Just prior to World War II, physicist Merle Tuve sets up a group in Dr. Vannevar Bush’s National Defense Committee to improve anti-aircraft defense. The focus of this effort is the proximity fuze, a small radio device that allows shells to more accurately detonate in the vicinity of their targets. By 1942, Tuve’s Carnegie Institution laboratory is too small for the growing fuze group, so he asks his alma mater the Johns Hopkins University to accept responsibility for the secret work; he is named director of the newly created Applied Physics Laboratory that year. Tuve’s leadership is characterized by imaginative research and thoroughness, from laboratory to field test to deployment.

The Applied Physics Laboratory is formed in Silver Spring, Maryland, to address the critical challenge of defending Navy ships from enemy air attacks. APL develops the proximity fuze, which revolutionizes air defense and helps turn World War II for the Allies. The Wolfe Building, complete with its “Used Cars” sign, houses the APL staff in secrecy.

APL technicians—predominantly female due to the war effort—assemble the prototype patterns of the fuze before sending the designs to pilot and production lines. Their motto, E Pluribus Oscillator (from many parts, an oscillator), is engraved on the coat of arms plaque held at center. Left to right, seated: Annabele Sherbert, Cicily Jones, and Irma Popp; standing: Lucy Trundle, Doris Poole, Clarice Fillner, J. J. Hopkins, Anna Vantine, Shirley Evison, and Lillian Hines.

Hafstad, a skilled electrical engineer and physicist noted for his pioneering work on nuclear reactors, succeeds Tuve and serves as director from 1946 to 1947. A critical thinker, Hafstad sees and pushes for a role for the "temporary" Lab after the war, believing APL’s unique position and capabilities will allow it to more quickly respond to military needs and field critical national security solutions faster than industry contractors or government offices.

Members of the instrumentation group that work on ramjet development at Camp Davis, North Carolina, pause in front of Forest Grove Station, Maryland as they unload equipment. Left to right: Sterling King, Helen Muschlitz, Francis Burke, C. Dixon Smith, Howie Gray, Bill Williams, Eleanor Dorr, Wendall Spencer, Bob Byers, and I. B. Irving. These ten people form the nucleus of the central facilities staff at APL during this era.

James Heathcott documents early missile flight tests with twin motion picture cameras attached to a manually operated gun director. The tests consist of photographing the flight from two or more fixed positions and recording the bearing and elevation angle from each position against time.

APL offers a hint of missile defense technologies to come with a Cobra ramjet on its float in a Silver Spring, Maryland, parade.

Ralph Gibson begins a directorship that becomes — and remains — the longest in APL history. His 21-year tenure spans some of the nation’s most inspired technological advances in both defense and general science, from the first ramjet missile tests to the first navigation-by-satellite system. Gibson brings together science, engineering, and a profound understanding of operational problems and an organization that can react quickly to new challenges. His accolades include the Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the Defense Department’s highest civilian award.

A dual ground station telemetering trailer begins its journey to the Naval Ordnance Test Station at Inyokern, California, for operation in the Bureau of Ordnance missile program. Director Ralph Gibson speaks before the gathering at the launching ceremonies and congratulates the Telemetering Group on the successful completion of the project. Kay Cook smashes a bottle of champagne against the side of the trailer with the words, "I christen thee, ’Mr. Completely.’" (The name is a pun on the phrase "Missed her completely.")

John and Winifred Parlette Dietrich pose in front of the Moore House, where Winifred was born and raised, before its demolition in 1960. The Moore Farm is one of several properties APL purchased in the 1950s to create its Howard County campus; Building 30 is located where the original farmhouse once stood.

Youngsters race to the finish line during the 100-yard dash at the annual APL picnic in Rock Creek Park.

According to The APL News: "Vernon H. Samson gets a tray full from Alice Frasher, center, and Mrs. Marie Brown, left, at the ’8621’ cafeteria [in Silver Spring]. Most cooking is done at Forest Grove. Hamburgers are the most popular food item."

From The APL News: "Three APL ladies, matching the elegance of the flowers in their baskets, were guests of honor at the President’s Inaugural Ball, January 20, where they greeted thousands of guests as official flower girls. They were Mary Martin, secretary to Dr. Freeman K. Hill, Helena Knouse, secretary to Dr. Daniel T. Sigley, and Frances C. Black, receptionist in the Colemont Building. Guests they greeted included the President and Mrs. Eisenhower, Vice President and Mrs. Nixon, cabinet members, governors, ambassadors of foreign lands, plus a host of national screen, stage, and opera luminaries."

As the Lab outgrows its original location at 8621 Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring, the search for larger accommodations begins and ends about 15 miles north, with the purchase of 290 acres in Howard County. Johns Hopkins University assumes one-third of the land’s cost, and the Navy agrees to amortize the remainder. The large, relatively inexpensive property ($300 per acre) offers ample room for future growth.

The original Howard County building offers a view of development across APL’s new property, including the man-made pond that remains a signature feature of the campus. This view is east toward Route 29, from the top of Building 1.

A young visitor reaches for a drink at the Lab’s first Family Day event, celebrating the opening of the "new building" in Howard County, Maryland.

Installation of several Butler buildings on campus begins, from 1955 to 1959. Although intended to augment space and efficiency, most of the "temporary" metal structures remain the site of important Lab research for the next five decades. Eight Butlers will be demolished in the 1980s to make way for Building 13; the rest come down in August 2008 to make space for the Central Green.

APL archers practice their skills in a local wood, before an official APL Archery Club forms later that year. Members hone their skills by making their own bows, quivers, arrows, and targets; conducting simulated hunts; and joining in Washington-area archery competitions.

Robert Rich (center left, in suit), head of the Bumblebee Computing Center, inspects the new Remington Rand UNIVAC computer with his colleagues. The UNIVAC is considered one of the most modern and complete digital computing systems at the time. The system is so new that APL is operating the very first such UNIVAC to be installed.

One day a week, popular Silver Spring barber Bennet Riley leaves his shop in the hands (and scissors) of assistants to personally serve APL customers in a new APL shop in Butler Building No. 1.

Earning status as an honorary Boy Scout, Ralph Gibson receives a Boy Scout lapel pin from William R. Blackwood Jr., of Pack 256 in Chevy Chase, as the scout’s mother looks on.

The Talos Weapon System test crew, "Tango" division, installs and checks out operation of the Talos weapon system on USS Galveston. The group includes representatives from several associated contractors.

During a long cold spell, skaters take to the frozen APL Pond. According to The APL News, the “little-acre pond on the new building site” has turned into “a genuine evening and week-end recreation retreat,” with local children and Lab staff members coming out to enjoy the ice, which measures six inches thick. Impromptu skating parties are known to form, complete with campfires and coffee.

The APL team takes on Vitro in the Montgomery County (Maryland) Softball League playoffs. Softball remains a vibrant Lab activity to this day.

Couples dance and compete for the "best costume" prize at APLRinc’s (APL Recreation Inc.) annual Halloween party.

Excavation and construction begin for APL’s second permanent building. Building 2 will later be named for Milton S. Eisenhower, the Johns Hopkins University president emeritus and longtime educator and public official.

In the 1940s and 1950s, bowling is America’s — and the Lab’s — most beloved pastime. At the height of bowling’s reign, APL has four leagues in competition, with more than 330 staff members and their families participating. APL’s first ten-pin bowling season begins in 1944; duckpins are introduced in 1946 and soon allotted their own league. In 1958, women at the Lab start a separate league to develop their skills outside of the mixed and men’s leagues. A couples’ league becomes a reality in January 1959. Shown here is APL staff member Shirley Constable.

At the Lab’s very first holiday party on the Howard County campus in 1959, Jim Henson, then a local talent with a television show called “Sam and Friends,” performs for the Lab. Henson and his wife, Jane, bring Sam and his other “Muppets” to APL to entertain about 1,400 staff and family members. ("Sam" is pictured in the center photo.)

APL adds Building 11 — the "Radar Building" — to investigate computer-controlled radar for missile systems.

From The APL News: “Miss Vivian O’Brien of the Research Center this month was awarded her Doctor of Philosophy degree by The Johns Hopkins University, making her the first woman on the APL staff to receive the high academic honor.”

Building 3, the Computing Center, becomes the new home for APL’s large-scale computing operations. The center will eventually be renamed in honor of the late Frank T. McClure, the former deputy director and Research Center chair credited with inventing the Navy’s Satellite Navigation System.

Operations begin in Building 10, the Propulsion Research Lab (PRL), which offers new latitude and versatility in testing and studying propulsion and energy systems. Later, the PRL will expand and become known as the Avery Advanced Technology Development Lab.

President John F. Kennedy attends a Polaris missile test launch at Cape Canaveral, Florida. APL staff members played critical roles in Polaris development and testing.

Continued growth and expanding programs require more office space, and the construction of Building 4.

APL holds its first Children’s Fishing Derby at the APL Pond—a tradition that continues today.

Director Ralph Gibson addresses the audience and the APL Choral Group at the Laboratory Christmas program in 1963.

The 60-foot fiberglass and light aluminum antenna dish, designed for APL by the Philco Corporation’s Western Development Division, is placed atop a 2-million-pound, 45-foot-tall pedestal—and becomes a signature part of APL’s landscape. The reflecting antenna can command satellites, receive signals, and track space probes as far out Mars—although its first job is to communicate with the Lab’s Earth-orbiting Transit satellites.

Just over a decade after opening in Howard County, the Lab makes yet another addition to the campus with the start of construction on Building 5.

From The APL News: "It may be spring fever or the beginning of the silly season, but whatever, the photo reveals that staff members Joyce Miles, left, and LaVerne Smeltzer did see a Brahma bull trudging past Johns Hopkins Road Friday, March 27. Its rider is Jerry Cotten who has been commissioned by the State of Texas to ride from Ft. Worth to the Texas pavilion at the New York World’s Fair. The bull’s name is Bobo and weighs about 1,000 pounds. He is traveling about 15 miles a day. Cowboy Cotten is a student at North Texas State University and will use money paid him for the promotion on college expenses."

Bumblebee Engineering Group design engineers Richard Brashears, foreground, Ford Greene, Albert Polk, right, initiate new concepts for APL missiles. Formed on August 1, 1948, the Bumblebee Engineering Group is a long-term design and development effort that has contributed to every major missile program of the Laboratory from early pre-Terrier and Talos test vehicles to high-flying missiles in exploratory design stages that operate in the Mach 5 to 10 range.

A volunteer steps into the Non-Anthropomorphic Space Exploration Suit, the “Moonwalker,” preparing to test it on the APL Pond. In 1965, the Lab proposes to NASA a design for a suit that promises to make things easy for astronauts, claiming they can move quickly, and even eat and drink (and use the bathroom), in the spacious suit. The Moonwalker gets to the APL Pond, but never makes it to the moon.

As the Lab grows, so does the need for round-the-clock protection on campus. A 2,400-square-foot firehouse is completed in March, with a main high-bay area that houses a large equipment room, as well as watch, locker and rest rooms, a maintenance shop, and an office. While working three 8-hour shifts, fire crew perform inspections, maintain firefighting equipment, and perform emergency first aid.

Work begins on the outer shell of soon-to-be Building 6, on the west wing of the original Howard County building. Containing both offices and labs, the structure is scheduled for completion in early 1968.

Alexander Kossiakoff is named director, a post he holds until 1980. After joining the Lab in 1946, Kossiakoff leads the program that designs and perfects Terrier, Tartar, and Talos radar-guided supersonic missiles for shipboard air defense. He assumes the role of chief scientist after serving as director. He passes away in 2005, leaving behind a 60-year APL legacy.

More than 200 staff secretaries join together both at Howard County (April 22) and in Silver Spring (April 23) for the Lab’s first observance of National Secretary Week, April 20–26. The event includes a discussion of the qualities of a good secretary, disclosure by Grace Godard that the "Secretarial Handbook" will shortly be issued to Laboratory secretaries, and a brief talk by Dolores Wooton on proper telephone usage, followed by the showing of "If An Elephant Answers..."—a movie illustrating the "how’s and how-nots of office procedure." The women are all gifted a miniature gray elephant as a souvenir.

Gilbert Seymour stands on ice that once covered the South Pole. The pole marker is on drifting glacier—an APL satellite navigation set is sent to Antarctica to fix the position of the pole and other points.

Completion draws near for a new $2.4-million laboratory and office building; its occupants—including 180 scientists of the Polaris Division working at APL’s Silver Spring location—will engage primarily in research on underwater systems and physical oceanography. The building, which will eventually be named after JHU trustee D. Luke Hopkins, is slated for occupancy by June 1972.

ADG Guard Cpl. Harry F. Hunley organizes a "Lost and Found" articles auction in Parsons Auditorium. It brings in over $70 that is donated to the Marion Olds Welfare Fund at APL. Richard Eakle, above, APLRinc Board of Directors, serves as auctioneer for the event.

Designed to be similar to the surrounding structures, the four-story, approximately 83,000-square-foot Building 8 is erected, allowing the last occupants of 8621 Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring to relocate to the Howard County campus. The building, which features a range of modern energy-saving designs, is dedicated during a "Family Day" in May.

When work wraps up the following year, about 175 staff members will occupy the 77 offices in the new building—tagged Building 9—between the McClure Computing Center (Building 3) and D. Luke Hopkins Building (Building 7). The “super-insulated” brick structure employs a concept developed by APL’s Plant Engineering Branch, initially used in Building 8, where the building’s lights provide enough heat for the entire interior.

Former Space Department Head Carl Bostrom becomes director. During a 12-year tenure, he leads the Lab through some of its most crucial Cold War-era work and growth. Before Bostrom retires in 1992, the Lab is given technical direction agent roles for Tomahawk and other systems; he also oversees creation of the Naval Warfare Analysis Department.

Some of those assigned to the fuze program in its first years of operation remain at the Laboratory, and are joined at APL by over 150 former employees and their guests from around the nation. It is a reunion of those who produced, in record time, the famous fuze that raised havoc against Japanese warplanes, destroyed the Nazi V-1 "buzz bomb" threat in the air war over London, and played a major role in obliterating the final push of the German war machine against the Allies during the Battle of the Bulge in Europe.

Commuting by bicycle becomes popular among APL staff members during this era. According to The APL News: "May has been designated ’American Bike Month’ and photo shows line of bikes of those cyclers who enter Building 7 early in the morning. In foreground is Lee Edwards, STS. Dr. Edwards pedals about 8 miles to work and many others cycle to the Laboratory from farther locations such as Silver Spring."

Construction begins on the Space Systems Integration and Test Building. It will be named for Richard Kershner, first head of the Lab’s Space Department, and a key figure in many of the Lab’s innovations, including Transit.

Named for Dr. Alexander Kossiakoff, former director of APL, the four-million-dollar brick and glass structure houses a 500-seat auditorium, classrooms, exhibit and reception sections, and a large dining area. It has conference accommodations and will provide new classrooms for the Johns Hopkins Evening College (now the Engineering for Professionals Program) at the APL. The new building contains 44,700 square feet of floor space, and its two symmetrical circular wings are joined by the glass-enclosed lobby and 500-seat dining area.

The new 90,000-square-foot, three-story building is slated to hold large-scale computer systems and office space.

From The APL News: "A stolen 1970 Buick Electra 225 crashed through the cattails the morning of July 31. The teenage driver fled the scene. APL Diving Safety Officer Bill Clark inspected the vehicle, and attached a cable to pull the car back to shore."

The new warehouse building goes up quickly in a succession of continued additions to the campus.

APL gets added to the Guinness Book of World Records for "World’s Longest Continual Carpool." The carpool began July 1956 and runs continuously from Wheaton to APL’s Laurel site for 30 years, without missing a single workday. Over those 30 years, 20 different Lab employees took part in the carpool, which maintains a membership of three to five and a record of no one leaving due to incompatibility.

The five-story building replaces a row of Butler buildings and is the highest and largest (187,000 square feet) constructed at APL at that point. It is named the Steven Muller Center for Advanced Technology, after the Johns Hopkins University president who served from 1972 to 1990.

The new building is a 24,327-square-foot shipping and receiving facility.

Gary Smith, an assistant director and experimental physicist who worked on submarines and strategic systems, begins a tenure as director that runs from 1992 to early 1999. Smith is charged with shaping the Lab in the tenuous years of the early, post-Cold War era. While research and innovations in core defense programs continue, albeit at reduced funding levels, APL begins a run of critical space science contributions by being awarded the first of several high-impact, low-cost NASA planetary missions.

APL’s Building 23 environmental test facilities, where spacecraft and satellite parts are subjected to rigorous thermal and dynamic testing, get a very special visitor: Baltimore Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. The future Hall of Famer shoots a commercial for an athletic apparel company; the production company chooses APL as its location because of the "scientific setting," and some staff members are even called on to serve as extras.

In an effort to accommodate people with disabilities, the transportation team in the Business and Information Services Department spearheads the addition of a state-of-the-art shuttle bus. Equipped with a platform lift, the new bus is designed to transport two wheelchairs in safety-belt restraints plus 19 additional passengers.

Eugene Hinman, APL’s assistant director for technical programs, is tapped to lead the Lab as the university searches for a successor to retired director Gary Smith. Hinman’s interim directorship lasts eight months, during which, among other accomplishments, APL establishes an Office of Technology Transfer and signs a contract with the Department of Transportation to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and safety of national transportation systems.

Former AT&T Bell Labs Vice President Richard Roca becomes the first director to come from outside the Lab, bringing strategic vision and stability to APL in a rapidly changing environment that challenges the Lab to stay ahead of the technology curve. Over Roca’s 10 years as director, APL’s homeland protection, infocentric operations, and special operations work expands in response to 9/11 and the strategic importance of intelligence and networking capabilities. Roca also oversees a major revitalization of the campus and its facilities, and reorganizes management and program-governance structures to enhance the Lab’s function and effectiveness.

As the Laboratory takes measures to enhance communications and collaboration across its departments, physical changes to the campus take place as well. Building 26, shown here under construction, opens in June 2000 and includes upgraded homes for APL’s Warfare Analysis Laboratory and Guidance System Evaluation Laboratory.

Ronald Vauk, 37, of the Submarine Technology Department (STD), is killed when terrorists crash American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon on Sept. 11. A lieutenant commander in the Naval Reserve, he was on watch at the Navy Command Center on the second day of his annual two-week reserve duty.

In a 2001 ceremony marking the September 14 national day of mourning, APL staff members pause to remember Ron Vauk and the other victims of the September 11 terrorist attack on the United States.

Construction is completed on the Districted Utility Plant — tagged Building 20 — a centralized facility that will provide heating, cooling, electrical distribution, condenser water, and emergency power to what the Lab’s construction people call the Building 17 Precinct. At the time, the precinct area only includes one existing building, but the plant has capacity to support four more buildings to come.

Shown soon after its opening in 2006, Building 17 is now home to the Lab’s Central Spark innovation space. One of the remaining Butler buildings from the 1950s can be seen in the lower right.

Home to one of the Lab’s high-bay work areas and numerous other laboratories and research facilities, Building 12 (shown dead center) is located close to APL’s fabrication capabilities in Building 15 (just to the upper right of Building 12).

APL’s many fabrication and manufacturing experts and machines are housed in Building 15. Capabilities include rapid prototyping and manufacturing, multi-axis machining, along with the Lab’s new Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence, opened in early 2016.

Building 21 houses staff members, laboratories, and other facilities for the Research and Exploratory Development Department, the Asymmetric Operations Sector, and the Space Exploration Sector. A walkway joining Building 21 and Building 13 recently saw the addition of the Legacy Bridge, a mural listing APL staff members from 1942 through late 2016.

Adrian Hill, a Space Department flight software engineer who has worked part-time as a college football referee for the past six years, is "called up" to the National Football League before the 2010 season. Hill joins an NFL officiating crew as a line judge, wearing number 29. Hill is shown here officiating an NCAA game prior to his call-up.

APL breaks ground on Building 30, a 47,000-square-foot spacecraft test and integration facility that allows staff to assemble larger spacecraft and conduct tests (such as large solar array deployments) that require more space than offered in existing facilities. It will also be designed to accommodate classified spacecraft and instrument development.

A five-story, 200,000-square-foot building—designated Building 200—becomes the first structure on APL’s new 35-acre South Campus, located across Johns Hopkins Road. The building will include offices and more than 70 technical facilities and collaboration spaces for approximately 500 Space Department scientists, engineers, and support staff.

For the third year in a row, APL makes Baltimore magazine’s top-employer list. The magazine describes the Lab as "a place where extremely smart and talented people are set free to do important, innovative work," and touts benefits including tuition reimbursement, retirement-plan contribution matching, a dependent scholarship program, and recreation facilities.

In celebrating its 70th anniversary, the Lab renews its commitment to its core purpose: to make critical contributions to the nation’s critical challenges. Director Ralph Semmel recognizes 70 years of technical and scientific achievements in a state of the Lab program, which includes performing a rap about Lab history with staff member and hip-hop artist Ashley Llorens.

Sunshine and blue skies welcome 182 children and their families to the APL pond for the Lab’s 50th Fishing Derby—continuing a tradition that began in 1963.

Members of APL’s Revolutionizing Prosthetics team appear on NBC’s “Today” show to demonstrate the capabilities of the Modular Prosthetic Limb, developed under APL’s lead for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA’s) Revolutionizing Prosthetics program. The prosthetic arm is featured in a segment about the 2012 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards; the arm itself earns that honor in 2007. From left: “Today” news anchor Natalie Morales, APL engineers Kapil Katyal, Matthew Johannes, and Michael McLoughlin.

CBS News’ Scott Pelley details the accomplishments and capabilities developed by APL for DARPA’s Revolutionizing Prosthetics program, including the Modular Prosthetic Limb, controlled via neural input, and demonstrated by Jan Scheuermann.

Image Credit: CBS

Central Spark, a collaborative and creative maker space, opens its doors to provide staff with the freedom to pursue direct, indirect, and personal endeavors. Located in Building 17, it includes six innovation spaces serving a variety of purposes, including Agile Central, Central Spark Loft, Central Park, Design Central, Maker Central, and Media Central.

APL reaches an agreement to purchase a 54-acre tract of farmland adjacent to the South Campus. The property abuts the Building 200 parcel (visible here, center left) and extends eastward as far as Old Columbia Road (foreground), which runs south from the Montpelier Road and Johns Hopkins Road intersection. The Lab’s site development master plan for the Main and South campuses is adjusted to factor in this new property.

Where the Butler buildings once stood, a Central Green springs up to dramatically change the look of the main campus interior. Soon after opening, outdoor working spaces that promote collaboration and creativity are added, and the Central Green plays host to numerous Lab events and activities.

“Be Well at APL” Day has staff members juggling, listening to lectures, participating in guided meditation, and even planting lettuce cups. The half-day event, sponsored by the Lab’s Health Improvement Committee, includes classes, demonstrations, speakers, and other activities aimed at incorporating health and wellness into staff members’ daily routines.

APL launches a major initiative to ramp up investments in high-risk, transformational ideas and technologies. The initiative—PROJECT CATALYST—builds on the success of Ignition Grants and will allow staff members to compete for significant funding to advance their ideas that could impact the future work of the Laboratory. When the program is fully implemented, it will invest an additional $5.5 million per year in game-changing technologies and innovations.

The Janney 2.0 program kicks off. Janney 2.0, a new program that follows in the footsteps of the first Janney program, enables APL staff members to uncover emerging science results and technologies from unfamiliar national and international commercial and academic communities. It is named after Stuart Janney, a prominent Baltimore attorney and a great-great nephew of Johns Hopkins, who joined the JHU Board of Trustees in 1951 and chaired the Trustees’ Committee on APL (later to be known as the APL Board of Managers) from 1957 to 1971.

Six years after Central Spark made its debut in Building 17 — providing staff members with a 24/7 innovation space with the freedom to pursue direct, indirect, and personal endeavors to promote creativity and experimentation — the facility gets an upgrade. Central Spark officially reopens in its new location in the Gibson Library.