 The idea of applying electronic counting to calculating mechanisms occurred to him when reading of a thyratron (gas-filled tube) counting ring of five places (5 digits, not five orders) developed by British scientist Dr C. E. Wynn-Williams.As a result Desch's lab received an introduction to and work with the MIT Electrical Engineering Department led by Vannevar Bush.Beginning in 1940, Desch's lab was awarded several contracts by the National Defense Research Committee.