Radar, an acronym for radio detection and ranging, was patented by British scientist Sir Robert Watson-Watt for meteorological applications in 1935. Since practical applications for airborne microwave radar had not been developed before World War II, the government of England requested assistance from the U.S. National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) to develop this capability. Britain's secret Tizard Mission was dispatched to Washington, D.C. in September 1940 to introduce the 10-centimeter cavity magnetron. In October 1940, MIT was chosen for the site of an independent laboratory that would be staffed by civilian and academic scientists from every discipline. Fourteen months before the U.S. entered World War II, MIT's newly formed Radiation Laboratory began its investigation of microwave electronics.

During World War II, large-scale research at MIT's Radiation Laboratory was devoted to the rapid development of microwave radar. Projects included physical electronics, microwave physics, electromagnetic properties of matter, and microwave communication principles. The "RadLab" designed almost half of the radar deployed in World War II, created over 100 different radar systems, and constructed $1.5 billion worth of radar. At the height of its activities, the RadLab employed nearly 4,000 people working on several continents. What began as a British-American effort to make microwave radar work, evolved into a centralized laboratory committed to understanding the theories behind experimental radar while solving its engineering problems.

The RadLab formally closed on December 31, 1945, and its staff members resumed peacetime their activities. In its wake remained tons of surplus equipment and the concept for a basic research center that was to continue in MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics.

On January 1, 1946, under the sponsorship of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development, RadLab's Basic Research Division continued work at MIT as a transitional organization. Under the leadership of Director Julius A. Stratton and Associate Director Albert G. Hill, it continued investigation on problems in physical electronics that involved cathodes, electronic emission, and gaseous conduction. In microwave physics, the electromagnetic properties of matter at microwave frequencies were studied. Modern techniques were applied to both physics and engineering research, and in microwave communications, engineering applications were emphasized.

On July 1, 1946, the Basic Research Division was finally incorporated in to the new Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT.

A plan position indicator scope image of Cape Cod as seen with the exper imental airborne search and bombing radar known as X-band ASV developed at the RadLab. From this 1942 picture, the exact shape of Cape Cod was known for the first time.

This 1944 K-band scope image of New York City provided greater detail and sharper resolution than previous radar pictures.

Bibliography

MIT Radiation Laboratory Series, edited by Louis N. Ridenour, is an extensive technical documentation of RadLab projects in 28 volumes with an index. The series is out of print, but is available at many scientific reference libraries including the RLE Document Room.

Five Years at the Radiation Laboratory, originally published by MIT after the close of the Radiation Laboratory, is a comprehensive overview of the laboratory, its work, and the people who were part of this unique experience. A limited number of copies were reprinted by the Boston chapter of the IEEE Microwave Committee to commemorate the RadLab's 50th anniversary in 1991.

History - The Rad Lab's Microwave Traditions at RLE  from RLE currents, Vol. 4, No. 2 - Spring 1991

Working at the RadLab

The Rad Lab's 50th Reunion