Robert Watson-Watt
Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt , FRS FRAeS (born April 13, 1892 in Brechin , Aberdeenshire , † December 5, 1973 in Inverness ) was a Scottish physicist. He is considered one of the inventors of the radar .
Watson-Watt was initially an assistant at the Department of Natural Philosophy at University College in Dundee, then part of St Andrews University . From 1936 he was director in the British Ministry of Aviation .
He worked on the reflection of radio waves in meteorology. In 1919 he patented a method for locating objects by means of radio waves (radar) which, after further developments (development of the visual or short-term direction finder; Watson-Watt direction finder), could be used for the first time in 1935 for the radar localization of aircraft in the meter wave range. On February 26, 1935, the scientist succeeded in using radar to discover the Handley Page HP50 bomber , which was approaching Daventry as a test . Immediately thereafter, the British Air Ministry made funds available. In 1936 the first five towers were built to watch the Thames estuary and protect London. At the beginning of the war, 21 towers of the Chain Home were in operation.
Watson-Watt was instrumental in the development of British radar systems during World War II. In 1962 he became a Fellow of the American Physical Society . Since 1941 he was a member ( Fellow ) of the Royal Society . In 1942 he was knighted as a Knight Bachelor ("Sir").
Works
- Three steps to victory . (1957)
- The Pulse of Radar . Autobiography (1959)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ APS Fellow Archive. Fellows 1962. American Physical Society, accessed January 5, 2016 .
- ↑ Knights and Dames: WAM-ZUR at Leigh Rayment's Peerage.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Watson-Watt, Robert |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Watson-Watt, Sir Robert Alexander |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scottish physicist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 13, 1892 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Brechin , Aberdeenshire |
| DATE OF DEATH | 5th December 1973 |
| Place of death | Inverness |