| Leon Bagrit | |
| Birth Date: | 13 March 1902 |
| Birth Place: | Kiev, Russian Empire |
| Death Date: | 22 April 1979 |
| Occupation: | Industrialist |
| Known For: | As a pioneer of automation |
Sir Leon Bagrit (13 March 1902 - 22 April 1979) was a leading British industrialist and pioneer of automation.
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]
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]