Ernst Weber (engineer)

Ernst Weber was an Austrian-born electrical engineer who became one of the leading American figures in microwave engineering and in the organization of the engineering profession. Born in Vienna in 1901, he earned degrees at the Technical University of Vienna, worked for Siemens-Schukert, and in 1930 went to the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn as a visiting professor. There he built a research group in microwave measurement, founded the Microwave Research Institute in 1945, and during the Second World War worked on radar and other military projects. His group developed the precision microwave attenuator used to calibrate radar equipment accurately. He served as president of the Polytechnic Institute from 1957 to 1969, led the Institute of Radio Engineers in 1959, and in 1963 became the first president of the IEEE after the merger of the IRE and the AIEE. He died in 1996.