Albert Percival Rowe,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(23 March 1898 – 25 May 1976), often known as Jimmy Rowe or A. P. Rowe, was a radar pioneer and university vice-chancellor. A British

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

and senior research administrator, he played a major role in the development of

radar 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 ...

before and during World War II.

Early years

Rowe was born in Launceston,

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, and after attending the Portsmouth Naval Dockyard School, he studied physics at the Royal College of Science, University of London, graduating with a first-class honours in 1921, and postgraduate diploma in air navigation in 1922. On 18 June 1932 at Beckenham, Kent, he married Mary Gordon Mathews, a solicitor.

Air defence and radar

In the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

he read up everything he could find on the art of air defence, and became alarmed. Working at that time for

Harry Wimperis Harry Egerton Wimperis The Whitworth Society, Wh.Sch (27 August 1876 – 16 July 1960) was a British aeronautical engineer who acted as the Director of Scientific Research at the UK's Air Ministry prior to World War II. He is best known for his ...

, he wrote a memo to him that concluded that "we were likely to lose the war if it starts within the next ten years". Wimperis took the report seriously, and in 1934 started the formation of what later became known as the

Tizard Committee The Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Defence (CSSAD), also known as the Tizard Committee after its chairman, Henry Tizard, was a pre-World War II scientific mission to study the needs of anti-aircraft warfare in the United Kingdom. The ...

, which supported the early development of radio-based detection. In 1935, Rowe coined the acronym RDF as a cover for the work, meaning Range and Direction Finding but suggesting the already well-known Radio Directing Finding technology. Rowe replaced

Robert Watson-Watt Sir Robert Alexander Watson Watt (13 April 1892 – 5 December 1973) was a Scottish pioneer of radio direction finding and radar technology. Watt began his career in radio physics with a job at the Met Office, where he began looking for accura ...

as Superintendent of the

Bawdsey Bawdsey is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, eastern England. Located on the other side of the river Deben from Felixstowe, it had an estimated population of 340 in 2007, reducing to 276 at the Census 2011. Bawdsey Manor is notable as the ...

Research Station where the

Chain Home Chain Home, or CH for short, was the codename for the ring of coastal Early Warning radar stations built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft. Initially known as RDF, and given the off ...

RDF system was developed, and in 1938–1945 was the Chief Superintendent of the

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

(TRE), which carried out pioneering research on

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ran ...

radar. He was appointed a CBE in 1942. E. H. Putley describes Rowe as a complex character with a strong sense of mission, so, difficult to live with.Dr E.H. Putley on A.P. Rowe, pp.31–33 in Latham, Colin & Stobbs, Anne (1999) ''Pioneers of Radar'', Sutton However, Putley supports Rowe's decisions in giving priority, and most of TRE's resources, to the completion of the Chain Home and

Chain Home Low Chain Home Low (CHL) was the name of a British early warning radar system operated by the RAF during World War II. The name refers to CHL's ability to detect aircraft flying at altitudes below the capabilities of the original Chain Home (CH) rada ...

systems in 1938–39, and also continuing research in 1940 on developing airborne interception (AI) radar and centimetric radar with 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 while ...

. Despite some opposition from Bomber Command who felt that the project would not produce large-scale results, Rowe, assisted by

Alec Reeves Alec Harley Reeves (10 March 1902 – 13 October 1971) was a British scientist best known for his invention of pulse-code modulation (PCM). He was awarded 82 patents. Early life Alec Reeves was born in Redhill, Surrey in 1902 and was educated a ...

, also led in the development of 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 oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A ...

navigation system and the

H2S radar H2S was the first airborne, ground scanning radar system. It was developed for the Royal Air Force's Bomber Command during World War II to identify targets on the ground for night and all-weather bombing. This allowed attacks outside the range ...

.A.P. Rowe, "One story of radar", Cambridge University Press, 1948, pp. 112-14, 144-7.

Vice-chancellor

In 1946 Rowe moved to Australia as chief scientific officer for the British rocket programme. The following year he was appointed scientific adviser to the

Australian Department of Defence Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

, and on 1 May 1948 he became, by invitation, the first full-time vice-chancellor of the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

, a position he held until his retirement in 1958.

Retirement

He returned to England, living in Malvern, Worcestershire until his death on 25 May 1976. He was survived by his wife; they had no children.

References

Bibliography

*Bowen, E. G.: ''Radar Days'' (1987, Inst. of Physics Publishing) *Lovell, Sir Bernard: ''Echoes of War; The Story of H2S Radar'' (1991, Adam Hilger) *Rowe, A. P.: ''One Story of Radar'' (1948, Cambridge U. Press) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rowe, Albert Research administrators 1898 births 1976 deaths Radar pioneers British physicists British operations researchers People from Launceston, Cornwall Alumni of Imperial College London University of Adelaide faculty Vice-Chancellors of the University of Adelaide Commanders of the Order of the British Empire