Cairn Research was established in th late 1980s by Dr Martin Thomas, who had previously attempted to combine his interests in research and commerce by joining an industrial research laboratory.  However, neither activity proved to be possible there, so he needed to escape before its inevitable closure.  Rather than trying to find another job, Martin reasoned that his experience of how NOT to do things had put him in a good position to found another organisation, the result of which you see before you now.  He really does wish to apologise to all of you about this.  From the start, the intention was to keep Cairn as an independent and self-financing operation, which it remains to this day.  We purchased our first commercial premises in 1989 and have recently taken proud ownership of a working farm where we have converted several barns into high quality design and production workspace.