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 saving 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...