History - People - Sir Charles F Goodeve

Sir Charles F Goodeve Tenure: Lecturer 1930-1938 Reader 1938-1945

Charles Goodeve was born in Manitoba in Canada. He worked at UCL as a physical chemist, involved in photochemistry and subsequently in the study of the oxides of chlorine and sulfur. He is best known, however, for his efforts to detect and destroy the magnetic mines laid by German forces in the sea-lanes during the war. As a consequence of this work he was responsible for inventing the word "de-gaussing". He is also known as the Father of Operational Research. A quick search of the web will turn up a huge number of entries on this subject.

He was knighted in 1946 for his contributions to the war effort.

A detailed biography of Charles Goodeve, together with descriptions of some of his inventions which has been constructed by his son, Pete Goodeve (UK Mirror)

This page last modified 20 September, 2010