The Radio Research Board was formed by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in 1920. The Radio Research Station (1924 – 31 August 1979) at Ditton Park, Near Slough, Berkshire, England was the UK government research laboratory which pioneered the regular observation of the ionosphere by

ionosonde An ionosonde, or chirpsounder, is a special radar for the examination of the ionosphere. The basic ionosonde technology was invented in 1925 by Gregory Breit and Merle A. Tuve and further developed in the late 1920s by a number of prominent phy ...

s. In continuous operation from 20 September 1932, it applied the ionosonde technology for the early developments which led to the British

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 th ...

radar system, operational during World War II. In 1965, it was renamed the Radio and Space Research Station, to reflect its increasing role in space research. In 1974, it became the Appleton Laboratory, in honour of Sir Edward Victor Appleton, who had received the 1947 Nobel prize for his work on the ionosphere and who had long been associated with the station's research. In 1979, the laboratory merged with the Rutherford Laboratory to form the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and over the next three years moved from Ditton Park to Chilton, Oxfordshire.

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* http://www.datchethistory.org.uk/space%20research%20ditton/appleton.htm * https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Radio_Research_Station Radar History of Buckinghamshire Government agencies established in 1924 Research institutes established in 1924 1924 establishments in England Government research Government of the United Kingdom Research institutes in Buckinghamshire {{UK-gov-stub