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Louis N. Ridenour (June 27, 1911 – May 21, 1959) was a physicist instrumental in U.S. development of
radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, Marine radar, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor v ...
, Vice President of Lockheed, and an advisor to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.


Biography and positions held

During World War II, Ridenour worked at the MIT Radiation Laboratory. He was co-leader with Ivan A. Getting of the group that developed the SCR-584 radar. He directed a committee in 1949 that recommended the establishment of a separate Research and Development Command and a new Air Staff Deputy Chief of Staff for Research and Development. In 1950, Ridenour was named the first
Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force The Chief Scientist of the Air Force is the most senior science & technology representative in the United States Department of the Air Force. The current Chief Scientist of the United States Air Force is Victoria Coleman, sworn in on April 6, 202 ...
. He served on the Scientific Advisory Committee for the
Ballistic Research Laboratories The Ballistic Research Laboratory (BRL) was a leading U.S. Army research establishment situated at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland that specialized in ballistics ( interior, exterior, and terminal) as well as vulnerability and lethality analysis ...
at
Aberdeen Proving Ground Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) (sometimes erroneously called Aberdeen Proving ''Grounds'') is a U.S. Army facility located adjacent to Aberdeen, Harford County, Maryland, United States. More than 7,500 civilians and 5,000 military personnel work a ...
. In 1941 he became the assistant director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Radiation Laboratory and helped transform primitive radar into a reliable defensive and offensive military tool. In 1946 Ridenour returned to the University of Pennsylvania for one year and then in 1947 he became dean of the Graduate College of the University of Illinois. During the next three years as dean, he was instrumental in establishing the Control Systems Laboratory, the Digital Computer Laboratory, and the Radio Carbon Laboratory, as well as a microbiology group and solid state group. He was Chairman of the
National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...
Scientific Advisory Board Panel on Electronics and Data Processing from its inception January 27, 1959 until his death in May. In 1960 he was awarded posthumously the Theodore von Kármán Award from the
Air Force Association The Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) is an independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit, professional military association for the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, its declared mission is ...
. Ridenour was married to Gretchen Kraemer; they had two daughters, Nancy Page Buchanan (née Ridenour) and Eleanor Fay. Ridenour died of a brain hemorrhage on May 21, 1959 at age 47. His close associate Dudley Allen Buck died the same day.


Major contributions

Ridenour led the development of airborne microwave radar nicknamed "Micky" which allowed bombing through clouds. Along with Gilbert W. King, Edwin L. Hughes, and George W. Brown, Ridenour patented an information storage system which combined optical disk storage of large capacity and a magnetic drum memory of low capacity. The write-once-read-many optical disk memory would be updated monthly, and recently changed data is held on the re-writable magnetic drum memory.


Patents

*2,473,175 Radio-Direction-Finding System *2,843,655 Subscription Television with Scrambled Transmission and Marquee and Barker *2,843,841 Information Storage System *2,875,269 Video Scrambling and Unscrambling System *2,918,522 Subscription Television Distribution System *2,972,008 Coding Methods and System


Publications

Author of Radar System Engineering, volume 1 of MIT Radiation Laboratory Series. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1947. Ridenour contributed to the '' Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists''.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ridenour, Louis 1959 deaths 1911 births Chief Scientists of the United States Air Force University of Chicago alumni Radar pioneers Lockheed people 20th-century American physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society