History of radar

What does radar mean?

The word radar is an acronym coined in 1940 for radio detection and ranging which explained how radar functions.

What is radar?

Radar is a system for detecting a distant object by transmitting high frequency radio waves or microwaves which bounce or echo back to a receiver when they come in contact with an object. A characteristic of such high frequency radio waves is that they are sharply reflected from mental or other non absorbing materials. Ranging or gauging the distance of the object is accomplished by measuring the amount of time that it takes for the radio waves to reach an object and echo back to the receiver.

What is radar used for?

Radar is commonly used to locate and track airplanes that are too distant to be tracked with the naked eye.

Who discovered radar? When was radar patented?

The principal underlying radar was first discovered in Germany by Heinrich Hertz (1857 - 1943) in Croatia was the first person to describe a system of determining the location of a moving object using radio waves. In 1904, Christian Hulsemeyer patented a radio detector based on Tesla 's idea. In the 1920s, Gregory Breit and Merle Tuve (1901 - 1982) in the US used a similar system to measure the depth of the ionosphere, the layer of the Earth's atmosphere which reflects radio waves.

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