Irving Wolff (6 July 1894 in

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– 5 December 1982 in

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) was an American physicist and pioneer of

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

. Wolff received in 1916 a bachelor's degree in physics from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

and in 1923 a doctorate in physics from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

. He was a physics teacher at Iowa State College in 1919 and Cornell University from 1920 to 1923, later becoming the Heckscher Research Fellow. He is one of the founders of the ''

Acoustical Society of America The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is an international scientific society founded in 1929 dedicated to generating, disseminating and promoting the knowledge of acoustics and its practical applications. The Society is primarily a voluntary org ...

'' (ASA). He participated in ASA First Meeting along with thirty-nine other persons, at the Bell headquarters in New York City, on December 27, 1928. Early in his career, he focused on the acoustics of loudspeakers, sound systems for theaters, and high-fidelity sound.

Career at RCA

In 1924 he joined the

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

Technical and Test Laboratory at 7

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South in New York City. His first assignment was to extend the frequency range of test oscillators to allow for higher frequency tests. This sped up the process of loudspeaker testing and allowed for more accurate measurement of the frequency response. Working under

David Sarnoff David Sarnoff (February 27, 1891 – December 12, 1971) was a Russian and American businessman who played an important role in the American history of radio and television. He led the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) for most of his career in ...

, Irving Wolff also developed a ten-inch diameter open cone loudspeaker to compete with

Western Electric Western Electric Co., Inc. was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company that operated from 1869 to 1996. A subsidiary of the AT&T Corporation for most of its lifespan, Western Electric was the primary manufacturer, supplier, ...

. In 1930 he was transferred to the RCA Research Department in

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a City (New Jersey), city in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan region. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828.Snyder, John P''The Story of ...

, and became head of the acoustic research department of the merged RCA-Victor Company. From 1924 to 1931 he did research on acoustics. Irving Wolff was part of a committee tasked with developing standardized terminology for acoustics. He initiated in 1932 a program of microwave research and in 1934 a program of radar research. In 1934 Wolff and his team from the research staff from the RCA-Victor Company demonstrated prototype radar equipment to the

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. Using reflected 9-centimeter radio waves, the RCA team located and followed the progress of a ship entering

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about a half mile (.8 kilometer) away. This experiment may have been the first successful demonstration in the United States of microwave radar. Irving Wolff's areas of research included wide band radar and radio antennae that could fit within the body of high speed aircraft. His research in infrared sniperscope accounted for 30 percent of non-US casualties in the battle of Okinawa. In 1946 he was appointed director of RCA's radio tube research laboratory. In 1946 Wolff and colleagues at RCA developed the basis for the Teleran System of Air Navigation for aircraft guidance and air traffic control. In 1949 the U.S. Navy awarded him the highest civilian Navy award — the Distinguished Public Service Award. In 1951 he was appointed director of research of the RCA Laboratories in Princeton and in 1954 was promoted to vice president of research. He retired from RCA in 1959 and continued to live in Princeton until his death in 1982. Dr. Wolff held over 80 patents and made important contributions not only to microwave radar but also loudspeaker acoustics, infrared detection, and

radio frequency heating Dielectric heating, also known as electronic heating, radio frequency heating, and high-frequency heating, is the process in which a radio frequency (RF) alternating electric field, or radio wave or microwave electromagnetic radiation heats a diel ...

. For his research efforts, the United States Navy awarded Irving Wolff with the Distinguished Public Service Award.

Later life and death

Upon his death he was survived by his widow, a daughter, and two grandchildren.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolff, Irving 1894 births 1982 deaths Dartmouth College alumni Cornell University alumni 20th-century American physicists Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the Acoustical Society of America Radar pioneers RCA people