Yoji Ito

Yoji Ito (伊藤 庸二, Ito Yoji, 1901–1955) was an engineer and scientist that had a major role in the Japanese development of magnetrons and the Radio Range Finder (RRF – the code name for a radar).

Early years

Yoji Ito was born and raised in Onjuku, a fishing village in the Chiba prefecture of Japan. His father was the primary schoolmaster and encouraged his children to achieve science and mathematics excellence. After graduating in electrical engineering from the Tokyo Imperial University, Ito was commissioned in the Imperial Navy and spent several years in assignments at sea.

At the NTRI

Still in the Navy, Yoji Ito was sent to Germany for graduate study where he was a student of Heinrich Barkhausen at the Dresden Technische Hochschule. Upon completing his Doctor of Engineering degree there in 1929, he was promoted to the rank of Commander and assigned as a researcher at the Naval Technology Research Institute (NTRI) in the Meguro area of Tokyo. The NTRI had been formed in 1922, and was just becoming fully operational when Ito was sent there. Here first-rate scientists, engineers, and technicians were engaged in a wide variety of activities for advancing naval capabilities.