Saad worked at RadLab from August 1942 to December 1945. His first assignment was under Norman Ramsey and later Ed Purcell, in Group 42 studying the low pressure, high power breakdown of waveguide components. From there he moved to Group 53 to work under Jerrold Zacharias devising microwave components that would withstand high altitudes. This project included creating the layout design for radio frequencies used in airborne search and bombing radar heads. Finally, he transferred to the beacon group, number 71, where, under Dr. Riekel, he helped develop X-band beacon waveguide components.
After RadLab he continued work as a radar engineer with the Submarine Signal Company. From there he and a few others, including Dr. Henry Riblet, formed a new company (Microwave Development Labs or MDL) specializing in microwave waveguide technology. Waveguide plumbing would represent a large segment of the microwave activity at this time. Later, he worked at Sylvania Electric Products alongside future Microwave Journal associate editors – Dr. Benjamin Lax and Marshall Pease. Eventually, he started a company of his own, called Sage Laboratories in 1955. In 1958, he joined William Bazzy to launch Microwave Journal, serving as the magazine’s first technical editor. He held positions as editor-in-chief, vice-president and consulting editor up to his retirement in the mid-1990s.
Saad was one of the organizers and first chairman of the Boston chapter of the PGMTT. He was also editor of the society’s The Transactions publication for two and a half years.
The following is an early editorial column written by Saad, originally published in September/ October of 1958. In this piece, Saad shares the Journal's mission statement and goals with his readers. Over half a century later, we strive to uphold his vision and enthusiasm for the industry we serve.
One of the most important policies of "the microwave journal" is to strive for balance of content without diluting the quality of the magazine. In each issue an effort will be made to include a variety of articles rather than articles similar in type or content.
A quick study of the results of our first reader response confirms the original beliefs of the editorial board regarding the need for variety in the magazine. The greatest response indicated a desire for tutorial or survey type papers. In the field of specialization, most of the reader response indicated a desire for papers on antennas. Following these two major groupings, the reader response was greatest in the fields of Ferrites, Solid State (especially parametric amplifiers) and microwave tubes (especially travelling wave types). There were a number of requests for papers on Measurements, Systems, Components, and news items. A happy note was that many readers wanted issues similar to Vol. 1, No. 1.
In future issues there will be the usual engineering papers which will try to feature the three "D's" — designs, dimensions, and data. In addition, there will also be tutorial papers, survey papers, and summary papers.
The regular departments, including the biography, company profile, and business editorial, will also strive for balance between systems people and component people, between the East and the West, and between the large and the small.
In keeping with policy, the next issue will include the second part of Dr. Ginzton's article on "Microwaves," a guest editorial on antennas by Carl Sletten of AFCRC, a paper on masers by William From of Ewen Knight Corporation, and a paper on Ferrite Circulators by Dr. Peter Rizzi of Raytheon.
It may be well to stress here that the papers by From and Rizzi are excellent examples of the type of technical paper that we want to encourage for publication in our journal. They present to the engineer clear descriptions of the working of masers and ferrites, with a minimum of mathematics, and offer him facts and information that he can readily use. It is this type of paper that we expect to feature in each issue of "the microwave journal."
The biography will feature Royden Sanders, President of Sanders Associates, the company profile will describe Litton Industries, and the business editorial will be authored by Dave Ingalls, President of Airtron Inc., a division of Litton Industries.
Your continued response, of course, is essential in keeping us aware as to the needs of the industry. It is our intention to present a balanced program of information to the engineer and his associates. We will include articles with a business flavor as well as information about people and companies.