Archive

The formidable Admiral John Fisher (don't call him Jackie)
Policy & business

August 1915: The Board of Invention

Aerospace

October 1957: The launch of Sputnik

Inside one of the facility’s many laboratories
Electronics

October 1933: The Post Office Research Station and the Colossus code-breaking computer

A side view of the Merlin 61 engine.
Aerospace

December 1942: Merlin powers Spitfire fighter to new heights

The Stormbird entered service in April 1944
Aerospace

September 1945: Assessing German air power

Defence & security

August 1945: ‘Little Ships’ achieve more than Dunkirk heroics

Defence & security

July 1945: Stepping aboard a captured German U-boat

Sir Edmund Hillary (left) and Tenzing Norgay (Credit: Tenzing Norgay, via Wikimedia Commons)
Medical & healthcare

June 1953: Oxygen breathing kit for climbers on Mount Everest

Automotive

May 1960: Donald Campbell’s legendary Bluebird car

Auguste Vérité’s astronomical clock (detail)
Civil & structural

April 1872: Auguste Vérité’s astronomical clock gets a mixed reception

Testing times: young inventors get little practical help and advice to get their idea implemented

Archive opinion — Trevor Baylis, inventor of the wind-up radio

Civil & structural

October 1856: The Westminster Clock