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STUART LAWRENCE BAILEY 1905-1984 BY ALEXANDER H. FLAX STUART LAWRENCE BAILEY former presiclent of Tanaka and Bailey, Inc., anct vice-presiclent of the Atiantic Research Cor- poration until his retirement in 1970, ctied on August Il. 1984, at the age of seventy-eight. Bailey was known for his outstanding personal contributions and pioneering work in three main areas: (~) the development of air navigation radio aids; (2) radio signal propagation measurements, which were applied to the design and location of broadcasting stations; (3) the development of transmission standards for service and interference in AM and FM radio and in television broadcasting. Stuart Bailey was born on October 7, 1905, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He received a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1927 and an M.S. in electrical engineering the following year. As an undergraduate, he was active on the staff of W9XT, an experimental radio station at the university. During his graduate work, Bailey was the chief engineer of radio station WEB, which was ownect and oper- atecl by the university. It was also (luring these years at the University of Minnesota that Bailey met C. M. Jansky, who was later to play a major role in his professional and personal life. Bailey spent three years (1928-1930) in Minnesota work- 3
4 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES ing for the U.S. Department of Commerce as a radio engi- neer in the Lighthouse Service and Airways Division. In 1929 he went to Panama to install two automatic marine ra- dio beacons, one at the entrance to Cristobal Harbor and the other at Cape Mala, 120 miles south of Balboa. In 1930 his former professor C. M. {ansky contacted him and together they founded Jansky & Bailey, Inc., which pio- neered many advances in radio technology over the years. It completes] some early work on directional antennas and helped map UHF educational television networks for twenty- one different states. Between 1938 and 1946 the company built and subsequently operated the nation's third and Washington's first FM radio station, W3XO, which is WINX-FM. Stuart Bailey was president of Jansky & Bailey, Inc., from 1953 to 1959, when the company was acquired by Atlantic Research Corporation. He continuer! working for Atlantic Research until 1970, when he retired as the vice-president and general manager of its electronics and communications division. He continued working as a consultant to the firm for the next ten years. Stuart Bailey was an excellent organizer and the leader of numerous engineering projects ant] investigations. He dis- playecl exceptional leadership and organizational skills clur- ing World War II in connection with radio frequency anti- jamming practices. After the war, he was a member of various advisory committees dealing with color television, ra- dio propagation, and telecommunications in general. During World War IT Bailey was put in charge of all gov- ernment contract work performed by Jansky & Bailey, Inc., a great deal of which was done uncler the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development. This work involved a detailed study of all the factors that affect mobile, short- range radio communication, a stucly of the effects of hills and trees as obstructions to radio transmission from 4 to ~ 16 me- gacycles, anct a detailect analysis of electronic equipment to
STUART LAWRENCE BAILEY 5 determine those characteristics that are important to its op- eration by the armed services. In addition, under a Signal Corps contract, Bailey super- visect the firm's work on the measurement of many existing and proposed radio antennas for use by the armed forces. He participated in determining the levels of vulnerability to radio transmission jamming of particular pieces of U.S. and captured enemy equipment and also helped to develop methods of reducing the vulnerability levels. In June 1947 Mr. Bailey receiver! a citation from the secretaries of war and navy for his contributions to the U.S. Office of Scientific Re- search and Development. Bailey's outstanding achievements included his work for IBM Corporation on the "radio-electric typewriter" in the late 1930s and his assistance to Bell Telephone Laboratories in its selection of the National Raclio Astronomy Observatory site in Green Bank, West Virginia. During the 1950s he worked on the Dual-ex system of mobile radio teletype digi- tal record communication (the genesis of the Teleproducts Test Equipment Division, which has become a division of At- lantic Research Corporation). He assisted in the cievelop- ment of transmission standards for the broadcast industry in cooperation with the Federal Communications Commission and also supervised a multiyear tropical signal propagation measuring program in Thailand for the Advancecl Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense. Stuart Bailey was active in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (lEEE), becoming an associate mem- ber in 192S, a member in 1936, a senior member in 193S, and a fellow in that same year. He served as the treasurer of {EKE in 194S, 1961, and 1962 and was elected! its president in 1949. He was also a member of the board of directors from 1943 to 1955 and from 196 ~ to 1962. Mr. Bailey was an active participant in numerous in(lus- trial, governmental, and international committees relating to FM transmission standards, television, propagation in all
6 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES ranges of the spectrum, and proposals for regulation. He was consistently well prepared and well informed on the issues, and as a result, he was always an active, intelligent contributor. The work of these committees invariably per- tained to highly technical matters, the sense and an under- standing of which Bailey was always able to convey in clear, concise language, thus commanding the respect of his fellows. Stuart Bailey served on the executive committee of the U.S. National Committee of the International Scientific Ra- dio Union. He was chairman of the American Standards As- sociation Sectional Committee on Radio (C-16) from 1953 to 1954 and a member of the board of the Engineer's Joint Council from 1964 to 1966. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1973 for "outstanding pioneer- ing work in radio signal propagation measurements and their application to station design and location." Other hon- ors bestowed on him included the Outstanding Achievement Awarcl from the University of Minnesota in 1956 for "leacl- ership in development of ractio and television." The univer- sity further recognized him as a "worldwide leacler in the de- velopment of radio and television, ever striving to perfect the stanclards of radio engineering." lust before being hospitalized in 1984, Stuart Bailey at- tended the IEEE's centennial celebration in Boston, where he received the Centennial Gold Mecial Award for "extraorcti- nary achievement deserving of special recognition." Bailey was a member of Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi, anti Eta Kappa Nu. In ad(lition, he belonged to the Cosmos Club anti the Broad- cast Pioneers. He was a registered professional engineer in the District of Columbia. Stuart Bailey has been described as a man who loved life and lived it to the fullest. He was a gentle man and treated his employees with a respect that inspired their confidence and loyalty. His family meant a great clear to him, and he maintained strong ties with them. His wife, Carol Sue Bailey,
STUART LAWRENCE BAILEY 7 ctied in 1980. He is survived by his brother Richard Bailey and sister Dorothy Thomas. Stuart Bailey will be remembered ,foncIly by the numerous friends he maintained through his professional, church, and . . · . . civic activities. This tribute is based on biographical materials that appeared in the professional, technical, and general press. It was written by the NAE Membership Office under the editorial direction of the academy's home secretary.