Author Description

Cold War, Hot Science presents an authoritative history of postwar British defence research as related to the establishments that now form part of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). The agency includes such well-known centers as the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment at Malvern, and the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment at Porton Down. Collectively these have carried out a very high proportion of all the scientific research conducted in Britain since the war. Study of these vast, but traditionally secretive, institutions is vital to understanding science in postwar Britain. In addition to research towards new weapons, the establishments have maintained high levels of policy relevant expertise, providing advice to government and even carrying out some manufacturing. Until now their contribution has been little understood. This is the first systematic treatment of their history, putting the applied science of the mil