NOT SO FANTASTIC
ISCUSSING the review of School for Secrets (Listener, 26-12-46), Dr. A. L. Singer, of Gisborne, writes: "There is one point in your comment which I should like to take up. You criticise, very naturally one would have thought, the selection of a pure zoologist as the leader in a research on Radar. This does seem absurd, but apparently is not as silly as it sounds. I enclose a copy of Discovery which explains’ a lot. Discovery is a popular scientific journal, but of good standing." The marked passage, which answers very effectively the point mentioned by Dr. Singer, is the report of an address given to a Tecent conference of the British Association by Dr, Edward Hindle, scientific director of the Zoological Society of London, His subject was "Zoologists on Operational Research" and the relevant paragraph reads: When the Air Council in 1942 decided on the St gperap | of a promising device called H2S one of these teams (of zoologists) investigated the apparatus, and when it was being produced in quantity in December, 1942, at once tested the sets and helped to make them operate. They also personally installed them in the first two squadrons of aircraft. The original gear refused to work but, by the middle of January, 1943, various modifications had been developed and several aircraft had been equipped and were ready for trial by the R.A.F. One of the great difficulties of radar is that, unlike wireless, when a set is switched on it does not always work automaticaily, but seems to be extremely temperamental and often gives unexpected results, Zoologists proved to be particularly well fitted to cope with these difficulties, since by their training they become accustomed to handling large numbers of uncontroll variables. The part they played (continued on next page)
1 FILMS (Cont'd) (continued from previous page) in "providing the tools" has received very little public recognition, yet the practical application of radar was one of the deciding factors in the war. There was certainly some justification for the selection of an academic zoologist as the central: figure of that somewhat melodramatic film The School for Secrets. Dr. Hindle (through Dr. Singer) must be credited with a palpable hit, and I hope that by quoting him, I have made adequate amends to both scnipt-writer j and director-and, of course, to. zoo-
logists as well,
Jno.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 447, 16 January 1948, Page 19
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395NOT SO FANTASTIC New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 447, 16 January 1948, Page 19
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