Archibald Low
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Archibald Montgomery Low (17 October 1888 – 13 September 1956) developed the first powered drone aircraft. He was an English
consulting engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
, research
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 inventor, and author of more than 40 books. Low has been called the "father of radio guidance systems" due to his pioneering work on planes, torpedoes boats and guided rockets. He was a pioneer in many fields though, often leading the way for others, but his lack of discipline meant he hardly ever saw a project through, being easily distracted by new ideas. If it wasn't for this inability to see things to a conclusion, Low could well have been remembered as one of the great men of science. Many of his scientific contemporaries disliked him, due in part to his using the title "
professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
", which he wasn't entitled to do as he didn't occupy an academic chair. His love of the limelight and publicity probably also added to the dislike. Low was working on the invention of television before
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
Bloom, Ursula (1958). ''He Lit the Lamp: A Biography of Professor A.M. Low''. Burke. and promoting its development through the 1920s.


Early life

Low was born in Purley, London, the second son of John and Gertrude Low.Mills, Steve (2019). ''The Dawn of the Drone''.
Casemate Publishers Casemate Publishers is a publishing company based in the Philadelphia suburbs that specializes in producing printed military history books. They have published over 500 titles on military history. Many of their books are memoirs and historical o ...
.
His father was an engineer with experience in steam boilers and Low's interest in all things mechanical and scientific was fired by visits to his father's place of work. The family moved to
Erith Erith () is an area in south-east London, England, east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent. Since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Bexley. It lies nort ...
in Kent when Low was still a baby. He was sent to Preparatory school at
Colet Court St Paul's Juniors (formerly Colet Court) is an independent preparatory school for boys aged 7 to 13 in Barnes, London. It forms the preparatory department of St Paul's School, to which most Juniors pupils progress at the age of 13. The School w ...
when his father moved to Australia as a director of the Paddy Lackey Deep-level Company gold mine. In 1896 Archibald was only 7 when he sailed with his mother, his elder brother and a maiden aunt on the ship ''Thermopylae'' to Sydney for a visit. He recalls being amazed to find that telephones were fitted in every house. As a young boy Low was forever experimenting at home, building homemade
steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
s or conducting chemical experiments that brought havoc to his local neighbourhood and caused his parents to receive many complaints about the bangs, smells and gases created by young Archie. At the age of 11 he was enrolled into St Paul's School, an institution where he didn't fit in, being as he put it "too much of an individual". One of his classmates for several years was
Bernard Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and t ...
, whom Low recalled as being "rather dull". Aged 16 Low entered the
Central Technical College The City and Guilds of London Institute is an educational organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded on 11 November 1878 by the City of London and 16 livery companies – to develop a national system of technical education, the institute has ...
, an institution far more to his liking, here his abilities really started to show. Under the guidance of his mentor Professor Ashcroft, Low's mercurial mind was given free rein over many of the scientific disciplines. During his time at the CTC Low designed a drawing device which he called "The Low flexible and adjustable curve". This device along with a dotted line pen and a self filling draughtsman's pen were marketed by Thornton's, a renowned instrument maker based in
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
. He also spent a year devising and making a selector mechanism which allowed a lever when moved to fall into a pre-selected slot. It wasn't until 32 years later that pre-selected gears came in, long after Low had originally thought of them.


Early career

Low joined his uncle, Edward Low's engineering firm, Low Accessories and Ignition Company, which at the time was the second oldest engineering firm in the
City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
. Unfortunately the company was in a constant struggle for solvency. Edward Low did what he could financially to help get his nephew's ideas off the ground, but what was really needed was a rich investor. During this pre-war period Low was constantly coming up with big new ideas, such as his ''forced induction engine'' (which in modern parlance would be called a
petrol direct injection Gasoline direct injection (GDI), also known as petrol direct injection (PDI), is a mixture formation system for internal combustion engines that run on gasoline (petrol), where fuel is injected into the combustion chamber. This is distinct fro ...
engine), which was further developed with the large engine builder
F.E. Baker Ltd F. E. Baker Ltd was a British motorcycle engine and cyclecar engine manufacturer based in the Precision Works, Moorsom Street, Birmingham, England. Founded in 1906 by Frank Edward Baker, the company produced motorcycle engines under the Precisi ...
and exhibited on their stand at the Olympia Motor Cycle Show in November 1912. He also invented gadgets like the whistling egg-boiler which he christened "The Chanticleer". It went on to sell very well, earning him some much-needed money. He also experimented with
gas turbines A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directi ...
, but the alloys available at that time wouldn't stand up to the required heat. A prototype of Low's unique invention, the "
petrol direct injection Gasoline direct injection (GDI), also known as petrol direct injection (PDI), is a mixture formation system for internal combustion engines that run on gasoline (petrol), where fuel is injected into the combustion chamber. This is distinct fro ...
engine", was produced and displayed in 1912. In May 1914 Low gave the first demonstrations of what was to become television, he called it TeleVista. The first of these demonstration was given to the Institute of Automobile Engineers.
Harry Gordon Selfridge Harry Gordon Selfridge, Sr. (11 January 1858 – 8 May 1947) was an American retail magnate who founded the London-based department store Selfridges. His 20-year leadership of Selfridges led to his becoming one of the most respected and wealthy ...
then arranged to included one at the famous Selfridge Store Exhibitions. Reports of these were entitled "Seeing By Wireless". Low's invention was crude and under-developed but the idea was there. The main deficiency was the
selenium Selenium is a chemical element with the symbol Se and atomic number 34. It is a nonmetal (more rarely considered a metalloid) with properties that are intermediate between the elements above and below in the periodic table, sulfur and tellurium, ...
cell used for converting
light waves Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 terahe ...
into electric impulses, which responded too slowly thus spoiling the effect.
The demonstration certainly garnered a lot of media interest with ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' reporting on 30 May;

On 29 May the ''
Daily Chronicle The 'Daily Chronicle' was a British newspaper that was published from 1872 to 1930 when it merged with the '' Daily News'' to become the ''News Chronicle''. Foundation The ''Daily Chronicle'' was developed by Edward Lloyd out of a local newspap ...
'' reported;
Low, of course failed to follow up this early promising work, due in part to his temperamental failings and also of course the outbreak of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
later that year. ''
Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
'' commented that the work was overblown in "Sensational paragraphs on seeing by wire". However, a US consular report from London by Deputy Consul General Carl Raymond Loop provided a different story and considerable detail about Low's system. Low finally applied for his "Televista" Patent No. 191,405 for "Improved Apparatus for the Electrical Transmission of Optical Images" in 1917 but its release was delayed (possibly for security reasons). It was finally published in 1923. In this patent A. M. Low states "..I do not confine myself to the use of wires for actually transmitting the current as this may be accomplished by electric radiation." In 1927 Ronald Frank Tiltman asked Low to write the introduction to his book in which he acknowledged Low's work, referring to Low's various related patents with an apology that they were of "too technical a nature for inclusion". Although it employed an electro-mechanical scanning mechanism, with its matrix detector (camera) and mosaic screen (receiver) it is unlike all of the later intervening systems of the 20th century. In these respects, Low had a digital TV system 80 years before the advent of today's digital TV and deserves his place in the
history of television The concept of television was the work of many individuals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first practical transmissions of moving images over a radio system used mechanical rotating perforated disks to scan a scene into a time-var ...
. Furthermore, Carl Loop's report said "the selenium in the transmitting screen may be replaced by any diamagnetic material" and in his patent of 1938 A. M. Low stated "It has also been proposed....... a photo-electric cell embodying a plate coated with a photo-sensitive substance which is subdivided into a number of cells by incising the coating lengthwise and crosswise...", essentially the process used today to create megapixel
image sensors An image sensor or imager is a sensor that detects and conveys information used to make an image. It does so by converting the variable attenuation of light waves (as they pass through or reflect off objects) into signals, small bursts of curr ...
.


The Great War

When war broke out, Low joined the military and received officer training. After a few months he was promoted to
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
and seconded to the
Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...
, the precursor of the
RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
. His brief was to use his civilian research on Televista to remotely control the RFC drone weapons proposed by the
Royal Aircraft Factory Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...
, so it could be used as a guided
missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket i ...
. With two other officers (Captain Poole and Lieutenant Bowen) under him, they set to work to see if it were possible. This project was called "Aerial Target" or AT a misnomer to fool the Germans into thinking it was about building a drone plane to test anti-aircraft capabilities. After they built a
prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...
, General Sir David Henderson (director-general of Directorate of Military Aeronautics) ordered that an Experimental Works at Feltham should be created to build the first proper "Aerial Target" complete with explosive
warhead A warhead is the forward section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic (biological, chemical, or nuclear) material that is delivered by a missile, rocket, torpedo, or bomb. Classification Types of warheads include: * Explosiv ...
. As head of the Experimental Works, Low was given about 30 picked men, including jewellers, carpenters and aircraftsmen in order to get the pilotless plane built as quickly as possible. The AT planes were from manufacturers such as
Airco The Aircraft Manufacturing Company Limited (Airco) was an early United Kingdom, British aircraft manufacturer. Established during 1912, it grew rapidly during the First World War, referring to itself as the largest aircraft company in the wor ...
,
Sopwith Aviation Company The Sopwith Aviation Company was a British aircraft company that designed and manufactured aeroplanes mainly for the British Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps and later the Royal Air Force during the First World War, most famously ...
and the Royal Aircraft Factory. The
de Havilland The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited () was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of north London. Operations were later moved to Hatfield in H ...
-designed Airco ATs had their first trial on 21 March 1917 at
Upavon Upavon is a rural village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England. As its name suggests, it is on the upper portion of the River Avon which runs from north to south through the village. It is on the north edge of Salisbury Plain ...
Central Flying School The Central Flying School (CFS) is the Royal Air Force's primary institution for the training of military flying instructors. Established in 1912 at the Upavon Aerodrome, it is the longest existing flying training school. The school was based at R ...
near
Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wi ...
, attended by 30–40 allied generals. The AT was launched from the back of a lorry using compressed air (another first). Low and his team successfully demonstrated their ability to control the craft before engine failure led to its crash landing. A subsequent trial of the RAF ATs on 6 July 1917 was cut short as an AT had been lost at takeoff. At a later date an electrically driven
gyrocompass A gyrocompass is a type of non-magnetic compass which is based on a fast-spinning disc and the rotation of the Earth (or another planetary body if used elsewhere in the universe) to find geographical direction automatically. The use of a gyroc ...
(yet another first) was added to the plane. In 1918 Low's Feltham Works developed the airborne controlled Royal Navy Distance Control Boats (DCB), a variant of the Coastal Motor Boat. In 1917 Low and his team also invented the first electrically steered rocket (the world's first wireless, or wire-guided rocket), almost an exact counterpart of the one used by the Germans in 1942 against merchant shipping. Low's inventions during the war were to a large extent before their time and hence were under-appreciated by the government of the day, although the Germans were well aware of how dangerous his inventions might be. In October 1914 two attempts were made to assassinate him; the first involved shots being fired through his laboratory window in Paul Street; the second attempt was from a visitor with a German accent who came to Low's office and offered him a cigarette, which upon analysis contained enough
strychnine Strychnine (, , US chiefly ) is a highly toxic, colorless, bitter, crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine, when inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the eye ...
chloride to kill. In 1917 the priority for Low's control system changed; the new imperative being to counter the submarine threat. Low was transferred into the Royal Navy along with Lieutenant Ernest Windsor Bowen to adapt the AT system to control the DCBs but Low still commanded the RFC works at Feltham where the work was carried out. The Feltham guidance system was adopted by the Royal Navy secret D.C.B. Section that was commanded by 
Eric Gascoigne Robinson Rear Admiral Eric Gascoigne Robinson (16 May 1882 – 20 August 1965) was a Royal Navy officer and an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwea ...
VC and was based at
Calshot Calshot is a coastal village in Hampshire, England at the west corner of Southampton Water where it joins the Solent.OS Explorer Map, New Forest, Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey B4 edition (2013). History In 1539, Henry VIII order ...
. During 1918, trials and rehearsals controlling Royal Naval boats from RAF aircraft had been completed by the D.C.B. Section and the Admiralty Plans Division had detailed a number of potential targets. On 13th. March.1918 Robinson request 12 sets of the radio guidance equipment be ordered from Feltham. An order for 12 new D.C.B. boats was approved but they were not expected to be ready before the end of 1918. Although none of these potential weapons were deployed in the war the pre-dreadnought battleship HMS ''Agamemnon'' was converted into a remote control target ship in 1920 and the Feltham "Aerial Target" project was taken up by
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 ...
who tested a series of Royal Aircraft Factory 1917 type AT with a 45 h.p
Armstrong Siddeley Armstrong Siddeley was a British engineering group that operated during the first half of the 20th century. It was formed in 1919 and is best known for the production of luxury vehicles and aircraft engines. The company was created following ...
engines in 1921. Low's principles were adopted by the Air Ministry for the
RAE Larynx The Royal Aircraft Establishment Larynx (from "Long Range Gun with Lynx engine") was an early British pilotless aircraft, to be used as a guided anti-ship weapon. Started in September 1925, it was an early cruise missile guided by an autopilot ...
(from "Long Range Gun with Lynx Engine"), and explosive-laden autopiloted aircraft which was developed by the Royal Aircraft Establishment from 1925 and this drone development work culminated in the fleet of Queen Bee aerial target variants of the
de Havilland Tiger Moth The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. ...
of the 1930s. Further developments continued by the British before and during the Second World War. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
the Germans also made good use of Low's 1918 rocket guidance system and used it as one of the foundations for their guided weapons, the
Henschel Hs 293 The Henschel Hs 293 was a World War II German radio-guided glide bomb. It is the first operational anti-shipping missile, first used unsuccessfully on 25 August 1943 and then with increasing success over the next year, ultimately damaging or sink ...
, and
Fritz X Fritz X was the most common name for a German guided anti-ship glide bomb used during World War II. ''Fritz X'' was the world's first precision guided weapon deployed in combat and the first to sink a ship in combat. ''Fritz X'' was a nickname us ...
and for their V1 Doodlebug. Low could have made a considerable amount of money from these inventions, but his patents couldn't stay in force for the statutory period, as he was in the employment of the
War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * D ...
everything he invented was as a part of his duties so he couldn't benefit financially from them. Low was commended for this work by a number of senior officers including Sir David Henderson and Admiral Edward Stafford Fitzherbert.
Sir Henry Norman, 1st Baronet Sir Henry Norman, 1st Baronet (19 September 18584 June 1939) was an English journalist and Liberal Member of Parliament and government minister. Norman was educated privately in France and at Harvard University, where he obtained his B.A. Fo ...
a technically competent radio engineer and distinguished politician wrote to Low in March 1918 saying "I know of no man who has more extensive and more profound scientific knowledge, combined with a greater gift on imaginative invention than yourself". res.


Inter-war years

Not long after the war Low started the Low Engineering Company Ltd in association with the Hon. C. N. Bruce (later Lord Aberdare). The company offices were on Kensington High Street, and Low spent much of his time trying to bring his inventions to fruition. As usual though he was easily distracted by gadgets that he devised, taking his attention away from the more important work. One of the better gadgets was a
motor scooter A scooter (motor scooter) is a motorcycle with an underbone or step-through frame, a seat, and a platform for the rider's feet, emphasizing comfort and fuel economy. Elements of scooter design were present in some of the earliest motorcycles ...
that Low invented and manufactured in conjunction with Henry Norman. In 1926, Low was reported to be working with
Ivor Halstead Ivor Halstead (11 October 1888 – 7 April 1959) was a British journalist and author, editor of the '' Daily Sketch''. Born in 1888 at Dewsbury, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Halstead was one of the sons of William Hartley Halstead and his wif ...
, editor of the ''
Daily Sketch The ''Daily Sketch'' was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton. It was bought in 1920 by Lord Rothermere's Daily Mirror Newspapers, but in 1925 Rothermere sold it to William and Gomer Berry ...
'', on the script of a film to be called ''Cosmos'', about the history of the world from the beginning of time. Despite his best efforts, business wasn't his strong point. An example of this is the magazine he started up with his friend Lord Brabazon and others. It was entitled ''
Armchair Science ''Armchair Science'' was a UK, British monthly Magazine, journal of topical and popular science articles published from 1929 to 1940; it ceased publication because of wartime paper shortages. The first editor was A. Percy Bradley, a mechanical ...
'', Low helped edit it, and at one point the sales were 80,000 a month, yet it never seemed to make a profit and was sold off. Another of Low's delights was speed, especially racing cars or motorbikes. He was a regular attendee at
Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...
and at one point invented a rocket propelled bike and numerous other gadgets and improvements for the internal combustion engine. An example of Low's prescience is that he was worried about the number of road traffic accidents that were occurring and believed speed in cities should be restricted to 25 mph using modern radio methods to enforce it. One of Low's peeves was excess noise, to this end he invented an
audiometer An audiometer is a machine used for evaluating hearing acuity. They usually consist of an embedded hardware unit connected to a pair of headphones and a test subject feedback button, sometimes controlled by a standard PC. Such systems can also be ...
to measure and record noise in a visual form. He conducted experiments on the
London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...
and achieved some success in pinpointing trouble spots and reducing their impact by use of shields over the wheels and padding of the interior panels. In 1938 Low had lunch with a gentleman called
William Joyce William Brooke Joyce (24 April 1906 – 3 January 1946), nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an American-born fascist and Nazi propaganda broadcaster during the Second World War. After moving from New York to Ireland and subsequently to England, J ...
. Joyce wanted Low to contribute an article to a paper he helped run. Low declined the offer being too busy; it was only a couple of years later that Joyce gained infamy as
Lord Haw-Haw Lord Haw-Haw was a nickname applied to William Joyce, who broadcast Nazi propaganda to the UK from Germany during the Second World War. The broadcasts opened with "Germany calling, Germany calling", spoken in an affected upper-class English acc ...
. A few of Low's inventions from this period are: *Using infra-red photography to check head space in engines; *A machine for reproducing photographs by radio; *An
audiometer An audiometer is a machine used for evaluating hearing acuity. They usually consist of an embedded hardware unit connected to a pair of headphones and a test subject feedback button, sometimes controlled by a standard PC. Such systems can also be ...
that was a forerunner of sound photography at high speed (used in engineering and architectural work); *A device for converting ordinary print to
Braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...
using photo electric cells; *Cap-detonating sparkplug.


Second World War and later

At the outbreak of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
Low initially joined 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 ...
in a civil capacity. His job was to examine captured German aircraft and prepare reports for British pilots to enable them to identify the weak points of the enemy aircraft. Later on he joined the
Royal Pioneer Corps The Royal Pioneer Corps was a British Army combatant corps used for light engineering tasks. It was formed in 1939, and amalgamated into the Royal Logistic Corps in 1993. Pioneer units performed a wide variety of tasks in all theatres of war, in ...
and was promoted to major. Between experiments in his back garden laboratory, he gave frequent talks to service personnel on scientific matters. Low was frequently in bad health from the late 1930s onwards, having never fully recovered from a bout of
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
he suffered a few years earlier. Although nothing that he experimented with during the war ultimately came to fruition, he did work on some interesting projects: *The 'W' bomb – a riverine
mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...
for Operation Royal Marine being designed by
MD1 Ministry of Defence 1 (MD1), also known as "Churchill's Toyshop", was a British weapon research and development organisation of the Second World War. Its two key figures were Major Millis Jefferis and Stuart Macrae, former editor of '' Armchair ...
. It floated just beneath the surface, came up when needed and spread a kind of umbrella out of itself which would detonate when touched. The primary inventors were
Millis Jefferis Major-General Sir Millis Rowland Jefferis KBE MC (9 January 1899 – 5 September 1963) was a British military officer who founded a special unit of the British Ministry of Supply which developed unusual weapons during the Second World War. E ...
and Stuart Macrae; the latter was formerly an editor of ''Armchair Science'' with whom Low was on friendly terms. *A bomb that when dropped on airfields would be buried to the hilt but leave trailing wires on the surface. An aircraft touching these wires would detonate the bomb. *A notable humanitarian example involved the incorporation of a flap on a
carrier pigeon The homing pigeon, also called the mail pigeon or messenger pigeon, is a variety of domestic pigeons (''Columba livia domestica'') derived from the wild rock dove, selectively bred for its ability to find its way home over extremely long distan ...
's cage secured by sugar so that if the pigeon was trapped after a crash or incident moisture would soak into the sugar and release the bird.


Quotations


Later life

Low died at his London home in 1956 aged 68. The cause of his death was a malignant tumour on his lung. He is buried in
Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Estab ...
, London. In 1976 Low was inducted into the
International Space Hall of Fame The New Mexico Museum of Space History is a museum and planetarium complex in Alamogordo, New Mexico dedicated to artifacts and displays related to space flight and the Space Age. It includes the International Space Hall of Fame. The Museum of S ...


Works

Low was a prolific author of science books. He aimed several of his books at the
layman In religious organizations, the laity () consists of all members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-ordained members of religious orders, e.g. a nun or a lay brother. In both religious and wider secular usage, a layperson ...
to try to nurture interest in science and engineering. Quite a few of his books contained predictions on scientific advancements. As well as these non-fiction books he wrote four science fiction novels for the younger reader.


Non-fiction

*''The Two Stroke Engine: A Manual of the Coming Form of the Internal Combustion Engine'' (1916) *''Wireless Possibilities'' (1924) *''The Future'' (1925) *''Tendencies of Modern Science'' (1930) *''On My Travels''(1930) *''The Wonder Book of Inventions'' (1930) *''Popular Scientific Recreations'' (1933) *''Science in Wonderland'' (1935) *''Recent Inventions'' (1935) *''Great Scientific Achievements'' (1936) *''Conquering Space and Time'' (1937) *''Life and its Story'' (1937) *''Home Experiments'' (1937) *''Electrical Inventions'' (1937) *''Science for the Home'' (1938) *''What New Wonders!'' (1938) *''Science in Industry'' (1939) *''Modern Armaments'' (1939) *''How We find Out'' (1940) *''Mine and Countermine'' (1940) *''The Way it Works'' (1940) *''The Submarine at War'' (1941) *''Romance of Fire'' (1941) *''Science Looks ahead'' (1942) *''Tanks'' (1942) *''Musket to Machine-Gun'' (1942) *''Facts and Fancies'' (1942) *''Parachutes in Peace and War'' (1942) *''Benefits of War'' (1943) *''Tick-Tock'' (1944) *''Six Scientific Years'' (1946) *''How Secrets Work'' (1946) *''Your World Tomorrow'' (1947) *''They Made Your World'' (1949) *''Look, Listen and Touch'' (1949) *''It's Bound to Happen'' (1950) *''The Past Presented'' (1952) *''Electronics Everywhere'' (1952) *''Wonderful Wembley Stadium'' (1953) *''Thanks to Inventors'' (1954)


Fiction

*''Peter Down the Well'' (1933) *''Adrift in the Stratosphere'' (1937) *''Mars Breaks Through, or The Great Murchison Mystery'' *''Satellite in Space'' (1956)


Appointments

*Associate of the
City and Guilds of London Institute The City and Guilds of London Institute is an educational organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded on 11 November 1878 by the City of London and 16 livery companies – to develop a national system of technical education, the institute has ...
*Member of the
Institute of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 120,000 member ...
*Fellow of the
Chemical Society The Chemical Society was a scientific society formed in 1841 (then named the Chemical Society of London) by 77 scientists as a result of increased interest in scientific matters. Chemist Robert Warington was the driving force behind its creation. ...
*Fellow and President of the British Institute for Radio Engineers *Chairman for 24 years of the
AutoCycle Union The Auto-Cycle Union (ACU) is the governing body of motorcycle sport in Great Britain, including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, but excluding Northern Ireland.
*President for 32 years (1925-1956) of the South Eastern Centre of the
AutoCycle Union The Auto-Cycle Union (ACU) is the governing body of motorcycle sport in Great Britain, including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, but excluding Northern Ireland.
*Chairman of the RAC Motor Cycle Committee *Vice-chairman and chairman for 20 years of the
British Automobile Racing Club The British Automobile Racing Club (BARC) is one of the biggest organising clubs for auto racing in the United Kingdom. History The Cyclecar Club was formed in 1912, running races for the small and light motorbike powered vehicles at Brooklands ...
*Fellow of the
Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...
*Principal of the British Institute of Engineering Technology *Fellow of the Institute of Electronics *One of the founder members, and 2nd President (1936–1951) of the
British Interplanetary Society The British Interplanetary Society (BIS), founded in Liverpool in 1933 by Philip E. Cleator, is the oldest existing space advocacy organisation in the world. Its aim is exclusively to support and promote astronautics and space exploration. Str ...
*Associated Hon. Asst, Professor of Physics at the
Royal Ordnance Royal Ordnance plc was formed on 2 January 1985 as a public corporation, owning the majority of what until then were the remaining United Kingdom government-owned Royal Ordnance Factories (abbreviated ROFs) which manufactured explosives, ammunition ...
College, by the Army Council *Membership of the
Magic Circle A magic circle is a circle of space marked out by practitioners of some branches of ritual magic, which they generally believe will contain energy and form a sacred space, or will provide them a form of magical protection, or both. It may be mark ...
from 5 September 1950


Recognition

In 1976 Low was included in the 35 pioneers listed by the
International Academy of Astronautics The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) is an independent non-governmental organization established in Stockholm (Sweden) on August 16, 1960, by Dr. Theodore von Kármán, and recognized by the United Nations in 1996. The IAA has electe ...
and inducted into the
International Space Hall of Fame The New Mexico Museum of Space History is a museum and planetarium complex in Alamogordo, New Mexico dedicated to artifacts and displays related to space flight and the Space Age. It includes the International Space Hall of Fame. The Museum of S ...
in 1976. He has been called the "Father of Radio Guidance Systems" and the "founder of the field of radio guidance systems". Alternatively, it was suggest A. M. Low was the "Father of Remotely Piloted Vehicles". Taylor, John W. R. & Munson, Kenneth George (1977). ''Jane's Pocket Book of Remotely Piloted Vehicles''.
Collier Books Crowell-Collier Publishing Company was an American publisher that owned the popular magazines '' Collier's'', ''Woman's Home Companion'' and ''The American Magazine''. Crowell's subsidiary, P.F. Collier and Son, published ''Collier's Encyclopedia, ...
. page 11.


Notes


References

*
Low's patentsLow's bibliography at Copac

Low's bibliography at WorldCat


External links

* * * IWM catalogue. For example, the Aerial Target Model can be found a
Q 68008
Other images are Q 66031, Q 67984 to Q 67991, Q 68002 to Q 68012, Q 68036 to Q 68040, Q 66711, Q 69509, Q 69929, Q 69930 and H 10307. {{DEFAULTSORT:Low, Archibald 1888 births 1956 deaths English physicists Royal Flying Corps officers Royal Pioneer Corps officers English science writers English science fiction writers Television pioneers Futurologists People from Purley, London Burials at Brompton Cemetery People educated at St Paul's School, London 20th-century British novelists 20th-century British inventors English male novelists 20th-century British engineers 20th-century English male writers Radio-controlled aircraft History of television