George Ray (1915-91) died very suddenly shortly after this article was completed. He will be remembered with affection and respect by all who worked with him at the Institute and elsewhere.

He left his native Hungary in 1957 and came to England with his family as a refugee. He joined the Institute's staff in that year and continued to work here until his death. His contributions, over the years, have ranged widely, covering trade, energy, raw materials, labour costs and the structure of industry. But perhaps his most important work was concerned with the diffusion of new technology, which led to the publication of two important studies in 1974 and 1984. He was a visiting professor at the University of Surrey and president of the European Association of Conjunctural Research Institutes.