MIT Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

MIT's Building 20: The Magical Incubator Story, Anecdote, or Reminiscence

T/R Switch and Mary Baker Eddy

Larry Kilham
larry@ecosensors.com

I recall one of my associates at MIT or ADL telling me in the 60's or 70's about the development of the T/R Switch at the Radiation Lab, a device to allow one antenna to be used for both transmitting and receiving radar signals. Prior to this development, two large antennas, like Mickey Mouse ears, had to be used for transmitting radar bursts and receiving the echoes.

Both the MIT Radiation Lab and the British Royal Radar Establishment were working on the same problem. MIT developed the T/R switch first and was busy bouncing signals off the Christian Science Church dome with only one antenna. They then wanted to tell their British colleagues in a hurry, but then realized that they did not have a preagreed upon code to convey this message to the British. (Their communications back and forth across the Atlantic were generally done by coded messages via public media such as commercial cable).

Then someone hit upon it: "Today we saw Mary Baker Eddy with one eye!" This was soon deciphered by the British team, most senior members of whom had spent time visiting MIT and familiarizing themselves with the Boston area.

Building 20 always thrived on ingenuity among its denizens. I always thought it was because it was so easy to build experiments there - pull wires, bolt things to walls, come and go at any hour...It's hard to imagine how these modern edifices can equal that creative experimental environment, but in these days of virtual reality maybe it doesn't matter much anymore.

With best wishes for the new building,