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ARTHUR HENRY WAYNICK
1 905- 1 982
BY ERIC A. WALKER
ARTHUR H WAYNICK an internationally known scientist, engineer,
and educator, died in London on August 31, 1982. He had retired in
1971 as Director and Founder of the Ionosphere Research Labora-
tory and Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the
Pennsylvania State University. He had also been the first individual
there to hold the A. Robert Noll Distinguished Chair in Electrical
~ · .
Engineering.
His long interest in communications engineering won him distinc-
tion in the field of the ionosphere. He may not have discovered the
ionosphere (Kennelly and Heaviside guessed it was there about the
time Arthur Waynick was born), but he and Appleton and Radcliffe,
at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, first measured it,
described it, and taught us how to use it. In 1948 he organized the
Ionosphere Research Laboratory, which brought together a large
group of experts to study the ionosphere. His expertise in the field
led to involvement in the basic science aspects of the U.S. space
program from its inception. Prior to his appointment to the Pennsyl-
vania State University, Dr. Waynick served on the faculties of Wayne
State, Harvard, and Cambridge universities.
He was born in Spokane, Washington, on November 9, 1905. His
father's small hardware store was bringing slim returns in the 1921
depression, so the family pulled up stakes and moved to Detroit,
answering an ad by Henry Ford offering jobs to mechanics at $5 per
day. Art Waynick developed an interest in radio while he was still in
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
grade school; he got his amateur license, SAW, when he was only
twelve years old. He was in contact with the airship Shenandoah as she
was going down in the Pacific, and also communicated with the
Hir~d~nburg, which caught fire at Lakewood, New Jersey.
However, radio was expensive; he could ill afford the resistors,
condensers, and those new vacuum tubes with which a transmitter
could be built. Money was in such short supply that his uncle gave
him some for a new suit for high school graduation. On that memo-
rable day, however, his mother found him sitting in the audience
instead of on the graduation platform—he had spent the suit money
on a couple of UX 1 1 s for his receiver!
He tried to save money for a college education by building radio
receivers for a small manufacturer, but his money evaporated in the
bank closings of the Depression. It took thirteen years, with his
employer allowing him to work after classes from 3:00 P.M. to 1 1 :00
P.M., for him to put together enough credits to earn a B.S. in physics
from Wayne State University in 1935. It is alleged that his knowl-
edge far exceeded that of his instructors, and he was quickly signed
on as an instructor in physics. At this time he met and married
Lillian Wait, with whom he raised a family of three, two boys and a
girl.
He was at Wayne State for two years, during which time he
became interested in the propagation of high-frequency radio waves
in the atmosphere. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship to study
physics at Cambridge, and he went with great enthusiasm, antici-
pating that his studies would lead to a doctor's degree. His love of
science was fulfilled by his study of the ionosphere in the Cavendish
Laboratory with Appleton and Radcliffe, but all was interrupted by
the start of World War II. His plans had to be changed, and he
returned to the United States in 1939 and became an Assistant
Professor of Physics at Wayne State University.
Another good opportunity appeared in 1940 when Ted Hunt was
putting together what later became the Harvard Underwater Sound
Laboratory, formed to do work on underwater sound for submarine
detection. Joining that group allowed Arthur Waynick to have con-
nections with the Cruft Laboratory and Professors Chaffee and
Pierce and Mimno, who were also interested in radio propagation.
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ARTHUR HENRY WAYNICK
289
While at Harvard, he also received his Sc.D. in communications
engineering in 1943.
The Harvard Underwater Sound Laboratory was asked to work
on the development of an acoustic homing torpedo, and Art's elec-
tronic knowledge was extremely valuable. He devised a biaural lis-
tening system and a servomechanism that would allow the torpedo
to steer toward an acoustic target. This later led to the first of the
acoustic torpedoes, which was launched from an airplane to drop
into the water and then, turning on its steering and propulsion
mechanisms, pursue a rapidly moving submarine. This was one of
the devices that broke the back of the submarine menace in World
War II and led to the formation of the Ordnance Research Labora-
tory, which still serves the Navy from Pennsylvania State University.
Dr. Waynick became the Assistant Director in charge of electronics
at that laboratory.
In 1945 he was able to establish the Ionosphere Research Labora-
tory at Penn State, dealing with his original interests. This labora-
tory, still in existence, deals with the propagation of radio waves
through the ionosphere. Its organization and scientific objectives
were laid out by Dr. Waynick in the late 1940s, and they are still
being followed. The laboratory is a source of much valuable scien-
tific information and has proved to be the educational vehicle by
which many scholars have obtained their doctor's degrees.
Some of his important contributions included participation in the
design, construction, and operation of numerous ground-based and
rocket systems for the exploration of the Earth's upper atmosphere,
particularly in the ionospheric D-region (50-90 kilometers in alti-
tude). These studies resulted in the first definitive models of D-
region ionization and provided a new basis for the prediction of
long-distance radio propagation by the National Bureau of Stand-
ards. They have also greatly improved the understanding of radio
blackouts associated with solar flares and nuclear explosions, to
mention a few.
Work also included the design and construction of facilities for the
first long-wave pulse sounding of the lower ionosphere; planning
and construction of the only combined phase and amplitude wave-
interaction facility in the world for D-region studies; the first rocket
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
experiments involving radio propagation measurements between the
rocket and a separating capsule; and the development of parachute-
borne blunt probes released from ARCAS rockets for the study of
the D-region. The laboratory has also been prolific in presenting
papers throughout the world, in publishing papers, and in issuing
. . · .
engineering and scientific reports.
While this was the mainstream of his career, there were many side
tracks. He was the Program Director for Engineering Science in the
National Science Foundation for two years, and because of his inter-
national connections, it was natural for him to finish his active career
by serving as a Liaison Scientist with the Office of Naval Research in
London, England.
Possibly the most important work he did was as a Delegate from
the United States to the conferences of the International Scientific
Radio Union. He attended conferences in The Hague, Sydney,
London, and Tokyo and was made an Honorary Member of the
U.S. National Committee of the International Scientific Radio
Union.
He served on a number of committees for the National Science
Foundation and the National Research Council. He was invited by
the Space Science Board of the National Academy of Sciences to
assist the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in review-
ing the applications of candidates for science astronauts. He did
committee work for the Institute of Radio Engineers and was a
Director of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
He was a writer on a wide range of subjects, including articles on
engineering education as well as technical papers on the ionosphere
in both the technical press and in more popular magazines. He
served as the Associate Editor of the journal of Geophysical Research as
well as the Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards.
He received many honors and was a Fellow of both the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the American Geophysical
Union. He became a member of the National Academy of Engineer-
ing in 1969.
Although Arthur Waynick was a native-born American and a
very loyal one, his years in England made a great impression on
him. To most of his friends he was the epitome of a true English
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ARTHUR HENRY WAYNICK
291
gentleman, speaking like an Englishman and gradually falling into
the ways of the English. Much of his time in retirement years was
spent in a cottage he owned in Cambridge, England.
None of his friends will forget his courtly bow on being intro-
duced, or his smile and inquiring nod, which said that to him you
were an important person. Who will ever forget his pipe, always
being lighted but never lit? He was the personification of Mr. Chips,
the thoughtful, kindly, studious professor, surely not of science, one
might think, but rather of English literature or some other gentle-
manly discipline. But his quiet penetrating questions on the facts
opened windows that showed the correct way to even the most
belligerent adversary.
He takes his place with the illustrious people who have individu-
ally contributed so much to the benefit of society. His friends and
former students are establishing an annual Waynick Lecture Series
on the ionosphere in his memory.
.
.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
radio propagation
