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Reginald Victor Jones ,
FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...
, LLD (29 September 1911 – 17 December 1997) was 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
scientific Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
expert who played an important role in the defence of Britain in by solving scientific and technical problems, and by the extensive use of deception throughout the war to confuse the Germans.


Early life

Reginald Jones was born in
Herne Hill Herne Hill is a district in South London, approximately four miles from Charing Cross and bordered by Brixton, Camberwell, Dulwich, and Tulse Hill. It sits to the north and east of Brockwell Park and straddles the boundary between the boroughs ...
, south London, on 29 September 1911. He was educated at
Alleyn's School Alleyn's School is a 4–18 Mixed-sex education, co-educational, Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Church of England, day school and sixth form in Dulwich, London, England. It is a registered charity and was originally part of Ed ...
,
Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half of ...
, and
Wadham College Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...
,
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, where he studied Natural Sciences. In 1932 he graduated with First Class honours in physics and then, working in the
Clarendon Laboratory The Clarendon Laboratory, located on Parks Road within the Science Area in Oxford, England (not to be confused with the Clarendon Building, also in Oxford), is part of the Department of Physics at Oxford University. It houses the atomic and ...
, completed his
DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...
in 1934. Subsequently, he took up a Skynner Senior Studentship in Astronomy at
Balliol College Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...
, Oxford.


Assistant Director of Intelligence (Science)

In 1936 Jones took up the post at the
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 ...
,
Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a railw ...
, a part of 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 ...
. Here he worked on the problems associated with defending Britain from an air attack, and later in support of the liberation of Europe from the Nazis. More generally, he was fond of practical jokes and describes in his book "Most Secret War" how he used that skill to deceive the Germans during World War 2. His extensive use of deception to deceive the Germans is consistent with the term
disinformation Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. It is sometimes confused with misinformation, which is false information but is not deliberate. The English word ''disinformation'' comes from the application of the L ...
, which is defined as deliberate planting of false information and physical evidence to lead an opponent astray. In September 1939, the British decided to assign a scientist to the Intelligence section of the Air Ministry. No scientist had previously worked for an intelligence service. Jones quickly rose to become Assistant Director of Intelligence (Science) there. During the course 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 ...
he was closely involved with the scientific assessment of enemy technology, and the development of offensive and counter-measures technology. He solved a number of tough scientific and technical intelligence problems during World War II and is generally known today as the "father of S&T Intelligence". He was briefly based at
Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...
in September 1939, but returned to London (Broadway) in November, () leaving behind a small specialized team in
Hut 3 Hut 3 was a section of the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park during World War II. It retained the name for its functions when it moved into Block D. It produced military intelligence codenamed ULTRA from the decrypts ...
, who reported any decrypts of scientific or technology nature to "ADI Science".
F. W. Winterbotham Frederick William Winterbotham (16 April 1897 – 28 January 1990) was a British Royal Air Force officer (latterly a Group Captain) who during World War II supervised the distribution of Ultra intelligence. His book ''The Ultra Secret'' was t ...
passed Jones the
Oslo Report The Oslo Report was one of the most spectacular leaks in the history of military intelligence. Written by German mathematician and physicist Hans Ferdinand Mayer on 1 and 2 November 1939 during a business trip to Oslo, Norway, it described several G ...
, received in 1939 from an anti-Nazi German scientist, and Jones decided that it was genuine and largely reliable, though the three service ministries regarded it as a "plant" and discarded their copies: "... in the few dull moments of the War, I used to look up the Oslo report to see what should be coming along next."


Radio beam guidance

Jones's first job was to study "new German weapons", real or potential. The first of these was a radio navigation system which the Germans called ''
Knickebein The Battle of the Beams was a period early in the Second World War when bombers of the German Air Force (''Luftwaffe'') used a number of increasingly accurate systems of radio navigation for night bombing in the United Kingdom. British scientific ...
''. This, as Jones soon determined, was a development of the Lorenz blind landing system and enabled an aircraft to fly along a chosen heading with useful accuracy. At Jones's urging, Winston Churchill ordered up an
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 ...
search aircraft on the night of 21 June 1940, and the aircraft found the ''Knickebein'' radio signals in the frequency range which Jones had predicted. With this knowledge, the British were able to build jammers whose effect was to "bend" the ''Knickebein'' beams so that German bombers spent months scattering their bomb loads over the British countryside. Thus began the "
Battle of the Beams The Battle of the Beams was a period early in the Second World War when bombers of the German Air Force (''Luftwaffe'') used a number of increasingly accurate systems of radio navigation for night bombing in the United Kingdom. British scientific ...
" which lasted throughout much of World War II, with the Germans developing new radio navigation systems and the British developing countermeasures to them. Jones frequently had to battle against entrenched interests in the armed forces, but, in addition to enjoying Churchill's confidence, had strong support from, among others, Churchill's scientific advisor F. A. Lindemann and the Chief of the Air Staff Sir
Charles Portal Marshal of the Royal Air Force Charles Frederick Algernon Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford, (21 May 1893 – 22 April 1971) was a senior Royal Air Force officer. He served as a bomber pilot in the First World War, and rose to become fi ...
.


Fooling radar with metal foil (chaff)

As early as 1937, Jones had suggested that a piece of metal foil falling through the air might create radar echoes. He, together with
Joan Curran Joan, Lady Curran (26 February 1916 – 10 February 1999), born Joan Elizabeth Strothers, was a Welsh physicist who played important roles in the development of radar and the atomic bomb during the Second World War. She invented Chaff (radar c ...
, was later instrumental in the deployment of "
Window A window is an opening in a wall, door, roof, or vehicle that allows the exchange of light and may also allow the passage of sound and sometimes air. Modern windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent materia ...
": strips of metal foil, cut to a length appropriate to the radar's wavelength, and dropped in bundles from aircraft, which then appeared on enemy radar screens as "false bombers". This technology is now known as
chaff Chaff (; ) is the dry, scaly protective casing of the seeds of cereal grains or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material (such as scaly parts of flowers or finely chopped straw). Chaff is indigestible by humans, but livestock can eat it. In agri ...
and contrary to the popular belief, was also known to the Germans at the time. Both parties were reluctant to use it out of fear that their enemy would do the same. This delayed its deployment for almost two years. Jones also served as a
V-2 rocket The V-2 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit=Retaliation Weapon 2), with the technical name ''Aggregat 4'' (A-4), was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed ...
expert on the Cabinet Defence Committee (Operations) and headed a German long range weapons targeting deception under the
Double-Cross System The Double-Cross System or XX System was a World War II counter-espionage and deception operation of the British Security Service (a civilian organisation usually referred to by its cover title MI5). Nazi agents in Britain – real and false – w ...
.


Postwar and awards

In 1946 Jones was appointed to the Chair of Natural Philosophy at the
University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...
, which he held until his retirement in 1981. He did not want to stay in Intelligence under the proposed postwar reorganisation. During his time at Aberdeen, much of his attention was devoted to improving the sensitivity of scientific instruments such as
seismometer A seismometer is an instrument that responds to ground noises and shaking such as caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and explosions. They are usually combined with a timing device and a recording device to form a seismograph. The outpu ...
s, capacitance micrometers, microbarographs and optical levers. His book ''Instruments and Experiences'' details much of his later work in some depth and can act as a reference work on fine mechanism design. Jones was appointed
Commander of the Order of the British Empire 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 ...
(CBE) in 1942, for the planning of a raid on Bruneval to capture German radar equipment (Churchill had proposed that Jones should be appointed a
Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...
(CB) but the head of the Civil Service Sir Horace Wilson ''threatened to resign'' as Jones was only a lowly Scientific Officer, and the CBE was a compromise.) He was subsequently appointed CB in 1946; and
Companion of Honour The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements. Founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire, it is sometimes ...
(CH) in the 1994
Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are present ...
. He was elected
Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
in 1965, and received an honorary DSc from the University of Aberdeen in 1996. In 1969 he delivered the
Wilkins Lecture The Wilkins Lecture was a lecture organised by the Royal Society of London on the subject of the history of science and named after John Wilkins John Wilkins, (14 February 1614 – 19 November 1672) was an Anglican clergyman, natural philo ...
. His autobiography ''Most Secret War: British Scientific Intelligence 1939–1945'' formed the basis, pre-publication, of the
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
TV documentary series "'' The Secret War"'', first aired on 5 January 1977 and narrated by
William Woollard William Woollard (born 23 August 1939, London) is a historian and retired British television producer and presenter. Biography Woollard went to a state grammar school in London and Oxford University. He trained to be a fighter pilot with the ...
, in which Jones was the principal interviewee. The historian
A. J. P. Taylor Alan John Percivale Taylor (25 March 1906 – 7 September 1990) was a British historian who specialised in 19th- and 20th-century European diplomacy. Both a journalist and a broadcaster, he became well known to millions through his televis ...
described ''Most Secret War'' as "the most fascinating book on the Second World War that I have ever read" and, more generally, it has acquired almost classic status. In 1981, Jones became a founding member of the
World Cultural Council The World Cultural Council is an international organization whose goals are to promote cultural values, goodwill and philanthropy among individuals. The organization founded in 1981 and based in Mexico, has held a yearly award ceremony since 198 ...
. The same year he delivered the
Royal Institution Christmas Lectures The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825, missing 1939–1942 because of the Second World War. The lectures present sci ...
on ''From
Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the ...
to Microchip''. In 1993 he was the first recipient of the
R. V. Jones Intelligence Award The R. V. Jones Intelligence Award was created by the CIA in 1993 to honour those whose accomplishments mirror in substance and style those of R. V. Jones, to wit: "Scientific acumen applied with art in the cause of freedom". Jones thus became the f ...
, which the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
created in his honour.


Personal life

Jones married Vera Cain in 1940 – they had two daughters and a son. He died on 17 December 1997. He is buried in
Corgarff Corgarff ( gd, Corr Garaidh) is a hamlet in Aberdeenshire, Scotland in the Grampian Mountains. The nearby Corgarff Castle was used as a military barracks in the 18th century. The hamlet's primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the ...
Cemetery,
Strathdon Strathdon (; Gaelic: ''Srath Dheathain'') is an area in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is situated in the strath of the River Don, 45 miles west of Aberdeen in the Highlands. The main village in the strath is also called Strathdon, although it was o ...
, Aberdeenshire. His papers are held by
Churchill College, Cambridge Churchill College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but still retains a strong interest in the arts and humanities. In 1958, a trust was establish ...
.


Publications

*''Most Secret War: British Scientific Intelligence 1939–1945''. Hamish Hamilton, London, 1978. (Published in the USA as ''The Wizard War'' with the same subtitle.) *''Instruments and Experiences''. John Wiley and Sons, London, 1988. *''Reflections on Intelligence''. Heinemann, London, 1989.


See also

*
Henry Tizard Sir Henry Thomas Tizard (23 August 1885 – 9 October 1959) was an English chemist, inventor and Rector of Imperial College, who developed the modern "octane rating" used to classify petrol, helped develop radar in World War II, and led the fir ...
*
Frederick Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell Frederick Alexander Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell, ( ; 5 April 18863 July 1957) was a British physicist who was prime scientific adviser to Winston Churchill in World War II. Lindemann was a brilliant intellectual, who cut through bureauc ...


References


External links


Studies in Intelligence. Enduring principles. Some Lessons in Intelligence
– a declassified report by R. V. Jones from the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

The Papers of Reginald Victor Jones
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, R. V. 1911 births 1997 deaths English physicists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath Fellows of the Royal Society Founding members of the World Cultural Council Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Radar pioneers People from Herne Hill British people of World War II Technical intelligence during World War II Academics of the University of Aberdeen People educated at Alleyn's School Bletchley Park people