Dr. Arthur Oliner, one of Merrimac's three founders, has enjoyed one of the most distinguished careers in the history of the microwave industry. Still active at the company, Dr. Oliner has made many fundamental contributions to microwave technology during his 58 years in the industry. He was the first person to provide an analysis of radiating slots in rectangular waveguide that included both reactive and resistive effects, and the first to prove that a surface wave guided by an open periodic structure would turn into a leaky wave at high frequencies. His new theory of Wood's anomalies on optical grating introduced a guided-wave approach that has is widely used today. Dr. Oliner's approach to the analysis of phased-array antennas was the first to accurately account for all mutual coupling effects and explain scan behavior in both scan planes. In addition, his research in leaky waves led to novel leaky-wave structures for millimeter-wave applications and to the study of leakage effects on microwave integrated circuits.
For his contributions in these and other areas, Dr. Oliner was awarded the Heinrich Hertz Medal in 2000, presented annually by the IEEE to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding contributions to the understanding of electromagnetic waves. He is one of only seven honorary life members of the Microwave Theory and Techniques (MTT) Society of the IEEE, and in 1982 received that society's highest recognition, the Microwave Career Award. He was also the first recipient of the MTT's Distinguished Educator Award, and is a past MTT president and its first Distinguished Lecturer. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, AAAS, and British IEE, and was a Guggenheim Fellow. Dr. Oliner, who began his career at the Polytechnic University of Brooklyn, was also a visiting professor at universities throughout the world, including the University of Washington, Catholic University (Rio de Janeiro), Tokyo Institute of Technology, Huazhong Institute of Science and Technology (China), and the University of Rome. Today at 83, Dr. Oliner is not only still active on Merrimac's board of directors, but in the industry as well.