Nathan Marcuvitz
| Nathan Marcuvitz | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
December 29, 1913 Brooklyn, New York |
| Died | February 14, 2010 (aged 96) Naples, Florida |
| Residence | United States |
| Citizenship | U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Electrical engineering, Applied Physics |
| Alma mater | Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn |
| Notable awards | IEEE Heinrich Hertz Medal (1989) |
Nathan Marcuvitz (born December 29, 1913 in Brooklyn, New York, d. February 14, 2010 in Naples, FL), was an American electrical engineer, physicist, and educator who worked in the fields of microwave and electromagnetic theory. He was head of the experimental group of the Radiation Laboratory (MIT). He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He had a PhD in electrical engineering from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.
"Dr. Nathan Marcuvitz stands out clearly as the leading figure in the field of electromagnetic waves for the period of at least two decades following World War II. He was widely viewed by his colleagues as the premier electromagnetics scholar of his generation."
Electromagnetic waves achieved practical fruition in the development of microwave technology and the creation of the microwave industry, with applications to radar, communications, electronic warfare, industrial and consumer electronics, and so on. Rapid progress in the development of the microwave field was made possible by the availability of accurate network descriptions of the various complicated structures employed in microwave systems. The central figure in this crucial period of the development of such network descriptions was Dr. Nathan Marcuvitz.
The crucial period in the development of the microwave field occurred during World War II, when the magnetron furnished a reliable source of electromagnetic waves and made radar feasible, but progress was initially slow because designs had employed empirical and cut-and-try procedures. What was needed were quantitative methods for characterizing the geometric structures involved and phrasing those methods in network terms. Marcuvitz headed the experimental group at the M.I.T. Radiation Laboratory, which was responsible for developing an accurate measurement set-up and a new measurement procedure for determining with great precision the network parameters of geometric discontinuities.
He also worked closely with the physicists and mathematicians responsible for the theoretical part of the systematic program, and showed them how to cast their solutions in engineering terms. As a result, the theoretical analyses were phrased in the network terms required for design, and the analytical results were compared with measurements under Marcuvitz' direction. Since Marcuvitz played the key role in coordinating the theoretical and experimental phases, he was asked to be the author of the Waveguide Handbook (1951), which became vol. 10 of the M.I.T. Radiation Laboratory Series.
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