Kenneth L. Carr, 92, passed away peacefully on February 16, 2024, at Riverwoods in Durham, Maine. Born February 15, 1932, in Cambridge, Mass., he was recipient of the 2022 Microwave Pioneer Award from the IEEE's Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S) and an IEEE life member. Carr graduated in 1953 from Tufts University with a B.S. in electrical engineering and continued his graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Northeastern University and the Sloan School of Management at MIT. He received an honorary Doctor of Engineering from Wentworth Institute of Technology, where he served as a trustee for 40 years.
Told by his mother at age 13 that he had just three years to leave home, Carr planned to become an electrician like his father. Then a Sunday school teacher set him on course to become an electrical engineer, spurring his interest in microwaves. Carr's interesting life story follows a long road of overcoming adversity, serving his country and improving the world through technology. Accompanied by a team of devoted colleagues, Carr always made up his mind to "keep going," despite personal tragedies and a betrayal that nearly cost him his life's work. The recipient of 56 U.S. patents, Carr developed a microwave-based system to eliminate blood-borne viruses in the bloodstream, aiming to cure some of the world's deadliest diseases. He told his story in the book, “One Long Road: From Missiles to Medicine.”
Carr developed electrical devices for radar systems used by the military to spot enemy submarines, land fighter planes on aircraft carriers and guide missals. Carr also invented a device to help NASA monitor the re-entry of space capsules during Project Mercury and created an electromagnetic switch that allowed a radar system on a U.S. spy plane to take high-resolution images of Russian missile sites in Cuba. After working with NASA, Carr started his own company in Acton, Mass., called Microwave Medical Systems LLC, in 1985. The company later adopted the name Meridian Medical Systems.