Article ID: CBB001420008

Lord Justice of Appeal John Fletcher Moulton and Explosives Production in World War I: “The Mathematical Mind Triumphant” (2014)

unapi

At the end of November 1914 Lord Moulton (1844--1921) became the director of explosives production in the War Office. A 70-year-old jurist may seem an extraordinary choice, but he was an extraordinary man. He was Senior Wrangler at Cambridge, was elected to the Royal Society for research on electricity, and learned about chemistry as a barrister for dye and explosives manufacturers. He assembled an able team of administrators and chemists who designed and managed mammoth new national explosives factories. They could not make enough TNT and picric acid from obtainable precursors, so Moulton persuaded the reluctant armed services to adopt mixtures of TNT and ammonium nitrate, which enabled them to make even more than was needed. In mid-1915 they moved to the new Ministry of Munitions, where they also became responsible for fertilizers and poison gases. In 1917 they produced explosives at a higher rate than was attained in World War II.

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Authors & Contributors
Susan R. Grayzel
Peter B. Thompson
Steve Mills
Michael Toscano
Tim Gale
H. R. Everett
Concepts
Technology and war; technology and the military
World War I
World War II
Science and war; science and the military
Chemical warfare
Military technology
Time Periods
20th century, early
20th century
19th century
20th century, late
Places
Great Britain
Germany
United States
France
Japan
Institutions
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Instituten
Royal Society of London
University of Liverpool
Interessengemeinschaft Farbenindustrie Aktiengesellschaft
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