Honored, by Navy

The Navy's Distinguished Public Service Award has been presented to Dr. Irving Wolff '16, director of the Radio Tube Research Laboratory of RCA Laboratories, for his achievements in electronics and radar. This highest honor bestowed on a civilian by the Navy was given in recognition of his research in the field of radar which contributed immeasurably to the effectiveness of the operation of the Navy during the War.

While studying micro-wave transmission and reception for RCA in 1932, he developed equipment which was able to detect radar signals reflected from gas tanks and small ships about a halfmile distant. When he perfected a method of timing these signals, the distance to the reflecting object could be measured. This was one of the fundamental contributions to modern-day radar. Airborne radar equipment to prevent collisions and high-altitude precision radar for altitude determination were later developed by the New York City scientist and his associates.

An instructor in physics at lowa State College in 1919 and at Cornell from 1920 to 1923, Dr. Wolff received a Ph.D. degree from Cornell in 1923. The following year he was a Heckscher Research Fellow at the university. He joined RCA in 1924.

DR. IRVING WOLFF '16