High Tech Among the Palmettos: The Story of Radiation Inc and How It Changed the Face of South Brevard County - Paperback

by Frank a. Perkins (Author)

In 1950, an electronic company, Radiation, Inc, was founded in the rustic town of Melbourne, Florida. Over the next few years, Radiation achieved a remarkable reputation in many fields, including Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) Telemetry, Instrumentation Systems, large tracking antennas, radar reflectivity, and space hardware, including some still on the moon. This book documents some of the hardware and technological achievements of the company and its amazing cadre of employees. A number of personal memoirs and anecdotes are included, of and by many of these employees. The book also describes the local community of the 1950's and 1960's and how Radiation contributed to its development. In 1957, Radiation merged with Harris Corporation (then Harris-Intertype), whose present business still reflects the Radiation heritage.

Author Biography

Frank Perkins grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated from Georgia Tech in 1951 with a Mechanical Engineering degree. He was almost immediately called into active duty as a Lieutenant in the Army, where he served as instructor in the guidance system of the first US surface to surface guided missile, the Corporal. Upon release from active duty, he worked as an Electronic Engineer at Melpar, RCA and Missileonics (a start-up in Melbourne, Florida), before finding a home at Radiation, Inc in 1959 for the remainder of his career. While there he worked on a variety of systems, including Multiplexers, A/D Converters, Digital Data Processing Systems, PCM Synchronizers, and a variety of Modems. In retirement, he indulged in his interests in foreign travel, fly fishing, photography, writing and combinations of the above. He also became interested in documenting some technology history he and friends had experienced.