US Army Research Office
Research Triangle Park, NC
Headquartered in Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, ARO also has offices in Washington and Tokyo with some 100 employees, including more than 40 scientists and engineers. The Army Research Office draws on the talents of more than 4,000 experts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, Duke University, and private high-tech organizations in the area.
Born in 1951 as the Office of Ordnance Research (OOR), ARO was created with a very broad mission, allowing it the freedom required in basic research to explore the unknown. The Duke University campus, with its well-equipped laboratories and libraries, as well as its readily available pool of scientists for assistance in the early stages of research, was chosen as OOR's location. Letters of invitation went out to all universities for help, and OOR personnel began visiting campuses and sponsoring conferences. By the end of 1951, some 88 projects had been initiated, and by fiscal year 1953 there were 400. This rate continued through the end of the 1960s.
In 1961, since the OOR was turning out research beneficial to the Army but not directly related to ordnance, the OOR was renamed the Army Research Office. From then on and well into the 1970s, ARO achieved many breakthroughs: polyphosphazene elastomers, which led to petroleum-resistant seals, gaskets and hoses suitable for different temperatures; plasma display panels, which are thin flat screens used in today's ATM machines and other graphic display terminals; and precision atomic spectroscopy, which led to the creation of portable cesium and rubidium atomic clocks, the heart of GPS.
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