Robert Morris Page

Today is the birthday of physicist Robert Morris Page, the father of US radar, born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1903. He went to Hamline University in St. Paul, where he changed his major from theology to physics. Page then moved to Washington, D.C., to help develop radar systems at the US Naval Research Laboratory. In 1936 he invented a pulsed radar with a single antenna to both transmit and receive signals. Despite the looming threat of war, Page struggled to secure funds for his research due to the Great Depression. But he continued his work, and by the time the US entered World War II it had installed 79 radar systems on Navy ships. In 1942 Page invented the monopulse tracking radar, which is still used for precisely locating military targets. He later invented over-the-horizon radar, which can detect ships or aircraft up to 3500 km away, and the familiar maplike display for tracking targets.

Date in History: 2 June 1903