- Joan Curran
Lady Joan Strothers Curran (
February 26 ,1916 –February 10 ,1999 ) was a Welshscientist . It was in the dark days of theSecond World War that she, like her husband,Sir Samuel Curran , played an important part in the survival of her country.Biography
Joan Elizabeth Strothers was born in
Swansea where her father was anoptician . She won an open scholarship toNewnham College ,Cambridge , where, in 1935, she rowed for the ladies' university eight in the first real Womens' boat race againstOxford . She gained anhonours degree inphysics which was not awarded since this was in the days before women were allowed Cambridge degrees. In her seventies, in 1987, she was honoured with the degree ofDoctor of Laws honoris causa by theUniversity of Strathclyde .Joan Strothers was awarded a government grant to study for a higher degree and elected to go to the
Cavendish Laboratory where she joined Sam Curran in a team under the direction ofPhilip Dee . In the autumn of 1939, Dee and his team were inExeter , involved in the development of theproximity fuse when war broke out. Joan and Sam married on November 7th, 1940. Soon afterwards they were transferred to theTelecommunications Research Establishment nearSwanage , where Sam worked on centimetric radar while Joan joined the Counter Measures Group in an adjoining lab. It was with this group, at Swanage and later atMalvern , that Joan devised the technique, later to be known as 'Operation Window' ('chaff' is another name for it). She did so by cutting up strips of tinfoil which would be scattered in the path of enemy planes, thus disrupting their radar. We learn this not from Joan, for she was the most modest and self-effacing of persons, but fromR.V. Jones in his book "Most Secret War ". Perhaps Window's most spectacular success was when it was dropped with great precision by Lancasters of617 Squadron to synthesise a phantom invasion force of ships in theStraits of Dover on the night of 5-6 June 1944. This kept the Germans unsure of whether the brunt of theAllied assault would fall onNormandy or in thePas de Calais .In June, 1944, the Currans were invited to go to the
University of California at Berkeley to take part in 'Operation Manhattan' (Robert Oppenheimer 'sManhattan Project ) - the development of theatomic bomb . Although in an advanced stage ofpregnancy , Joan was occupied in observingnuclear fission throughperspex and, shortly afterwards, gave birth to a daughter, Sheena, who was, sadly, severelyhandicap ped.When they returned to
Glasgow , Joan and Sam, together with a few friends, set up theScottish Society for the Parents of Mentally Handicapped Children (Enable) which now has nearly 100 branches with more than 5000 members. Later, when Joan was a member of theGreater Glasgow Health Board and of theScottish Special Housing Association , the needs of thedisabled were always at the front of her mind and she did much to promote their interests. She took a close interest in the work of theCouncil for Access for the Disabled and helped improve the range offacilities , especially for disabled university students.When Sam was Principal of
Strathclyde University , she founded the Strathclyde Women's Group and became its president. She promoted the special relationship with theTechnical University of Lodz ,Poland , and also devoted much care and attention to the children's hospital of that city. Later she established the Lady CurranEndowment fund for overseas, particularly Polish, students.When gravely ill with cancer in 1998, she unveiled a
plaque inBarony Hall ,Glasgow , in her husband's honour and it was revealed to her that the walled garden atRoss Priory , on Loch Lomondside, was to be named in her honour and that the Joan Curran Summer House would be built there.Her daughter, Sheena, three sons and three grandsons survived her.
References
*Adapted from her obituary, written by Professor
Bill Fletcher of theUniversity of Strathclyde , for theGlasgow Herald , Tuesday,February 16 ,1999 *Obituary in The Independent [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19990219/ai_n14214115 Feb 19, 1999 by Tam Dalyell]
*
R.V. Jones account of the development of radar countermeasures during WWII "Most Secret War".*History of ENABLE Scotland (formerly the Scottish Society for the Mentally Handicapped) [http://www.enable.org.uk/history.php]
In popular culture
In chapter 107 of Dan Brown's novel
Deception Point , her invention of the radar countermeaure Chaff is attributed to the "savvy british airman" who first put it into practice, and summarised as "throwing bales of hay wrapped in tinfoil out of his plane while on bombing runs".External links
* [http://www.enable.org.uk/history.php ENABLE Scotland (formerly the Scottish Society for the Mentally Handicapped)]
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