Zuckerman Archive

Reference and contact details: GB 1187 SZ NRA 43537
Title: Zuckerman Archive
Dates of creation: 1925-1993
Held at: University of East Anglia
Extent: 1250 boxes; 91 series; 650 linear feet
Name of Creator: Solly Zuckerman, Baron Zuckerman of Burnham Thorpe
Level of Description: fonds
Language of Material: English, French, German

Administrative/Biographical History

Solly Zuckerman was born on May 30th 1904 in Cape Town, South Africa, the second child and eldest son of Moses and Rebecca Zuckerman, née Glaser, themselves children of Jewish immigrants. He was educated at the South African College School and Cape Town University, where he studied medicine. In 1925 he travelled to England to undertake his clinical training at University College Hospital Medical School, London University. There the patronage of Sir Grafton Elliot Smith encouraged him to pursue his interest in primate evolution and behaviour, rather than to take up a career in medicine.

In 1928 Elliot Smith assisted the newly-qualified Zuckerman in securing his first appointment, as Prosector (Research Anatomist) to the Zoological Society of London, at the London Zoo in Regent's Park. He combined the job with research at University College then, in 1932, secured a Rockefeller Research Fellowship that enabled him to go to the United States to pursue his research into primate physiology at Yale University, under Dr John Fulton. He also spent a short period working with Dr Robert Yerkes at Yale's new Anthropoid Experimental Station at Jacksonville, Florida.

In 1934 Zuckerman returned to England and, as a Beit Research Fellow, took up the post of Demonstrator in the Department of Human Anatomy, Oxford University, working under Professor Wilfred Le Gros Clark. In 1939 he was appointed to the Sands Cox Chair in Anatomy at Birmingham University, a post he held until 1969. At the time of his acceptance of the appointment Zuckerman was already engaged in war work with the Ministry of Home Security and did not take charge of the Anatomy Department at Birmingham until 1946.

Zuckerman's earliest, and abiding, scientific interests were primate behaviour and evolution. His first paper, Note on a superficial scraping of the floor of a rock shelter situated on the farm Stradbroke, District Middelburg, Cape appeared in the South African Journal of Science in 1925 . The pre-war years were spent studying primate anatomy and behaviour, and the physiological basis of the latter, and in particular the role of the sex hormones and the mechanisms that control them. This work, conducted in what Professor Krohn has described as "the Golden Age of Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology" [Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 41], was perhaps his most productive period of personal research, rewarded in 1943 by his election to the Fellowship of the Royal Society. Post-war his research, or rather the research that he led at Birmingham, focussed on oogenesis - the formation of egg cells; the relationship between the endocrine glands the hypothalamus and the pituitary; and primate evolution. The full range of his scientific interests is manifest in the bibliography of his writings.

It was in Oxford that Solly Zuckerman met his future wife, Lady Joan Rufus Isaacs, daughter of the 2nd Marquess of Reading; they married in 1939, and had two children, a son, Paul, and a daughter, Stella, who predeceased her father in 1992. Lady Zuckerman died in 2000.

Zuckerman's wartime career began with the Ministry of Home Security, which was responsible for Air Raid Precautions (ARP) and which established one of its Extra-Mural Units in the Human Anatomy Department at Oxford (the Oxford Extra-Mural Unit, or OEMU), under Le Gros Clark's direction. Here Zuckerman, working closely with the physicist J.D. Bernal, studied air-raid casualties and their causes. From the OEMU Zuckerman progressed to Combined Operations Headquarters with Bernal in 1942, and thence to North Africa to study the effectiveness of allied air operations. He was retained in the Mediterranean theatre of war by Air Chief Marshal Tedder to assist in the planning and analysis of air operations, his work culminating in the development of a plan to assist the allied invasion of Sicily by destroying the rail and road communication systems.

In January 1944 Zuckerman was recalled to the United Kingdom to join the Allied Expeditionary Air Force's planning team for Operation OVERLORD. After the Normandy landings he set about the post-operation analysis of the air component of OVERLORD. In 1945 he became Scientific Director of the British Bombing Survey Unit, the chief task of which was to conduct an operational analysis of the Strategic Air Offensive against Germany.

After the war Zuckerman was appointed to the new Advisory Council on Scientific Policy , and served as its Vice-Chairman until it was wound up in 1964, first under Sir Henry Tizard and then under Sir Alexander Todd. In the late 1940s he chaired a government panel to investigate alternative sources of raw materials in order to reduce dependence on imports that evolved in 1950 into the Natural Resources (Technical) Committee, which he also chaired. Concurrently Zuckerman was appointed to the Agricultural and Aeronautical Research Councils, and to the Scientific Advisory Council of the Ministry of Works. His OEMU work was pursued by other means, with research for the Ministry of Supply into: body armour; land-mine detection; the wound ballistics of rifle bullets; and the biological effects of blast from nuclear explosions. The latter brought him into contact with the Lovelace Foundation laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 1960 he was invited to take up the post of Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence, and was knighted.

Zuckerman served at the Ministry of Defence for a little over four years then, in 1965, moved to the Cabinet Office as Chief Scientific Adviser to Her Majesty's Government. He formally retired as Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) in 1969, but it is clear from papers still being sorted that he remained active as a "roving ambassador" and special adviser to successive Prime Ministers from 1970 until his death. Solly Zuckerman received a peerage in 1971, assuming the style Baron Zuckerman of Burnham Thorpe in the County of Norfolk.

While the increasingly rare sightings of Zuckerman at Birmingham University caused some wry comment, there is no doubt of his profound influence on his own department. He arrived with firm views about medical education and the teaching of anatomy in particular, which he proceeded to put into practice. He also built up a strong research team.

In 1955 Zuckerman became a member of the Council of the Zoological Society of London and in 1957 accepted the role of Honorary Secretary; he became the Society's President in 1977, a position from which he retired in 1984. As in the case of the Anatomy Department at Birmingham, Zuckerman had his own vision of what the Society should stand for. To him, it was first and foremost a scientific institution and he proceeded to expand its research activities substantially.

In 1969, following his retirement from the Sands Cox Chair at Birmingham University, Zuckerman was appointed Professor at Large at the University of East Anglia (UEA), a new university of which he had been a founder. He maintained a close association with UEA, and its School of Environmental Sciences in particular, until his death on April 1st 1993.

SZ's scientific and public careers were played out against a backdrop of a glittering transatlantic social life, which began almost as soon as he arrived in Britain in 1925 and hints of which can be found in his general correspondence. He remained, nevertheless, an intensely private person. His autobiography reveals little of his truly private life, and his archive is no more forthcoming.

Scope and Content

The Zuckerman Archive consists of the personal papers of Lord Zuckerman, comprising: correspondence, minutes and memoranda; committee papers; field notes; technical and scientific reports; drafts and published texts of Lord Zuckerman's published works and his speeches. Media include photographs, maps and plans, sound recordings, and one film, as well as manuscripts and typescripts.

The Archive covers the full range of activities described in the biographical note and is a major primary source for the study of UK science and technology policy; air operations in Europe and the Middle East in World War II, especially in relation to air support of ground operations; the evolution of operational research; and wound ballistics research.

System of Arrangement

The Zuckerman Archive is organised in 90 series which fall into the following categories:

Personal and General papers

  • SZ/GEN General Correspondence, 1909-1994
  • SZ/PERS Personal Documents, 1926-1982
Academic, Research, and Related Papers
  • SZ/AS Anatomical Society, 1941-1984
  • SZ/BAAS British Association For The Advancement of Science, 1934-1958
  • SZ/BAB Bulletin of Animal Behaviour, 1936-1968
  • SZ/BC Bedford College, 1909, 1964-1984
  • SZ/BIBRA British Industrial Biological Research Association, 1974-1993
  • SZ/BIRT Bernstein Israeli Research Trust, 1963-1975
  • SZ/BMNH British Museum (Natural History), 1963-1981
  • SZ/BU Birmingham University, 1938-1993
  • SZ/CA Consumers' Association Ltd, 1957-1985
  • SZ/CF Conservation Foundation, 1933-1978
  • SZ/CGP Conferences on the Growth of Population, 1968-1970
  • SZ/CS Cadbury Schweppes, 1970-1991
  • SZ/FPA The Family Planning Association, 1947-1992
  • SZ/FPS Fauna Preservation Society, 1957-1992
  • SZ/IIED International Institute for Environment and Development, 1971-1985
  • SZ/PEP PEP (Political and Economic Planning), 1939-1985
  • SZ/PS Physiological Society, 1931-1992
  • SZ/PUB Publications and lectures
  • SZ/RS Royal Society, 1944-1994
  • SZ/SC Primatological and Endocrinological Research, 1925-1958
  • SZ/SE Journal of Endocrinology and Society for Endocrinology, 1937-1992
  • SZ/TF Tree Foundation, 1978-1991
  • SZ/UEA University of East Anglia, 1959-1993
  • SZ/WF Wolfson Foundation, 1964-1987
  • SZ/WI Weizmann Institute of Science, 1959-1977
  • SZ/WWF World Wildlife Fund, 1961-1981
  • SZ/ZOO Zoological Society of London, 1909-1984
Wartime Papers
  • SZ/AB Atomic Bomb, 1945-1947
  • SZ/AEAF Allied Expeditionary Air Force, 1943-1945
  • SZ/BAU RAF Bombing Analysis Unit, 1939-1975
  • SZ/BBRM British Bombing Research Mission, 1944-1946
  • SZ/BBSU British Bombing Survey Unit, 1937-1981
  • SZ/BSGF Bombing in Support of Ground Forces, 1944-1945
  • SZ/BSU RAF Bombing Survey Unit, 1892-1983
  • SZ/FS Joint Technical Warfare Committtee - Fire Support Sub-Committee, 1942-1945
  • SZ/OEMU Ministry of Home Security Research and Experiments Department Oxford Extra-Mural Unit, 1906-1981
  • SZ/TQ Tots and Quots, 1931-1973
Government Advisory and Public Life
  • SZ/ACSP Advisory Council on Scientific Policy, 1947-1964
  • SZ/AeRC Aeronautical Research Council RAF Aircraft Research Committee, 1947-1953
  • SZ/AMSSP Air Ministry Strategic Scientific Policy Committee, 1958-1960
  • SZ/ARC Agricultural Research Council 1943-1965
  • SZ/BBC BBC General Advisory Council, 1956-1962
  • SZ/BUF Operation BUFFALO, 1943-1985
  • SZ/CACST Central Advisory Council for Science and Technology, 1967-1970
  • SZ/CBW United Nations Group of Consultant Experts on Chemical and Bacteriological (Biological) Weapons, 1969
  • SZ/CHST Committee on Hospital Scientific and Technical Services, 1965-1970
  • SZ/CIP Committee on Industrial Productivity, 1947-1952
  • SZ/CIR Committee of Inquiry on Rabies, 1871-1973
  • SZ/CME Commission on Mining and the Environment, 1971-1976
  • SZ/CMR Committee on Manpower Resources for Science and Technology, 1965-1966
  • SZ/CPC Colonial Products Council, 1950-1959
  • SZ/CSA The Chief Scientific Adviser, 1934-1990
  • SZ/CSP Council for Scientific Policy, 1965-1972
  • SZ/DC The Development Committee, 1951-1952
  • SZ/DF The Ditchley Foundation, 1958-1991
  • SZ/DSIR Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Committee on Overseas Scientific Relations, 1950-1959
  • SZ/FSP Committee on Future Scientific Policy, 1945-1946
  • SZ/HL House of Lords, 1970-1993
  • SZ/IIASA International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, 1972-1983
  • SZ/ITB Insurance Technical Bureau and Loss Prevention Council, 1971-1993
  • SZ/LF Lovelace Foundation, 1950-1974
  • SZ/MAC Mutual Aid Committee Sub-Committee on Scientific Co-operation, 1957-1960
  • SZ/MFP Ministry of Fuel and Power Scientific Advisory Council, 1948-1955
  • SZ/MMT Mountbatten Memorial Trust, 1979-1993
  • SZ/MOS (1) Ministry of Supply Advisory Council on Scientific Research and Technical Development Armaments Research Advisory Board Physics of Armaments Committee, 1946-1948
  • SZ/MOS (2) Ministry of Supply Land Mine Defence Coordinating Committee Land Mine Detection Sub-Committee, 1947-1959
  • SZ/MOS (3) Ministry of Supply Advisory Council on Scientific Research and Technical Development, 1956-1960
  • SZ/MOW Ministry of Works Scientific Advisory Committee; Ministry of Works Advisory Council on Building and Civil Engineering Research and Development, 1944-1951
  • SZ/MP Ministry of Fuel and Power Oil Storage Committee, 1958-1959
  • SZ/MPRC War Office Military Personnel Research Committee, 1928-1977
  • SZ/MR Committee on the Management and Control of Research and Development, 1958-1963
  • SZ/NATO NATO Science Committee, 1956-1978
  • SZ/NRTC Natural Resources (Technical) Committee, 1950-1965
  • SZ/OB Ordnance Board, 1947-1992
  • SZ/OECD Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, 1961-1968
  • SZ/OEEC Organisation for European Economic Co-Operation, 1957-1961
  • SZ/ORC Overseas Research Council, 1954-1961
  • SZ/PSA Advisory Committee on Poisonous Substances Used in Agriculture and Food Storage, 1954-1967
  • SZ/PUG Pugwash Movement, 1970-1992
  • SZ/RCP Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, 1970-1992
  • SZ/SIPRI Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 1966-1992
  • SZ/TP Ministry of Labour and National Service Technical Personnel Committee, 1949-1958
  • SZ/UGC University Grants Committee Technology Sub-Committee, 1951-1962
  • SZ/UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation, 1948-1949
  • SZ/UNPO United Nations Panel on Economic and Social Consequences of the Arms Race and Military Expenditure, 1962-1971
  • SZ/UNSCCUR United Nations Scientific Conference on the Conservation and Utilization of Resources, August-September 1949, 1949-1952
  • SZ/WHO World Health Organization, 1966-1984
  • SZ/WPC United Nations World Population Conference, Rome, 1954, 1953-1954
  • SZ/ZP Zuckerman Project (EEC-UK Initiative in the Socio-Medical Field), 1969-1976

Custodial History

The papers in this collection were gathered together at UEA over the period 1968 to 1994. At first they were held in Lord Zuckerman's Office at the University. In 1985, when Lord Zuckerman formally gave his papers to UEA, the majority of them were transferred to the University Library where they became known as the Zuckerman Archive. In 1993-94, following Lord Zuckerman's death, those files still held in his UEA office were also transferred to the University Library. At that time some papers remained at his North Norfolk home. The last of these came to UEA in 2000.

From around 1942 Solly Zuckerman often maintained more than one office, and parallel or complementary sequences of papers accrued in each. In 1946 papers from his London and Oxford offices moved to the Department of Anatomy at Birmingham University and were systematically arranged there. That arrangement, executed jointly by his secretary at the Oxford Extra Mural Unit of the Ministry of Home Security, Angéle Vidal-Hall, and her opposite number at Birmingham, Betty Piggford, covered Zuckerman's wartime and earlier scientific papers. Miss Piggford, and her successors, Evelyn Lawton and Pamela Warwick, then managed all of his paperwork for the next decade. Until 1969 the Anatomy Department was Zuckerman's main base for all of his business.

In 1956 Zuckerman acquired an office at the headquarters of the Zoological Society of London at London Zoo, and with it new series of files were created. This London office was supplemented in 1960 by another, first in the Ministry of Defence, and then, from 1965, in the Cabinet Office. Files relating to all of Zuckerman's Zoological Society and government-related activities also built up in Birmingham.

In 1969, on Solly Zuckerman's retirement from Birmingham University, the Zuckermans left their house in Edgbaston to settle permanently in their holiday home at Burnham Thorpe in Norfolk. All of his papers held at that date in Birmingham were sent to Burnham Thorpe and then, in stages, on to UEA. They were joined shortly afterwards by those of his personal files in the Cabinet Office, by now including files created in the Ministry of Defence, that he was permitted to retain. Some of these he kept at his home in Norfolk.

Shortly after Lord Zuckerman retired from the Presidency of the Zoological Society of London his personal files at the Zoo were sent to UEA. From 1969 until his death in April 1993, Lord Zuckerman's office at UEA took over from Birmingham the role of base camp for him, and the files created there range over all of his activities, including those involving the ZSL and Whitehall.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Refer to Archival History.

Access Conditions

The catalogue and published guides indicate where access to a series or file is restricted and those series

Copyright/Reproduction

Reproductions can be supplied in hard copy or digital format subject to physical condition and the terms of deposit. A charge is made for this service. Copyright restrictions may apply and the advice of the Archives department should be sought for any use of reproductions other than personal research.

Finding Aids

Three guides, a general overview of the collection, and more detailed descriptions of the World War 2 and Chief Scientific Adviser papers, have been produced and complement an online catalogue of the Zuckerman Archive. The wartime papers and the contents of Series SZ/CSA are catalogued online to item level - http://www.lib.uea.ac.uk/libinfo/archives/archives.htm.The guides are available in print as well as athttp://www.lib.uea.ac.uk/libinfo/archives/zuckerman/ww2.htm and http://www.lib.uea.ac.uk/libinfo/archives/zuckerman/csa.htm.

In many cases manuscript or typescript lists of the contents of series and files are available for consultation in the Archives Department at UEA. A word-processed bibliography of Lord Zuckerman's writings, is held in the Archives Department, copies of which can be supplied in hard copy or on disk.

Related Units of Description

Lord Zuckerman wrote two volumes of autobiography: From Apes to Warlords , Hamish Hamilton, 1978 , and Monkeys Men and Missiles , Collins, 1988 . A biographical study, Solly Zuckerman: Scientist Out of the Ordinary , by John Peyton,was published by John Murray, in 2001 . Professor Peter Krohn, Zuckerman's long-time colleague at Oxford and Birmingham, wrote the study of him that appears in the Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society , volume 41, 1995.