ISIS was formally inaugurated and named on Tuesday 1 October 1985 by the then Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Margaret Thatcher FRS MP.
Arriving at 10:25, she met VIPs including Sir Keith Joseph, Dr Geoff Manning, Dr Godfrey Stafford and Dr Gerry Pickavance plus Science Ministers from Italy, Luxembourg and Spain.
Amongst the VIP guests were Sir Keith Joseph (Secretary of State for Education and Science), the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Geoff Manning (Director of Rutherford Appleton Laboratory) and Bill Mitchell (Chairman of SERC). This was Prof Mitchell's first day in post
RAL Director Geoff Manning and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on the occasion of her visit to RAL to inaugurate ISIS. Holding their interest is a model showing the layout of ISIS
Audio of opening address by William (Bill) Mitchell (Chairman of SERC), Geoff Manning (Director of RAL), Prime Minister Thatcher and Sir John Kingman (Vice-Chancellor of Bristol University).
Audio of press conference. (Tape deteriorates half way through.)