Archibald Montgomery Low (1888 - 13 September 1956) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 consulting engineer, research physicist

Physicist

A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...

 and inventor, and author of more than 40 books.

Low has been called the "father of radio guidance systems" due to his pioneering work on guided rockets, planes and torpedoes. He was a pioneer in many fields though, often leading the way for others, but his lack of discipline meant he hardly ever saw a project through, being easily distracted by new ideas. If it weren't for this inability to see things to a conclusion, Low could well have been remembered as one of the great men of science. Many of his scientific contemporaries disliked him, due in part to his using the title Professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

, which technically he wasn't entitled to do as he didn't occupy an academic chair. His love of the limelight and publicity probably also added to the dislike.

Archibald M. Low was one of the first forecasters of the concept of television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 in the early 1920s.

Early life

Low was born in Purley, London

Purley, London

Purley is a place in the London Borough of Croydon, England. It is a suburban development situated 11.7 miles south of Charing Cross.The name derives from "pirlea", which means 'Peartree lea'. Purley has a population of about 72,000....

, the second son of John and Gertrude Low. His father was an engineer and Low's interest in all things mechanical and scientific was fired by visits to his father's place of work. The family moved to Erith

Erith

Erith is a district of southeast London on the River Thames. Erith's town centre has undergone a series of modernisations since 1961.-Pre-medieval:...

 in the London Borough of Bexley

London Borough of Bexley

The London Borough of Bexley lies in south east Greater London, and is a borough referred to as part of Outer London. It has common borders with the London Borough of Bromley to the south, the London Borough of Greenwich to the west, across the River Thames to the north it borders the London...

 when Low was still a baby. He was sent to Preparatory school

Preparatory school (UK)

In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for entry into fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools...

 at Colet Court

Colet Court

Colet Court is a preparatory school for boys aged 7 to 13 in Barnes, London. It forms the preparatory department of St Paul's School, to which most Colet Court pupils go at the age of 13.-History:...

 when his family had to visit Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. A few years later he also got to visit Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 Australia with his family. He recalls being amazed to find that telephones were fitted in every house. As a young boy Low was forever experimenting at home, building homemade steam turbines or conducting chemical experiments that brought havoc to his local neighbourhood and caused his parents to receive many complaints about the bangs, smells and gases created by young Archie.
At the age of 11 he was enrolled into St Paul's School, an institution where he didn't fit in, being as he put it "too much of an individual". One of his classmates for several years was Bernard Law Montgomery, whom Low recalled as being "rather dull".

Aged 16 Low entered the Central Technical College, an institution far more to his liking, here his abilities really started to show. Under the guidance of his mentor Professor Ashcroft, Low's mercurial mind was given free rein over many of the scientific disciplines, this lack of structured guidance though probably didn't help him in later life. During his time at the CTC Low designed a drawing device which he called "The Low flexible and adjustable curve". This device along with a dotted line pen and a self filling draughtsman's pen were marketed by Thornton's, a renowned instrument

Measuring instrument

In the physical sciences, quality assurance, and engineering, measurement is the activity of obtaining and comparing physical quantities of real-world objects and events. Established standard objects and events are used as units, and the process of measurement gives a number relating the item...

 maker based in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

. He also spent a year devising and making a selector mechanism which allowed a lever when moved to fall into a pre-selected slot. It wasn't until 32 years later that pre-selected gears

Preselector gearbox

A preselector or self-changing gearbox is a type of manual gearbox used on a variety of vehicles, most commonly in the 1930s...

 came in, long after Low had originally thought of them.

Early career

Low joined his uncle, Edward Low's engineering firm, "The Low Accessories and Ignition Company", which at the time was the second oldest engineering firm in the City of London

City of London

The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...

. Unfortunately the company was in a constant struggle for solvency. Edward Low did what he could financially to help get his nephew's ideas off the ground, but what was really needed was a rich investor. During this pre-war period Low was constantly coming up with big new ideas, such as his Forced induction

Forced induction

Forced induction is the process of compressing air on the intake of an internal combustion engine . A forced induction engine uses a gas compressor to increase the pressure, temperature and density of the air...

 Engine, or gadgets like the whistling egg-boiler which he christened "The Chanticleer". It went on to sell very well, earning him some much-needed money. He also experimented with gas turbines, but the alloys available at that time wouldn't stand up to the required heat.

In May 1914 Low gave the first demonstration of what was to become television, he called it TeleVista. This demonstration was given to the Institute of Automobile Engineers and was entitled "Seeing By Wireless". Low's invention was crude and under-developed but the idea was there. The main deficiency was the Selenium

Selenium

Selenium is a chemical element with atomic number 34, chemical symbol Se, and an atomic mass of 78.96. It is a nonmetal, whose properties are intermediate between those of adjacent chalcogen elements sulfur and tellurium...

 cell used for converting light waves into electric impulses, which responded too slowly thus spoiling the effect.
The demonstration certainly garnered a lot of media interest with The Times

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

reporting on May 30;



On May 29 The Daily Chronicle

Daily Chronicle

The Daily Chronicle was a British newspaper that was published from 1872 to 1930 when it merged with the Daily News to become the News Chronicle.-History:...

reported;

Low, of course failed to follow up this early promising work, due in part to his temperamental failings and also of course the outbreak of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 later that year.

The Great War

When war broke out, Low joined the military and received officer training. After a few months he was promoted to Captain and seconded to the Royal Flying Corps

Royal Flying Corps

The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...

, the precursor of the RAF. His brief was to use his civilian research to find a way to remotely control an aircraft, so it could be used as a guided missile. With two other officers (Captain Poole and Lieutenant Bowen) under him, they set to work to see if it were possible. This project was called "Aerial Target" or AT a misnomer to fool the Germans into thinking it was about building a drone plane to test anti-aircraft capabilities. After they built a prototype, General Sir David Henderson

David Henderson (general)

Lieutenant General Sir David Henderson KCB, KCVO, DSO, LLD was an officer in the British Army who came to be considered as the leading authority on tactical intelligence during the early years of the 20th century...

 (Director-General of Military Aeronatics) ordered that the Royal Flying Corps Experimental Works should be created to build the first proper "Aerial Target" complete with explosive warhead. As head of the Experimental Works, Low was given about 30 picked men, including jewellers, carpenters and aircraftsmen in order to get the pilotless plane built as quickly as possible. The plane, the Ruston Proctor AT from its manufacturer was designed by H P Folland

Henry Folland

Henry Philip Folland was an English aviation engineer and aircraft designer.-Life:Folland was born to Frederick and Mary Folland at 2 King Street, Holy Trinity, Cambridge. His father was listed as a Stonemason....

. It had its first trial on 21 March 1917 at Upavon

Upavon

Upavon is a rural village in the English County of Wiltshire, England. As its name suggests, it is on the upper portions of the River Avon which runs from the north to the south through the village. It is situated about south of Pewsey, about southeast of the market town of Devizes, and about ...

 Central Flying School

Central Flying School

The Central Flying School is the Royal Air Force's primary institution for the training of military flying instructors. Established in 1912 it is the longest existing flying training school.-History:...

 near Salisbury Plain

Salisbury Plain

Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in central southern England covering . It is part of the Southern England Chalk Formation and largely lies within the county of Wiltshire, with a little in Hampshire. The plain is famous for its rich archaeology, including Stonehenge, one of England's best known...

, attended by 30-40 allied Generals. The AT was launched from the back of a lorry using compressed air (another first). Low and his team successfully demonstrated their ability to control the craft before engine failure led to its crash landing. A subsequent full trial on 6 July 1917 was cut short as an aerial had been lost at takeoff. At a later date an electrically driven gyro (yet another first) was added to the plane, but ultimately the "Aerial Target" project was not followed up after the war, due to the shortsightedness of military planners. In 1917 Low and his team also invented the first electrically steered rocket (the world's first wireless, or wire-guided rocket), almost an exact counterpart of the one used by the Germans in 1942 against merchant shipping. Low's inventions during the war were to a large extent before their time and hence were under-appreciated by the Government of the day, although the Germans were well aware of how dangerous his inventions might be. In 1915 two attempts were made to assassinate him; the first involved shots being fired through his laboratory window in Paul Street; the second attempt was from a visitor with a German accent who came to Low's office and offered him a cigarette, which upon analysis contained enough strychnine

Strychnine

Strychnine is a highly toxic , colorless crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine causes muscular convulsions and eventually death through asphyxia or sheer exhaustion...

 chloride to kill.

Lows principles were adopted by the Admiralty

Admiralty

The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

 for the Larynx

Larynx (unmanned aircraft)

Larynx was an early British pilotless aircraft, to be used as a guided anti-ship weapon.Started in September 1925, it was an early cruise missile guided by an autopilot....

 "Long Range Gun with Lynx Engine", and explosive laden autopilot-ed aircraft which was developed by the Royal Aircraft Establishment

Royal Aircraft Establishment

The Royal Aircraft Establishment , was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence , before finally losing its identity in mergers with other institutions.The first site was at Farnborough...

 from 1925. Further developments continued by the British before and during the Second World War.

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 the Germans also made good use of Low's 1918 rocket guidance system and used it as one of the foundations for their V projects

V-1 flying bomb

The V-1 flying bomb, also known as the Buzz Bomb or Doodlebug, was an early pulse-jet-powered predecessor of the cruise missile....

. So yet again Low was leading the way, only this time the wrong people followed.

Low should have made a considerable amount of money from these inventions, but his patents couldn't stay in force for the statutory period, as he was in the employment of the War Department

War Department (UK)

The War Department was the United Kingdom government department responsible for the supply of equipment to the armed forces of the United Kingdom and the pursuance of military activity. In 1857 it became the War Office...

 everything he invented was as a part of his duties so he couldn't benefit financially from them.

Inter-war years

Not long after the war Low started the Low Engineering Company Ltd in association with the Hon. C. N. Bruce (later Lord Aberdare). The company offices were on Kensington High Street, and Low spent much of his time trying to bring his inventions to fruition. As usual though he was easily distracted by gadgets that he devised, taking his attention away from the more important work. One of the better gadgets was a motor scooter that Low invented and manufactured in conjunction with Sir Henry Norman

Henry Norman

Sir Henry Norman, 1st Baronet PC was an English journalist and Liberal politician. Norman was educated privately in France and at Harvard University, where he obtained his B.A...

.
Despite his best efforts, business wasn't his strong point. An example of this is the magazine he started up with his friend Lord Brabazon and others. It was entitled Armchair Science

Armchair Science

"Armchair Science" was a British monthly journal of topical and popular science articles published from 1929 to 1940; it ceased publication because of wartime paper shortages. The first editor was A. Percy Bradley, a mechanical engineer associated with Brooklands, then Professor A. M. Low...

, Low helped edit it, and at one point the sales figures were 80,000 a month, yet it never seemed to make a profit and was sold off. Another of Low's delights was speed, especially racing cars or motorbikes. He was a regular attendee at Brooklands

Brooklands

Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England. It opened in 1907, and was the world's first purpose-built motorsport venue, as well as one of Britain's first airfields...

 and at one point invented a rocket propelled bike and numerous other gadgets and improvements for the internal combustion engine. An example of Low's prescience is that he was worried about the number of road traffic accidents that were occurring and believed speed in cities should be restricted to 25 mph using modern radio methods to enforce it. One of Low's peeves was excess noise, to this end he invented an audiometer to measure and record noise in a visual form. He conducted experiments on the London Underground

London Underground

The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...

 and achieved some success in pinpointing trouble spots and reducing their impact by use of shields over the wheels and padding of the interior panels.
In 1938 Low had lunch with a gentleman called William Joyce

William Joyce

William Joyce , nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an Irish-American fascist politician and Nazi propaganda broadcaster to the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He was hanged for treason by the British as a result of his wartime activities, even though he had renounced his British nationality...

. Joyce wanted Low to contribute an article to a paper he helped run. Low declined the offer being too busy; it was only a couple of years later that Joyce gained infamy as Lord Haw-Haw

Lord Haw-Haw

Lord Haw-Haw was the nickname of several announcers on the English-language propaganda radio programme Germany Calling, broadcast by Nazi German radio to audiences in Great Britain on the medium wave station Reichssender Hamburg and by shortwave to the United States...

.

A few of Low's inventions from this period are:

• Using infra-red photography
  Infrared photography
  In infrared photography, the film or image sensor used is sensitive to infrared light. The part of the spectrum used is referred to as near-infrared to distinguish it from far-infrared, which is the domain of thermal imaging. Wavelengths used for photography range from about 700 nm to about...
  
   to check head space in engines;
• A machine for reproducing photographs by radio;
• An audiometer
  Audiometer
  An audiometer is a machine used for evaluating hearing loss. Audiometers are standard equipment at ENT clinics and in audiology centers. They usually consist of an embedded hardware unit connected to a pair of headphones and a test subject feedback button, sometimes controlled by a standard PC...
  
   that was a forerunner of sound photography at high speed (used in engineering and architectural work);
• A device for converting ordinary print to Braille
  Braille
  The Braille system is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write, and was the first digital form of writing.Braille was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. Each Braille character, or cell, is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two...
  
   using photo electric cells
  Solar cell
  A solar cell is a solid state electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect....
  
  ;
• Cap-detonating sparkplug.

Second World War and later

At the outbreak of the Second World War

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 Low initially joined the Air Ministry

Air Ministry

The Air Ministry was a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964...

 in a civil capacity. His job was to examine captured German aircraft and prepare reports for British pilots to enable them to identify the weak points of the enemy aircraft. Later on he joined the Royal Pioneer Corps

Royal Logistic Corps

The Royal Logistic Corps provides logistic support functions to the British Army. It is the largest Corps in the Army, comprising around 17% of its strength...

 and was promoted to Major. Between experiments in his back garden laboratory, he gave frequent talks to service personnel on scientific matters. Low was frequently in bad health from the late 1930s onwards, having never fully recovered from a bout of pneumonia

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

 he suffered a few years earlier. Although nothing that he experimented with during the war ultimately came to fruition, he did work on some interesting projects:

• The 'W' bomb - a riverine mine for Operation Royal Marine being designed by MD1
  MD1
  Ministry of Defence 1 , also known as "Churchill's Toyshop" was a British weapon research and development organisation of the Second World War....
  
  . It floated just beneath the surface, came up when needed and spread a kind of umbrella out of itself which would detonate when touched. The primary inventors were Millis Jefferis
  Millis Jefferis
  Major-General Sir Millis Rowland Jefferis KBE MC was, during the Second World War, the founder of a special unit of the British Ministry of Supply which developed unusual weapons.-Early career:...
  
   and Stuart Macrae
  Stuart Macrae (inventor)
  Colonel Robert Stuart Macrae TD was an inventor best known for his work at MD1 during the Second World War, his best known invention being the sticky bomb.Macrae was the author of Winston Chuchill's Toyshop...
  
   - the latter was formerly an editor of Armchair Science with whom Low was on friendly terms.
• A bomb that when dropped on airfields would be buried to the hilt but leave trailing wires on the surface. An aircraft touching these wires would detonate the bomb.

Quotations

Later life

Low died at his London home in 1956 aged 68. Cause of death was a malignant tumour on his lung. He is buried in Brompton Cemetery

Brompton Cemetery

Brompton Cemetery is located near Earl's Court in South West London, England . It is managed by The Royal Parks and is one of the Magnificent Seven...

, London.

In 1976 Low was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame

International Space Hall of Fame

The New Mexico Museum of Space History is a museum and planetarium complex in Alamogordo, New Mexico, dedicated to artifacts and displays related to space flight and the space age. It includes the International Space Hall of Fame. The Museum of Space History highlights the role that New Mexico has...

 http://www.nmspacemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.php?id=20

Works

Low was a prolific author of science books. He aimed several of his books at the layman

Layman

A layperson or layman is a person who is not an expert in a given field of knowledge. The term originally meant a member of the laity, i.e. a non-clergymen, but over the centuries shifted in definition....

 to try to nurture interest in science and engineering. Quite a few of his books contained predictions on scientific advancements.

As well as these non-fiction books he wrote four science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 novels for the younger reader.

Non-fiction

• The Two Stroke Engine:A manual of the coming form of the internal combustion engine (1916)
• Wireless Possibilities (1924)
• The Future (1925)
• Tendencies of Modern Science (1930)
• On My Travels(1930)
• The Wonder Book of Inventions (1930)
• Popular Scientific Recreations (1933)
• Science in Wonderland (1935)
• Recent Inventions (1935)
• Great Scientific Achievements (1936)
• Conquering Space and Time (1937)
• Life and its Story (1937)
• Home Experiments (1937)
• Electrical Inventions (1937)
• Science for the Home (1938)
• What New Wonders! (1938)
• Science in Industry (1939)
• Modern Armaments (1939)
• How We find Out (1940)
• Mine and Countermine (1940)
• The Way it Works (1940)
• The Submarine at War (1941)
• Romance of Fire (1941)
• Science Looks ahead (1942)
• Tanks (1942)
• Musket to Machine-Gun (1942)
• Facts and Fancies (1942)
• Parachutes in Peace and War (1942)
• Benefits of War (1943)
• Tick-Tock (1944)
• Six Scientific Years (1946)
• How Secrets Work (1946)
• Your World Tomorrow (1947)
• They Made Your World (1949)
• Look, Listen and Touch (1949)
• It's Bound to Happen (1950)
• The Past Presented (1952)
• Electronics Everywhere (1952)
• Wonderful Wembley Stadium (1953)
• Thanks to Inventors (1954)

Fiction

• Peter Down the Well (1933)
• Adrift in the Stratosphere (1937)
• Mars Breaks Through, or The Great Murchison Mystery
• Satellite in Space (1956)

Appointments

• Associate of the City and Guilds of London Institute
  City and Guilds of London Institute
  The City and Guilds of London Institute is a leading United Kingdom vocational education organisation. City & Guilds offers more than 500 qualifications over the whole range of industry sectors through 8500 colleges and training providers in 81 countries worldwide...
  
  
• Member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers
• Fellow of the Chemical Society
  Chemical Society
  The Chemical Society was formed in 1841 as a result of increased interest in scientific matters....
  
  
• Fellow and President of the British Institute for Radio Engineers
• Chairman for 24 years of the AutoCycle Union
  AutoCycle Union
  The Auto-Cycle Union is governing body of motorcycle sport in Great Britain . Founded in 1903 and acquiring its current name in 1907 its aim was to develop motor sport through clubs and arrange touring facilities for members...
  
  
• Chairman of the RAC
  Royal Automobile Club
  The Royal Automobile Club is a private club and is not to be confused with RAC plc, a motorists' organisation, which it formerly owned.It has two club houses, one in London at 89-91 Pall Mall, and the other in the countryside at Woodcote Park, Surrey, next to the City of London Freemen's School...
  
   Motor Cycle Committee
• Vice-Chairman and Chairman for 20 years of the British Automobile Racing Club
  British Automobile Racing Club
  The British Automobile Racing Club is one of biggest organising clubs for auto racing in the United Kingdom.-History:The Cyclecar Club was formed in 1912, running races for the small and light motorbike powered vehicles at Brooklands as well as rallies and sporting trials. Among the founder...
  
  
• Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
  Royal Geographical Society
  The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
  
  
• Principal of the British Institute of Engineering Technology
• Fellow of the Institute of Electronics
• One of the founder members, and President (1936-1951) of the British Interplanetary Society
  British Interplanetary Society
  The British Interplanetary Society founded in 1933 by Philip E. Cleator, is the oldest space advocacy organisation in the world whose aim is exclusively to support and promote astronautics and space exploration.-Structure:...
  
  
• Associated Hon. Asst, Professor of Physics at the Royal Ordnance
  Royal Ordnance
  Royal Ordnance plc was formed on 2 January 1985 as a public corporation, owning the majority of what until then were the remaining United Kingdom government-owned Royal Ordnance Factories which manufactured explosives, ammunition, small arms including the Lee-Enfield rifle, guns and military...
  
   College, by the Army Council
  Army Council (1904)
  The Army Council is a governing board for the British military organization. It was created in 1904 along with other institutional changes made in that year to the British Army....