science · 13 April 1888 · 136 years ago
birth
Born 13 Apr 1888; died 12 Feb 1965 at age 76.
U.S. inventor whose development of radio remote control served as the basis for modern missile guidance systems. Son of the noted U.S. mining engineer John Hays Hammond, he established the Hammond Radio Research Laboratory in 1911. By 1914, he had laid the foundations for all subsequent radio control, able to send an unmanned yacht on a successful 120-mile trip from Gloucester to Boston and back. With WW I just begun, Hammond added an anti-interference feature to prevent jamming. He also invented a target-seeking system that allowed a remote-controlled ship to home in on an enemy ship's searchlights; and he began work on the first radio-guided torpedo. By 1916, he had earned over 100 patents.
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