Sir Henry Thomas Tizard (23 August 1885 – 9 October 1959) was an English

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...

, inventor and

Rector of Imperial College The President of Imperial College London is the highest academic official of Imperial College London. The President, formerly known as the Rector, is the chief executive, elected by the Council of the college and Chairman of the Senate. The posit ...

, who developed the modern " octane rating" used to classify

petrol Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic c ...

, helped develop

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, we ...

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 opposing ...

, and led the first serious studies of

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

Life

Tizard was born in Gillingham,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

in 1885, the only son of

Thomas Henry Tizard Thomas Henry Tizard (1839 – 17 February 1924) was an English oceanographer, hydrographic surveyor, and navigator. He was born in Weymouth, Dorset and educated at the Royal Hospital School, Greenwich, at that time noted for its advanced mathe ...

(1839–1924), naval officer and hydrographer, and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Churchward. His ambition to join the navy was thwarted by poor eyesight, and he instead studied at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he concentrated on mathematics and chemistry, doing work on indicators and the motions of ions in gases. Tizard graduated in 1908 and at his tutor's suggestion he spent time in Berlin, where he met and formed a close friendship with Frederick Alexander Lindemann, later an influential scientific advisor of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

. In 1909, he became a researcher in the Davy–Faraday Laboratory of the Royal Institution, working on colour change indicators. In 1911, Tizard returned to Oxford as a tutorial fellow at Oriel College and to work as a demonstrator in the electrical laboratory. On 25 July 1942, Tizard was elected President of Magdalen College, Oxford. He resigned this position in 1946. Tizard was married on 24 April 1915 to Kathleen Eleanor (d. 1968), daughter of Arthur Prangley Wilson, a mining engineer. They had three sons: Sir (John) Peter Mills Tizard, who became a professor of paediatrics at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

and Regius Professor of Physic at Oxford (1916-1993);

Richard Henry Tizard Richard Henry Tizard (25 June 1917 – 5 September 2005) was a distinguished engineer and founding Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge. Life Dick Tizard was the son of Sir Henry Tizard. He was chosen by Sir John Cockcroft as a founding ...

(1917–2005), an engineer and senior tutor at Churchill College, Cambridge; and David (b. 1922), a general practitioner in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Career

World War I

"The secret of science", Tizard once said, "is to ask the right question, and it is the choice of problem more than anything else that marks the man of genius in the scientific world". His chosen problem became aeronautics. At 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 ...

, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) ...

on 17 October 1914, in which his training methods were famously bizarre. He later transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, where he became experimental equipment officer and learned to fly planes after his eyesight improved. He acted as his own test pilot for making aerodynamic observations. When his superior Bertram Hopkinson was moved to the Ministry of Munitions, Tizard went with him. When Hopkinson died in 1918, Tizard took over his post. Tizard served in the

Royal Air Force 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) an ...

from 1918 to 1919, ending the war at the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Interwar period

After the end of the war, he was made Reader in Chemical Thermodynamics at

Oxford University 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 th ...

, where he experimented in the composition of fuel trying to find compounds which were resistant to freezing and less volatile, devising the concept of "

toluene Toluene (), also known as toluol (), is a substituted aromatic hydrocarbon. It is a colorless, water-insoluble liquid with the smell associated with paint thinners. It is a mono-substituted benzene derivative, consisting of a methyl group (CH3) a ...

numbers", now referred to as octane ratings. After that work (largely for

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

), he took up again a government post in 1920 as Assistant Secretary to the

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR was the name of several British Empire organisations founded after the 1923 Imperial Conference to foster intra-Empire trade and development. * Department of Scientific and Industria ...

. His successes in that post (and after promotion to permanent secretary on 1 June 1927) included the establishment of the post of the Chemical Research Laboratory in

Teddington Teddington is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In 2021, Teddington was named as the best place to live in London by ''The Sunday Times''. Historically in Middlesex, Teddington is situated on a long me ...

, the appointment of

Harry Wimperis Harry Egerton Wimperis 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 role in setting up th ...

as Director of Scientific Research to the Air Force and finally the decision to leave to become the

President and Rector of Imperial College London The President of Imperial College London is the highest academic official of Imperial College London. The President, formerly known as the Rector, is the chief executive, elected by the Council of the college and Chairman of the Senate. The positi ...

in 1929, a position he held until 1942, when he was elected President of Magdalen College, Oxford. In 1935, the development of radar in the United Kingdom was started by Tizard's

Aeronautical Research Committee The Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (ACA) was a UK agency founded on 30 April 1909, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. In 1919 it was renamed the Aeronautical Research Committee, later becoming the Aeronautical ...

(Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Defence) (which he chaired since 1933), doing the first experimental work at

Orfordness Orford Ness is a cuspate foreland shingle spit on the Suffolk coast in Great Britain, linked to the mainland at Aldeburgh and stretching along the coast to Orford and down to North Weir Point, opposite Shingle Street. It is divided from the m ...

, near

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

, before moving to the nearby Bawdsey Research Station (BRS) in 1936. In 1938, Tizard persuaded

Mark Oliphant Sir Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, (8 October 1901 – 14 July 2000) was an Australian physicist and humanitarian who played an important role in the first experimental demonstration of nuclear fusion and in the development of nuclear weapon ...

Birmingham University , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

to drop some of his nuclear research and concentrate on development of an improved source of short-wave radiation. This led to the invention by John Turton Randall and

Harry Boot Henry Albert Howard Boot (29 July 1917 – 8 February 1983) was an English physicist who with Sir John Randall and James Sayers developed the cavity magnetron, which was one of the keys to the Allied victory in the Second World War. Biography ...

of 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 whi ...

, a major advance in radar technology, which in turn provided the basis for airborne interceptors using radar.

World War II

In September 1940, after a top secret landmark conference with

—at which his opposition to

R.V. Jones Reginald Victor Jones , FRSE, LLD (29 September 1911 – 17 December 1997) was a British physicist and scientific military intelligence expert who played an important role in the defence of Britain in by solving scientific and technical p ...

' view that the

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

had established a system of radio-beam bombing aids (

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 scientif ...

) over the UK had been overruled—Tizard led what became known as the

Tizard Mission The Tizard Mission, officially the British Technical and Scientific Mission, was a British delegation that visited the United States during WWII to obtain the industrial resources to exploit the military potential of the research and development ( ...

to the United States. This introduced to the US—among other things—the newly invented resonant-cavity magnetron (and other British radar developments), the Whittle gas turbine, and the British

Tube Alloys Tube Alloys was the research and development programme authorised by the United Kingdom, with participation from Canada, to develop nuclear weapons during the Second World War. Starting before the Manhattan Project in the United States, the ...

(nuclear weapons) project.

Postwar

In 1946, Tizard remained in the defence establishment, chairing the

Defence Research Policy Committee The Defence Research Policy Committee, or DRPC, was a British Cabinet-level standing committee formed in 1947 that advised and directed military research in the United Kingdom. It was the equivalent of the US's National Defense Research Committee or ...

. In 1948, Tizard returned to the Ministry of Defence as Chief Scientific Adviser, a post he held until 1952. The Ministry of Defence's Nick Pope states that:

The Ministry of Defence’s UFO Project has its roots in a study commissioned in 1950 by the MOD's then Chief Scientific Adviser, the great radar scientist Sir Henry Tizard. As a result of his insistence that UFO sightings should not be dismissed without some form of proper scientific study, the department set up arguably the most marvellously-named committee in the history of the civil service, the Flying Saucer Working Party (FSWP).

Tizard had followed the official debate about ghost rockets with interest and was intrigued by the increasing media coverage of

UFO sightings in the United Kingdom This is a list of notable alleged sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) in the United Kingdom. Many more sightings have become known since the gradual release, between 2008 and 2013, of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministr ...

, America and other parts of the world. Using his authority as Chief Scientific Adviser at the MOD he decided that the subject should not be dismissed without proper, official investigation. Accordingly, he agreed that a small Directorate of Scientific Intelligence/Joint Technical Intelligence Committee (DSI/JTIC) working party should be set up to investigate the phenomenon. This was dubbed the Flying Saucer Working Party. The DSI/JTIC minutes recording this historic development read as follows: After discussion, it was agreed that the members of the Working Party should be representatives from DSI1, ADNI(Tech), MI10 and ADI(Tech). It was also agreed that it would probably be necessary at some time to consult the Meteorological Department and ORS Fighter Command, but that these two bodies should not at present be asked to nominate representatives. One of the most controversial meetings that Tizard had to attend in his capacity as chair of the Defence Research Policy Committee would emerge only many years later with the declassification of

CIA 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, ...

documents: a meeting on 1 June 1951 at the

Ritz-Carlton Hotel The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC is an American multinational company that operates the luxury hotel chain known as The Ritz-Carlton. The company has 108 luxury hotels and resorts in 30 countries and territories with 29,158 rooms, in addi ...

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

, Canada, between Tizard,

Omond Solandt Omond McKillop Solandt, (September 25, 1909 – May 12, 1993) was a Canadian scientist who was the first Chairman of the Canadian Defence Research Board. Early life Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he graduated in medicine from the University of T ...

(chairman of

Defence Research and Development Canada Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC; french: Recherche et développement pour la défense Canada, ''RDDC'') is a special operating agency of the Department of National Defence (DND), whose purpose is to provide the Canadian Armed Force ...

) and representatives of the CIA to discuss " brainwashing".

Awards and honours

Tizard was awarded the Air Force Cross on 2 November 1918 in recognition of his contribution to the war effort. In May 1926, he was elected a

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 knowledge, including mathemat ...

. Tizard was invested as a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(CB) in 1927, a Knight Commander (KCB) in 1937 and a Knight Grand Cross (GCB) in 1949. Tizard was awarded the 1946

Franklin Medal The Franklin Medal was a science award presented from 1915 until 1997 by the Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and the center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the Am ...

for his work in the field of engineering and presided over the 1948 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Dundee.

Death

Tizard died in Fareham,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

in 1959. His papers are kept at the Imperial War Museum, London.

References

Sources

*. A biography written at the request of the subject's son. *

External links

The Royal Air Force Air Defence Radar Museum
at

RAF Neatishead Remote Radar Head Neatishead ( ) or RRH Neatishead is an air defence radar station operated by the Royal Air Force. It is located approximately north east of Norwich in Norfolk, England. It was established during the Second World War and consi ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tizard, Henry 1885 births 1959 deaths People from Gillingham, Kent People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford English chemists Royal Air Force officers Radar pioneers Rectors of Imperial College London Presidents of Magdalen College, Oxford Knights Bachelor Chief Scientific Advisers to the Ministry of Defence Fellows of the Royal Society Presidents of the British Science Association Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom) 20th-century British inventors Royal Flying Corps officers British Army personnel of World War I Royal Air Force personnel of World War I Royal Garrison Artillery officers