telecommunications, Post Office Telecommunications, a division of the British Post Office Limited#History, Post Office. It had around 95,500 attached terminals at its peak, and was a forerunner of the internet-based online services developed in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Prestel was discontinued in 1994 and its assets sold by BT Group, British Telecom to a company consortium. A subscriber to Prestel used an adapted TV set with a keypad or keyboard, a dedicated terminal, or a microcomputer to interact with a central database via an ordinary Telephone line, phoneline. Prestel offered hundreds of thousands of pages of general and specialised information, ranging from consumer advice to financial data, as well as services such as home banking, online shopping, travel booking, telesoftware, and messaging. In September 1982, to mark I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viewdata
Viewdata is a Videotex implementation. It is a type of information retrieval service in which a subscriber can access a remote database via a common carrier channel, request data and receive requested data on a video display over a separate channel. Samuel Fedida, who had the idea for Viewdata in 1968, was credited as inventor of the system which was developed while working for the British Post Office which was the operator of the national telephone system. The first prototype became operational in 1974. The access, request and reception are usually via common carrier broadcast channels. This is in contrast with teletext. Design Viewdata offered a display of 40×24 characters, based on ISO 646 (IRV IA5) – 7 bits with no accented characters. Originally, Viewdata was accessed with a special purpose terminal (or emulation software) and a modem running at ITU-T V.23 speed (1,200 bit/s down, 75 bit/s up). By 2004, it was normally accessed over TCP/IP using Viewdata clien ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Fedida
Samuel Fedida, OBE (4 May 1918 – 10 August 2007) was an Egyptian-born British telecommunication engineer responsible at Post Office Telecommunications for the development of Viewdata. Fedida was born in Alexandria, Egypt. He had the idea for Viewdata in 1968 after reading a publication with the title ''The Computer as Communications Device''. The first prototype became operational in 1974. In 1977 the system was introduced in the United Kingdom. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1980 Birthday Honours. The book ''Viewdata Revolution'' authored by Fedida and Rex Malik, ISBN 0852272146, was published in 1979. He died in 2007 in Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England. It is located north-west of London; nearby towns and cities include Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted. The population at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 cens .... References Sources * * * * * * * * * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Premium Bond
Premium Bonds is a lottery bond scheme organised by the Government of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom government since 1956. At present it is managed by the government's National Savings and Investments agency. The principle behind Premium Bonds is that rather than the stake being gambled, as in a usual lottery, it is the Interest rate, interest on the bonds that is distributed by a lottery. The bonds are entered in a monthly sweepstakes, prize draw and the government promises to buy them back, on request, for their original price. The government pays interest into the bond fund (4.15% per annum in December 2024 but decreasing to 4% in January 2025) from which a monthly lottery distributes tax-free prizes to bondholders whose numbers are selected randomly. The machine that generates the numbers is called ERNIE, an acronym for "Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment". Prizes range from £25 to £1,000,000 and (since December 2024) the odds of a £1 bond winning a prize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
