The Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE) at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was founded
in 1946 as the successor to the famed MIT Radiation
Laboratory (RadLab) of World War II.
During the war, large scale research at the RadLab
was devoted to the rapid development of microwave radar.
Projects included physical electronics, microwave physics,
electromagnetic properties of matter, and microwave
communication principles. The "RadLab" designed
almost half of the radar deployed in World War II, created
over 100 different radar systems, and constructed $1.5
billion worth of radar.
At the height of its activities, the RadLab employed
nearly 4,000 people working on several continents. What
began as a British-American effort to make microwave
radar work, evolved into a centralized laboratory committed
to understanding the theories behind experimental radar
while solving its engineering problems.
The RadLab formally closed on December 31, 1945, and
its staff members resumed peacetime their activities.
In its wake remained tons of surplus equipment and the
concept for a basic research center that was to continue
in RLE.
On January 1, 1946, under the sponsorship of the U.S.
Office of Scientific Research and Development, the RadLab's
Basic Research Division continued work at MIT as a transitional
organization. Under the leadership of Director Julius
A. Stratton and Associate Director Albert G. Hill, it
continued investigation on problems in physical electronics
that involved cathodes, electronic emission, and gaseous
conduction. In microwave physics, the electromagnetic
properties of matter at microwave frequencies were studied.
Modern techniques were applied to both physics and engineering
research, and in microwave communications, engineering
applications were emphasized.
On July 1, 1946, the Basic Research Division was finally
incorporated in to the new Research Laboratory of Electronics
at MIT.
RLE has been a catalyst for important discoveries expanding
our basic understanding of nature and in the application
of that understanding, a leader in the interdisciplinary
approach to problems in science and engineering, and
the progenitor of research efforts that have grown to
become other major MIT laboratories and centers.
This exciting spirit of discovery continues today.
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