The Allen Clark Research Centre was a solid-state physics optoelectronics research centre of the Plessey company at Caswell, near Towcester, Northamptonshire, England.
History It was opened on Friday 20 March 1964 by the Duke of Edinburgh. He toured the laboratories and took lunch there, in the company of James Orr and the Earl of Kilmuir. The Duke unveiled a memorial to Sir Allen Clark.Times Friday 20 March 1964, page 8Times Saturday 21 March 1964, page 10
The site was named after Sir Allen George Clark (1898–1962), who was succeeded by his son Sir John Allen Clark (1926–2001).
The site won the 1974 Queen's Award for Technology, for silicon integrated circuits.Times Monday 22 April 1974, page 18
The Duke of Kent visited on the morning of Thursday 9 May 1974.Times Friday 10 May 1974, page 24
Scientists Sir Derek Roberts CBE FRS FREng (1932–2021), former director
Research It worked with the Physics department of the University of Sussex.Times Thursday 8 July 1965, page 8 It worked with Square D of the US in the late 1970s.
It conducted early work on fibre optic networks in the mid-1980s, with the fibre made by BICC, with a 107km test fibre-optic cable, with dispersion-shifted monomode fibre. It developed spectrum-splicing for fibres in the mid-1980s.Times Monday 29 April 1985, page 18
Successor The site is now Caswell Science Park, run by Lumentum Technology UK.
See also Invention of the integrated circuit Timeline of electrical and electronic engineering Central Research Laboratories, EMI, west London Taplow Court, has carried out similar work for BT
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