The scientific adviser who made bombing a field of operational research
From his analysis of the Sicilian railways, he concluded that disabling locomotives and repair facilities could halt the network as a whole.
Solly Zuckerman was a British zoologist and public servant who helped pioneer operational research by bringing scientific observation and experiment into government policy. During the Second World War he studied bombing effects and drew on Mediterranean evidence to devise the Transportation Plan, which targeted the French railway system before the Normandy landings. The plan helped delay German reinforcement, while also leaving a record of civilian casualties and continuing controversy over bombing's effectiveness. After the war he became the first Chief Scientific Adviser to the British Government, institutionalising the place of science in public policy.
Career Timeline
- 1926Graduated in zoology from the University of Cape Town
- 1928–1932Research anatomist at the Zoological Society of London
- 1934–1945Professor of anatomy at the University of Oxford
- 1943–1945Scientific Director of the British Bombing Survey Unit and Allied air adviser
- 1946–1968Professor of anatomy at the University of Birmingham
- 1960–1966Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence
- 1964–1971First Chief Scientific Adviser to the British Government
- 1977–1984President of the Zoological Society of London
- 1971Created Baron Zuckerman of Burnham Thorpe, a life peer