Churchill: a scientist who missed his vocation
Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms
Churchill was fascinated by science and was always on the look out for fresh ways to fight using new technologies.
Churchill loved new inventions and supported the scientists and engineers working on experimental technologies.
Successes
Some of the projects which Churchill supported were great successes. He was a great advocate of tanks during the first World War. In the second World War, a notable success was the huge undertaking to build mulberrry harbours for the Normandy landings.
Failures
Churchill also backed some spectacular failures, such as the great panjandrum. This was a rocket propelled drum of high explosive. The wheels were driven by rockets like a catherine wheel. The plan was that the big wheels would roll up a beach from a landing craft to destroy coastal defences. The project was abandoned in 1944 because the device was uncontrollable and unpredictable.
A view of Churchill
It was Frederick Lindemann, scientific adviser to the government, who said: 'I have always looked on Churchill as a scientist who missed his vocation'.
Submitted by: Jo Hunt, Churchill Museum & Cabinet War Rooms, 22 January 2007
