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Highstown, New Jersey (Nov. 1998) - Russell C. Newhouse1, a distant Newhouse cousin who passed away in the fall of 1998, made enormous contributions to the advancement of aviation and the defense of our country in a distinguished career running from the late 1920s into the 1970s. Russell was a member of the 5th generation removed from our ancestor Anthony Newhouse (1740-1780), who fought in the American Revolution. Russell died on Oct. 23, 1998 at the age 91 in Highstown, New Jersey. The following article extracts provide the details of Russell's illustrious career: From an article in the Ohio State University MONTHLY (Alumni magazine): "Russell C. Newhouse, BEE'29 MSc'30 (LM), was cited for the landmark contribution to commercial aviation which he started to develop while still attending the University. "Newhouse was co-recipient of the 1967 pioneer Award of the Institute of Electrical Engineers' Aerospace Electronics Systems Group at the Aerospace Electronics Conference in Dayton for his work on the radio altimeter. "Radio altimeters have been used in commercial airlines since 1938 and tell the pilot how far above the ground the plane is. The instrument bounces radio signals from the plane to the ground and back to the plane. "Prior to the development of the radio altimeters, the only instruments available were based on barometer readings and gave only the height of the plane above sea level, with no indication of terrain immediately below the plane. "Newhouse, now Director of Bell Laboratories Kwajalein Field Station in the Marshall Islands, started work on the development of the device while still a senior at the University. He continued his work under a Guggenheim Foundation grant and later while he worked for Bell Laboratories. "An altimeter for commercial use was developed for the Western Electric Company, a subsidiary of the Bell System, under Newhouse's direction in 1937. "It was first publicly demonstrated in 1938, nearly 10 years after Newhouse had worked on the project at the University and nearly 13 years after Lloyd Espenschied, co-recipient of the award, conceived the idea. "The Pioneer Award is presented annually for significant pioneering contributions to the development of electronic navigations systems which are in present use. The contribution must have been made at least 20 years prior to the date of the award. "Newhouse has received other recognition for his work in engineering including the Lawrence B. Speery Award of the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences for his work on the radio altimeter and a distinguished alumnus award from the College of Engineering of the University. "In 1965, he was awarded a plaque by the Federal Aviation Agency for distinguished service on a committee formed at the request of then president John F. Kennedy to study safe and efficient utilization of airspace. "He served as technical consultant on radar to the Office of the Director of Research and Engineering of the Department of Defense in 1958 and 1959. "Other projects that Newhouse has been in charge of development work on include radar, electronic analog and digital computers, radio communication and integrated weapons systems. "He is given credit for the electronic engineering of the Distant Early Warning Line across the Artic portion of North America. "He was appointed director of military development in 1955 and has directed many other military projects at the Bell Laboratories." Delaware, Ohio (1965) - From a newspaper article dated 1965: "Ostrander native Russell C. Newhouse and his wife leave Wednesday for Kwajalein Island, Marshall Islands, Trust Territory of the Pacific, where he will be director of the Kwajalein field station of the Bell Telephone Laboratories for the next two years. "Kwajalein is approximately 2500 miles each from Honolulu and Sydney Australia. "The Kwajalein field station will install and test experimental models of the Nike-X anti-missile defense system, which are under development by the Bell Telephone Laboratories, to provide a defense for the United States against intercontinental ballistic missiles. "The field station is a major part of the U.S. Army's Kwajalein test station which has jurisdiction over the field station and other installations on other islands of the Kwajalein Atoll." Delaware, Ohio (April 29, 1959) - From an article in the Delaware Gazette: Russell Newhouse "will be honored at Ohio State University for his developments in radar and integrated weapon systems which have contributed toward the defense of the North American continent. (He) will receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the College of Engineering, OSU. "Newhouse is a graduate of Ostrander High School and was graduated from Ohio State in 1929 with a degree in Electrical engineering. In his senior year his thesis was on a frequency modulated radio altimeter for aircraft... He was granted a Guggenheim Fellowship to permit graduate work on this subject, and received an M. S. in electrical engineering in 1930. "Newhouse then joined the Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. where he engaged in the development of radio transmitters for civilian and military aircraft. In 1937 he undertook further development of the FM radio altimeter and successfully completed it in 1938. "It was installed in an airline plane and its performance demonstrated to audiences in flights at some major cities over the United States. "Newhouse received the 1938 Lawrence E. Sperry award for this work.... "With the onset of the war emergency, Newhouse was placed in charge of a group of engineers engaged in the development of military airborne radars and computers. Since World War II he has been in charge of development work in the fields of radar, electronic analogue and digital computers, radio communication and integrated weapon systems. "He was responsible for the electronic engineering of the Distant Early Warning Line across the Artic portion of North America. During this assignment, he made four trips along the line from Baffin Island to western Alaska. "Newhouse is now director of Missile Systems Development for the Bell Telephone Laboratories. In this capacity he is responsible for the developments of all the radars of the Nike-Zeus Anti-missile Missle Weapon System. "From 1954 to 1956 he served as a technical consultant, along with Drs. H. R. Skifter and J. B. Wiesner, to the Air Navigation Development Board. He is now a technical consultant on radar to the office of the Director of Research and Engineering, Department of Defense. "He is a fellow of the Institute of Radio Engineers, and a member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. He is a member of the honor societies of Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu and Pi Mu Epsilon, and of the social fraternity Pi Kappa Phi. "Thirteen U. S. Patents have been issued to Newhouse and three more are pending. He has published a number of technical papers and articles, and is listed in Who's Who in Engineering, and American Men of Science." Russell Newhouse retired from Bell Labs in 1971. He then worked as a consultant for the National Academy of Engineering and for Teledyne Brown Engineering & Dynetics. He was a member of the Millburn Township, N. J. School Board for many years and was president of the board for four of those years. Russell is survived by his son Alan Russell Newhouse and three grandchildren. He was born in Clyde, Ohio, as one of five children of Edgar E. and Hazel Bell Russell Newhouse.
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