Читать книгу Engineering Hitler's Downfall - Gwilym Roberts - Страница 25

A zoologist and Operational Research pioneer, he was born to Jewish immigrants in South Africa. After studying medicine at the University of Cape Town and later attending Yale University, he went to London in 1926 to complete his studies at University College Hospital Medical School. He began his career at the London Zoological Society in 1928 and worked as a research anatomist until 1932. He taught at the University of Oxford in 1934–45, in which time he was elected FRS. In 1931 he established the Tots and Quots scientific dining society. During the Second World War he undertook various research projects, advised the RAF, and proposed that in the build-up to the Normandy landings the Allied air forces should target the French railway network, in particular its locomotives and locomotive repair facilities.

In June 1940 a meeting was attended by Allen Lane, the founder of Penguin Books, who was so fascinated by the discussion about what scientists could do to help win the war that he offered to publish the arguments. Eleven days later 25 scientists delivered their manuscripts, and in late July 1940 a 140-page Penguin Special entitled Science in War was published, opening with the stark message, ‘The full use of our scientific resources is essential if we are to win the war. Today they are being half used.’