HUTCHESON, JOHN (1905-1992)

America’s Radar Master During World War II

A person who sent radio signals from the Hector Airport to downtown Fargo in the mid-1920s received national recognition a little over 20 years later for designing a system to send radio signals much further -- from the moon to the earth.  Hutcheson, a master of radio technology, was the “key man in design and engineering of Westinghouse’s vast radar program” during World War II and a founding member of the influential RAND Corporation, a non-profit institution organized to improve American policy and decision-making through research and analysis.  Hutcheson also helped develop equipment for the second atomic bomb test at the Bikini Atoll.