Harry Diamond Laboratories

Harry Diamond Laboratories
Adelphi, Maryland in the United States
HDL building.
The Harry Diamond Laboratories building complex, which now houses the headquarters of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory.
HDL emblem.
Harry Diamond Laboratories emblem.
TypeMilitary research laboratory
Site information
OwnerDepartment of Defense
OperatorU.S. Army
Controlled byArmy Materiel Command
ConditionRedeveloped as part of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory
Site history
Built1949 (as Harry Diamond Ordnance Laboratory)

The Harry Diamond Laboratories (HDL) was a research facility under the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) and later the U.S. Army. It conducted research and development in electronic components and devices and was at one point the largest electronics research and development laboratory in the U.S. Army. HDL also acted as the Army’s lead laboratory in nuclear survivability studies and operated the Aurora Pulsed Radiation Simulator, the world’s largest full-threat gamma radiation simulator. In 1992, HDL was disestablished, and its mission, personnel, and facilities were incorporated into the newly created U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL). As part of this transition, the Army designated the HDL building as the site of ARL’s new headquarters.[1][2]

The installation was named in honor of pioneer radio engineer and inventor Harry Diamond, who led the Ordnance Development Division during World War II. Diamond contributed greatly to the fundamental concept and design of proximity fuzes.[1]

  1. ^ a b U.S. Army Research Laboratory (September 2017). History of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory. Government Printing Office. ISBN 978-0-16-094231-0.
  2. ^ "Army Materiel Command Labs and RDE Centers". Army RD&A Magazine. Vol. 27, no. 4. July–August 1986. pp. 1–10.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)