Solly Zuckerman's involvement with the War Office's Military Personnel Research Committee (MPRC) began in World War II and progressed seamlessly into the post-war period, the Department of Anatomy at Birmingham University, and Dr Peter Krohn in particular, undertaking research into body armour and wound ballistics under his direction.
The correspondence in File SZ/MPRC/3 is voluminous and covers the range of research undertaken by Zuckerman and his department, much of it involving collaboration with researchers in the United States, and focussing in particular on development of, as well as protection from, small arms. There is a quantity of material on the development of body armour during the Korean War, and on the initiation of a programme of wound ballistics research at the Chemical Defence Establishment, Porton Down, in 1955.
The Sub-Committee on Steel Helmets and Body Armour was chaired by Solly Zuckerman. The contents of the File SZ/MPRC/4 consist of the minutes of the first meeting, 28 October 1948, and two related papers, and notes of an informal meeting on body armour and wound ballistics convened on 17 March 1954 and chaired by Brigadier G.H. Hinds of the Directorate of Weapons Research, which SZ attended.
The Sub-Committee on Clothing and Personal Equipment of the Soldier, which evolved from the MPRC's Clothing Panel at the beginning of 1949 was itself re-constituted as the Clothing and Equipment Sub-Committee in 1951.