Rodney Bradshaw Bent

Rodney Bradshaw Bent peacefully passed away on August 15, 2024. Born in Accrington, England on February 9, 1937, to Tom and Betty Bent. His early years were spent at his home in the Haworth Art Gallery where his father worked as the art curator. Tom had hoped his son would become an artist, but Rodney's thirst for math and science led him down a different path.

He attended Hatfield college at Durham University in England where he was the captain of the tennis team and obtained a Bachelor of Science with honors in 1960. While at a university hop, Rodney met his future wife, Sonia Smith, and the two wed on January 3, 1962. In 1964, Rodney earned his PhD in atmospheric physics and the couple welcomed their first son, Jeremy. Rodney became the senior scientific officer for the British government from 1965-1969. Towards the middle of his tenure, Rodney and Sonia welcomed their second son, Timothy. In 1969, Rodney accepted a one-year contract with the United States government and the Bent family moved to Washington, DC. Once there, they welcomed their third son, Adrian. To provide Adrian with needed medical attention at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida, Rodney secured a position as chief scientist for DBA Systems from 1969 - 1970 and as an adjunct professor of physics at Florida Institute of Technology from 1970 - 1973 and the Bent family settled into a home in Indialantic, Florida. In 1972, Rodney started Atlantic Science Corp and continued his research in atmospheric physics authoring The Bent Ionospheric Model that helped in the timing aspect of locating lightning and was later used as a basis for developing GPS timing and location. Being a pioneer in lightning location technology, Rodney founded Atlantic Scientific Corporation in 1977. As president of Atlantic Scientific, Rodney successfully built the company which he sold in 1987. Rodney kept the rights to the lightning location portion of Atlantic Scientific Corporation and founded a third company called Atmospheric Research Systems. As the company's president and CEO, Rodney devoted most of his time in further developing his lightning location system and patented the time of arrival lightning location technology that is the industry standard today. The company soon became profitable, and Rodney sold it to Dynatec Corp. In the sale, Rodney kept the rights to continue his sales in Australia and developed a company called GPATS. Once his no-compete contract expired in the states, Rodney took his existing location technology and further developed its capabilities. Partnering with his son Tim, they founded TOA Systems Inc. which continues to supply lightning location to many global customers.

Rodney is preceded in death by his parents, Tom and Betty, and his brother, Derek. Rodney leaves behind his loving wife, Sonia, of 62 years, his three sons, Jeremy (Jessi), Tim (Sandy), and Adrian, 5 grandchildren, Jessica, Brandon, Colby, Timothy and Christian and 8 great-grandchildren.