Barrow, Wilmer L.
Dr. Wilmer L. Barrow's contributions to the theory and practice of electrical engineering rightfully can claim a profound influence on a whole generation of scholars and engineers. There are few who can match the wide spectrum of his career as an inventor, teacher, industrial manager, engineer, and as a counselor to government agencies.
Dr. Barrow is now vice president for research, development and engineering for the Sperry Divisions of the Sperry Rand Corporation. He rose to that position after 26 years of varied engineering, research and development assignments covering every aspect of Sperry's broad-based scientific and technical activities.
Born in Baton Rouge, La., in 1903, he was excited as a youngster by news of the early role of wireless telegraphy in sea rescue operations and a vision of the vast potentiality of long-distance communication filled his life. He started in the Amateur Radio Relay League in the era of rotary spark gaps, crystal detectors and the de Forest Audion. A BSEE degree was conferred in 1926 by Louisiana State University. Then he continued graduate work at MIT and the Technische Hochshule in Munich. In Germany as a Redfield Proctor Fellow in physics he studied under the famous Jonathan Zenneck and Arnold Summerfeld. For his graduate work, he was awarded an M.S. degree in Electrical Communications from MIT in 1929, and a D.Sc. in physics in Germany in 1931.
Returning to the staff of MIT as an instructor in Electrical Engineering and Communications, he served also under Dr. Julius Stratton with the MIT Round Hill Research Group seeking a practical short-wave radio method for landing aircraft under poor visibility conditions. In this search he developed a theory to show how electromagnetic waves could be propagated along the inside of hollow metal tubes and then be radiated from a metal horn. He and his students then devised pioneering experimental techniques to extend the theory to practice. In the process they invented many of the microwave structures which were so valuable to the explosive development and production of microwave radar prior to, during, and since World War II.
Dr. Barrow served 12 years on the MIT faculty, being promoted to assistant professor in 1936 and associate professor in 1941. He was an original member of the MIT Radiation Laboratory, and was chosen to establish and direct the now-famous MIT Radar School. While at MIT, he joined with others in writing a series of text books for the Electrical Engineering Staff. He has written over two dozen papers based on his own research and has had over a score of patents issued on his inventions.
Since 1941 he has served the armed forces in a number of advisory capacities. He has served as chairman of the Technical Consulting Group, Committee on Guided Missiles, Research and Development Board of the Department of Defense. His membership in the National Defense Research Council during World War II earned him a presidential citation "in recognition of. ..outstanding services. ..in the field of microwave radar development, which proved to be an invaluable contribution to the war efforts of the United States and its Allies." For several years he has been a member of the Polaris Missile Steering Task Group, for which he received a citation from the Secretary of the Navy.
Dr. Barrow has participated in IRE and IEEE affairs for over 30 years. He was a member of the IRE Board of Directors in 1943-45 and has been on 15 national committees, including the Board of Editors and the Radio Technical Planning Board. He was chairman of the Boston Section in 1939-41, during which time he brought the national convention to Boston and served as its general chairman. He was elected to the grade of Fellow in the IRE in 1941 for his early contributions in microwaves, earning laurels "for pioneering investigation of ultra-high frequency wave propagation and many of its practical applications." Two years later he received the Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Prize of the IRE for work in the same field. He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of Sigma Xi.
Dr. Barrow married Katherine Weatherby Burke in 1928. They have two married daughters and four grandchildren. Outdoor enthusiasts, the Barrows have been active in yachting and sailing as members of the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club. Skiing, mountain-climbing, and good music have also been favorite preoccupations.
Equal in importance to his own roster of achievements are the contributions Dr. Barrow has made to the growth of many others in the profession. AlI who have worked with him—students, government planners, and industrial research colleagues alike—have benefited greatly from his rare combination of technical competence and personal warmth and charm, his management; skills and vision and imagination. His productive careers in many allied fields well merit the esteem of his fellow electrical engineers, symbolized in this award of the 1966 IEEE Edison Medal "For a career of meritorious achievement-innovating, teaching and developing means for transmission of electromagnetic energy at microwave frequencies." (Editor's Note: He died in New Hampshire in 1975.)
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