Sir George Gray Macfarlane (8 January 1916 – 20 May 2007) was a British engineer, scientific administrator and public servant. He made major contributions to research on

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 ...

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 ...

and received a special appointment as Superintendent, for theoretical work, within the Physics Division 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) during the post war years, continuing in this capacity when it was renamed the

Royal Radar Establishment The Royal Radar Establishment was a research centre in Malvern, Worcestershire in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1953 as the Radar Research Establishment by the merger of the Air Ministry's Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) a ...

(RRE). He was appointed Deputy Director of the National Physical Laboratory in 1960, returned to RRE as Director in 1962 and was selected to be the first Controller of Research in the

Ministry of Technology The Ministry of Technology was a department of the government of the United Kingdom, sometimes abbreviated as "MinTech". The Ministry of Technology was established by the incoming government of Harold Wilson in October 1964 as part of Wilson's am ...

in 1967, responsible for the co-ordination of government laboratories with a total staff of 23,000. In 1970 he was transferred to the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

, which had 20 research and development establishments. He consolidated these to just six, and was knighted in 1971. After retiring from this post in 1975, he continued several major professional activities.

Early years

George Macfarlane was born in Airdrie, the youngest son of a grocer. Lanarkshire, and attended the

Airdrie Academy Airdrie Academy is a secondary school within Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. Admissions It has a current roll of approximately 1,100 pupils. As part of Education 2010, a new building was opened in October 2006 to replace the previous on ...

. He entered the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

in 1933, graduating in 1937, then went to the

Dresden University of Technology TU Dresden (for german: Technische Universität Dresden, abbreviated as TUD and often wrongly translated as "Dresden University of Technology") is a public research university, the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, th ...

, receiving a doctorate in July 1939, and leaving a month before the outbreak of war.''Sir George Macfarlane: Talented technologist who made invaluable contributions in wartime and as a postwar public servant.'' Times on-line obituaries.
/ref>

Wartime research

Soon after the war started, Macfarlane joined the government laboratory that was developing

and had moved to a site near

Swanage Swanage () is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately south of Poole and east of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the civil ...

in Dorset. The laboratory went through several name changes, and is best known during that period as the

(TRE). He applied his strong mathematical skills to the electromagnetic theory of radio wave propagation and reflection, that was the basis of the defensive use of airborne radar in detecting and tracking hostile bombers. He participated in work on the counter measures against radar carried by enemy bombers to locate their targets, and then on work to make the radar carried by British bombers more effective. Shortly before the end of the war, he was attached to an intelligence unit with the advancing allied forces, to collect information on German radar.

Postwar research

Developments in rocketry, that could propel missiles, and the discovery of semiconductors that were sensitive to infra red radiation led defence scientists and policy makers to focus on the development of heat seeking missiles. Under the direction of R.A. Smith, TRE became a major center for theoretical and experimental research on semiconductor physics. Macfarlane was given an individual merit post as Superintendent for theoretical work in the Physics Division. This included the applications of electromagnetic theory to antenna design and to the behaviour of magnetrons, of non-linear mathematics to guidance systems, of information theory to the filtration of radar signals, and of quantum mechanics to the electronic behaviour of crystalline solids. TRE merged with the Radar Research and Development Establishment (RRDE) to form the Radar Research Establishment (RRE) in 1953, renamed

(also abbreviated RRE) in 1957.Robert Bud and Philip Gummett, ''Cold war, hot science: applied research in Britain's defence laboratories'', NMSI Trading Ltd. Science Museum, London, 2002.
/ref> Macfarlane continued as Superintendent of Theoretical Physics throughout the reorganisations.

The move to administration

In 1960, Macfarlane became Deputy Director of the National Physical Laboratory. This has a key role in providing standards for scientific measurements and performing numerical calculations.''NPL's History Highlights''
/ref> On his return to RRE as Director, two years later, he reorganised the technical departments into: Military and Civil Systems (comprising Ground Radar and Air Traffic Control, Guided Weapons and Airborne Radar groups), Physics and Electronics (comprising Physics and Electronic Groups) and Engineering. At this time, "despite the policy shift away from fighters ... to guided weapons for UK air defence, ... RRE continued to argue for strike aircraft and kept up the necessary radar research programs." In 1967, when

Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. ...

was

Minister of Technology The Ministry of Technology was a department of the government of the United Kingdom, sometimes abbreviated as "MinTech". The Ministry of Technology was established by the incoming government of Harold Wilson in October 1964 as part of Wilson's am ...

, the post of Controller of Research was created in his ministry, and Macfarlane was appointed. Three years later, in 1970, he moved to the

, planned and carried out a major restructuring and consolidation of its research activities, and was knighted.

The years of retirement

Macfarlane retired officially in 1975, but continued to provide professional expertise in the public interest. He served on the committee that had been set up to plan the future of the telecommunications industry (the Carter Committee) and then on the Boards of the (British) Post Office and, later,

British Telecom BT Group plc (trade name, trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is th ...

, advising on the use of digital communication and fibre optics. He also served on the

National Enterprise Board The National Enterprise Board (NEB) was a United Kingdom government body. It was set up in 1975 by the Labour government of Harold Wilson, to support the government's interventionist approach to industry. In 1981 the Conservative government of Mar ...

, the Board of Trustees of the

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

, the Council of the

Fellowship of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senior ...

. He was elected Deputy President of the

Institute of Electrical Engineers The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) was a British professional organisation of electronics, electrical, manufacturing, and Information Technology professionals, especially electrical engineers. It began in 1871 as the Society of Tel ...

but declined the Presidency because the organisation would not accept a physics degree as the qualification for membership, despite the extent to which physics and electronic engineering overlapped. In these activities, as in his earlier administrative roles, he was a unifier – of laboratories, of disciplines, and of industry, government and education. He was survived by his wife of 66 years, née Barbara Grant Thomson, and a son and a daughter.

Honours and awards

*1971 Knighted *1978

Glazebrook Medal The Richard Glazebrook Medal and Prize is awarded annually by the Institute of Physics to recognise leadership in the field of physics. It was established in 1966 and named in honour of Sir Richard T. Glazebrook, the first president of the Insti ...

from the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physica ...

References

External links

* ''Guardian'' obituary: * ''Times'' obituary
Sir George Macfarlane: Talented technologist who made invaluable contributions in wartime and as a postwar public servant
31 May 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Macfarlane, George Gray 1916 births 2007 deaths People from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire People educated at Airdrie Academy Alumni of the University of Glasgow TU Dresden alumni British scientists Radar pioneers Scottish electrical engineers British civil servants Knights Bachelor