Title
Sean Swords collection of material related to the history of radar
Reference
UK0108 NAEST 144
Date
1904-1989
Creator
Scope and Content
Sean Swords was the author of the book 'the technical history of the beginnings of radar' which was published in 1986 (volume 6 in the IEE's history of technology series). This collection of radar related material was gathered primarily prior to the publication of that volume and comprises much of his research for that book and for his earlier PhD thesis of the same name which was submitted in 1983 (Trinity College, Dublin).
Sean Swords' doctoral thesis was written under the supervision of Professor Brendan Scaife, and Professor Scaife worked with his research student Swords on the study of the early history of radar. A significant amount of the correspondence in this collection is between Scaife and the pioneers of radar and between Professor Scaife and Swords.
The collection contains extensive correspondence with those individuals involved in the radar sector and includes copies of printed material (both published and unpublished) gathered as part of Swords' research. There are also a large number of slides related to radar.
Exent
27 boxes
Admin. history/Biography
Sean Swords was born in Dundrum, County Tipperary, Ireland on 21 November 1930, and received his early education at Clara Vale School, County Wicklow, Christian Brothers' College, Dun Laoghaire and University College, Dublin. He received a commission in the Irish army in 1951, and served as an engineer officer in the signal corps, retiring in 1979 with the rank of commandant, after which he received a commission in the reserve of the officers. While he spent some years with depot signals in the Curragh, over 20 years of his army service were with the air corps at Baldonnell, where he worked with both ground-based and airborne radio-navigational systems. His technical training included courses at the College of Technology, Kevin Street and at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1979 he took up an appointment as lecturer in engineering science at Trinity College.
At Trinity College Sean Swords worked as a research student under the supervision of Professor Brendan Scaife and submitted his PhD thesis on the 'technical history of the beginnings of radar' in 1983. In 1986 he authored a book under the same title which was published by the IEE (volume 6 in its history of technology series).
Persons keyword
Subject
Conditions governing access
Open access
Level of description
sub-fonds
