It is often assumed that the main location for innovative research and technology in New Jersey is Princeton. It is certainly true that the university has been and still is a center for important research in many fields, and over the years it has made many contributions to knowledge in those subjects. In addition to providing an education for students, that’s what universities are supposed to do. And research does not have to be confined to science and engineering. A portion of just about any subject you may think of can involve research, but not necessarily of the innovative or creative kinds.
But within the “greater” Princeton area — that is the area of several square miles surrounding the actual town of Princeton — there are and have been centers and businesses that have had research as their main product. Probably the most famous was the RCA (Radio Corporation of America) laboratory on Route 1 right here in West Windsor. Among other things, that lab was the birthplace of color television. Of course, nobody ever said RCA was anywhere other than in Princeton, but the people in Penns Neck really knew the truth.
If you look up “RCA Laboratory” today on the Internet you will learn that it was in Princeton and that the building we later referred to as the Sarnoff Laboratory was built starting in late 1941. It’s been in the same place on Route 1 in West Windsor ever since.
But I can’t say what, if any, innovations equivalent to color television are underway there now. Since electronic devices dominate technology to such an extent these days, it’s very hard to say which if any one is really important. Maybe none will be.
But for more than 40 years — beginning in 1957 — there was a much smaller research company in West Windsor that accomplished much of great importance, not in the development of electronic products like RCA, but in support of the many aspects of international relations that the U.S. found itself confronted with during that time. Much of that time was often referred to as the Cold War.
At the end of World War II the United States and the Soviet Union were the major powers that were in a position to dominate the political structure of much of the world, which included a divided Germany, east and west.
Because it was obvious that the Soviet Union would retain the communist political system, it was important that the United States maintain its military strength to the extent needed to counteract moves by the Soviet Union to dominate other countries in Europe and Asia, both politically and militarily. It was easy to anticipate that such an effort would require the latest in technology that could be related to military applications.
It was not by specific design that a small research company was started in Princeton in 1955 with the purpose of providing consulting engineering services to American industry and the government in fields closely related to aviation and its consequent military aspects. That company was called Aeronautical Research Associates of Princeton (ARAP), and its first office was on Nassau Street near Olden Street. At first the only employees were the founder Coleman Donaldson (an aeronautical engineer who was just finishing up his PhD at Princeton) and his former colleague from NACA (the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) Roger Sullivan, who was a mathematician and engineer from the University of Michigan. Together they began a long association at ARAP that would last nearly four decades.
As the two started work on some of the most vexing aerodynamic problems of the day, they realized they would need additional help in exploring solutions, including the need for laboratory facilities in which to do experiments that would make analytical solutions more meaningful. This suggested the need for additional space somewhere other than in downtown Princeton.
So where did they look? Why in West Windsor, of course. There was lots of open space there — some of it the five open acres right on Washington Road near the railroad overpass. In fact, Donaldson decided to have his own building built at 50 Washington Road, in the process displacing some of the wild turkeys that lived there. Today it’s the cream colored building with a flat roof and green awnings. Recently it was the local office of Congressman Rush Holt.
But for more than four decades it was the office of ARAP, and nearly 50 people worked there at one time. With the new building available in 1957, the next step for Donaldson was to start building the staff. An early step in that process was to hire me, an aeronautical engineering major at Princeton who had worked in the aeronautical engineering lab there. As a specialist in experimental aerodynamics, I fit in with Donaldson’s needs for ARAP. Ultimately, I spent 40 years at ARAP right there at 50 Washington Road.
Research at ARAP was mostly supported by U.S. government agencies such as NASA (successor to NACA) and the Department of Defense, including the Army and the Air Force. Some large companies such as General Electric and AVCO were also clients.
As long as the Cold War persisted the research emphasis involved weaponry, mostly of the most advanced type, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). For ARAP a number of years were devoted to the study of methods to defend against them, since intelligence indicated that Russia was prepared to attack other countries with them if given sufficient provocation.
As is frequent in basic research, much of the effort was applicable to fields other than the specific goal of the research. Thus our studies of how to “defeat” ICBMs led to advances in the technology of protective armor systems for vehicles and military personnel. Several of the ideas for these systems gained U.S. patents. Research on new protective systems also led to ideas for new projectiles that would be capable of penetrating them.
But as the immediacy of the Cold War eased in the late 1980s, it was realized that some of the new technology being developed at ARAP was applicable to safety measures that would be beneficial in nuclear power generation systems. Thus a new field opened up for ARAP involvement.
Then, after more than 40 years at 50 Washington Road in West Windsor, ARAP was sold to the Titan Corporation of San Diego, California. Titan, like ARAP, had a large U.S. government support base, and was attracted by the highly capable, diversified, and talented staff at what they referred to now as their “Princeton office.” But it was still in West Windsor.
