Robert Watson-Watt

Today is the birthday of physicist Robert Watson-Watt, born in Brechin, Scotland in 1892. Watson-Watt, a descendant of steam engine inventor James Watt, became interested in radio waves while working at University College, Dundee. In 1915 he joined the British government’s Meteorological Office and tracked lightning strikes via the radio waves they emit. By the mid-1930s Watson-Watt had turned his attention to a different application of radio: detecting aircraft. In 1935 he received a patent for using pulsed radio waves—radar—to track planes up to 80 miles away. Radar stations built using Watson-Watt’s design helped protect the homeland from the German Air Force during the 1940 Battle of Britain. Other engineers soon devised smaller radar systems that could be installed in British planes. Although other countries invented their own radar systems, the Allies’ proved superior and aided in victory. Today radar has many important applications, including air traffic control and weather forecasting.

Date in History: 13 April 1892