The large leather bound original volume contains photographs and handwritten descriptions relating to the radar research and development at the Bernard Price Institute.
The radar development for the detection and location of aircraft and ships by radar, had been started by Britain some years before the outbreak of World War II. In 1939 General Jan Smuts appointed South African scientists, under the leadership of Dr. B.F.J. Schonland, then Director of the Bernard Price Institute of Geophysical Research and Professor of Geophysics at the University of the Witwatersrand, to gather information for the research programme.
The institute committed itself entirely to war work and became the headquarters for what became known as the Special Signals Services which was tasked with preparing to train people in the use of British radar. Britain shared secret information on radar technology with its Dominions, and in South Africa’s case, this transfer of information occurred primarily through Schonland being briefed directly by Dr Ernest Marsden. Ever the scientist, Schonland, rather than serve purely in a training capacity, set up a research and development team, and based on the information he received from Britain, the team developed a South African version of radar within a few months using components scavenged from radio shops. The South African radar’s functionality was first demonstrated in mid December 1939.
The album was comiled by Dr G.R. Bozzoli, together with members of the radar team, at the request of the committee formed to dissolve the team at the end of WWII. Members of the team included Basil Schonland, Bernard Price and Humphry Raikes (former Vice Chancellor of Wits).
