Editing Robert Watson-Watt (section)

==Contribution to Second World War==
[[File:Robert Watson-Watt.JPG|thumb|right|Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt, ca. 1944]]
In his ''English History 1914–1945'', the historian [[A. J. P. Taylor]] paid the highest of praise to Watson-Watt, Sir [[Henry Tizard]] and their associates who developed radar, crediting them with being fundamental to victory in the [[Second World War]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Taylor|first=A. J. P.|title=English history, 1914–1945|year=1992|publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford; New York|page=392}}</ref>

In July 1938, Watson-Watt left Bawdsey Manor and took up the post of Director of Communications Development (DCD-RAE). In 1939, Sir George Lee took over the job of DCD and Watson-Watt became Scientific Advisor on Telecommunications (SAT) to the [[Ministry of Aircraft Production]], travelling to the US in 1941 to advise them on the severe inadequacies of their air defence, illustrated by the [[Pearl Harbor attack]]. He was [[knighted]] by [[George VI]] in 1942 and received the US [[Medal for Merit]] in 1946.<ref>''London Gazette'' Issue 35586 published on 5 June 1942. Page 2</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Scotland's little-known WWII hero who helped beat the Luftwaffe with invention of radar set, to be immortalised in film|url=http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/real-life/scotlands-little-known-wwii-hero-who-3882904|newspaper=Daily Record|date=16 February 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217064126/http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/real-life/scotlands-little-known-wwii-hero-who-3882904|archive-date=17 February 2017}}</ref>

[[File:SirRobertWatsonWatt.jpg|thumb|left|Sir Robert descends from a plinth in Trafalgar Square, London in 1961 after speaking at a rally protesting at the spread of nuclear weapons.]]
Ten years after his knighthood, Watson-Watt was awarded £50,000 by the UK government for his contributions in the development of radar. He established a practice as a consulting engineer. In the 1950s, he moved to [[Canada]] and later he lived in the US, where he published ''Three Steps to Victory'' in 1958. Around 1958, he appeared as a mystery challenger on the American television programme ''[[To Tell The Truth]]''. In 1956, Watson-Watt reportedly was pulled over for speeding in Canada by a [[radar gun]]-toting policeman. His remark was, "Had I known what you were going to do with it I would never have invented it!".<ref name="Watson-Watt pioneer"/> He wrote an ironic poem ("A Rough Justice") afterwards,

<blockquote><poem>
Pity Sir Robert Watson-Watt,
strange target of this radar plot

And thus, with others I can mention,
the victim of his own invention.

His magical all-seeing eye
enabled cloud-bound planes to fly

but now by some ironic twist
it spots the speeding motorist

and bites, no doubt with legal wit,
the hand that once created it.

...<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.microwaves101.com/encyclopedia/roughjustice.cfm|title=Microwaves101 – A Rough Justice|author=Administrator|work=microwaves101.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106012735/http://www.microwaves101.com/encyclopedia/roughjustice.cfm|archive-date=6 January 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref></poem></blockquote>