Unveiling and Dedication of IEEE Radar Historic Milestone
Hugh Griffiths, Peter Knott, Wolfgang Koch · IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine · 2020
An article in the September 2019 issue of the AES Magazine described the background of the IEEE Historic Milestone to mark the invention and first demonstration of the radar by the German inventor Christian H€ulsmeyer [1]. On 17 May 1904, H€ulsmeyer arranged a demonstration of his invention in K€oln (Cologne), Germany, which was reported in the K€olner Tageblatt and K€olnischer Zeitung newspapers the following day. This device was conceived as a means of detecting ship targets, even under conditions of poor visibility, and hence preventing collisions. By the standards of modern radar, it was very crude, using a spark-gap transmitter and a coherer-type receiver. He patented his invention both in Germany and in the U.K. On 19 October 2019, the invention was formally marked as an IEEE Historic Milestone. This article describes the event and the various contributions that came together to make a very special day for IEEE AES and for the worldwide radar community.