1 82 Master Minds of Modern Science 



The Laboratory was founded in 1900 by the Royal 

 Society as a public institution whose purpose was to 

 " carry out research, including especially research required 

 for the accurate determination of physical constants, to 

 establish and maintain precise standards of measurement, 

 and to make tests of instruments and materials/ ' That 

 description gives very little idea of the wonders which 

 are to be found within the Laboratory's walls. It is a 

 treasure-house of the latest scientific knowledge, compiled 

 by a staff which has grown from thirty to over five 

 hundred. 



Before the War its work was valuable enough, as we 

 shall show. But from 1914 onward, when we were living 

 at the rate of something like a century a year from the 

 standpoint of scientific discovery, and when each morning 

 brought its urgent problem, the Laboratory became indis- 

 pensable to both Government and industry. 



The Government realized clearly the importance of the 

 work done, and in 1918 the National Physical Laboratory 

 became truly national, being made a part of the newly 

 created Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, 

 although the Royal^Society continued, and still does con- 

 tinue, to control its scientific activities. 



In work of this nature, where there is such need for 

 extreme accuracy and attention to detail, much depends 

 upon the Director. The Laboratory has been fortunate in 

 having as Directors, during its thirty years of existence, 

 two distinguished scientists whose work, done without 

 the least publicity, has nevertheless enriched the nation 

 and proved of inestimable value to British industry. 



The first Director was Sir Richard Glazebrook, K.C.B., 

 F.R.S., who after eighteen years in charge of the 

 Laboratory retired in 1918. He was succeeded by the 

 present Director, Sir Joseph Petavel, K.B.E., F.R.S. 



We hope that these stories of the greatest scientists of 

 to-day and their work will dispel any idea in the minds 



