007 > Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Aerial View of Chilton Site 08.07.75 (Atlas Lab is middle left) © Chilton Computing / STFC

007 > Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

Tony Pritchett worked on animation projects at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory during the 1970s.

He did some exciting stuff there and met like-minded spirits and fellow pioneers.

I was invited to give a talk about Tony’s work to the Oxford Branch of the British Computer Society, as part of RAL’s 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing celebrations.

The Chilton Atlas console. Thanks to Dr. Victoria Marshall, this once cutting-edge supercomputer technology no longer lies abandoned in a warehouse.

It was an absolute honour and pleasure to speak with Rutherford Appleton Atlas expert Dr. Victoria Marshall, who gave me a fascinating tour of Rutherford Appleton Lab (incorporating RAL Space) and the physical laboratory archive that she curates.

(She’s also been very generous in her sharing of archive materials on her website.)

I’m extremely grateful to her for spending time that weekend to show me around RAL. I’m also very proud that she is interested in my project – and extremely scared by the damn scary site-specific ghost story she told me!

In front of you is the surface of Mars where bits of space buggies are tested. Behind you is the ghost of a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot.
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