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Memorial Tributes Volume 24 (2022) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

GEORGE W. SWENSON JR.
Pages 342-349

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From page 343...
... GARDNER SUBMITTED BY THE NAE HOME SECRETARY G EORGE W SWENSON JR., a talented electrical ­engineer, r­ adio astronomer, and academic administrator, died February 22, 2017, at the age of 94.
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From page 344...
... He was recruited jointly by the UIUC Electrical Engineering and Astronomy Departments to establish a radio astronomy program and to design and build a radio telescope for observational research by faculty and students. After traveling around the world studying radio astronomy installations in New Zealand, Australia, England, Europe, and the Soviet Union, he conceived, designed, and oversaw the construction of the 400-foot cylindrical radio telescope at the university's Vermillion River Observatory (VRO)
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From page 345...
... They made some of the very first detailed observations of radio signals emitted from Sputnik I, observed the significant ionospheric propagation effects on those signals, and produced the first accurate orbital parameters of the satellite. Those observations were published just a few weeks later in the British journal Nature.1 Excited by the radio science that emerged from these initial observations, George was later able to convince NASA and the Department of Defense to fund the construction at UIUC of two small radio beacons, the Nora-Alice 1 and 2 satellites, which were hurled into orbit bolted to the final stages of ­rockets being used to launch some of the very first military satellites.2 The Nora-Alice observations were used to study radio propagation effects and to probe the structure and electron content of the Earth's ionosphere.
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From page 346...
... George had an uncanny ability to combine his personal interest in wildlife and the wilderness with his professional work. During his early years at the University of Alaska, he parlayed his radio engineering skills into numerous adventures in the high Arctic to repair or adjust faulty radio equipment, including a winter trip in a military DC-3 to an ice island research station floating just 30 miles south of the North Pole.
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From page 347...
... He and Janice donated 80 acres of Keweenaw woods to the Michigan Nature Association; the land is now the Gratiot Lake Overlook Nature Sanctuary. He loved to tell stories about his professional exploits and wilderness adventures and, an excellent writer, in later years he published versions of many of those stories in The Bridge of Eta Kappa Nu, IEEE's international electrical and computer engineering honor society.
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From page 348...
... ; five grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
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Key Terms

  • electrical engineering
  • george loved
  • computer engineering
  • michigan technological
  • technological university

  • radio engineering
  • radio science
  • propagation effects
  • radio telescope
  • ferometers worldwide

  • vro telescope
  • borealis burning
  • nomical radio
  • astronomy career
  • technical work

  • tial observations
  • cylindrical radio
  • eta kappa
  • radio interferometer
  • climbing companions

  • piloting services
  • national committee
  • ately organized
  • island field
  • design committee

  • van nostrand
  • eventually led
  • radio sources
  • national competition
  • wilderness adventures


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