Unveiling and Dedication of IEEE Radar Historic Milestone

An article in the September 2019 issue of the AES Magazine described the background of the IEEE Historic Milestone to mark the invention and first demonstration of the radar by the German inventor Christian Hülsmeyer [1]. On 17 May 1904, Hülsmeyer arranged a demonstration of his invention in Köln (Cologne), Germany, which was reported in the Kölner Tageblatt and Kölnischer Zeitung newspapers the following day. This device was conceived as a means of detecting ship targets, even under conditions of poor visibility, and hence preventing collisions. By the standards of modern radar, it was very crude, using a spark-gap transmitter and a coherer-type receiver. He patented his invention both in Germany and in the U.K. On 19 October 2019, the invention was formally marked as an IEEE Historic Milestone. This article describes the event and the various contributions that came together to make a very special day for IEEE AES and for the worldwide radar community.