Abstract
SIR CHARLES DARWIN, director of the National Physical Laboratory, has announced his intention to retire from public service. He had earlier expressed a desire to be relieved of his duties at the end of last March, and his offer to remain, pending the arrival of his successor, was most gratefully accepted. Sir Charles, grandson of the author of "The Origin of Species", has had a distinguished scientific career at Cambridge, at Manchester under Ruther-ford until 1914, and at Edinburgh as Tait professor of natural philosophy until 1936, when he became master of Christ's College, Cambridge. In 1938 he was appointed director of the National Physical Laboratory, so he has guided its activities during a period which has been probably the most eventful in its history. Under his leadership, the National Physical Laboraory undertook during the War some of the scientific work on bomb disposal, Mulberry and Pluto, etc., and to establish a link with the scientific work in the United States Sir Charles went to America in 1940 as director of the Central Scientific Office at Washington. On his return in 1942 he was appointed scientific adviser to the Army Council, returning to full-time work at the Laboratory in 1943.
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National Physical Laboratory : Sir Charles Darwin, K.B.E., F.R.S. Nature 164, 15–16 (1949). https://doi.org/10.1038/164015a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/164015a0