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Born in Brechin in the county of Angus, Scotland, he was a descendant of James Watt, the famous engineer and inventor of the practical steam engine.
After attending public school in Brechin, he was accepted to University of Dundee (which was then part of the University of St Andrews). He graduated with a BSc in engineering in 1912, and was offered an assistantship by Professor William Peddie. It Peddie who encouraged him to study radio, or "wireless telegraphy" as it was then known.
In 1915 Watson-Watt wanted a job with the War Office, but nothing obvious was available in communications. Instead he joined the Meteorological Office, who were interested in his ideas on the use of radio for the detection of thunderstorms. LightningFor alternate meanings, see Lightning (disambiguation). Lightning is a powerful natural electrostatic discharge produced during a thunderstorm. Lightning's abrupt electric discharge is accompanied by the emission of light. The electricity passing through gives off a radio signal as it ionizes the air, and he planned on detecting this signal in order to warn pilots of approaching thunderstorms.
His early experiments were successful in detecting the signal, and he quickly proved to be able to do so at long ranges. Two problems remained however. The first was locating the signal, and thus the direction to the storm. This was solved with the use of a directional antenna, which could be manually turned to maximize (or minimize) the signal, thus "pointing" to the storm. Once this was solved the equally difficult problem of actually seeing the fleeting signal became obvious, which he solved with the use of a cathode-ray oscilloscopeAn oscilloscope or scope is an electronic measuring instrument that creates a visible two-dimensional graph of one or more electrical potential differences. The horizontal axis of the display normally represents time, making the instrument useful for disps with a long-lasting phosphorPhosphorus is the chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol P and atomic number 15. A multivalent, nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus is commonly found in inorganic phosphate rocks and in all living cells but is never naturally fo. Such a system represented the majority of a complete radar system, and was in use as early as 1923.
At first he worked at a site in FarnboroughThere are several places named Farnborough United Kingdom Farnborough, Greater London Farnborough, Hampshire Farnborough, Warwickshire Farnborough, West Berkshire., but in 1924Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 See also 1924 in aviation 1924 in film 1924 in literature 1924 in mu a new research centre was set up at Ditton Park near SloughFor slough (In the UK, pronounced to rhyme with bough; In the US, pronounced 'slew') as a type of aquatic feature, see Slough (wetland). Slough (pronounced to rhyme with bough) is a town and unitary authority in the county of Berkshire in the south of Eng (to the west of LondonLondon is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England, and with over seven million inhabitants in the Greater London area, is the second-most populous conurbation in Europe (after Moscow). From being Londinium the capital of the Roman province of Bri) where he moved. The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) also had a research station there, and in 1927 they were amalgamated as the Radio Research Station, with Watson-Watt in charge. After a further re-organisation in 1933, Watson-Watt became Superintendent of the Radio Department of NPL in Teddington.