Central Research Laboratories
British research lab behind television, CT scanner, and stereo sound.
The Central Research Laboratories (CRL) was a British research laboratory originally belonging to the EMI Corporation. It was established as a research and innovation centre that set the tone for many technological advancements in the UK over the following decades. The laboratory was held in extremely high regard globally.
Quick Facts
- Address
- Dawley Road, Middlesex, UB3 1BR
- Client
- EMI
- Demolished date
- 2010
- Floor count
- 2
Facts from the source article.
History
From the 1920s, EMI poured resources into a research centre that would become globally respected and shape UK technology for decades. After operating across central and greater London, a new facility was built in Hayes, Middlesex in the 1980s. Hayes was known as EMI Town because it housed the Gramophone Company HQ, later HMV. The lab's first director was Isaac Shoenberg, a television pioneer. In 1996, a management buy-out created CRL Ltd, with EMI keeping a nominal stake. The company then acted as an incubator, funding projects and spinning off viable products as standalone subsidiaries based at the same HQ. In 2000, it floated under Scipher Plc, which became the UK's most admired and valuable tech stock on the FTSE 250 for two years. Scipher included CRL, which remained the innovation hub, continued Ministry of Defence work under secrecy, and managed existing products and agreements. It also included QED, an intellectual property business that registered and managed patents, investigated and litigated infringements, and generated millions from patents inherited from EMI.
Innovations
CRL developed or initiated many innovations, including the EMI 405-line television system adopted by the BBC, early television cameras patented in May 1932 by James Dwyer McGee and William Francis Tedham, the CAT (CT) scanner, early airborne radars such as H2S, stereo sound and audio mixing technologies, commercialisation of television through CRT improvement, early LCD technology, 3D audio virtualisation, and magnetic technology used in the first commercially used credit cards globally. It also registered early patents for fingerprint technology, eye retina scanning, and other software and digital technologies common in internet and application development. The company received the Institute of Physics Fernand Holweck Medal and Prize in 1986.
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