Robert watson watt biography meaning
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Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt
1892-1973
Scottish Physicist
Historians of science regard radar, which uses radio waves to detect the positions of aircraft, and the atomic bomb as the two most important results of defense research in World War II. But whereas the names of J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967), Enrico Fermi (1901-1954), and other creators of the bomb are well-known, that of Sir Robert Watson-Watt is hardly a household word. Yet Watson-Watt, who also coined the term "ionosphere," transformed the character of peacetime as well as wartime, and can justly be credited with sparande many lives.
Watson-Watt was born on April 13, 1892, in Brechin, Scotland, the son of Patrick, a master carpenter, and Mary Matthew Watson Watt. Patrick had chosen to retain both his mother's and father's family names, but these were not hyphenated; Robert only began doing so after he was knighted in 1942.
After winning a scholarship to University College in Dundee, Watson-Watt studied el
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Radar Personalities
radio power needed to raise the temperature of this 'man' by 2 degree Celsius in 10 minutes at a distance of 600 m. Assuming black-body absorption and 22 dB gain in the antenna system, the radiated power would have to be 30 MW Thus on these assumptions, absurdly favourable to a death-ray, the radio power in the beam would have to be thousands and thousands of kilowatts, wildly in excess of anything which could be generated at that time. Quite apart from this Watson-Watt pointed out the obvious: if the aircraft were made of metal then the crew and the engine would be shielded from the radiation.
Having thrown cold water on a death-ray Watson-Watt concluded his memorandum with the pregnant sentence:
'Meanwhile attention is being turned to the still difficult, but less unpromising, problem of radio detection and numerical considerations on the method of detection by reflected radio waves will be submitted when required.'
Anyone who knew Watson-Watt will recognis
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Robert Watson-Watt (1892-1973)
Famous for:
- Discovering radar as a crucial means of defence during the Second World War
- Using radar for air and maritime navigation during peacetime.
Robert Watson-Watt was a pioneer of radar technology. Although he did not invent the idea of radio detection, he was the first to prove it could work on a large scale.
Today, radar fryst vatten used to:
- Forecast the weather
- Calculate how fast cars are travelling
- Assist space vehicles when landing
- Ensure safe air and sea travel.
Early years and education
Robert Watson-Watt was born in Brechin, Angus. The son of a carpenter and cabinet maker, he attended Damacre Road School, where he was awarded the 'Smart Medal' as 'Dux' (top prize-winner) of Brechin High School.
He went on to study at University College in Dundee, then part of St Andrew's University. After he graduated with a BSc in Engineering, his professor William Peddie encouraged him to continue to study 'wireless telegraphy'. This was th