Richard Kirby Interview
Kirby interrupted his college studies of
electrical engineering at the University of
Minnesota to join the Army Signal Corps during
World War II. In service he worked to
improve the reliability of Army High
Frequency. Returning to the US, he worked
for a broadcasting corporation in Missouri
(1946-48), and spent the next two decades (bar
another year at U Minnesota 1950-51) at the
National Bureau of Standards, largely at the
Central Radio Propagation Laboratory. His
research focused on Very High Frequency (VHF)
scatter propagation. He was heavily involved
in international standards-setting organization
like the Comite Consultatif Internation de
Radiocommunications (CCIR) and the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU), working to set
standards for color television, high definition
television, advanced mobile systems, and 3G
mobile. He also was significantly involved
in various IRE and IEEE communications group
activities. In 1969 he became director of
the Institute for Telecommunication Science.
From 1974 to 1994 he went to Geneva to work as
director of ITU’s CCIR.
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2
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Telegrapher at
Western Union and radio amateur as
teenager. Began electrical
engineering at University of
Minnesota in 1941, joined the Army
Signal Corps in 1942, assigned to the
Signal Corps RPU.
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2-3
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Work at RPU to
improve reliability of Army HF during
WWII. Destinations to the Philippines
and Japan. Joined the IRE in 1944
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4
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Joined NBS-CRPL
after the war
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4-7
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Activity in IRE,
IRE-IEEE merge, IEEE Communication
Society
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7-10
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Involvement with
CCIR and ITU
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10-11
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Involvement with
standards organizations for radio
projects
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11-14
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Career at NBS-CRPL:
work on VHF scatter propagation, Dana
Bailey at NBS
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14-16
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Organizational
evolution of the CRPL and Kirby's
career. Retirement from ITU in 1995
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16-17
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NIST and ITU
standards, and the IEEE
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RPU
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Radio Propagation
Unit
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HF
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High Frequency
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NBS
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National Bureau of
Standards
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CRPL
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Central Radio
Propagation Laboratory
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IRE
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Institute of Radio
Engineers
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IEEE
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Institute of
Electric and Electronics Engineers
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CCIR
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Comité
Consultatif International des
Radiocommunications
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ITU
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International
Telecommunications Union
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VHF
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Very High Frequency
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NIST
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National Institute
of Standards and Technology
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