Albert Percival Rowe

Albert Percival Rowe (23 March 1898 – 25 May 1976), often known as Jimmy Rowe or A. P. Rowe, was a British radar pioneer who played a major role in the development of radar before and during the Second World War. After the war he was the vice-chancellor of the University of Adelaide from 1948 to 1958.

Early years Albert Percival Rowe, also known as "Jimmy Rowe",

Air defence and radar After graduation, Rowe joined a defence science unit of the Air Ministry and lectured part time at the Imperial College of Science and Technology from 1927 to 1937. In a large scale Air Defence exercise in 1934 involving a mock raid on London, most of the bombers reached their targets without being intercepted.

Wimperis took this seriously, and in 1934, he started the formation of the Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Defence, which was chaired by Henry Tizard and supported the early development of radio-based detection (RDF). Later, the American term "radar" was adopted. Rowe liked to say that if the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton, the Battle of Britain was won on the playing fields of Malvern. He wrote about his experiences in his book One Story of Radar (1948).

Vice-chancellor After the Second World War ended in 1945, Rowe became the Deputy Controller of Research and Development at the Admiralty. The following year, he moved to Australia as chief scientific officer for the British rocket programme. 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. The university was in poor shape. Staff were poorly paid and there was no superannuation scheme. He persuaded the Premier of South Australia, Sir Thomas Playford, to double the university's grant and persuaded the government to create a superannuation scheme to allow academics to retire at age 65. As chairman of the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee from 1954 to 1955, he helped persuade the Prime Minister of Australia, Robert Menzies to commission an inquiry, chaired by Sir Keith Murray, that ultimately led to federal funding of Australian universities.