History and Activities of the Radiation Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Abstract

The Radiation Laboratory of the Radiation Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the largest wartime laboratory devoted to radar research and development and the largest single enterprise of the National Defense Research Committee, is demobilizing after five years of intense work heretofore shrouded by tight military security. Operating as a quasi-governmental agency, the Radiation Laboratory participated in one of the most extraordinary cooperative scientific efforts in history -- an enterprise which included many British government and industrial laboratories, several U.S. Army and Navy laboratories, and a host of U.S. industrial laboratories, large and small. From the combined effort of all came the development of a radar industry which provided Allied fighting forces with an amazing array of radar equipments. Individually, each was far in advance of any radar the enemy nations possessed; collectively, our radar revolutionized many phases of modern warfare and contributed significantly to the Allied victory.