Radio Iowa reports:

A missile range instrumentation ship named after a western Iowa man, who’s considered to be the “Father of Electronic Warfare,” will be christened Saturday afternoon in Mississippi. Howard O. Lorenzen died February of 2000, in Washington State, at the age of 87. Lorenzen grew up and graduated from Atlantic before obtaining a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronic Engineering in 1935 from Iowa State College, before it became known as Iowa State University.

The Seattle Times obituary notes the Atlantic, Iowa native’s advances in wireless communications science, and also his love for amateur radio.

“It was important what he did at NRL,” said his daughter, Susan Black of Redmond. “But he loved ham radio. He was really into that. . . . He got his first call in 1927. He had collected (call) cards from all states and all countries as verified by the Amateur Radio League.”