This thesis reports research into the hardware implementation of Genetic Algorithms and engineering applications. These algorithms are significant to engineering as a means of providing additional adaptive capability to known and existing control mechanisms. The first part of the thesis is concerned with the underlying mechanisms of Genetic Algorithms and a model of a computing architecture which directly executes these algorithms in a generic form. The second part of the thesis is concerned with the applications of the GAP to engineering problems including economic power dispatch, PID controllers and adaptive digital filters.