“It was a secret program, using secret equipment and the experiment itself was classified secret,”
–Miles Burke a former Raytheon Company, U.S. Federal District Court, Los Angeles, May 1963.
Those who join me in reading the Mystery of the Marie: Memoir of How My Childhood Tragedy Surfaced a Cold War Secret learn that a scrapbook reveals a public story of what took the seven to sea. And it was years after the MARIE disappeared that we learn more about the art and science of infrared that took the project-team out to sea and described to me as a science test serving National Security Interests … in the field of, “Communicating over a beam of light.”
There was a great fear of a nuclear Pearl Harbor.
“Communicating over a beam of light“
Also known as the field of “Infrared” which isn’t a top-secret science and technology and can be easily understood within the study of OPTICS and LIGHT.
With the capability of “seeing in the dark,” you can gain a glimpse into the electronic equipment the research project team on the MARIE had the opportunity to work with. We may never know exactly what tests were being conducted when the MARIE disappeared and the men were lost at sea; however, we know that the men were conducting secret scientific undersea experiments expanding the frontiers of infrared.
A simple study of OPTICS and LIGHT and LASERS will go far to gain a perspective on what took the project team to sea in 1960. Given what I think I know today, the mission it seems, was a milestone in a program of projects serving a covert communication systems Dr. Beardsley served to perfect in the Art of the Field for America’s national security capabilities using infrared detection systems on land, under-water, and in the heavens. Very likely, what took Dr. Beardsley and his project team to sea can also trace its roots to a secret program tracing a path to the Letter written by Leo Szilard and signed by Albert Einstein and sent to President Franklin D. Roosevelt 1939.
Image of Department of Energy, https://www.energy.gov/management/august-2-1939-einsteins-letter
INFRARED TODAY
Today, infrared’s use under the sea’s surface is more prevalent. One application, Infrared Photography, uses seeing-in-the-dark photography equipment to capture video footage of an octopus at home in the ocean depths without any disturbing light being emitted (click here). Learn about infrared’s history and other applications by clicking here.
STUDY OF LIGHT & MIRRORS & LASERS
The ruby laser was proven to work in a laboratory not far from Santa Barbara harbor, just days before the MARIE set out. We speculate as to the connection to the MARIE science test and Dr. Beardsley. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_laser
For a greater understanding of the Art of the Field, consider visiting your local Science Museum to gain hands-on knowledge. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light)
RAYTHEON COMPANY
The project team on the MARIE included four staff from the Raytheon Company Santa Barbara, located in Goleta, California, now known more recently as Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (aka: More recently RTX https://www.rtx.com/search-results?filter=ext_source:RTX&query=space-and-airborne-systems).
With the MARIE, Raytheon hired from a local sporting goods store, McCaffrey Brothers, to transport their project team and equipment to a selection of areas off Santa Cruz Island; services to include a transport vessel, two scuba divers (one could double as the ship’s captain), and scuba diving equipment for four. The operation destined for Santa Cruz Island’s Smuggler’s Cove never returned after their sunrise departure on June 7, 1960.
Raytheon Company is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security, and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning over 97 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, and other capabilities in the areas of sensing, effects, command, control, communications, and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 73,000 people worldwide.
(Memorial scholarships were initially established to honor Raytheon Company employees lost at sea in the MARIE tragedy in June 1960. The scholarships have been awarded annually to University of California, Santa Barbara, engineering students in memory of James C. Russell, Niel F. Beardsley, Harold H. Mackie Jr., and Diego S. Terres Jr. since the School of Engineering at the University of California’s Santa Barbara campus admitted its first students fall 1961. But, has since been ceased.)
MARIE LEGACY & THE COLD WAR:
The MARIE and its Raytheon-related project team disappeared serving an effort during a HOT time in the COLD WAR; yet, after years . . . we know so little.
Join me on this journey in the revelation of the … MARIE EVENT’s Legacy!
Sources:
* Image above: Jim Russell and Jim Terres in front of the Raytheon Company, Santa Barbara 1960. (c) Copyright Terres Family Archives all rights. reserved.
* Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, (aka: More recently as RTX https://www.rtx.com/search-results?filter=ext_source:RTX&query=space%20and%20airborn%20systems).
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared#/media/File:Ir_girl.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_vision#/media/File:Nightvision.jpg)
* Infrared: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared#History_of_infrared_science
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light
* Image of Department of Energy, https://www.energy.gov/management/august-2-1939-einsteins-letter, https://www.energy.gov/management/august-2-1939-einsteins-letter
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein–Szilard_letter
Marie Event Remembered:
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