Walter McAfee

Walter Samuel McAfee (September 2, 1914 – February 18, 1995) was an American scientist and astronomer, notable for participating in the world's first lunar radar echo experiments with Project Diana.

Personal life McAfee was born in Ore City, Texas to African-American parents Luther F. McAfee and Susie A. Johnson; he was the second of their nine children. In 1941, he married Viola Winston, who taught French at the same junior high school in Columbus, Ohio where McAfee taught. McAfee and Winston had two daughters. McAfee died at his home in South Belmar, New Jersey, on February 18, 1995. In 1949, McAfee was awarded his PhD in Physics for his work on nuclear collisions under Hans Bethe.

In 1956 President Dwight D. Eisenhower presented him with one of the first Secretary of the Army Research and Study Fellowships. The fellowship enabled McAfee to spend two years studying radio astronomy at Harvard University. It was here that he participated in Project Diana,

During his time at Fort Monmouth, he lectured in physics and electronics at Monmouth College (now Monmouth University) from 1958 to 1975, and served as a trustee at Brookdale Community College. McAfee also served on the Curriculum Advisory Council of the electronics engineering department at Monmouth and was recognized with an honorary doctorate of science in 1985. A research building at Aberdeen Proving Ground was named in his honor (2011), and he was inducted into the United States Army Materiel Command's Hall of Fame (2015), becoming the first African American to receive that honor. Wiley College inducted McAfee into its Science Hall of Fame.

Selected publications

Walter S. McAfee. Determination of energy spectra of backscattered electrons by use of Everhart's theory. Journal of Applied Physics 47, 1179 (1976); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.322700. Gerald J. Iafrate, Walter S. McAfee, and A. Ballato. Electron backscattering from solids and double layers. Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology 13, 843 (1976); https://doi.org/10.1116/1.569000.