Where the "Black Box" Came From

David Warren was only eight years old when his missionary father died in a plane crash in 1934. His father's last gift had been a crystal radio set, which sparked David's interest in science and technology.

By his mid-twenties, David Warren had studied his way to a science degree from the University of Sydney, a diploma in education from Melbourne University and a PhD in chemistry from Imperial College, London.

His specialty was rocket science, and he went to work as a researcher for the Aeronautical Research Laboratories (ARL), a part of Australia's Defence Department that focused on planes.

In 1953, the department loaned him to an expert panel trying to solve a costly and distressing mystery: why did the British de Havilland Comet, the world's first commercial jet airliner and the great hope of the new Jet Age, keep crashing?

The problem was the lack of evidence. Warren thought about devising a way to record what happened in a plane during a flight, just in case something went wrong. His boss didn't want him to work on it. Pilots hated the idea. But Warren knew it was a useful idea. Read the story of how David Warren invented the "black box" flight recorder (which was never black) at BBC News.  -Thanks, WTM!
 
(Image credit: the Warren Family)


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