Not so long ago, the eyes of the whole world were turned to the tiny atoll of Bikini in the Central Pacific, where the history making atomic bomb tests were made. Scientists earned a great deal from those tests, and the results were particularly interesting to those working on the relatively new science, SOFAR, a long-range underwater sound system for locating planes and ship survivors at sea. 

SOFAR is the acronym for “Sound Fixing and Ranging," the under water sound system developed during the war to locate planes and ship survivors at sea and for detecting enemy submarines.

Story told by Dr Philips Thomas, Research Engineer of the Westinghouse Research laboratory