History
In 1957 Sir Harrie Massey of UCL directed the first Skylark rocket experiments. In 1957 the British electronics company Philips-Mullard helped to set up the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory (MRAO) at the University of Cambridge. In 1962 Massey led a team from UCL, Imperial College London, the University of Birmingham and the University of Leicester that developed many of the instruments on Ariel 1, the world's first multinational spacecraft. In 1964 Philips-Mullard produced a prototype electronic desk calculator as a technology demonstrator for its transistors and cold cathode indicator tubes.
At that time, Robert Boyd was the leading British researcher in space science and was based at University College London. Joint funding from Mullard and UCL led to the expansion of his research programme and resulted in the creation of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL) in 1966. Dedicated premises were selected near Dorking, Surrey where the laboratory has been based ever since.
The Royal Society Mullard Award for young scientists and engineers was set up in 1967. Philips continued to use the brand name "Mullard" in the UK until 1988.
Read more about this topic: Mullard Space Science Laboratory
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