In July of 1958, a group of industry pioneers led by William Bazzy and including Ted Saad, Seymour Cohn, Henry Jasik, Ben Lax, Marshall Pease, Tore Anderson and Gersh Wheeler launched Microwave Journal. This year, we'll celebrate our 50th year milestone with a number of monthly print and online features and a commemorative 50th anniversary July issue which will celebrate the people, the companies and the events that have helped to shape the RF/microwave industry during the past half century.


This issue debuts our monthly “Then and Now” cover story, which features a reprinted article from the early years of MWJ that relates to the current month’s editorial theme, followed by an invited article that provides an update to the current state-of-the-art for each technology or product focus. This month’s reprinted article was written by J.L. Allen of MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory and was first published in the May 1962 issue. The title of the article is “Array Radars: A Survey of Their Potential and Their Limitations.” Renowned radar expert and IEEE Life Fellow Eli Brookner authors our guest editorial. The title of his article is “Phased-array Radars: Past, Astounding Breakthroughs, Future Trends.” I hope that you find this retrospective to be informative and enjoyable reading.

The MWJ web site (mwjournal.com) will showcase many new features and improvements this year. We’ll be sure to keep you informed as these are implemented. This month debuts the new “Expert Advice” feature, which represents the next generation of the popular “Ask Harlan” column. In this online resource, MWJ asks a noted industry expert to provide commentary related to the monthly editorial theme. Reader responses will be posted as part of an online dialog for all to share. The first five people to post a qualified response each month will win a copy of the new Artech House book titled The Engineer’s Pocket Reference Guide. This month’s expert is Dr. Vince Rodriguez, Senior Principle Design Engineer with the Field Generation Group of ETS-Lindgren. Check it out on our web site and post your comment soon. I think that you’ll really like this feature (and the reference guide).

In February, watch for our “Company Profile” series, highlighting company spotlights from the early years, accompanied by updated profiles of those companies today. I found it quite interesting how many of these companies have evolved over the decades and several have spawned an entire corporate family tree.

I’m excited about the year ahead and I’m proud to be associated with a publication that has had such tremendous staying power, especially in these times of constant change. Sincere thanks go out to our loyal readers, advertisers and editorial contributors for allowing us to serve this industry for so long. I would be remiss if I did not also thank the MWJ staff, who work hard to keep up with these changes and who consistently deliver quality products in print and online.

Wishing all of our readers a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Carl Sheffres
Publisher