Dr. Walter McAfee June 2012 Unheard Voices Pioneer

As a retired computer scientist and college professor, I decided to add a new section to the Unheard Voices community that focuses on African Americans pioneers past and present. These pioneers play or have played an important role in American society whether on the international, national or local level.

Introduction

During World War II, Dr. Walter S. McAfee was a member of the U.S. Army Signal Corp Engineering Laboratories. There, he distinguished himself in electromagnetism and radars. He was a member of the Project Diana team that was responsible for the first lunar radar echo experiments in 1946. The goal of Project Diana was to determine if a high frequency radio signal could penetrate the outer atmosphere of the earth. The solution was to send a radar signal to the moon and bounce it back to earth. For this, they needed an accurate computation of the velocity of a position on the moon relative to a position on the earth.

Dr. McAfee performed the calculations, and on Jan. 10, 1946, the experiment was successfully conducted. Unfortunately, McAfee’s contributions to Project Diana (even his name) were not mentioned in news reports about the experiment.

About Dr. Walter McAfee

Dr. Walter McAfee was an astronomer and scientist who was an advisor to the U.S. Army Electronics Research and Development Command. For 42 years he worked for the government at New Jersey’s Fort Monmouth including service as director of a NATO study on surveillance and target acquisition. He was also a scientific advisor to the U.S. Army Electronics Research and Development Command. He lectured in atomic and nuclear physic and solid state electronics at Monmouth College from 1958 to 1975.

Education

McAfee attended Wiley College, graduating with a bachelor of science in mathematics in 1934. Following his undergraduate work, McAfee attended Ohio State University and earned his masters of science in 1937. After his work on Project Diana, McAfee returned to school. In 1949, he earned a PhD in Physics from Cornell University.

Awards Dr. Walter McAfee received

Dr. McAfee was awarded an honorary doctorate in science from Monmouth University in 1958, and the Steven’s Award from Steven’s Institute of Technology in 1985.

Dr. Walter McAfee received the Rosenwald Fellowship in Nuclear Physics and the Secretary of the Army Fellowship, presented by President Eisenhower at a White House ceremony. The fellowship enabled McAfee to study radio astronomy for two years at Harvard University.

Dr. McAfee is listed in “American Men and Women of Science,” “Who’s Who in the East,” and “Who’s Who among Black Americans. ”

McAfee was born in 1914 in Texas.

In 1935, McAfee met Viola in Columbus Ohio. In 1941, Walter and Viola married and subsequently they moved to South Belmar, New Jersey. The couple had two daughters from that union.

Just prior to his retirement, Dr. McAfee contracted glaucoma and in time he became blind where he died from cancer on February 18, 1995.

Dr. McAfee was recently honored at the InfoAge Learning Center at Camp Evans in Wall, N.J. during the InfoAge Wall of Honor ceremony where he served as one of the most brilliant scientists that came out of Camp Evans 56 years of existence.

In the photo on the right sits Viola McAfee [left], McAfee’s daughters, Mercedes McAfee and Marsha Ann Bera-Morris. In this picture they are attending a ceremony in honor of the dedication of a Fort Monmouth building, the McAfee Center, to her late husband. The building housed the Information and lntelligence Electronic Warfare Directorate of CECOM’s Research, Development and Engineering before closing in Sept 2011.

Racism

It was the norm in America for African Americans to be left out in American history. While working at the Fort Monmouth Camp Evans as a young scientist from 1982 to 1997, I learned that Mr. McAfee was badly discriminated against and unfairly treated by his peers. It was strange to me that McAfee’s name was almost non existent especially after learning that he was a genius in the scientific field. Many engineers and scientists said that it was the constant stress put upon Dr. McAfee that caused his life to end from cancer on Feb. 18, 1995.

In 1997 the newly built McAfee Center opened its doors at Fort Monmouth in honor of Dr. Walter McAfee. I had mixed emotions because although I was thrilled to see his picture hanging at the front entrance and to have an African American honored, I disliked the fact he had to battle racism on his way to success.

Dr. Walter McAfee was and still is a true pioneer to Americans all across this nation and world. His brilliant mathematical mind and scientific discovery changed the course of science and technology.

Visit the Information Age Learning center in Wall, New Jersey to learn more about Dr. Walter McAfee accomplishments.

He is a true Unheard Voices Pioneer.

Source: InfoAge Center