History of Radar - Significance

Significance

The place of radar in the larger story of science and technology is argued differently by different authors. On the one hand, radar contributed very little to theory, which was largely known since the days of Maxwell and Hertz. Therefore radar did not advance science, but was simply a matter of technology and engineering. Maurice Ponte, one of the developers of radar in France, states:

Le principe fondamental du radar appartient au patrimoine commun des physiciens : ce qui demeure en fin de compte au crédit réel des techniciens se mesure à la réalisation effective de matériels opérationnels., or roughly

The fundamental principle of the radar belongs to the common patrimony of the physicists : after all, what is left to the real credit of the technicians is measured by the effective realisation of operational materials.

But others point out the immense practical consequences of the development of radar. Far more than the atomic bomb, radar contributed to Allied victory in World War II. Robert Buderi states that it was also the precursor of much modern technology. From a review of his book:

. . . radar has been the root of a wide range of achievements since the war, producing a veritable family tree of modern technologies. Because of radar, astronomers can map the contours of far-off planets, physicians can see images of internal organs, meteorologists can measure rain falling in distant places, air travel is hundreds of times safer than travel by road, long-distance telephone calls are cheaper than postage, computers have become ubiquitous and ordinary people can cook their daily dinners in the time between sitcoms, with what used to be called a radar range.