Covering the activities of the GEC Research Laboratories from 1919 until their end in 1984, this book includes sections on the original organisation and philosophy behind the laboratories, a decade by decade summary of the work, and specialist chapters focussing on such areas as lamps and lighting, valves, communications and semiconductors.

Sir Robert Clayton CBE joined the scientific staff of GEC Research Laboratories in 1937 to work on television. After working there on radar and microwave communications he was a founder member, and later Manager, of the GEC Applied Electronics Laboratories. He was Managing Director of GEC Electronics from 1961 to 1966, and then became GEC Technical Director, a post which he held until he retired in 1983. He has been President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers and of the Institute of Physics and a Vice President of the Fellowship of Engineering. He has served on a number of government bodies and is at present a member of the University Grants Committee and of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.

• Chapter 1: Origins, philosophy and organisation


• Chapter 2: Six decades of research


• Chapter 3: Lamps, phosphors and photometry


• Chapter 4: Lighting


• Chapter 5: Valves


• Chapter 6: Cathode-ray tubes


• Chapter 7: Communications and electronics


• Chapter 8: Semiconductor materials and devices


• Chapter 9: Physics, mostly solid state, in the post-war period


• Chapter 10: Materials and passive components


• Chapter 11: Lasers and optoelectronics


• Chapter 12: Engineering and technology


• Chapter 13: Heating


• Chapter 14: Glass and refractories


• Chapter 15: Metallurgy


• Chapter 16: Chemistry and materials characterisation


• Chapter 17: The 1939-45 war


• Chapter 18: Statistics and quality control


• Chapter 19: Patents


• Chapter 20: Publications and external relations


• Appendix: Statistical information