Leon Bagrit - the father of British automation
1902 March 13th. Born in Belgium [1].
1914 Moved to U.K. with his family at the start of WW1
Trained at University College, London
Started work with W. and T. Avery, makers of weighing machines
1927 General Manager of Herbert and Sons, makers of weighing machines
1935 Set up B. and P. Swift mainly to exploit his own patented inventions
1946 B and P Swift taken over by Elliott Brothers; Bagrit became joint managing director, and later managing director
Bagrit and his associates saw the opportunity to develop automatic control systems for use in atomic power, aerospace, ballistic missiles and other applications. This provided much new business development for Elliott Bros.
1957 Elliott Automation established; Bagrit became deputy chairman and managing director. Decentralized company. Successfully led the expansion of Elliotts to 15 groups in the early 1960s with 16,000 staff.
1962 Knighted
1963 Chairman of Elliott Automation
1973 Retired from Elliotts after a career of technical and scientific success, a widely read man with a keen interest in music and the visual arts, especially sculpture
1979 April 22nd. Died.[2]