W. D. Hershberger; Pioneer in Radar

W. Delmar Hershberger, a pioneer in developing military radar equipment before World War II and a veteran UCLA faculty member, has died of heart failure. He was 83.

Memorial services will be held today at the Pacific Palisades Presbyterian Church for the UCLA professor emeritus, campus spokesman Tom Tugend said.

Relatives said Hershberger died Sunday of heart failure.

“In the ‘30s, while working for the U.S. Signal Corps, Dr. Hershberger was instrumental in the design and first successful test of radar equipment for the armed forces,” Tugend said. “As an engineer with the Radio Corp. of America, he helped develop the first airborne radar in the United States shortly before World War II.”

Hershberger was issued 50 patents while working in radar and microwave techniques for RCA, where he also played a key role in developing the first working atomic beam clock, which became the universal standard for precise time measurement, Tugend said.

He joined UCLA’s engineering faculty in 1949, teaching and conducting research in electromagnetics. He served as head of UCLA’s electromagnetics laboratory and division in the early 1960s, retired in 1970, but maintained an active association with the university until his death.

Hershberger is survived by his wife, Mary, of Pacific Palisades; a son; two daughters; three brothers; a sister; eight grandchildren and one great-grandson.