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Dr. Arnold Lynch
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The Times February 01, 2005
In 1943 he was studying photocells. Unknown to him, his boss at Dollis Hill, Tommy Flowers, was working to develop a machine that would break Fish � manual decoding was so slow that any coherent material it yielded was already hopelessly out of date. Thanks in large part to Lynch�s work on optical tape readers, the Colossus could read punched tape at 5,000 characters per second, five times faster than previous designs. After the war he continued to research dielectric loss. He felt it was a great professional achievement when this work led to the choice of British polyethylene in preference to American in the first transatlantic telephone cable laid in the mid-1950s. When he retired in 1974, he returned to the lab work. At City University he developed the measurement technique now used to meter electricity flowing in the high-voltage link between the British and French national grids. He worked in the electrical engineering department of University College London, using open resonators for millimetre-wave measurements. He also worked on a new free-space method of measuring ferrites. A paper on the subject, with several co-authors, won the Maxwell Premium of the Institution of Electrical Engineers. Lynch�s major work in retirement was at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, again on precise electrical measurement. He developed a non-contact method of measuring the electrical resistivity of metals, which greatly facilitates the testing of aircraft components for correct heat-treatment and is also used to identify coins in coin-operated machines. One of his great interests was the history of technology, and he was a member of the archives committee of the Institution of Electrical Engineers for some 25 years. He took a great interest in the project, begun in 1994, to rebuild Colossus at the Bletchley Park Museum. He married Edith Taylor in 1953. She died last year, and he is survived by a son and a daughter. Another daughter died in infancy. Arnold Lynch, electrical engineer, was born on June 3, 1914. He died on November 13, 2004, aged 90. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ A Difficulty in Electromagnetic Theory . The Lynch-Catt article. |
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http://www.ivorcatt.com/2812h.htm
[The obituary below was given in the USA in the IEEE]
Arnold Charles
Lynch BSc MS PhD CEng FIEE (1914-2004)
J Patrick Wilson.
Arnold Lynch was a founder member of the Science,
Education and Technology Division of the IEE, an active member of the Archives
Committee and instrumental in setting up the annual weekend meetings on the
History of Electrical Engineering, most of which he attended. In addition he
was a lively contributor to discussions, a most helpful and informative
correspondent with many colleagues, and a popular after-dinner speaker. He was
an avid reader of the ‘Dipole’ column in IEE News and solver of its puzzles. He
received at least six IEE premiums for lectures or papers. Arnold was born in Tottenham, North London, on 3 June 1914, where his father
was a headmaster. His parents, who were active in the Labour
party, named him after Matthew Arnold. He won a scholarship to Dame Alice
Owen’s School in Islington and from there went to Emmanuel College Cambridge
where he studied under Rutherford and G F Searle, and attended a rather dated
lecture course given by the ageing J J Thomson. In
1936, after a short spell making amplifiers, he entered the Post Office by
competitive examination and worked at their Research Station at Dollis Hill
until his retirement in 1974. During this time he gained a BSc in psychology
through evening classes at Birkbeck College and,
shortly before his retirement, Cambridge University awarded him a PhD for his
contributions to electrical engineers. At Dollis Hill he was involved in a wide
variety of research projects including measurements of permeability and
permittivity of magnetic and dielectric materials and the measurement and
application of piezo-electric devices. He developed many new measuring
techniques, such as that for the capacitance between conductors in a multiway
cable so that crosstalk and interference could be minimised
over long distances. During the war a variety of secret projects arose whose
purpose was not disclosed although Arnold admitted he made his own guesses. One
problem for him was whether it was possible for the enemy to detect magnetic
compasses secreted in RAF uniform buttons. When the war was over he was sent to
Germany to interview scientists, including Heisenberg, about their work. In
1974 he took up retirement work, first at City University, where he developed
high voltagetechniques to measure the flow of
electricity in the power link between France and England. Atthe
Polytechnic of the South Bank he investigated the breakdown of insulators at
high voltages, and at University College London he worked on open resonators at
millimetric wavelengths for free-space measurement of
ferrites. His major retirement work was at NPL where he developed non-contact methods
for measuring resistivity which found application in checking the
heat-treatment of aircraft components and in identifying coins in
slot-machines. He also taught mathematics at Open University summer schools for
about ten years, and was involved in the rebuilding of Colossus, providing many
technical details from memory. His hobby interests included classical music,
skiing, sailing, cycling and motor cycling, an old Rolls-Royce, bridge and
local history. 6
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Page 7
Arnold married Edith Taylor in 1953 and they settled in Potter’s Bar. She was a
teacher of the deaf and enjoyed accompanying him on many of the weekend
meetings. She died in February and he in November 2004, at the age of 90. They
are survived by a son and a daughter, their younger daughter died in infancy.
He made many contributions to the history of electrical engineering, including
lectures at Savoy Place on J J Thomson’s discovery of
the electron, ‘Half the electron’ and ‘Blumlein’s transformerbridge network’. These were later published in
ESEJ as well as a paper on ‘Four pioneer deep-sea cables’. His sixteen
contributions to the IEE History weekends covered several recurring themes as
well asmiscellaneous subjects such as the ether
(1981) and electromagnetic theory (1998), biographies of Fleeming
Jenkin (1986) and Heaviside (1988) and the Variac
(1997). Four concerned computers as Arnold had been involved in what is now
regarded as the world’s first digital computer. This was Colossus and its
prototype Heath Robinson, used for deciphering the German teleprinter-based
Lorentz machines and the Geheimschreiber. Arnold’s
contribution to the project (vide 1978 paper) was an optical reader for the
punched tape output, which used crescent-shaped windows so that the circular
punched hole would produce a rectangular pulse from the photocell.
Interestingly, his optical reader was a derivative of the Post Office speaking
clock (1990). The camera for this was later used in a number of WW2 projects to
record the sounds of planes, helicopters and tanks for training purposes, as
well as the Auto-Teller for RAF Fighter CommandHQ.
This was a crude form of speech synthesiser in which
sequences from a limited vocabulary of words recorded on a glass disc could be
selected by a code sent on a narrow-band telegraph line. In his third computer
paper (1984), Arnold discussed mechanical and electromechanical systemsof data storage: punched tape; thermionic valves;
capacitors; cathode ray tubes; mercury and quartz delay lines; magnetic
techniques; semiconductors; and the threaded magnetic core storesthat
he was involved with. His fourth paper (1999) was a tribute to the late T H
Flowers who wasthe leader of the Colossus project and
whose involvement stemmed from the use of indirectly-heated thermionic valves
in telephone exchanges. Arnold contributed several papers on the history of
measuring techniques (1993, 2001), units, material standards (1980, 1982, 1983) and in his last paper (2003) he described himself as
‘almost retired’! He also had a great interest in submarine cables: both the
pioneering telegraph ones andthe first telephone
cable (TAT1) in which he was personally involved (1995). This was a joint
UK/UK/Canadian venture requiring a series of amplifiers and a much better
coaxial cable, usingpolythene insulation, a British
invention. Unfortunately US polythene appeared to behave differently under
pressure from that measured by Arnold. Fortunately he was able to convincethem that this was due to the measuring techniques,
thus avoiding foreign payments for‘American’
polythene. Over the years Arnold Lynch worked on a wide variety of interesting
topics and we are fortunate in having this legacy of recorded information as
well as happy memories of a friend and colleague. Thanks are due to Arnold’s
family and former colleagues, and to the IET Archives for much of the above
information. 7
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Which battle changed
the outcome of WW2 in the European Theatre?
Roland Bartetzko,
former German Army, Croatian Defense Council, Kosovo
Liberation Army
I was asked the very same question years ago, by German army
recruiters when I volunteered. Of course they just wanted to know if I can
answer a question, argue it and defend my arguments; they weren't that
interested in a scientifically correct answer.
My answer then-and now:
1. Operation "Citadel" (The Battle of Kursk and Orel, July and
August 1943)
Many historians regard the Battle of Kursk or "The battle of 6000
tanks" as the decisive battle of WW2. Both sides,
Germans and Soviets put everything on one card there- and the Soviets
won. After this battle the German army practically lost the ability to
launch massive armoured assaults on any frontline. Stalingrad is
regarded as the turning point of the war; after Stalingrad the only
direction for the Germans was backwards, but it wasn't that decisive.
2. The Battle of the Atlantic (1939-45)
This was the U-boat war against Allied convoys supplying Britain and later the
Soviet Union with vital military goods. With the breaking of
the German "Enigma" code through first Polish scientists and then a
British team the Allies were later able to foresee German naval movements which
resulted in an Allied victory. Due to this the Western Allies were able
to support theirs and the Soviet's operations on the European battlefields
which made their victory in Europe possible.
Most historians, if asked, would name these two battles as the decisive ones,
there isn't much dissent about this question.