archive-1: SETI [ASTRO] Jack DeWitt Jr. dies
SETI [ASTRO] Jack DeWitt Jr. dies
Larry Klaes ( lklaes@bbn.com )
Wed, 27 Jan 1999 10:41:44 -0500
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>Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 19:06:13 -0500
>From: David Hall <dhall@wrlt.com>
>Organization: Tuned In Broadcasting
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>To: Astro list <astro@store-forward.mindspring.com>
>Subject: [ASTRO] Jack DeWitt Jr. dies
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>Reply-To: David Hall <dhall@wrlt.com>
>
>I'm a little behind in reading my Astro Digests, so I don't know if this
>has made the list yet, but the local Nashville, TN media are reporting
>that the first man to bounce radar beams off the moon has died here in
>Nashville at the age of 92.
>
>John Hibbet "Jack" DeWitt Jr, also started Nashville's first television
>station and was described as a visionary in the field of engineering, as
>well as a radio and television pioneer.
>
>According the the Nashville Tennessean, after World War II, at the Army
>Signal Corps Lab in1946, Mr. DeWitt received a directive to develop a
>radar system to detect long-range missles. "We were charged with
>developing a system to detect rockets by radar. There were no rockets
>to use in a test, so we had to bounce the signal off the moon." he said
>in a 1984 interview. He formed a team at Evans Laboratory and after
>months of equipment modifications an echo was received on the night of
>Jan. 10, 1946.
>
>The family has asked that memorials bemade to the Department of
>Astronomy at Vanderbilt University.
>--
>David Hall, Operations Manager
>dhall@tunedin.com; http://wrlt.com/david.html
>phone 615-242-5600; fax 615-242-9877
>
>Nashville, TN: 86d 40'W, 36d 6'N; Murray, KY 88d 18'W, 36d 36'N
>Listen to "Earth & Sky" daily 6:55pm CT via Real Audio at
>http://wrlt.com
>
>
>