Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Sir Robert Watson-Watt fonds
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Fonds
Repository
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
1935-1959 (Creation)
- Creator
- Watson-Watt, Sir Robert Alexander
Physical description area
Physical description
0.02 m of textual records
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt, developer of radar, was born in Brechin, Forfarshire, on 13 April 1892, the fifth son and youngest of seven children of Patrick Watson Watt, a carpenter and joiner, and his wife, Mary Small Matthew. Both the Watsons and the Watts were Aberdeenshire families, the most illustrious scion of the latter being James Watt, the inventor of the condensing steam engine. Watson Watt first attended Damacre School in Brechin. After winning a local bursary, he attended Brechin high school, and then, with a further bursary, University College, Dundee, then part of the University of St Andrews. He graduated BSc (engineering) in 1912, having won medals in applied mathematics and electrical engineering as well as the class prize in natural philosophy. The last led the professor of natural philosophy, William Peddie, to offer him an assistantship after graduation, and it was Peddie who excited his interest in radio waves.
Custodial history
Scope and content
The fonds consists of a letter, 1959, and memorandum on the possibility of a 'death ray' and 'radar', 1935.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Gift of Sir Robert Watson-Watt, through the good offices of Dr. L.W Brockington.
Arrangement
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Location of originals
2999 (Watson - Watt)
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Open
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
None
Finding aids
Associated materials
Accruals
No further accruals are expected