Date of Award

1970

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Physics

First Reader

Unknown

Abstract

Radar, an acronym for RAdio Detection And Ranging, has been a great aide to the growth of the knowledge of science, especially for uses in weather research.

The discovery of the nature of radar is thought to have been made by Dr. A. H. Taylor and Leo C. Young of the Naval Research Laboratory when they found that radio waves would bounce back from steel. The military perfected radar for its benefits and gradually improved its technique of usage during the years of World War II. The British had its own version of radar and it is believed that its usage saved England during the aerial blitz by Germany during 1940 and 1941.

Weather was known to cause certain effects on the reception of radar since its initiation. Generally these effects were troublesome, but radar engineers soon developed techniques to pick up certain weather conditions such as thunderstorms and make flight plans for aircraft that would avoid the bad weather. Now the use of radar is very important because within just a few years, radar has been responsible for more advanced knowledge of the weather than any other instrument or device in the history of meteorology.

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