Hi Troops:
Someone asked for the origin of the term Boffin the other day, I think it was on this group. I am re reading "The Pulse of Radar" by Sir Robert Watson-Watt. He was the Scottish scientist who in 1935 laid out the theoretic basis for what became the British Chain Home Radar system that made victory in the Battle of Britain possible. "Boffin" is an R.A.F. term for a civilian scientist working in the defense industries. According to Sir Robert the term was coined by Group Captain Peter Chamberlain, first Commanding Officer of the Royal Air Force's Fighter Interception Unit (F.I.U.). The F.I.U. was the unit created to take the first radar equipped night fighters and develop methods and practices for night interception of enemy aircraft using Radar, and the myriad of offshoot devices spawned by British Radar researchers. Watson-Watt, being the scientist who started it all, was christened "Arch Boffin" by Chamberlain and his R.A.F. compatriots. "The Pulse of Radar" is a rather slow read, more due to Sir Robert's style of writing than anything else, but if you are interested in the background to the birth of Radar, it is a book worth hunting up.
Bill Shuey