Bigger than 'the bomb' [Books]

Over the past century, many inventions have changed the world— electric power, telephone, radio, aviation, computers—the list goes on and on. So, one might be forgiven for thinking Robert Buderi guilty of exaggeration when he titled his book on the history of radar the invention that changed the world. But in this compelling and beautifully written account, now available in a paperback version, Buderi makes his title stick. The first half of the book makes a strong case that at key moments in World War II, radar used in early warning, air-to-air detection, anti-submarine warfare, and the proximity fuse tipped the balance to the Allies. That story alone would justify the title. The book also describes the development of the Rad Lab in great detail, with the creation of airborne radar, radar for use in anti-submarine warfare, radar-controlled anti-aircraft guns, and a variety of other technologies, including the all-important proximity fuse. Appropriate attention is paid to the race for higher and higher operating frequencies, which paid off handsomely in naval battles against the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean. The author recounts how the transistor and other solid-state electronics grew in part from Rad Lab work on high-frequency crystal detectors. Anyone seeking a concise guide to the staggeringly complex developments in U.S. telecommunications is unlikely to find anything handier than Alan Stone’s How America Got Online: Politics, Markets, and the Revolution in Telecommunications. From Samuel Morse’s first demonstration of the telegraph in 1837 at New York University to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, it is all—or nearly all—here.