Control Desk Collection

Sergei Korolev, 1961
Sergei Korolev (1907-1966), pioneering Soviet rocket scientist, during the launch of Vostok 1, the first manned space mission, in April 1961

Open plan office JLP01_10_30073
COTTONS CENTRE, TOOLEY STREET, LONDON BRIDGE CITY, SOUTHWARK, GREATER LONDON. A large open plan office filled with banks of computers in the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce at the Cottons Centre

Computer screens JLP01_10_30071
COTTONS CENTRE, TOOLEY STREET, LONDON BRIDGE CITY, SOUTHWARK, GREATER LONDON. A bank of computer screens in an office of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce at the Cottons Centre in London Bridge

Sugar refinery control desk JLP01_10_12829
Newark Sugar Factory, Great North Road, Muskham, Newark, Newark and Sherwood, Nottinghamshire. A team of staff working in a control room at Newark Sugar Factory

Dr Who producer Verity Lambert seen here in the control booth at the BBC TV Lime Grove Studios in Shepherds Bush directing and reviewing sound effect tapes produced by the BBC Radiophonic workshop

Operations room at the transmission facility at Langenberg, Germany, c. 1933 (b / w photo)
RYS355864 Operations room at the transmission facility at Langenberg, Germany, c.1933 (b/w photo) by German Photographer (20th Century); Private Collection; German, out of copyright

Soviet rocket scientists
Sergei Korolev (1907-1966), pioneering Soviet rocket scientist, with other scientists from GIRD, the Moscow Group for Reactive Motion. Korolev is far left

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From the bustling operations room at the BBC TV Lime Grove, where Dr. Who's producer Verity Lambert masterfully orchestrated the TARDIS's adventures, to the open-plan control desk of JLP01_10_30073, where modern-day producers oversee their productions with the aid of advanced computer screens. The control desk has been a pivotal hub of innovation and creativity, from the Soviet rocket scientists who launched Sputnik 1 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in 1957, to the team behind the Sugar refinery in JLP01_10_12829. Even as early as 1933, control rooms at the transmission facility in Langenberg, Germany, were buzzing with activity. The control desk - a symbol of command and coordination, where the past meets the future, and where visionaries like Sergei Korolev and Verity Lambert have shaped our world.