The GEC Research Laboratories, 1919-1984

Sir Robert Clayton CBE joined the scientific staff of GEC Research Laboratories in 1937 to work on television. After working there on radar and microwave communications he was a founder member, and later Manager, of the GEC Applied Electronics Laboratories. He was Managing Director of GEC Electronics from 1961 to 1966, and then became GEC Technical Director, a post which he held until he retired in 1983. He has been President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers and of the Institute of Physics and a Vice President of the Fellowship of Engineering. He has served on a number of government bodies and is at present a member of the University Grants Committee and of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. Mrs Joan Algar held a variety of posts in the GEC Research Laboratories before taking charge of the Registry which handled reports on aspects of their work. She later became Information Officer for the Laboratories and for the GEC Technical Directorate. In this latter appointment she was responsible for publications, displays and other information presenting the work of the Laboratories and innovation in the company to customers, staff and potential recruits. She now works part time at the Laboratories and is particularly concerned with their history and archives.