Leon Bagrit

Sir Leon Bagrit (13 March 1902 – 22 April 1979) was a leading British industrialist and pioneer of automation.

Sir Leon Bagrit
Born	13 March 1902 Kiev, Russian Empire
Died	22 April 1979
Occupation	Industrialist
Known for	As a pioneer of automation

Early life and education

Born to Jewish parents in Kiev, in the Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine), Sir Leon studied law at Birkbeck College in the University of London, formed his own company in 1935, and for many years headed the revamped firm of Elliott-Automation Ltd., which, outside the United States, was the largest computer manufacturer in the world.^[1]

Career

Leon Bagrit was a member of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, 1963–1965 and the Advisory Council on Technology, 1964-1979. He was a director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 1962-1970. He founded the Friends of Covent Garden, and chaired it, 1962-1969. In 1964, he was invited by the BBC to present the Reith Lectures.^[2] Across six broadcasts, titled The Age of Automation,^[3] he explored how the increased technological development of the time would change people's lifestyles, and the wider world.

Due to the generosity of the Bagrit Trust, a dedicated building, the Sir Leon Bagrit Centre, was opened in the summer of 1991. This Centre formed a cornerstone of the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London and the next step in the development of bioengineering at Imperial.^[4]

See also

• List of Jews born in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union
• List of British Jews
• List of Ukrainian Jews
• List of Old Olavians
• Who was Who
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography