John Robert Mills FIEE (12 November 1916 – 6 May 1998[1]) was a British physicist and scientific expert who played an important role in the development of radar and the defence of Britain in World War II.

[2] In addition to many achievements and contributions to military technological development, Mills was the first British scientist to receive radio-wave signals bounced off the Moon.

[3] Following his education at the Kingston upon Thames Grammar School he gained a BSc in physics at King's College London in 1939 and later the same year he joined the Air Ministry Research Establishment in Dundee.

[2] John Mills was part of a groundbreaking group during the Second World War that established radar as both a meaningful defence, particularly against enemy aircraft, and guidance technology.

[4] The final chapter in Mills's career in the R&D business was a return to Malvern in 1976 as Deputy Director of the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (RSRE), which had been formed by merging RRE, SRDE and SERL (Services Electronic Research Laboratory formerly at Baldock, Hertfordshire) as part of the programme to rationalise the defence establishments.