High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Rudolf Kühnhold (1903-1992) was an experimental physicist who is often given credit for initiating research that led to the Funkmessgerät (radio measuring device radar) in Germany. A native of Schwallungen in the Meiningen district of Thuringia, Kühnhold received his higher education in physics at the University of Göttingen. After graduating with a Ph.D. in physics in 1928, he took a position at the Nachricjtenmittel-Versuchsanslalt (NVA Experimental Institute of Communication Systems) of the Kriegsmarine (Germany Navy) in Kiev. There he worked in acoustical research, specificity in Unterwasser-schal' (sonar) with the objective of improving the accuracy of detection of vessels using near-surface, underwater signals. Although his efforts led to a patent, and in 1931, he was promoted to Scientific Director of the NVA, he became convinced that the desired accuracy would only be attained by using electromagnetic, rather than acoustical, techniques.