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Scientific and Engineering Contributors to the U.S. Army at Fort Monmouth, NewJersey by Thomas E. Daniels
Thomas E. Daniels recently retired as a Special Assistant to the Director for Space and Strategic Systems in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Research, Development and Acquisition) . |
L ittle is known outside
Fort
Monmouth of the many contributions made and still being made by Blacks in what have been considered nontraditional occupations for Blacks Black scientists and engineers have distinquished themselves in radar, avionics, communications (including satellites), electronic warfare, meteorology, infrared. optics, antennas, electronic components, computer science, and automatic data processing technology areas; and in maintenance, procurement, and supply areas. They have invented many devices and equipment used by the Army. They have forged new frontiers in science. Their calculations have been used to send signals to the moon. They have designed and developed systems for test and for use by the military. They have procured and rnaintained billions of dollars worth of electronic equipment used by the U .S . Army and the other services In addition, they have contributed to the training of thousands of military and civilians in radar, com-munications, automatic data processIng, electronic countermeasures and many other fields in electronics. Many have received patents for their scientific discoveries. The personnel depicted herein cover the period 1940 through 1987. While Fort Monmouth has been generally known as the cen-ter of electronic developments for the U.S. Army, it probably has been the work place for the largest assembly of Black scientists, |
engineers and technologists in
the U.S. Army, possibly in the country or the world. TECHNICAL PIONEERS The period 1940-1942 saw
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sioned as officers, sent to Harvard and MIT, and reassigned to the laboratories . Thomas Baldwin, a physicist, was assigned to a submarine detection group in late 194 . The Army was responsible for submarine detection within the three-mile limit at that time. He was responsible for soundranging techniques. During these years most Blacks who were fortunate to have completed degrees in physics or engineering, primarily at historically Black colleges, knew that professional opportunities were limited to teaching, preaching, and the legal or medical professions. Most with scientific backgrounds found doors shut to them in private industry but found survival in the Post Office. The Post Office was supposed to have had a larger cuncentration of educated Blacks than any other agency. Opportunities were limited to menial or janitorial jobs in many other agencies. One of the products of the Treasury Department was an ex-messenger, Arthur Randals, a Black physicist. He later was to receive prestigious recognition from the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) for the best technical paper of the year for an author under 30 years of age. His work was on high power interdigital magnetrons used in radar. The paper was completed in 1948 and the award was made in 1950. The early 1940s (1942-1946) was also an emancipation for some Black women from the traditional roles as maids, cooks, and teachers. The outbreak of World II |
provided opportunities for subprolessionals
such as technicians
and draftspersons. Caroline Harris (later a mechanical engineering draftsperson). Tabitha Brown. Eithma Parker, Helmi Porter and Geraldine Roberts represent some of those woman hired as technicians or draftspersons. During 1944 they were sent to the Signal Corps Civilian Training School and were taught drafting. After training they were sent to different laboratories to prepare layouts for publications, wiring schematics, charts and graphs for engineering reports and technical manuals. Some of the lechnicians of the time inchided Virginia Smith, and Harriet Speights (a crystal grinder). Another area for Black women was engineering. If it was difficult for Black men to be given a professional engineering opportunity. It was even more so for Black women. However, the shortage of men in 1942 saw Corrynne Godwin and Muriel Robinson Baldwin and two others from Brooklyn College, all college graduates, hired as Junior Professional Assistants. Corrynne Godwin was later to be one of the only two Black women electronic engineers at Fort Monmouth to attain the GS (General Schedule) 13 grade level (senior engineer). Helen Harris was hired as a chemist in 1942 but left in the reduction-in-force of 1946. Enit Gittens and Connie Gray from Hunter College were also hired in the professional area. Curleza Holiman, the other Black woman electronic engineer to reach the GS-13 or senior engi- |
neer level, started in 1943 in the
engineers-in-training program. All these women were college graduates with mathematics or science majors. Mary Tate, who was a Computer Specialist GS-13 in the Communications Research and Development Command (CORADCOM) at the time of her retirement, started as a laboratory technician In 1945. She later became a mathematician doing scientific and engineering calculations. In 1948 she became a professional as a computer analyst . One of the most notable achievements to come out of the 1940s was the work of Dr. Walter S. McAfee, a theoretical physicist, whose mathematical calculations enabled a team of Fort Monmouth scientists and engineers to bounce radar signals off the moon's surface in January 1946. His calculations involved radar cross section. Doppler shift of radio frequencies due to the velocity of moon and the earth, and minimum detectable signals at the receiver. This feat, man's first contact with an extraterrestrial body, ushered in the space age. Dr . McAfee's significant theoretical talents were officially recognized by his receipt of the prestigious Army Research and Development Achievement Award in 1961. He was cited for studies vital to the national defense in connection with missile guidance systems and communications links. He developed a mathematical formula that related raw data from attitude nuclear detonations with |
| time varying phenomena.
Dr.
McAfee, before his retirement, was Scientific Advisor to the Electronics Research and Development Command. He was also the first Black "super-grade" GS-16 (Executive Level) at Fort Monmouth; in fact, in the Army. John L. Carter, a senior physicist and former branch chief in the Electronics Technology and Devices Laboratory, Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, received the Meritorious Civilian Service Award in 1968 for his work on microwave ferrite devices. This is the Army's second highest award. This award was for major contributions to the development of high peak and average pulse power technology. The advanced technology had been demonstrated in a "Brass Board" modulator being used by the U .S . Missile Research and Development Command's contractor to perform critical experiments on the Cold Flow Electric Laser Device. The impact of this device makes possible the fielding of mobile, directed energy systems for tactical apptications. 2 John Carter has a total of 26 patents to his credit in microwave ferrite devices and other areas. He has been the most prolific Black inventor at Fort Monmouth. In 1979 he was cited for having received eight patents in three years . Leroy Hutson. an electronics engineer and branch chief in the Electronic Warfare Laboratory, was cited for leading a team of engineers in the design, fabrication, testing, and delivery of an |
inexpensive and reliable mini-jam-mer
to train communication operators to operate in electronic countermeasures (jamming) environments. Under his direction the project was completed in record time- six months-at a cost of only $900,000. 3 Mr. Hutson had other extensive developments to his credit in the electronic countermeasures area . William Benjamin Gould III, now deceased, was also one of the early Black electronic engineers at Fort Monmouth. Coming to Fort Monmouth in 1940, he was responsible for the installation and operation of early warning radar systems on the West Coast of the U.S. During the 1950s. Mr. Gould directed research involving instrumentation of long range guided missiles at Cape Canaveral. Before his retirement in 1969 he was a section chief in the Electronic Warfare Laboratory, directing research and development involving the application of radio and radar for meteorological purposes. During his 29-year career he contributed to the development of radar equipment from the old spark gap transmitter to the vacuum tube and the modern solid state devices. 4 LATER-INVENTORS Samuel Dixon, a senior electronics
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"Five of the Black scientists
Mentioned here have received over
70 patents."
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munications, electronic warfare and satellite system device development. He also has been one of Fort Monmouth's most prolific black inventors. He has been presented with 20 patent awards and has published over 40 papers on solid state ferrite and semi-conductor devices. In February 1987, Mr Dixon was one of three I at Fort Monmouth placed in nomination for the inventor of the Year Award given annually by Intellectual Property Owners, Inc. 6 He recently authored Chapter 3. Volume 15, of the 1986 Academic Press publication "Infrared and Millimeter Waves." His latest patent was for a monolithic planar doped barrier subharmonic mixer. This device is designed for use in lightweight radar or "smart" artillery projectiles. 5 John Perry, a chemist and team leader in the Electronics Technology and Devices Laboratory, specializes in development of lithium/thionyl chloride batteries and power sources for communtications electronics and laser equipment. He holds four patents on fuel cells and is the author of ten papers . For over a decade in the late 1960s and 1970s, Mr . Perry was actively experimenting with biochemical fuel cells, liquid hydro-carbon fuel cells, and fuel cell electrodes. Mr. Perry's work in developing electrodes involved reducing the cost of the catalyst in fuel cells. The high cost and quantity of noble metals, such as platinum and palladium, which had been used for anode elec- |
Web editor note:
I had only a partial photocopied page to work with. This column was
cut-off. I hope to find an original.
trod fabrication had impa
HIGH LEVEL ACHIEVER No paper on Black contributors at Fort Monmouth would be complete with |
| tion of the years 1979-1982,
when
Fort Monmouth witnessed the largest number ever of high level Black civilians and military . Among the civilians there were three senior executives : Dr. McAfee, previously mentioned as a super grade GS-1G, James E. Schell, II, Director of the Center for Tactical computer Systems (CENTACS) ; and Thomas E . Daniels, Deputy Director and Act-ing Director of the Combat Surveil-lance and Target Acquisition Laboratory (CS&TAL). All have received many high level awards for their technical and managerial contributions to the U.S. Army. On the military side there were Major General Emmett Paige, Commanding General of the Communications Research and Development Command (CORADCOM); 10 full colonels who headed major technical organizations; and 11lieutenant colonels who were deputies of major technical units. There were 27 senior managers consisting of eight GS-15 level division chiefs, 19 GS-14 level branch chiefs including one Black woman. Most were electronic engineers. Neither time nor space permits detailing their technical contributions, the many citations and awards received, or the papers and presentations made to learned technical societies. CONCLUSION The original 20 Black engineers
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lishments for the U.S. Army and set the pace
for those Blacks who followed Five of the Black scientists and engineers
mentioned here-in have received over 70 patents. Current books on
Black inventors, scientists or engineers fail to mention the many inventions,
developments and advancements made in radar, avionics, cornrnunication,
satellites, electronic warfare, infrared, solid state, computer
science, meteorology and electronic components by both civilians and military, particularly at Fort Monmouth. References
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