Albert Rowe (physicist)

A British physicist and senior research administrator, he played a major role in the development of radar before and during World War II.

[1] Rowe was born in Launceston, Cornwall, and after attending the Portsmouth Naval Dockyard School, he studied physics at the Royal College of Science, University of London, graduating with a first-class honours in 1921, and postgraduate diploma in air navigation in 1922.

[citation needed] Wimperis took the report seriously, and in 1934, he started the formation of what later became known as the Tizard Committee, which supported the early development of radio-based detection.

Despite some opposition from RAF Bomber Command, who thought that the project would not produce large-scale results, Rowe, assisted by Alec Reeves, also led in the development of the Oboe navigation system and the ground-scanning H2S radar.

The following year, he was appointed scientific adviser to the Australian Department of Defence, and on 1 May 1948 he became, by invitation, the first full-time vice-chancellor of the University of Adelaide, a position he held until his retirement in 1958.