Establishment of Mathematics Division in NPL- 1945
After the end of the second world war there was some feeling amongst the scientists at Admiralty Computing Service and the Ministry of Supply that a National Mathematics Laboratory should be established to coordinate facilities and techniques relating to machine-aided computation. Hence they prepared a Memorandum on the Centralization of Computation in a National Mathematical Laboratory and sent it to the secretary of the DSIR (Department of Scientific and Industrial Research).
This eventually led to a committee chaired by Sir Charles Darwin, Director of NPL (National Physics Laboratory) including senior staff from Ministry of Supply and Admiralty Computing Service. A report was then presented to the DSIR Advisory Council on 10th May 1944, recommending that a Central Mathematical Station should be established.
The details of the report can be found here
On 24th October 1945, J R Womersley of the Ministry of Supply Advisory Service on Statistical Methods was appointed as the Superintendent of the project. He then led to the establishment of a Mathematics Division in the National Physical Laboratory (a national measurement standards Laboratory for UK)
By the end of 1945, the Mathematics Division had four sections: general computing, punched-card equipment, mathematical statistics and the differential analyzer plus a total number of 27 staff .
