Nathan Marcuvitz

Last updated
Nathan Marcuvitz [1]
Nathan Marcuvitz.jpg
Born(1913-12-29)December 29, 1913
Brooklyn, New York
DiedFebruary 14, 2010(2010-02-14) (aged 96)
Naples, Florida
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipU.S.
Alma mater Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn
Awards IEEE Heinrich Hertz Medal (1989)
Scientific career
Fields Electrical engineering, Applied Physics

Nathan Marcuvitz (1913 - 2010) was an American electrical engineer, physicist, and educator who worked in the fields of microwave and electromagnetic field theory. He was head of the experimental group of the Radiation Laboratory (MIT). [2] He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering. [1] He had a PhD in electrical engineering from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. [3]

Contents

Biography

Marcuvitz was born on December 29, 1913, in Brooklyn, New York.

Marcuvitz was a significant figure on the field of electromagnetic waves. [4]

The crucial period in the development of the microwave field occurred during World War II, when the magnetron furnished a reliable source of electromagnetic waves and made radar feasible, but progress was initially slow because designs had employed empirical and cut-and-try procedures. What was needed were quantitative methods for characterizing the geometric structures involved and phrasing those methods in network terms. Marcuvitz headed the experimental group at the M.I.T. Radiation Laboratory, which was responsible for developing an accurate measurement set-up and a new measurement procedure for determining with great precision the network parameters of geometric discontinuities.

He also worked closely with the physicists and mathematicians responsible for the theoretical part of the systematic program, and showed them how to cast their solutions in engineering terms. As a result, the theoretical analyses were phrased in the network terms required for design, and the analytical results were compared with measurements under Marcuvitz' direction. Since Marcuvitz played the key role in coordinating the theoretical and experimental phases, he was asked to be the author of the Waveguide Handbook (1951), which became vol. 10 of the M.I.T. Radiation Laboratory Series.

Marcuvitz is best known as an extremely able microwave field theorist, rather than an experimentalist. This transition from experimentalist to theorist was made easier because of his close association with Julian Schwinger. Soon after his arrival in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Marcuvitz, together with Robert Marshak, who later became President of the City College of New York, rented a house near Harvard Square. Some of the rooms were rented to others who worked at the Radiation Laboratory, and Schwinger was one of those people. This arrangement lasted for only a year.

Schwinger worked during the night and slept all day. Marcuvitz would wake him up at 7:30 P.M., and they would go to dinner. After that they would often discuss their research problems until midnight, after which Marcuvitz would go home to bed and Schwinger would begin his work.

The Waveguide Handbook was one of his major contributions to the field. [4]

Marcuvitz has also made many other significant contributions to electromagnetic waves. These include an explanation of the nature of leaky waves and how to calculate them, a new derivation for small aperture and small obstacle expressions, radial and spherical transmission line theories, new results for propagation through periodic structures, and so on. Some of these studies have been compiled into a comprehensive book, Radiation and Scattering of Waves (1973), coauthored with his former student, L. B. Felsen.

Most of the research projects were conducted under the aegis of the Microwave Research Institute (MRI). This institute became widely regarded internationally as the foremost research organization in the world in microwave field theory. For many years, it attracted post-doctoral researchers from around the world to spend a year or more, coming from such countries as Japan, France, U.S.S.R., Israel, Italy, England, Denmark, Sweden, Hungary, Poland, and Finland. Many of those researchers have since become famous in their own right. MRI was also well known for its series of annual symposia on topics in the forefront of the electronics field, and for the symposium proceedings volumes, 24 in all, that accompanied them.

Not only did MRI produce much important research in microwave field theory, but it also trained a whole generation of microwave engineers. The journal, MicroWaves, in an interview with many microwave engineers in 1968, asked them various questions, including from what school they received their microwave education. One of the article's conclusions was that more microwave engineers graduated from Brooklyn Polytechnic than from any other school, and that the second was M.I.T., with only half as many microwave graduates.

He died February 14, 2010, in Naples, Florida.

Publications

He authored two classic graduate electromagnetic textbooks in electrical engineering literature. In 1951 he authored a textbook titled Waveguide Handbook as volume 10 of MIT Radiation Laboratory Book Series. This textbook summarizes the intensive and systematic research work related to field and network aspects of microwave problems [5] which became a very influential textbook and has been described as "the most important and most widely used book in the history of the microwave field." [6] [7] John David Jackson also described the Waveguide Handbook as "[t]he definitive compendium of formulas and numerical results on discontinuities, junctions, etc., in waveguides" in his textbook Classical Electrodynamics. [8] Waveguide Handbook reissued with errata by IEE in 1986 and 1993. [9] In 1973 he coauthored with Leopold Felsen another textbook titled Radiation and Scattering of Waves which published by Prentice Hall in its Electrical Engineering Series. This was another classic worldwide textbook which immediately became widely used by researchers [10] and has been described as "The Bible" in applied electromagnetism. [11] In 1994 IEEE reissued Radiation and Scattering of Waves as one of its classic reissues in the collection of The IEEE Press Series on Electromagnetic Wave Theory. [12]

Selected honors and awards

Member, National Academy of Engineering, 1978
IEEE Fellow, Heinrich Hertz Medal (Gold Medal and Monetary Award, IEEE highest recognition for electromagnetic waves), (He was the first recipient, 1989)
Microwave Career Award from the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society in 1985 [13]

Family

Son of Samuel and Rebecca M.(Feiner); Married Muriel Spanier, June 30, 1946; 2 children.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waveguide</span> Structure that guides waves efficiently

A waveguide is a structure that guides waves by restricting the transmission of energy to one direction. Common types of waveguides include acoustic waveguides which direct sound, optical waveguides which direct light, and radio-frequency waveguides which direct electromagnetic waves other than light like radio waves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microstrip</span> Conductor–ground plane electrical transmission line

Microstrip is a type of electrical transmission line which can be fabricated with any technology where a conductor is separated from a ground plane by a dielectric layer known as "substrate". Microstrip lines are used to convey microwave-frequency signals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waveguide (radio frequency)</span> Hollow metal pipe used to carry radio waves

In radio-frequency engineering and communications engineering, waveguide is a hollow metal pipe used to carry radio waves. This type of waveguide is used as a transmission line mostly at microwave frequencies, for such purposes as connecting microwave transmitters and receivers to their antennas, in equipment such as microwave ovens, radar sets, satellite communications, and microwave radio links.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constantine A. Balanis</span> American electrical engineer and academic

Constantine A. Balanis is a Greek-born American scientist, educator, author, and Regents Professor at Arizona State University. Born in Trikala, Greece on October 29, 1938. He is best known for his books in the fields of engineering electromagnetics and antenna theory. He emigrated to the United States in 1955, where he studied electrical engineering. He received United States citizenship in 1960.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Roy Whinnery</span> American electrical engineer and educator

John Roy Whinnery was an American electrical engineer and educator who worked in the fields of microwave theory and laser experimentation.

The IEEE Heinrich Hertz Medal was a science award presented by the IEEE for outstanding achievements in the field of electromagnetic waves. The medal was named in honour of German physicist Heinrich Hertz, and was first proposed in 1986 by IEEE Region 8 (Germany) as a centennial recognition of Hertz's work on electromagnetic radiation theory from 1886 to 1891. The medal was first awarded in 1988, and was presented annually until 2001. It was officially discontinued in November 2009.

Leopold B. Felsen was an electrical engineer and physicist known for studies of electromagnetism and wave-based disciplines. He had to flee Germany at 16 due to the Nazis. He has fundamental contributions to applied electromagnetic field analysis.

James R. Wait was a Canadian electrical engineer and engineering physicist. In 1977, he was elected as a member of National Academy of Engineering in Electronics, Communication & Information Systems Engineering for his contributions to electromagnetic propagation engineering as it affects communication and geophysical exploration.

Peter Peet Silvester was an electrical engineer who contributed to understanding of numerical analysis of electromagnetic fields and authored a standard textbook on the subject.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Substrate-integrated waveguide</span> Waveguide formed by posts inserted in a dielectric substrate

A substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) is a synthetic rectangular electromagnetic waveguide formed in a dielectric substrate by densely arraying metallized posts or via holes that connect the upper and lower metal plates of the substrate. The waveguide can be easily fabricated with low-cost mass-production using through-hole techniques, where the post walls consists of via fences. SIW is known to have similar guided wave and mode characteristics to conventional rectangular waveguide with equivalent guide wavelength.

Leaky-wave antenna (LWA) belong to the more general class of traveling wave antenna, that use a traveling wave on a guiding structure as the main radiating mechanism. Traveling-wave antenna fall into two general categories, slow-wave antennas and fast-wave antennas, which are usually referred to as leaky-wave antennas.

The Weber Research Institute is a research group at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University. The institute's research focuses on electromagnetics, including "electromagnetic, acoustic and lightwave propagation, scattering and detection, together with electromagnetic waves and the environment in communication and signaling systems."

Microwave engineering pertains to the study and design of microwave circuits, components, and systems. Fundamental principles are applied to analysis, design and measurement techniques in this field. The short wavelengths involved distinguish this discipline from electronic engineering. This is because there are different interactions with circuits, transmissions and propagation characteristics at microwave frequencies.

Charles Herach Papas was an American applied physicist and electrical engineer, known for his contributions to electromagnetic theory, microwaves, radiophysics, gravitational electromagnetics, astrophysics, guided waves, and remote sensing.

Leonard Lewin was a British telecommunications engineer and educator. Later emigrating to the United States, Lewin became Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. He was the author and holder of 40 patents and wrote, co-wrote, or edited nearly 200 technical publications.

Roger Fuller Harrington is an American electrical engineer and professor emeritus at Syracuse University. He is best known for his contributions to computational electromagnetics with his development of method of moments (MoM). Harrington's 1968 book, Field Computation by Moment Methods, is regarded as a pivotal textbook on the subject.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Method of moments (electromagnetics)</span> Numerical method in computational electromagnetics

The method of moments (MoM), also known as the moment method and method of weighted residuals, is a numerical method in computational electromagnetics. It is used in computer programs that simulate the interaction of electromagnetic fields such as radio waves with matter, for example antenna simulation programs like NEC that calculate the radiation pattern of an antenna. Generally being a frequency-domain method, it involves the projection of an integral equation into a system of linear equations by the application of appropriate boundary conditions. This is done by using discrete meshes as in finite difference and finite element methods, often for the surface. The solutions are represented with the linear combination of pre-defined basis functions; generally, the coefficients of these basis functions are the sought unknowns. Green's functions and Galerkin method play a central role in the method of moments.

Arthur Aaron Oliner was an American physicist and electrical engineer, who was professor emeritus at department of electrical and computer engineering at New York University-Polytechnic. Best known for his contributions to engineering electromagnetics and antenna theory, he is regarded as a pioneer of leaky wave theory and leaky wave antennas.

Akira Ishimaru is a Japanese-American electrical engineer and professor emeritus at Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Washington. He is best known for his contributions to the theory of wave scattering in random media.

References

  1. 1 2 Dr. Nathan Marcuvitz was elected in 1978 as a member of National Academy of Engineering in Electronics, Communication & Information Systems Engineering and Special Fields & Interdisciplinary
  2. "Nathan Marcuvitz - Engineering and Technology History Wiki". 9 February 2016.
  3. "Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering - Polytechnic Institute of New York University - Acalog ACMS™".
  4. 1 2 ©2010 IEEE. Portions reprinted, with permission, from A. Oliner, "Transitions. Dr. Nathan Marcuvitz", IEEE Microwave Magazine, Dec. 2010, pg. 120, http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=05590341.
  5. Omar, A.; Kamel, A. (2011). "The "Waveguide Handbook": Translation of the electromagnetic theory into practical network description". 2011 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium. pp. 1–4. doi:10.1109/MWSYM.2011.5972846. ISBN   978-1-61284-757-3. ISSN   0149-645X. S2CID   43638670.
  6. Fathy, A. E. (2011). "Development of a radial combiner-a tribute to Nathan Marcuvitz". 2011 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium. pp. 1–4. doi:10.1109/MWSYM.2011.5972836. ISBN   978-1-61284-757-3. ISSN   0149-645X. S2CID   35940925.
  7. Oliner, A. (2010). "Dr. Nathan Marcuvitz". IEEE Microwave Magazine. 11 (7): 120–122. doi:10.1109/MMM.2010.938563. ISSN   1557-9581.
  8. Jackson, J. D. (1999). Classical Electrodynamics. Wiley. p. 395. ISBN   978-0-471-30932-1.
  9. Marcuvitz, N. (1993). Waveguide Handbook. IEE. doi:10.1049/PBEW021E. ISBN   9780863410581.
  10. Felsen, L. B.; Marcuvitz, N. (2003). Radiation and Scattering of Waves. Wiley-IEEE. pp. vii–viii. ISBN   978-0-780-31088-9.
  11. Leary, W. E. (2005). "Leopold B. Felsen, 81, Expert on the Properties of Waves, Dies". The New York Times . Retrieved January 30, 2024.
  12. Dudley, D. G. (2006). "The IEEE Series on Electromagnetic Wave Theory". IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine. 48 (6): 126–127. doi:10.1109/MAP.2006.323368. ISSN   1558-4143. S2CID   40484203.
  13. "Past Awardees: Microwave Career Award". IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society. Archived from the original on January 22, 2012. Retrieved November 22, 2011.