Watson-Watt, Sir Robert Alexander

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Watson-Watt, Sir Robert Alexander

1892-1973

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.

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