| Dr. Walter S. McAfee |
| Biography provided by InfoAge |
Walter S. McAfee is the
African American
mathematician and physicist
who first calculated the
speed of the moon. McAfee
participated in Project Diana
in the 1940s - a U.S. Army
program, created to
determine whether a high
frequency radio signal could
penetrate the earth's outer
atmosphere. To test this,
scientists wanted to bounce
a radar signal off the moon
and back to earth. But the
moon was a swiftly moving
target, impossible to hit
without knowing its exact
speed. McAfee made the
necessary calculations, and
on January 10, 1946,
the team sent a radar pulse
through a special 40-feet
square antenna towards the
moon. Two and a half
seconds later, they received
a faint signal, proving that
transmissions from earth could
cross the vast distances of
outer space. Official news of
this scientific breakthrough did
not include McAfee's name,
nor was there any recognition
of the essential role he
played. But Americans could
not have walked on the
moon had it not been for
Walter S. McAfee and his
calculations.
African American
mathematician and physicist
who first calculated the
speed of the moon. McAfee
participated in Project Diana
in the 1940s - a U.S. Army
program, created to
determine whether a high
frequency radio signal could
penetrate the earth's outer
atmosphere. To test this,
scientists wanted to bounce
a radar signal off the moon
and back to earth. But the
moon was a swiftly moving
target, impossible to hit
without knowing its exact
speed. McAfee made the
necessary calculations, and
on January 10, 1946,
the team sent a radar pulse
through a special 40-feet
square antenna towards the
moon. Two and a half
seconds later, they received
a faint signal, proving that
transmissions from earth could
cross the vast distances of
outer space. Official news of
this scientific breakthrough did
not include McAfee's name,
nor was there any recognition
of the essential role he
played. But Americans could
not have walked on the
moon had it not been for
Walter S. McAfee and his
calculations.