Editing Robert Watson-Watt

{{short description|20th-century Scottish physicist and pioneer of direction-finding and radar technology}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}

{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_prefix  = [[Sir]]
| honorific_suffix  = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCB|FRS|FRAeS}}
| image             = Robert Watson-Watt.jpg
| caption           = 
| birth_date        = {{birth date|df=y|1892|4|13}}
| birth_place       = [[Brechin]], [[Angus, Scotland|Angus]], Scotland
| death_date        = {{death date and age|df=y|1973|12|5|1892|4|13}}
| death_place       = [[Inverness]], Scotland
| alma_mater        = [[University of St Andrews]]<br />[[University of Dundee]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BSc]])
| known_for         = Invention of [[radar]]
| spouses           = {{marriage|Margaret Robertson|1916|end=divorced}}<br />{{marriage|Jean Wilkinson|1952|1964|end=d}}
{{marriage|Dame [[Katherine Trefusis Forbes]]|1966|1971|end=d}}
| awards            = {{ubl|[[List of fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1941|FRS (1941)]]<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal | last1 = Ratcliffe | first1 = J. A. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1975.0018 | title = Robert Alexander Watson-Watt 13 April 1892 – 5 December 1973 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 21 | pages = 548–568| year = 1975 | s2cid = 72585933 | doi-access = free }}</ref>|[[Knight|Knighthood]] (1942)|[[Medal for Merit]] (1946)|[[Hughes Medal]] (1948)|[[Elliott Cresson Medal]] (1957)}}
}}

'''Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KCB|FRS|FRAeS}} (13 April 1892 – 5 December 1973) was a Scottish [[Radio-frequency engineering|radio engineer]] and pioneer of [[radio direction finding]] and [[radar]] technology.<ref name="Watson-Watt pioneer">{{cite news|title=Making waves: Robert Watson Watt, the pioneer of radar|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-27393558|publisher=BBC|date=16 February 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228025758/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-27393558|archive-date=28 February 2017}}</ref>

Watt began his career in [[radio physics]] with a job at the [[Met Office]], where he began looking for accurate ways to track [[thunderstorm]]s using the [[radio waves]] given off by [[lightning]]. This led to the 1920s development of a system later known as [[high-frequency direction finding]] (HFDF or "huff-duff"). Although well publicized at the time, the system's enormous military potential was not developed until the late 1930s. Huff-duff allowed operators to determine the location of an enemy [[radio transmitter]] in seconds and it became a major part of the network of systems that helped defeat the threat of German [[U-boat]]s during [[World War II]]. It is estimated that huff-duff was used in about a quarter of all attacks on U-boats.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://app.magpie.education/influential-figures/robert-watson-watt-radar/ |title=Robert Watson-Watt |website=Magpie Education |access-date=2025-01-22}}</ref>

In 1935, Watt was asked to comment on reports of a German [[death ray]] based on radio. Watt and his assistant [[Arnold Frederic Wilkins]] quickly determined it was not possible, but Wilkins suggested using radio signals to locate aircraft at long distances. This led to a February 1935 demonstration where signals from a BBC [[short-wave]] transmitter were bounced off a [[Handley Page Heyford]] aircraft.<ref name="Watson-Watt pioneer"/><ref name="Patent">{{cite news|title=British Patent for Radar System for Air Defense Granted to Robert Watson Watt|url=https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200604/history.cfm|publisher=[[American Physical Society]]|date=17 February 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202064250/http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200604/history.cfm/|archive-date=2 December 2016}}</ref> Watt led the development of a practical version of this device, which entered service in 1938 under the code name [[Chain Home]]. This system provided the vital advance information that helped the [[Royal Air Force]] in the [[Battle of Britain]].<ref name="frs" /><ref>Watson-Watt, Sir Robert; ''The Pulse of Radar'', Dial Press, 1959 {{ISBN?}}{{page?|date=February 2024}}</ref>

After the success of his invention, Watson Watt was sent to the U.S. in 1941 to advise on air defence after Japan's [[attack on Pearl Harbor]]. He returned and continued to lead radar development for the [[War Office]] and [[Ministry of Supply]]. He was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in 1941, was given a [[knighthood]] in 1942 and was awarded the US [[Medal for Merit]] in 1946.

==Early years==
Watson-Watt {{efn|the hyphenated name is used herein for consistency, although he did not adopt it until 1942}}<ref>''London Gazette'' Issue 35618 published on 3 July 1942. Page 39</ref> was born in [[Brechin]], [[Angus, Scotland]], on 13 April 1892. He claimed to be a descendant of [[James Watt]], the famous engineer and inventor of the practical [[steam engine]], but no evidence of any family relationship has been found.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nicoll|first=Steve|date=July 2017|title=Robert Alexander Watson Watt|journal=Britain at War|pages=76}}</ref> After attending Damacre Primary School and [[Brechin High School]],<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Dick Barrett|url=http://www.radarpages.co.uk/people/watson-watt/watson-watt.htm|title=Sir Robert Watson-Watt|access-date=26 February 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080305191521/http://www.radarpages.co.uk/people/watson-watt/watson-watt.htm|archive-date=5 March 2008}}</ref> he was accepted at University College, Dundee (then part of the [[University of St Andrews]] and which became Queen's College, Dundee in 1954 and then the [[University of Dundee]] in 1967). Watson-Watt had a successful time as a student, winning the Carnelley Prize for Chemistry and a class medal for Ordinary [[Natural philosophy#Origin and evolution of the term|Natural Philosophy]] in 1910.<ref name="Archives Records and Artefacts">{{cite web|title=100 years ago...|url=http://www.archives-records-artefacts.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html|publisher=Archives Records and Artefacts at the University of Dundee|access-date=15 December 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304220528/http://www.archives-records-artefacts.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html|archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref>

He graduated with a [[Bachelor of Science|BSc]] in engineering in 1912, and was offered an assistantship by Professor [[William Peddie]],<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1038/158050b0|title = Prof. William Peddie|journal = Nature|volume = 158|issue = 4002|pages = 50–51|year = 1946|last1 = Allen|first1 = H. S.|bibcode = 1946Natur.158...50A|doi-access = free}}</ref> the holder of the Chair of Physics at University College, Dundee from 1907 to 1942. It was Peddie who encouraged Watson-Watt to study [[radio]], or "wireless telegraphy" as it was then known, and who took him through what was effectively a postgraduate class on the physics of [[electronic oscillator|radio frequency oscillator]]s and [[radio propagation|wave propagation]]. At the start of the [[Great War]] Watson-Watt was working as an assistant in the college's Engineering Department.<ref>{{cite book|last=Shafe|first=Michael|title=University Education in Dundee 1881–1981: A Pictorial History|year=1982|publisher=University of Dundee|location=Dundee|pages=58, 75 and 88}}</ref>

==Early experiments==
In 1916, Watson-Watt wanted a job with the [[War Office]], but nothing obvious was available in communications. Instead, he joined the [[Met Office|Meteorological Office]], which was interested in his ideas on the use of radio for the detection of [[thunderstorm]]s. [[Lightning]] gives off a radio signal as it ionizes the air, and his goal was to detect this signal to warn pilots of approaching thunderstorms. The signal occurs across a wide range of frequencies and could be easily detected and amplified by naval [[longwave]] sets. In fact, lightning was a major problem for communications at these common wavelengths.{{sfn|Brown|1999|p=45}}

His early experiments were successful in detecting the signal and he quickly proved to be able to do so at ranges up to 2,500&nbsp;km (1500 miles). Location was determined by rotating a [[loop antenna]] to maximise (or minimise) the signal, thus "pointing" to the storm. The strikes were so fleeting that it was very difficult to turn the antenna in time to positively locate one. Instead, the operator would listen to many strikes and develop a rough average location.{{sfn|Brown|1999|p=45}}

At first, he worked at the Wireless Station of Air Ministry Meteorological Office in [[Aldershot]], [[Hampshire]]. In 1924 when the War Department gave notice that they wished to reclaim their Aldershot site, he moved to [[Ditton Park]] near [[Slough]], [[Berkshire]]. The [[National Physical Laboratory, UK|National Physical Laboratory]] (NPL) was already using this site and had two main devices that would prove pivotal to his work.{{sfn|Brown|1999|p=45}}

The first was an [[Adcock antenna]], an arrangement of four masts that allowed the direction of a signal to be detected through [[phase (waves)|phase]] differences. Using pairs of these antennas positioned at right angles, one could make a simultaneous measurement of the lightning's direction on two axes. Displaying the fleeting signals was a problem. This was solved by the second device, the WE-224 [[oscilloscope]], recently acquired from [[Bell Labs]]. By feeding the signals from the two antennae into the X and Y channels of the oscilloscope, a single strike caused the appearance of a line on the display, indicating the direction of the strike. The scope's relatively "slow" phosphor only allowed the signal to be read long after the strike had occurred.{{sfn|Brown|1999|p=46}} Watt's new system was being used in 1926 and was the topic of an extensive paper by Watson-Watt and Herd.<ref>R. A. Watt and J. F. Herd, [http://digital.nls.uk/scientists/pageturner.cfm?id=75132036 "An instantaneous direct-reading radiogoniometer"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202150615/http://digital.nls.uk/scientists/pageturner.cfm?id=75132036 |date=2 February 2014 }}, ''Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers'', Volume 64 (February 1926), pp. 611–622.</ref>

The Met and NPL radio teams were amalgamated in 1927 to form the [[Radio Research Station]] with Watson-Watt as director. Continuing research throughout, the teams had become interested in the causes of "static" radio signals and found that much could be explained by distant signals located over the horizon being reflected off the upper atmosphere. This was the first direct indication of the reality of the [[Kennelly–Heaviside layer|Heaviside layer]], proposed earlier, but at this time largely dismissed by engineers. To determine the altitude of the layer, Watt, Appleton and others developed the '[[squegging|squegger]]' to develop a '[[time base generator|time base]]' display, which would cause the oscilloscope's dot to move smoothly across the display at very high speed. By timing the squegger so that the dot arrived at the far end of the display at the same time as expected signals reflected off the Heaviside layer, the altitude of the layer could be determined. This time-base circuit was key to the development of radar.<ref>O. S. Puckle, [https://archive.org/stream/TimeBasesTheirDesignDevelopment/Puckle-TimeBases_djvu.txt "Time Bases, Their Design and Development"], Chapman & Hall, 1943</ref> After a further reorganization in 1933, Watt became Superintendent of the Radio Department of NPL in [[Teddington]].{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

==RADAR==

===The air defence problem===
During the [[First World War]], the Germans had used [[Zeppelin]]s as long-range bombers over Britain and defences had struggled to counter the threat. Since that time, aircraft capabilities had improved considerably and the prospect of widespread aerial bombardment of civilian areas was causing the government anxiety. Heavy bombers were now able to approach at altitudes that anti-aircraft guns of the day were unable to reach.<ref>{{cite web|last=Evans|first=R.J.|title=Hitler and the origins of the war, 1919–1939|url=http://www.gresham.ac.uk/event.asp?PageId=108&EventId=775|date=18 September 2008|work=Lecture transcript|publisher=Gresham College|access-date=16 August 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101117194902/http://gresham.ac.uk/event.asp?PageId=108&EventId=775|archive-date=17 November 2010}}</ref> With enemy airfields across the English Channel potentially only 20 minutes' flying-time away, bombers would have dropped their bombs and be returning to base before any intercepting fighters could get to altitude. The only answer seemed to be to have standing patrols of fighters in the air, but with the limited cruising time of a fighter, this would require a huge air force. An alternative solution was urgently needed and, in 1934, the Air Ministry set up a committee, the CSSAD ([[Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Defence]]), chaired by Sir [[Henry Tizard]] to find ways to improve air defence in the UK.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

Rumours that [[Nazi Germany]] had developed a "[[death ray]]" that was capable of destroying towns, cities and people using radio waves, were given attention in January 1935 by [[Harry Wimperis]], Director of Scientific Research at the Air Ministry. He asked Watson-Watt about the possibility of building their version of a death-ray, specifically to be used against aircraft.<ref name="Patent"/> Watson-Watt quickly returned a calculation carried out by his young colleague, [[Arnold Frederic Wilkins|Arnold Wilkins]], showing that such a device was impossible to construct, and fears of a Nazi version soon vanished. He also mentioned in the same report a suggestion that was originally made to him by Wilkins, who had recently heard of aircraft disturbing [[Communications receiver|shortwave communications]], that radio waves might be capable of detecting aircraft, "Meanwhile, attention is being turned to the still difficult, but less unpromising, problem of radio detection and numerical considerations on the method of detection by reflected radio waves will be submitted when required". Wilkins's idea, checked by Watt, was promptly presented by Tizard to the CSSAD on 28 January 1935.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Buderi|first1=Robert|title=The Invention That Changed the World: How a Small Group of Radar Pioneers Won the Second World War and Launched a Technical Revolution|date=1996|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-0-684-83529-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780684835297/page/55 55]|edition=1998|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780684835297/page/55}}</ref>

===Aircraft detection and location===
[[File:Watson watt 01 fr.jpg|thumb|Memorial at the [[Daventry]] site of the first successful RADAR experiments. {{Coord|52.195982|N|1.050121|W|}}]]
[[File:Watson watt 02 fr.jpg|thumb|Closeup of memorial plaque]]
[[File:Watson Radar.jpg|thumb|The first workable radar unit constructed by Robert Watson Watt and his team]]
On 12 February 1935, Watson-Watt sent the secret memo of the proposed system to the [[Air Ministry]], ''Detection and location of aircraft by radio methods''. Although not as exciting as a death-ray, the concept clearly had potential, but the Air Ministry, before giving funding, asked for a demonstration proving that radio waves could be reflected by an aircraft.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=The Radar Pages|url=http://www.radarpages.co.uk/people/watson-watt/watson-watt.htm|title=Robert Watson-Watt|access-date=14 December 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217032228/http://www.radarpages.co.uk/people/watson-watt/watson-watt.htm|archive-date=17 December 2007}}</ref> This was ready by 26 February and consisted of two receiving antennae located about {{convert|6|mile|km|0}} away from one of the [[BBC]]'s shortwave broadcast stations at [[Daventry transmitting station|Daventry]]. The two antennae were phased such that signals travelling directly from the station cancelled themselves out, but signals arriving from other angles were admitted, thereby deflecting the trace on a [[Cathode-ray tube|CRT]] indicator ([[passive radar]]).<ref>{{cite web|publisher=IET|url=http://tv.theiet.org/technology/communications/219.cfm|title=Passive Covert Radar – Watson-Watt's Daventry Experiment Revisited|access-date=13 December 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513210855/http://tv.theiet.org/technology/communications/219.cfm|archive-date=13 May 2011}}</ref> Such was the secrecy of this test that only three people witnessed it: Watson-Watt, his colleague Arnold Wilkins, and a single member of the committee, [[A. P. Rowe]]. The demonstration was a success: on several occasions, the receiver showed a clear return signal from a [[Handley Page Heyford]] bomber flown around the site. Prime Minister [[Stanley Baldwin]] was kept quietly informed of radar progress. On 2 April 1935, Watson-Watt received a patent on a radio device for detecting and locating an aircraft.<ref name="Patent"/>

In mid-May 1935, Wilkins left the Radio Research Station with a small party, including [[Edward George Bowen]], to start further research at [[Orford Ness]], an isolated peninsula on the Suffolk coast of the North Sea. By June, they were detecting aircraft at a distance of {{cvt|16|mi|km}}, which was enough for scientists and engineers to stop all work on competing [[Acoustic location|sound-based detection systems]]. By the end of the year, the range was up to {{cvt|60|mi|km}}, at which point, plans were made in December to set up five stations covering the approaches to London.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

One of these stations was to be located on the coast near [[Orford Ness]], and [[Bawdsey Manor]] was selected to become the main centre for all radar research. To put a radar defence in place as quickly as possible, Watson-Watt and his team created devices using existing components, rather than creating new components for the project, and the team did not take additional time to refine and improve the devices. So long as the prototype radars were in workable condition, they were put into production.<ref name="minefield">{{cite web |last1=Corrigan |first1=R. |title=Airborne minefields and Fighter Command's information system |url=http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/gikii/docs3/corrigan.pdf |website=The University of Edinburgh, School of Law |access-date=16 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903051653/http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/gikii/docs3/corrigan.pdf |archive-date=3 September 2011 |date=25 September 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> They conducted "full scale" tests of a fixed radar [[radio masts and towers|radio tower]] system, attempting to detect an incoming bomber by radio signals for interception by a fighter.<ref name=minefield /><ref name=statue>{{cite web|title=Tribute plan for radar inventor|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/6104186.stm|date=1 November 2006|publisher=BBC|access-date=16 August 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408141350/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/6104186.stm|archive-date=8 April 2008}}</ref> The tests were a complete failure, with the fighter only seeing the bomber after it had passed its target. The problem was not the radar but the flow of information from trackers from the [[Observer Corps]] to the fighters, which took many steps and was very slow. [[Henry Tizard]], [[Patrick Blackett]], and [[Hugh Dowding]] immediately set to work on this problem, designing a 'command and control air defence reporting system' with several layers of reporting that were eventually sent to a single large room for mapping. Observers watching the maps would then tell the fighters what to do via direct communications.<ref name=minefield />

[[File:Chain home coverage.jpg|thumb|left|Radar coverage along the UK coast, 1939–1940]]
By 1937, the first three stations were ready, and the associated system was put to the test. The results were encouraging, and the government immediately commissioned construction of 17 additional stations. This became [[Chain Home]], the array of fixed radar towers on the east and south coasts of England.<ref name=minefield /><ref name=statue /> By the start of World War II, 19 were ready for the [[Battle of Britain]], and by the end of the war, over 50 had been built. The Germans were aware of the construction of Chain Home but were not sure of its purpose. They tested their theories with a flight of the Zeppelin [[LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin|LZ 130]] but concluded the stations were a new long-range naval communications system.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

As early as 1936, it was realized that the ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' would turn to night bombing if the day campaign did not go well. Watson-Watt had put another of the staff from the Radio Research Station, Edward Bowen, in charge of developing a radar that could be carried by a fighter. Night-time visual detection of a bomber was good to about 300&nbsp;m and the existing Chain Home systems simply did not have the accuracy needed to get the fighters that close. Bowen decided that an airborne radar should not exceed 90 [[kilogram|kg]] (200 [[pound (mass)|lb]]) in weight or 8&nbsp;ft³ (230 [[litre|L]]) in volume and should require no more than 500 watts of power. To reduce the drag of the antennae, the operating wavelength could not be much greater than one metre, difficult for the day's electronics. However, [[aircraft interception radar|aircraft interception (AI) radar]] was perfected by 1940 and was instrumental in eventually ending [[The Blitz]] of 1941. Watson-Watt justified his choice of a non-optimal frequency for his radar, with his oft-quoted [[Perfect is the enemy of good|"cult of the imperfect"]], which he stated as "Give them the third-best to go on with; the second-best comes too late; the best never comes".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fine |first1=Norman |title=Blind Bombing: How Microwave Radar Brought the Allies to D-Day and Victory in World War II |date=2019 |publisher=Potomac Books |isbn=9781640122208 |page=21}}</ref>{{sfn|Brown|1999|p=63}}

==Civil Service trade union activities==
Between 1934 and 1936, Watson-Watt was president of the [[Institution of Professional Civil Servants]], now a part of [[Prospect (trade union)|Prospect]], the "union for professionals".  The union speculates that at this time he was involved in campaigning for an improvement in pay for Air Ministry staff.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Prospect|url=http://library.prospect.org.uk/id/2014/September/23/Profile-issue-14-Sept-2014?display=preferred|title=under the Radar?| date=23 September 2014 |page=10|access-date=4 October 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005140235/http://library.prospect.org.uk/id/2014/September/23/Profile-issue-14-Sept-2014?display=preferred|archive-date=5 October 2015}}</ref>

==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>

==Honours==
* In 1945, Watson-Watt was invited to deliver the [[Royal Institution Christmas Lectures|Royal Institution Christmas Lecture]] on ''Wireless''.
* In 1949, a Watson-Watt Chair of Electrical Engineering was established at [[University of Dundee|University College, Dundee]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Shafe|first=Michael|title=University Education in Dundee 1881–1981: A Pictorial History|year=1982|publisher=University of Dundee|location=Dundee|page=106}}</ref>
* In 2013, he was one of four inductees to the [[Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.engineeringhalloffame.org/listing-4.html|title=Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame|work=engineeringhalloffame.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131007023835/http://www.engineeringhalloffame.org/listing-4.html|archive-date=7 October 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/scotland/scottish-engineering-greats-inducted-into-hall-of-fame-1.138454|title=Scottish engineering greats inducted into hall of fame|work=thecourier.co.uk|date=5 October 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131007080231/http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/scotland/scottish-engineering-greats-inducted-into-hall-of-fame-1.138454|archive-date=7 October 2013}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Watson Watt Memorial.jpg|thumb|Memorial to Watson-Watt at [[Brechin]] in Angus, Scotland]]
[[File:Radar Memorial PS.jpg|thumb|Memorial to the Birth of Radar, at [[Stowe Nine Churches]], naming Watson-Watt and Arnold Wilkins]]
On 3 September 2014, a statue of Sir Robert Watson-Watt was unveiled in [[Brechin]] by [[Anne, Princess Royal|the Princess Royal]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-29037401|title=BBC News – Statue of radar pioneer Watson-Watt unveiled in Brechin|work=BBC News|date=3 September 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140905125339/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-29037401|archive-date=5 September 2014}}</ref> One day later, the [[BBC Two]] drama ''[[Castles in the Sky (TV series)|Castles in the Sky]]'', aired with [[Eddie Izzard]] in the role of Watson Watt.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-reviews/11076909/Castles-in-the-Sky-BBC-Two-review-a-bit-worthy.html|title=Castles in the Sky, BBC Two, review: 'a bit worthy'|author=[[Jake Wallis Simons]]|date=5 September 2014|work=Telegraph.co.uk|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140905113311/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-reviews/11076909/Castles-in-the-Sky-BBC-Two-review-a-bit-worthy.html|archive-date=5 September 2014}}</ref>

A collection of some of the correspondence and papers of Watson-Watt is held by the [[National Library of Scotland]].<ref name=SCAN>{{cite web|title=Correspondence and papers of Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt|url=http://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/scancatalogue/details.aspx?reference=GB233%2fAcc.9343&st=1&tc=y&tl=n&tn=y&tp=y&k=watson+watt&ko=a&r=&ro=s&|website=Scottish Archive Network Online Catalogue|publisher=Scottish Archive Network|access-date=15 December 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225135432/http://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/scancatalogue/details.aspx?reference=GB233%2fAcc.9343&st=1&tc=y&tl=n&tn=y&tp=y&k=watson+watt&ko=a&r=&ro=s&|archive-date=25 February 2018}}</ref> A collection of papers relating to Watson-Watt is also held by Archive Services at the [[University of Dundee]].<ref name=Archivepapers>{{cite web|title=Collection MS 228 - Records relating to Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt|url=https://archives.dundee.ac.uk/ms-228|website=Archive Services Catalogue|publisher=University of Dundee|access-date=12 April 2024}}</ref>

A briefing facility at [[RAF Boulmer]] has been named the Watson-Watt auditorium in his honour.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

==Business and financial life==
Watson-Watt had a problematic business and financial life.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/pity-sir-robert-watson-wattstrange-target-of-this-radar-plotand-thus-with-others-i-can-mentionthe-victim-of-his-own-invention-his-magical-all-seeing-eyeenabled-cloud-bound-planes-to-flybut-no/|title=How a trove of letters reveal the secret (And very tangled) life of the Scot who downed the Luftwaffe|date=30 September 2019 }}</ref>

==Family life==
Robert Watson-Watt was married three times. He had a daughter with his second wife.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=X {{!}} Blake Parnham {{!}} Watson-Watt's Great Grandson |url=https://x.com/blakeparnham/status/1731488549126476042}}</ref>

Watson-Watt was married on 20 July 1916 in Hammersmith, London to [[Margaret Robertson Watson-Watt|Margaret Robertson]] (d.1988), the daughter of a draughtsman.<ref>Entry number 115 in the marriage register of St Saviour's church, Hammersmith</ref> In 1952 they divorced and he remarried.<ref>[http://www.angusheritage.com/People/AngusLives/Sir-Robert-Watson.aspx "Sir Robert Watson Watt – Brechin's unsung war hero" Angus Heritage] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204043956/http://www.angusheritage.com/People/AngusLives/Sir-Robert-Watson.aspx |date=4 December 2013 }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Our Records: Sir Robert Watson-Watt (1892-1973) {{!}} Scotland's People |url=https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/news-and-articles/our-records-sir-robert-watson-watt-1892-1973 |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk}}</ref> His second wife was a Canadian widow, Jean Wilkinson, who later died in 1964.<ref>[http://news.scotsman.com/science/Father-of-radar-fought-the.2653724.jp "Father of radar fought the menace from the sky"] ''The Scotsman 20 August 2005''</ref><ref name=":0" />  He returned to Scotland in the 1960s, after the closure of his Canadian engineering business. <ref name="Watson-Watt pioneer" /><ref name=":1" />

In 1966, at the age of 74, he married Dame [[Katherine Trefusis Forbes]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=madeinpe |date=2020-06-29 |title=Margaret Watson-Watt |url=https://madeinperth.org/margaret-watson-watt/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Made in Perth ~ Official Website ~ SC044155 |language=en-US}}</ref> She was 67 years old at the time and had also played a significant role in the [[Battle of Britain]] as the founding Air Commander of the [[Women's Auxiliary Air Force]], which supplied the radar-room operatives. The couple lived in London during the winter, and at ''The Observatory'', Trefusis Forbes' summer home, in [[Pitlochry]], [[Perthshire]], during the warmer months. 

Watson-Watt died in 1973, aged 81 in [[Inverness]], two years after his third wife. They are buried together in the churchyard of the [[Scottish Episcopal Church|Episcopal Church]] of the Holy Trinity in Pitlochry, Scotland.<ref name="Watson-Watt pioneer" />

==See also==
* [[History of radar]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book|last=Brown|first=Louis|title=Technical and Military Imperatives: A Radar History of World War 2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uYgsr3exvS4C|date= 1999|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1-4200-5066-0}}
* Lem, Elizabeth, [http://www.dittonpark-archive.rl.ac.uk/ ''The Ditton Park Archive'']
* {{cite book|last=Celinscak|first=Mark|title="Robert Watson-Watt" in Philosophers of War: The Evolution of History's Greatest Military Thinkers. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. p. 489.}}
* [http://www.radarpages.co.uk/people/watson-watt/watson-watt.htm Sir Robert Watson-Watt bio]
* [http://www.radarmuseum.co.uk/ The Royal Air Force Air Defence Radar Museum at RRH Neatishead, Norfolk]
* [http://www.watsonwatt.org/ The Watson-Watt Society of Brechin, Angus, Scotland]

== External links ==
* [http://spitfiresite.com/2010/04/deflating-british-radar-myths-of-world-war-ii.html Deflating British Radar Myths of World War II] A comparison of contemporary British and German radar inventions and their use
* [http://www.radarworld.org/ Radar Development In England]
* [http://www.wdc.rl.ac.uk/ionosondes/history/watsonwatt.html Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt's biography]
* [http://watsonwatt.wordpress.com/the-society/ The Robert Watson-Watt Society]
{{WW2AirDefenceUK}}
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[[Category:1892 births]]
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[[Category:Alumni of the University of Dundee]]
[[Category:British electrical engineers]]
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[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:People educated at Brechin High School]]
[[Category:People from Brechin]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Royal Meteorological Society]]
[[Category:Radar pioneers]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish engineers]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish inventors]]
[[Category:Valdemar Poulsen Gold Medal recipients]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Dundee]]
[[Category:Scientists of the National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame inductees]]
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