Francis Edgar Jones (16 January 1914 – 10 April 1988) was a British physicist who co-developed the Oboe blind bombing system.

Education

Jones was born in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

, the son of a teacher. In 1921 the family moved to

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Fo ...

, Essex, where he attended the

Royal Liberty School The Royal Liberty School is a secondary school for boys aged 11 to 16, located in Gidea Park in the London Borough of Havering, England. The school is situated on Upper Brentwood Road about 400 metres north of Gidea Park railway station, and ...

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

. He then attended

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

Research

During World War II Jones worked in the

Telecommunications Research Establishment The Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) was the main United Kingdom research and development organisation for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force (RAF) ...

(TRE) and collaborated with Alec Harley Reeves to develop the

Oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

blind bombing system. After the war he directed investigations in the Basic Research Division of TRE on the detection and properties of infra-red and millimetre-wave radiation. He also made very accurate measurements of propagation velocity of electro-magnetic radiation at radio frequencies and studied applications of radar in meteorology. He became Deputy Head of the Division (later renamed the Physics Department, Royal Radar Establishment) In 1953, as Chief Scientific Officer and Deputy Director,

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...

(Farnborough), he initiated joint rocket programme with Royal Society for exploration of upper atmosphere and, together with

Desmond King-Hele Desmond George King-Hele Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (3November 192725December 2019) was a British physicist, poet and author who crossed the divide between the arts and science to write extensively about the life of Erasmus Darwin, whom he l ...

, studied the orbits of artificial satellites. In 1957 he was co-author with R.A. Smith and R.P. Chasmar of ''The Detection and Measurement of Infra-Red Radiation''.http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqSearch=RefNo

%27EC%2F1967%2F15%27&dsqCmd=Show.tcl

Awards and honours

Jones was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1969. He was awarded an MBE in 1945.

References

External links

Imperial War Museum Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Francis Edgar 1914 births 1988 deaths People educated at the Royal Liberty Grammar School Alumni of King's College London Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Order of the British Empire English physicists Scientists from Wolverhampton