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Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II
A New York Times bestseller! The untold story of the eccentric Wall Street tycoon and the circle of scientific geniuses who helped build the atomic bomb and defeat the Nazis—changing the course of history.
Legendary financier, philanthropist, and society figure Alfred Lee Loomis gathered the most visionary scientific minds of the twentieth century—Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr, Enrico Fermi, and others—at his state-of-the-art laboratory in Tuxedo Park, New York, in the late 1930s. He established a top-secret defense laboratory at MIT and personally bankrolled pioneering research into new, high-powered radar detection systems that helped defeat the German Air Force and U-boats. With Ernest Lawrence, the Nobel Prize–winning physicist, he pushed Franklin Delano Roosevelt to fund research in nuclear fission, which led to the development of the atomic bomb.
Jennet Conant, the granddaughter of James Bryant Conant, one of the leading scientific advisers of World War II, enjoyed unprecedented access to Loomis’ papers, as well as to people intimately involved in his life and work. She pierces through Loomis’ obsessive secrecy and illuminates his role in assuring the Allied victory.
Legendary financier, philanthropist, and society figure Alfred Lee Loomis gathered the most visionary scientific minds of the twentieth century—Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr, Enrico Fermi, and others—at his state-of-the-art laboratory in Tuxedo Park, New York, in the late 1930s. He established a top-secret defense laboratory at MIT and personally bankrolled pioneering research into new, high-powered radar detection systems that helped defeat the German Air Force and U-boats. With Ernest Lawrence, the Nobel Prize–winning physicist, he pushed Franklin Delano Roosevelt to fund research in nuclear fission, which led to the development of the atomic bomb.
Jennet Conant, the granddaughter of James Bryant Conant, one of the leading scientific advisers of World War II, enjoyed unprecedented access to Loomis’ papers, as well as to people intimately involved in his life and work. She pierces through Loomis’ obsessive secrecy and illuminates his role in assuring the Allied victory.
330 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
About the author
Jennet Conant
17 books65 followersJennet Conant is an American non-fiction author and journalist. She has written four best selling books about World War II, three of which have appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list.
Born in Seoul, South Korea and raised in Asia and America, she received a BA degree in Political Theory from Bryn Mawr College in 1982, and double-majored in Philosophy at Haverford College. She completed a Master's degree in Journalism from New York City's Columbia University in 1983. She was awarded a John J. McCloy Fellowship to study politics in Germany.
Conant went on to work at Newsweek magazine for seven years, and wrote profiles for Rolling Stone, Spy magazine, and The New York Times. Additionally, she was a contributing editor for Esquire, GQ, and Vanity Fair, from which she resigned to write her first book, Tuxedo Park. Her profile of James Watson, the co-discoverer of the double-helix, was featured in The Best American Science & Nature Writing 2004.
Born in Seoul, South Korea and raised in Asia and America, she received a BA degree in Political Theory from Bryn Mawr College in 1982, and double-majored in Philosophy at Haverford College. She completed a Master's degree in Journalism from New York City's Columbia University in 1983. She was awarded a John J. McCloy Fellowship to study politics in Germany.
Conant went on to work at Newsweek magazine for seven years, and wrote profiles for Rolling Stone, Spy magazine, and The New York Times. Additionally, she was a contributing editor for Esquire, GQ, and Vanity Fair, from which she resigned to write her first book, Tuxedo Park. Her profile of James Watson, the co-discoverer of the double-helix, was featured in The Best American Science & Nature Writing 2004.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 167 reviews
March 13, 2018
Tuxedo Park was an engaging biography of Alfred Loomis, who at one point was compared to a modern day Benjamin Franklin but in reading this book, I also found parallels to Leonardo Da Vinci, a true Renaissance Man. Although his love was science, Loomis after graduating from law school began working at a prestigious law firm. From there he and his partner, Landon Thorne, took over an international banking firm and became a prestigious Wall Street banker at the time of the depression. Loomis then bought property in Tuxedo Park and was able to build his dream of a science lab and drew some of the greatest scientific minds that were to be an integral part of history prior to World War II and were instrumental in bringing about the Allied victory. Scientists as Ernest Lawrence, Enrico Fermi, Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and many others all flocked to the Palace of Science shepherded by Loomis at Tuxedo Park where they worked on the development of radar and the creation of the Manhattan Project.
Much of this amazing story may have been lost because of the reticence of Alfred Loomis for publicity and the subsequent loss of many key documents. However Jennet Conant grew up with the Loomis children and her grandfather, James Conant, was not only the president of Harvard but a scientist who also worked with all the great minds assembled at Tuxedo Park.
"With close ties in the worlds of finance, government and science, Loomis had virtually unprecedented access to the men who would ultimately decide the country's future."
"Loomis exiled himself from the glittering world of New York society because he wanted to devote all his time to science. He set himself up royally in a castle in Tuxedo Park and financed his own audacious investigations of the stars, the heart, the brain--the secrets of the world. He built his private laboratory not as a shrine to himself, but because he desired nothing more than to be actively involved in the daily research and progress. He provided both the brains and backing for all kinds of inventions medical advances, and scientific studies."
Much of this amazing story may have been lost because of the reticence of Alfred Loomis for publicity and the subsequent loss of many key documents. However Jennet Conant grew up with the Loomis children and her grandfather, James Conant, was not only the president of Harvard but a scientist who also worked with all the great minds assembled at Tuxedo Park.
"With close ties in the worlds of finance, government and science, Loomis had virtually unprecedented access to the men who would ultimately decide the country's future."
"Loomis exiled himself from the glittering world of New York society because he wanted to devote all his time to science. He set himself up royally in a castle in Tuxedo Park and financed his own audacious investigations of the stars, the heart, the brain--the secrets of the world. He built his private laboratory not as a shrine to himself, but because he desired nothing more than to be actively involved in the daily research and progress. He provided both the brains and backing for all kinds of inventions medical advances, and scientific studies."
November 2, 2011
just finished this book and immediately wanted to find out more about the author and to possibly get more info on henry loomis (a living relation of the story's protagonist at the time this book was published). this was a mind blowing read full of amazing stories in scientific research leading up to World War II, including the invention of radar and the cyclotron, the latter being instrumental in the making of the atomic bomb and The Manhattan Project. Alfred Loomis was heretofore unknown to me and has become a personal hero, having helped us win the war with his brilliant mind, personal and scientific connections, and perhaps the most important of all - his generousity with his money along with his dedication of brainpower under difficult time constraints. he was a powerhouse starting off in law, making a fortune via investment in utilities and was one of the few to escape the huge losses of the 1929 crash, all while remaining a top notch inventor at his Tuxedo Park research laboratory in NY. ms Conant tells a complex story about an even more complex individual with grace and apparent ease. not many Americans might be aware of the fact that were it not for people like mr loomis, henry stimson and FDR we could have easily lost the war to Hitler and the Axis Powers. it was never a "given" we would win with our Allies. this book is a must read and a classic for the ages.
June 7, 2012
This is a very interesting but somewhat difficult read. Interesting to learn about the development of radar, something that we take for granted today, but was only developed in the early 1940's. It is now a part of our daily lives (much more than we even realize) but was one of the deciding factors that helped the Allies win WWII and defeat Hitler. Alfred Loomis, creator of many types of radar, was quite a character; one to be heralded for his devotion to science; and yet we hear little or nothing about him in our history books.
Jennet Conant has written a book that introduces us to Loomis, and his enormous contributions to the world of physics. The book is engaging, but is a bit difficult at times when she explains some of the details of physics. I do feel a whole lot smarter (haha) for having muddled through.
(And I finished the book on D-Day!)
Jennet Conant has written a book that introduces us to Loomis, and his enormous contributions to the world of physics. The book is engaging, but is a bit difficult at times when she explains some of the details of physics. I do feel a whole lot smarter (haha) for having muddled through.
(And I finished the book on D-Day!)
January 28, 2023
3.5 * rounded up by the facts of the man. In reviewing any book there are a number of aspects that may be addressed. Reviewers may focus on some or all of plotting, character development or the degree to which the writer has a happy facility with words. In the case of Jannet Conant’s Tuxedo Park : A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II Paperback edition, the character is fascinating, the story, in this case the history, is both important and unlikely but the story telling is conventional.
A headlines only review of the life of Alfred Lee Loomis cannot be that short. Born to privilege, and educated as a lawyer. He was a major financial success in the early years of the creation of electrical distribution companies. He was smart enough to protect his wealth from the depression. As an Army Artillery Officer during World War I he proved himself to be not just a capable engineer, but a weapons designer. After the war he would hold a number of patents, testifying to his mostly self-taught skills in several fields of engineering. He deployed a portion of his wealth creating a very advanced scientific laboratory. Building it on his land at Tuxedo Park in New York. Between his personality, administrative skill, vision and personal capabilities he had the credibility to be respected and sought after by many of the leading scientific names of his generation. Neil Bohr, Enrico Fermi, Albert Einstein were among many top of their fields scientists who respected what his lab, his contacts, money and his understanding could do to further their research.
Loomis was a philanthropist, a player in high society, what we would now call an influencer in high levels of American Politics, a developer. If not a 20th century renaissance man as close to one as one might care to imagine.
Given what would be key roles in a staggering number of critical scientific developments ranging from RADAR, (and its close sister SONAR) and through the Radar to guided ammunition and aircraft instrument landing system and on to the Manhattan Project, it is a shame on the rest of us that his name is not better known. Taking this point a step further, not only was Tuxedo Park a player in early nuclear research, when other university-based research facilities could not secure funding he provided some from his own pockets and the rest from his influence. Such was his ability to move from the top of the scientific community into the upper reaches of government, that the famous letter from Einstein to President Roosevelt happened, was delivered and was properly evaluated, in part because of Loomis. This was the letter that would commit the United states to pursue Nuclear weapon development least the Nazis develop theirs first.
Bottom line is that this was a man of many achievement whose worked for a lot more than hisown ends In being what some call “the last great amateur” he contributed to many projects that help speed American military victory and are still present in 21st century non-war related technology. A biography of Alfred Loomis is necessarily lifted by the facts of the biography.
For all of the advantages she had in the details of her subjects life, I cannot say that Jennet Conant writes to the challenge. I do not agree that the problem was a lack of tension. Loomis could apply brains, personality, huge amounts of money and extensive contacts to the process of overcoming whatever were his challenges. This likely reduced the number of times he was that frustrated. For me it came down to the authors facility with language. I was not taken by her story telling. I was taken by her subject.
A headlines only review of the life of Alfred Lee Loomis cannot be that short. Born to privilege, and educated as a lawyer. He was a major financial success in the early years of the creation of electrical distribution companies. He was smart enough to protect his wealth from the depression. As an Army Artillery Officer during World War I he proved himself to be not just a capable engineer, but a weapons designer. After the war he would hold a number of patents, testifying to his mostly self-taught skills in several fields of engineering. He deployed a portion of his wealth creating a very advanced scientific laboratory. Building it on his land at Tuxedo Park in New York. Between his personality, administrative skill, vision and personal capabilities he had the credibility to be respected and sought after by many of the leading scientific names of his generation. Neil Bohr, Enrico Fermi, Albert Einstein were among many top of their fields scientists who respected what his lab, his contacts, money and his understanding could do to further their research.
Loomis was a philanthropist, a player in high society, what we would now call an influencer in high levels of American Politics, a developer. If not a 20th century renaissance man as close to one as one might care to imagine.
Given what would be key roles in a staggering number of critical scientific developments ranging from RADAR, (and its close sister SONAR) and through the Radar to guided ammunition and aircraft instrument landing system and on to the Manhattan Project, it is a shame on the rest of us that his name is not better known. Taking this point a step further, not only was Tuxedo Park a player in early nuclear research, when other university-based research facilities could not secure funding he provided some from his own pockets and the rest from his influence. Such was his ability to move from the top of the scientific community into the upper reaches of government, that the famous letter from Einstein to President Roosevelt happened, was delivered and was properly evaluated, in part because of Loomis. This was the letter that would commit the United states to pursue Nuclear weapon development least the Nazis develop theirs first.
Bottom line is that this was a man of many achievement whose worked for a lot more than hisown ends In being what some call “the last great amateur” he contributed to many projects that help speed American military victory and are still present in 21st century non-war related technology. A biography of Alfred Loomis is necessarily lifted by the facts of the biography.
For all of the advantages she had in the details of her subjects life, I cannot say that Jennet Conant writes to the challenge. I do not agree that the problem was a lack of tension. Loomis could apply brains, personality, huge amounts of money and extensive contacts to the process of overcoming whatever were his challenges. This likely reduced the number of times he was that frustrated. For me it came down to the authors facility with language. I was not taken by her story telling. I was taken by her subject.
March 10, 2010
This is a book that's well-suited to someone with a good understanding of the history of World War II, as it provides valuable background to the development of radar, Loran and atomic energy. Alfred Loomis was a financier who managed to guard his fortune through the Depression by liquidating assets early. As a result, he established a laboratory for advanced research at his Tuxedo Park mansion, nurturing great scientists like Luis Alvarez, Ernest Lawrence, Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein and George Kistiakowsky. At the same time he nurtured relationships with influential people at MIT, the Carnegie Institute -- and used relatives such as Henry Stimson (who would become Franklin Roosevelt's Secretary of War at the outset of World War II) to push for concrete action.
Conant's book describes in detail how Loomis' work managing the MIT Radiation Laboratory contributed to radar and the allies weaponry in World War II. She also describes the creation of Loran as a precise navigation tool, a technology for which Loomis would receive the U.S. patent.
Conant quotes Vannevar Bush about the value of these technical efforts: "Much has been written about the disagreements between allies during a great war. Little has been written about the deep friendships which appear between comrades in arms of different nations, even among comrades whose efforts, behind the lines, are devoted to placing advanced weapons in the hands of fighting men." This is that story.
Other reviewers have criticized Conant's style as stilted but I can't disagree more. She tells the tale with the background of a suicide of William Richards, a chemistry professor who had been an associate of Loomis -- and who left behind a work of fiction that was very revealing about Loomis' Tuxedo Park laboratory.
Conant's book describes in detail how Loomis' work managing the MIT Radiation Laboratory contributed to radar and the allies weaponry in World War II. She also describes the creation of Loran as a precise navigation tool, a technology for which Loomis would receive the U.S. patent.
Conant quotes Vannevar Bush about the value of these technical efforts: "Much has been written about the disagreements between allies during a great war. Little has been written about the deep friendships which appear between comrades in arms of different nations, even among comrades whose efforts, behind the lines, are devoted to placing advanced weapons in the hands of fighting men." This is that story.
Other reviewers have criticized Conant's style as stilted but I can't disagree more. She tells the tale with the background of a suicide of William Richards, a chemistry professor who had been an associate of Loomis -- and who left behind a work of fiction that was very revealing about Loomis' Tuxedo Park laboratory.
March 30, 2014
A very interesting story but the book provided way too much detail and dragged. It was often difficult to continue reading as the book dragged on and on.
March 22, 2022
The writing is superb, the story fascinating, and the subject a deeply flawed genius who left the world a better place, yet through his personal indulgences destroyed his family. Alfred Loomis was a product of the Gilded Age with an impressive pedigree on both sides. Yet like some many of that class and era their privilege created giant egos and self-proclaimed license to do whatever they wanted as funded by their great fortunes, both inherited and grown. Loomis was product of the best schools (Yale, Harvard law school). He joined the firm of Winthrop Stimson and expanded his wealth to a degree that allowed him to pursue his very expensive hobby, laboratory science. In 1927 Loomis bought his estate in the exclusive, gated community of Tuxedo Park, 40 miles north of New York City. There, he outfitted a state-of-the-art laboratory and plunged into his parallel career.
Loomis pursued his interest in microwave research and electroencephalography. Outside the lab, he indulged activities of his class, yacht racing, a personal hunting preserve on his private island of Hilton Head, and illicit affairs. He ended his marriage by having his wife of 33 years committed to a mental hospital, resulting in estrangement from his sons. Hours after ending his marriage he married a woman 21 years his junior. So, although brilliant there are few redeeming moral qualities to be admired. He did however feel that the rich should repay their debt to society. He was one of the first to provide healthcare to the poor in a degree and quality that had been available only to the rich.
Loomis poured his money and effort into the war effort in his laboratory assembling and financing a team of scientists that would use technology to win the war. In the lab his team helped develop the magnetron, which could broadcast microwave radar beams farther and more precisely than any system in the world. By 1942, Washington started cherry-picking Rad Lab talent for the Manhattan Project, which would develop the atom bomb. In 1945, the Rad Lab closed, and Loomis closed his personal lab and shuttered the Tuxedo Park mansion, leaving it to waste away.
Quotes:
“Loomis was not any easier a father than he was a husband. He set the bar very high when it came to his three sons. After he cashed out of Bonbright, he awarded each of the three boys a substantial share of their inheritance - roughly $1 million - on the theory that it was never too early to begin charting one's own course. The youngest, Henry, was only fourteen when he was given complete financial independence.”
Loomis pursued his interest in microwave research and electroencephalography. Outside the lab, he indulged activities of his class, yacht racing, a personal hunting preserve on his private island of Hilton Head, and illicit affairs. He ended his marriage by having his wife of 33 years committed to a mental hospital, resulting in estrangement from his sons. Hours after ending his marriage he married a woman 21 years his junior. So, although brilliant there are few redeeming moral qualities to be admired. He did however feel that the rich should repay their debt to society. He was one of the first to provide healthcare to the poor in a degree and quality that had been available only to the rich.
Loomis poured his money and effort into the war effort in his laboratory assembling and financing a team of scientists that would use technology to win the war. In the lab his team helped develop the magnetron, which could broadcast microwave radar beams farther and more precisely than any system in the world. By 1942, Washington started cherry-picking Rad Lab talent for the Manhattan Project, which would develop the atom bomb. In 1945, the Rad Lab closed, and Loomis closed his personal lab and shuttered the Tuxedo Park mansion, leaving it to waste away.
Quotes:
“Loomis was not any easier a father than he was a husband. He set the bar very high when it came to his three sons. After he cashed out of Bonbright, he awarded each of the three boys a substantial share of their inheritance - roughly $1 million - on the theory that it was never too early to begin charting one's own course. The youngest, Henry, was only fourteen when he was given complete financial independence.”
August 10, 2020
This book felt like an overdone steak: incredibly dry, tough, and such a waste of a good cut of meat.
The central story of Alfred Loomis is incredibly fascinating, as a man who pulled string and financed some of the largest war research efforts in American history, primarily in the development of radar and in the early stages of the Manhattan Project. Loomis comes from a family of great power and privilege, making millions in the stock market sell-off of the Great Depression, but was incredibly fascinated by scientific research, particularly those in physics. The friends that he kept at Tuxedo Park are a roster of the great 20th century American physicists - Lawrence, Alvarez, Rabi, Compton - and entertained the European elites. With his immensely powerful business connections, Loomis could have done anything, but he had a great passion to support some of the most impactful physical experiments of the early 20th century, while also shying away from the spotlight.
Despite this deeply fascinating, often hidden character, Conant does not do a particularly good job in keeping the biographical viewpoint focused on any single thread. Instead, perhaps because of the sprawling archives with which she had access, the story inside these 300ish pages wanders aimlessly across the entire American war effort. The cast of scientists, government officials, military officers, and businesspeople are myriad and incredibly difficult to keep track of, because most of them don't get more than a few mentions across several dozen pages. There is no narrative throughout the book - I didn't come away feeling as if I had truly understood Loomis, but instead only have caught a glimpse of the immense network of people who he marshaled his power over.
One key aspect that this book does remind me, however, is that American physics is inexorably linked together with the military-industrial complex. For Loomis, this was a given - he had served and seen the crucial nature of scientific discoveries for protecting the homeland from foreign invaders. What does that mean for physicists today? For those working on technologies that may unlock more defensive/strategical advantages for different nation states? While that may be unclear, it is obvious that scientists cannot simply forget that the research they do today shapes our future world.
The central story of Alfred Loomis is incredibly fascinating, as a man who pulled string and financed some of the largest war research efforts in American history, primarily in the development of radar and in the early stages of the Manhattan Project. Loomis comes from a family of great power and privilege, making millions in the stock market sell-off of the Great Depression, but was incredibly fascinated by scientific research, particularly those in physics. The friends that he kept at Tuxedo Park are a roster of the great 20th century American physicists - Lawrence, Alvarez, Rabi, Compton - and entertained the European elites. With his immensely powerful business connections, Loomis could have done anything, but he had a great passion to support some of the most impactful physical experiments of the early 20th century, while also shying away from the spotlight.
Despite this deeply fascinating, often hidden character, Conant does not do a particularly good job in keeping the biographical viewpoint focused on any single thread. Instead, perhaps because of the sprawling archives with which she had access, the story inside these 300ish pages wanders aimlessly across the entire American war effort. The cast of scientists, government officials, military officers, and businesspeople are myriad and incredibly difficult to keep track of, because most of them don't get more than a few mentions across several dozen pages. There is no narrative throughout the book - I didn't come away feeling as if I had truly understood Loomis, but instead only have caught a glimpse of the immense network of people who he marshaled his power over.
One key aspect that this book does remind me, however, is that American physics is inexorably linked together with the military-industrial complex. For Loomis, this was a given - he had served and seen the crucial nature of scientific discoveries for protecting the homeland from foreign invaders. What does that mean for physicists today? For those working on technologies that may unlock more defensive/strategical advantages for different nation states? While that may be unclear, it is obvious that scientists cannot simply forget that the research they do today shapes our future world.
April 29, 2020
Radar helped win World War II, and one little-remembered man was the key to developing it.
He was a privileged young man, a product of Andover, Yale, and Harvard Law and a first cousin and protegé of Henry L. Stimson (who was variously Secretary of State and War under Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt). He made an immense fortune on Wall Street in the 1920s. But his first love was science. Even while helping structure the nation’s electric power industry, he established a lavish private laboratory that attracted leading scientists from all over the world.
Having cashed out of the market before the Crash in 1929, he used his wealth and connections to indulge his wide-ranging scientific interests and gain a following among the world’s leading physicists. And when World War II approached, he played a leading role in assembling the men and resources that produced radar and the atomic bomb in record time—arguably the two most significant inventions that enabled the Allied victory. Though he is little remembered today, it’s no exaggeration to say that Alfred Loomis (1887-1975) helped change the course of World War II. In fact, senior officials who worked with him during the war made exactly that point.
A Who’s Who of science
In Tuxedo Park, Jennet Conant‘s compelling biography of Loomis, you’ll meet a Who’s Who of the scientific establishment of the 1930s and 40s:
Luis Alvarez
George Kistiakowsky
Enrico Fermi
Leo Szilard
Ernest O. Lawrence
All these men—most of them Nobel Prizewinners—were among Alfred Loomis’ friends, collaborators, and beneficiaries of his philanthropy. At one time or another, and often repeatedly over the course of the years, he hosted them for extended periods at his lavishly equipped private scientific laboratory in Tuxedo Park, New York. But Loomis knew the other luminaries in the field, too, including Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, Max Planck, and Werner Heisenberg. (All of them won the Nobel, too.)
The attraction for all these eminent men was, in part, the opportunity to rub shoulders with their peers, and with Loomis himself. But the facility at Tuxedo Park pulled strongly, too. “Whereas today physicists look forward to spending August studying at a school on Lake Como,” Conant writes, “in the 1930s the lucky few received an invitation to spend the summer at Tuxedo Park.”
A brilliant scientist and engineer—without credentials
Loomis helped achieve breakthroughs in several scientific fields:
** Loomis’ principal contribution to society was his work to spearhead the development of radar—and the industrial production that followed. By all accounts, radar was one of the most significant factors in the Allied victory in World War II.
** Through his close friendship with Ernest O. Lawrence, he was a factor in speeding the design of the atomic bomb as well.
** However, Loomis also played a significant role in other scientific advances of the 1930s, including electroencephalography, ultrasound for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes, and the precise determination of time through the use of quartz and other advanced clocks.
For a man with a law degree and a career on Wall Street but no credentials in science, these were remarkable accomplishments. In fact, they would have been extraordinary for any scientist; few ever manage to roam outside their specialties. Loomis won honorary doctorates as a result and was admitted to the National Academy of Sciences.
Radar helped win World War II
Loomis’ most significant contribution lay in the field of radar. Although he also devoted a great deal of time to working with his friend Ernest O. Lawrence on nuclear physics research, he devoted most of his considerable energies to the development of radar during the years of World War II. However, radar was not a single technology but many: as Conant notes, there are “over a hundred distinct radar systems.” Loomis was instrumental as an administrator, and often as an inventor, in helping bring many of them to life, including:
** Radar in ground installations that was used to detect incoming airplanes helped the RAF shoot down hundreds of incoming Luftwaffe bombers.
** Installed on ships at sea, radar that helped the British and American navies locate and destroy German U-boats and turn the tide in the Battle of the Atlantic.
** Radar built into British and American warplanes which allowed them to land in bad weather, saving countless lives like those lost in previous years.
** LORAN developed for long-range navigation that helped the Allies conduct anti-submarine warfare.
** Specialty radar installed along the coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans which provided early warning at great distance about the movement of hostile forces toward American shores.
Conant compares Loomis’ efforts, first at Tuxedo Park and later at the MIT Radiation Laboratory that he helped establish, with the effort to build the atomic bomb. “The Manhattan Project became world famous,” she writes. “The Tizard Mission“—the British team who visited the US in September 1940 to share scientific secrets, including its advanced work on radar—”faded into obscurity. Only the Rad Lab veterans knew better, knew that if radar had not kept the Germans from defeating England, the war might have been over before America entered the contest.” As Lee DuBridge, one of the physicists involved at the Rad Lab (and later the president of CalTech) said, “Radar won the war; the atom bomb ended it.”
He was a privileged young man, a product of Andover, Yale, and Harvard Law and a first cousin and protegé of Henry L. Stimson (who was variously Secretary of State and War under Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt). He made an immense fortune on Wall Street in the 1920s. But his first love was science. Even while helping structure the nation’s electric power industry, he established a lavish private laboratory that attracted leading scientists from all over the world.
Having cashed out of the market before the Crash in 1929, he used his wealth and connections to indulge his wide-ranging scientific interests and gain a following among the world’s leading physicists. And when World War II approached, he played a leading role in assembling the men and resources that produced radar and the atomic bomb in record time—arguably the two most significant inventions that enabled the Allied victory. Though he is little remembered today, it’s no exaggeration to say that Alfred Loomis (1887-1975) helped change the course of World War II. In fact, senior officials who worked with him during the war made exactly that point.
A Who’s Who of science
In Tuxedo Park, Jennet Conant‘s compelling biography of Loomis, you’ll meet a Who’s Who of the scientific establishment of the 1930s and 40s:
Luis Alvarez
George Kistiakowsky
Enrico Fermi
Leo Szilard
Ernest O. Lawrence
All these men—most of them Nobel Prizewinners—were among Alfred Loomis’ friends, collaborators, and beneficiaries of his philanthropy. At one time or another, and often repeatedly over the course of the years, he hosted them for extended periods at his lavishly equipped private scientific laboratory in Tuxedo Park, New York. But Loomis knew the other luminaries in the field, too, including Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, Max Planck, and Werner Heisenberg. (All of them won the Nobel, too.)
The attraction for all these eminent men was, in part, the opportunity to rub shoulders with their peers, and with Loomis himself. But the facility at Tuxedo Park pulled strongly, too. “Whereas today physicists look forward to spending August studying at a school on Lake Como,” Conant writes, “in the 1930s the lucky few received an invitation to spend the summer at Tuxedo Park.”
A brilliant scientist and engineer—without credentials
Loomis helped achieve breakthroughs in several scientific fields:
** Loomis’ principal contribution to society was his work to spearhead the development of radar—and the industrial production that followed. By all accounts, radar was one of the most significant factors in the Allied victory in World War II.
** Through his close friendship with Ernest O. Lawrence, he was a factor in speeding the design of the atomic bomb as well.
** However, Loomis also played a significant role in other scientific advances of the 1930s, including electroencephalography, ultrasound for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes, and the precise determination of time through the use of quartz and other advanced clocks.
For a man with a law degree and a career on Wall Street but no credentials in science, these were remarkable accomplishments. In fact, they would have been extraordinary for any scientist; few ever manage to roam outside their specialties. Loomis won honorary doctorates as a result and was admitted to the National Academy of Sciences.
Radar helped win World War II
Loomis’ most significant contribution lay in the field of radar. Although he also devoted a great deal of time to working with his friend Ernest O. Lawrence on nuclear physics research, he devoted most of his considerable energies to the development of radar during the years of World War II. However, radar was not a single technology but many: as Conant notes, there are “over a hundred distinct radar systems.” Loomis was instrumental as an administrator, and often as an inventor, in helping bring many of them to life, including:
** Radar in ground installations that was used to detect incoming airplanes helped the RAF shoot down hundreds of incoming Luftwaffe bombers.
** Installed on ships at sea, radar that helped the British and American navies locate and destroy German U-boats and turn the tide in the Battle of the Atlantic.
** Radar built into British and American warplanes which allowed them to land in bad weather, saving countless lives like those lost in previous years.
** LORAN developed for long-range navigation that helped the Allies conduct anti-submarine warfare.
** Specialty radar installed along the coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans which provided early warning at great distance about the movement of hostile forces toward American shores.
Conant compares Loomis’ efforts, first at Tuxedo Park and later at the MIT Radiation Laboratory that he helped establish, with the effort to build the atomic bomb. “The Manhattan Project became world famous,” she writes. “The Tizard Mission“—the British team who visited the US in September 1940 to share scientific secrets, including its advanced work on radar—”faded into obscurity. Only the Rad Lab veterans knew better, knew that if radar had not kept the Germans from defeating England, the war might have been over before America entered the contest.” As Lee DuBridge, one of the physicists involved at the Rad Lab (and later the president of CalTech) said, “Radar won the war; the atom bomb ended it.”
October 4, 2011
This is a fascinating look at a little known part of history. The Manhattan project gets all the glory but if not for Mr. Loomis and his radar lab WWII may not have been won by the allies. Loomis is depicted warts and all. His ability to cut through government red tape is a contrast to our world today. I recommend this book not only for what it describes but also for the questions it raises about government research and the military-industrial complex.
March 13, 2010
This is a FASCINATING book. The only problem I had is that I did bog down in parts, some, or a lot, of the science went over my head. BUT, the characters and some of the stories are FASCINATING. The people are brilliant. Their personailities tend to be self centered, so their relationships are usually strained and break apart at some point, which I find very sad.
June 16, 2009
This book was an amazing account of the personal lives of the men who shaped WWII.
March 16, 2018
This is a book about the most important contributor to the development of radar and the atomic bomb that you have never heard of. Who the hell was Alfred Lee Loomis? Secret palace of science that changed the course of WWII, seriously? I picked this up at a used book store in 2002. I was in no hurry to read it so it sat on my shelf for a few years. How could this be really significant? I thought I knew all that was necessary to understand the technological and scientific developments that helped win that terrible war. Boy, was I wrong!
Alfred Loomis was intimately involved with the development of the two most critical technologies responsible for the allied victory in World War II: radar and the atomic bomb. The story of the atomic bomb is well known but the story of radar has not been widely told. Jennet Conant has put together a gripping tale that is full of surprises.
As a successful and wealthy financier Alfred Loomis owned property in the New York state gated community called Tuxedo Park. The tuxedo was named for the community not the other way round. That is where the “secret palace of science” was located. Loomis bought a second home called the Tower House and dedicated it solely to the pursuit of science. Better equipped than what universities had at the time, it became a haven for visiting scientists to do their own research and research that Alfred Loomis was interested in. His collaborators included the well-respected American physicist Dr Robert Wood and Ukrainian-American chemist George Kistiakowsky (later responsible for the implosion method of detonation for the plutonium bomb). Loomis also hosted scientific conferences and the best in their fields came to give talks. It was Albert Einstein who dubbed the house a “palace of science.” Among those who came to Tuxedo Park was Earnest Lawrence. He arrived in 1936 to meet Loomis, see the “palace of science,” and to perhaps see about arranging some funding for his scientific work. Lawrence had been working on a device call a cyclotron for several years and he was trying to get funding for a larger device. Not only was Loomis interested in the cyclotron but he and Lawrence became immediate friends. Loomis sponsored Lawrence’s work and the cyclotron would become a pivotal piece of equipment in the quest to build an atomic bomb; it also got Lawrence a Nobel Prize in 1939.
As a prominent and highly successful financier of public utility projects Loomis had important contacts in the business world. As a successful amateur physicist with his own state-of-the-art laboratory he had important contacts in academia. One of those contacts, MIT president Karl Compton, suggested that Loomis begin to investigate radar early in 1939. As the threat of war descended over Europe Loomis was casting about for something important to become involved in. Even though a solid Republican Loomis was not an isolationist. He would do everything he could to make sure America was as prepared for defense and, if necessary, war. He remembered how difficult it had been for America during WW I. So, by 1939 Loomis was involved in both Lawrence’s cyclotron and radar. Lawrence would have most probably built his 184 inch cyclotron without Loomis’s help but Loomis’s financial support made everything move faster. Lawrence enjoyed bouncing all his ideas off Loomis. They were so close that Loomis actually had a desk at Lawrence’s Berkeley Radiation Lab. It quickly became clear that radar would not progress until a powerful beam of very short wave, 10 cm or less, radiation could be produced. All the devices designed in America were not powerful enough. This is where the astonishing Tizard Mission enters the story. Britain, now at complete industrial capacity, no longer had the ability to add new programs of production. They had newly invented devices that would dramatically improve her war fighting ability but needed the help of the US to put them into the hands of the war fighters. The mission arrived in the US in September of 1940 with one particularly amazing device, the cavity magnetron. The cavity magnetron makes modern radar possible. The British mission met with Loomis and he immediately knew that the magnetron changed everything and he went to work. Almost overnight, by the force of his determination, using his connections in government, industry and academia, using his personal wealth, Loomis started the Radiation Lab at MIT. Lawrence, who had never been politically involved, suddenly became motivated to work in radar. He immediately contacted physicists all over the country to come work on radar and they all said yes. Astonishing! Even before the US was involved in the war Lawrence and Loomis were able to get the top physicists to drop their research and come to newly constructed facilities at MIT and begin work on an enterprise none had ever tried or considered before. It was a startling success.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor the Army had an experimental radar station on Oahu. It was a very large beast with a monstrous antenna and operated at wavelengths in the meter range. It was so experimental their warnings of incoming unknown planes were ignored and the attack on 7 December took US forces by surprise. By the time of the naval battles in the waters around Guadalcanal in November of 1942, less than a year later, much smaller, more powerful and more accurate devices had been installed on the Navy’s ships. Devices had been installed aboard Navy and Army aircraft to track down and kill German subs off the east and gulf coasts of America. This fantastic success is a testament to the indomitable efforts of Loomis and Lawrence and the American (some European refugees too) scientists who came to their call. One of my favorite contributors is Columbia physics professor I.I. Rabi (physics Nobel Prize in 1944). He became head of radar research and when a new proposal for another use for radar was suggested Rabi would always ask, “How many Germans will it kill?” When the atomic bomb project finally started moving forward Oppenheimer began poaching physicists from the radar project. He really wanted Rabi but Rabi refused. He thought radar was more critical to the war effort and he thought the bomb could not be completed in time to matter. However he was too important to be left out of that effort and was made a consultant on the bomb project, the only person to commute from the radar project to the Los Alamos site during the war. He was present for the Trinity test.
The race to begin work on an atomic bomb had been horribly delayed by the ineptitude of Lyman Briggs, the one Roosevelt charged with investigating the possibility. Briggs should have immediately brought it to the attention of the National Academy of Sciences but he didn’t. He sat on it. He did nothing. It was Lawrence who, after becoming dismayed by the delay, began to investigate the possibility on his own in 1940. Lawrence did think uranium could be used to make a bomb and his team of scientists at Berkeley, using the cyclotron, discovered two new transuranic elements: neptunium and plutonium. Lawrence was convinced plutonium could also be used to make a bomb. Still nothing happened with Briggs. Finally British physicist Mark Oliphant came to the US in the summer of 1941. He was a member of a British committee looking into the possibility of an atomic bomb (he also worked on the cavity magnetron) and their assessment was it could and should be done. Briggs had ignored their report and Oliphant wanted to know why. Finally, because of Oliphant, after all that time wasted, the atomic bomb project began to move forward. Finally in the summer of 1942 locations for a site to be used to construct an atomic bomb were scouted. It could have, and should have, happened in the summer of 1941. I think that was a tragedy. Think what might have resulted from an atomic bomb ready for use in August of 1944 instead of 1945. In August of 1944 the Western Allies were still tied up in Normandy. So much death and destruction could have been avoided if Britain and America could have rained atomic bombs on Germany.
This book is primarily a biography of Alfred Loomis describing his upbringing, education, personal life, how he amassed a fortune, became a scientist and a prime participant in the two most critical technological enterprises of the Second World War. We have never heard of him before because he wanted it that way. He did not seek fame or fortune from any of his discoveries and inventions, like Loran navigation. After the war he insisted that the MIT lab be closed. It had been necessary for government to become involved in radar because of the war. Now, after the war, it should go to industry. And a billion dollar industry would be created. In 1945 it would be accidentally discovered by a Raytheon engineer (Raytheon was one of the companies that built radar sets for the military) that microwaves can heat food, another industry was born. And, in 1947, experimenting with microwaves beamed at hydrogen, Willis Lamb would discover the Lamb Shift, greatly further the understanding of quantum electrodynamics and win a Nobel Prize. The cavity magnetron made all that possible. It was the extraordinary collaboration between Britain and the US that won the war and greatly influenced progress in science, industry and the quality of life.
There is a very personal reason Jennet Conant wrote this book: her grandfather, James B Conant, was director of the National Defense Research Committee that oversaw the radar and atomic bomb projects, among others. There is also another family connection that ties directly into the Loomis “palace of science.” It is a very interesting and tragic part of the tale that the author opens this book with. In all I got an extremely fascinating story of the development of radar and the atomic bomb as well as an extremely fascinating look into the life of the man who contributed so much to making those efforts a success: Alfred Lee Loomis. Everyone should read this outstanding book!
I have been deeply interested in how it was America, profoundly resistant to becoming involved in another European war, was actually so prepared to fight by the first year of the war. It is fashionable among historians to tout the dismally small size of the US Army in 1939 and put that forward to demonstrate America’s unpreparedness. And it was true, in 1939 the US Army was pathetic. But it is also true that by 1942, the first year of the war, America was suddenly ready. Not completely ready but able to take the offensive by that first year. Even with the losses at Pearl Harbor the US Navy was ready, two new fast battleships entered action at Guadalcanal by November of 1942. The four carriers lost in 1942 were replaced in 1943. The Army had the men and amphibious craft necessary to launch a major assault on North Africa in November of 1942. And radar was ready in 1942! The atomic bomb project began in 1942 and my research shows me that represents a late start but many don’t see it that way. Jennet Conant’s book is a fabulous contribution to understanding how so many Americans saw the coming storm and made sure America was ready.
For more on the Tizard Mission see The Tizard Mission: The Top-Secret Operation That Changed the Course of World War II by Stephen Phelps
For more on US / British cooperation see Eisenhower's Armies: The American-British Alliance during World War II by Niall Barr
Alfred Loomis was intimately involved with the development of the two most critical technologies responsible for the allied victory in World War II: radar and the atomic bomb. The story of the atomic bomb is well known but the story of radar has not been widely told. Jennet Conant has put together a gripping tale that is full of surprises.
As a successful and wealthy financier Alfred Loomis owned property in the New York state gated community called Tuxedo Park. The tuxedo was named for the community not the other way round. That is where the “secret palace of science” was located. Loomis bought a second home called the Tower House and dedicated it solely to the pursuit of science. Better equipped than what universities had at the time, it became a haven for visiting scientists to do their own research and research that Alfred Loomis was interested in. His collaborators included the well-respected American physicist Dr Robert Wood and Ukrainian-American chemist George Kistiakowsky (later responsible for the implosion method of detonation for the plutonium bomb). Loomis also hosted scientific conferences and the best in their fields came to give talks. It was Albert Einstein who dubbed the house a “palace of science.” Among those who came to Tuxedo Park was Earnest Lawrence. He arrived in 1936 to meet Loomis, see the “palace of science,” and to perhaps see about arranging some funding for his scientific work. Lawrence had been working on a device call a cyclotron for several years and he was trying to get funding for a larger device. Not only was Loomis interested in the cyclotron but he and Lawrence became immediate friends. Loomis sponsored Lawrence’s work and the cyclotron would become a pivotal piece of equipment in the quest to build an atomic bomb; it also got Lawrence a Nobel Prize in 1939.
As a prominent and highly successful financier of public utility projects Loomis had important contacts in the business world. As a successful amateur physicist with his own state-of-the-art laboratory he had important contacts in academia. One of those contacts, MIT president Karl Compton, suggested that Loomis begin to investigate radar early in 1939. As the threat of war descended over Europe Loomis was casting about for something important to become involved in. Even though a solid Republican Loomis was not an isolationist. He would do everything he could to make sure America was as prepared for defense and, if necessary, war. He remembered how difficult it had been for America during WW I. So, by 1939 Loomis was involved in both Lawrence’s cyclotron and radar. Lawrence would have most probably built his 184 inch cyclotron without Loomis’s help but Loomis’s financial support made everything move faster. Lawrence enjoyed bouncing all his ideas off Loomis. They were so close that Loomis actually had a desk at Lawrence’s Berkeley Radiation Lab. It quickly became clear that radar would not progress until a powerful beam of very short wave, 10 cm or less, radiation could be produced. All the devices designed in America were not powerful enough. This is where the astonishing Tizard Mission enters the story. Britain, now at complete industrial capacity, no longer had the ability to add new programs of production. They had newly invented devices that would dramatically improve her war fighting ability but needed the help of the US to put them into the hands of the war fighters. The mission arrived in the US in September of 1940 with one particularly amazing device, the cavity magnetron. The cavity magnetron makes modern radar possible. The British mission met with Loomis and he immediately knew that the magnetron changed everything and he went to work. Almost overnight, by the force of his determination, using his connections in government, industry and academia, using his personal wealth, Loomis started the Radiation Lab at MIT. Lawrence, who had never been politically involved, suddenly became motivated to work in radar. He immediately contacted physicists all over the country to come work on radar and they all said yes. Astonishing! Even before the US was involved in the war Lawrence and Loomis were able to get the top physicists to drop their research and come to newly constructed facilities at MIT and begin work on an enterprise none had ever tried or considered before. It was a startling success.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor the Army had an experimental radar station on Oahu. It was a very large beast with a monstrous antenna and operated at wavelengths in the meter range. It was so experimental their warnings of incoming unknown planes were ignored and the attack on 7 December took US forces by surprise. By the time of the naval battles in the waters around Guadalcanal in November of 1942, less than a year later, much smaller, more powerful and more accurate devices had been installed on the Navy’s ships. Devices had been installed aboard Navy and Army aircraft to track down and kill German subs off the east and gulf coasts of America. This fantastic success is a testament to the indomitable efforts of Loomis and Lawrence and the American (some European refugees too) scientists who came to their call. One of my favorite contributors is Columbia physics professor I.I. Rabi (physics Nobel Prize in 1944). He became head of radar research and when a new proposal for another use for radar was suggested Rabi would always ask, “How many Germans will it kill?” When the atomic bomb project finally started moving forward Oppenheimer began poaching physicists from the radar project. He really wanted Rabi but Rabi refused. He thought radar was more critical to the war effort and he thought the bomb could not be completed in time to matter. However he was too important to be left out of that effort and was made a consultant on the bomb project, the only person to commute from the radar project to the Los Alamos site during the war. He was present for the Trinity test.
The race to begin work on an atomic bomb had been horribly delayed by the ineptitude of Lyman Briggs, the one Roosevelt charged with investigating the possibility. Briggs should have immediately brought it to the attention of the National Academy of Sciences but he didn’t. He sat on it. He did nothing. It was Lawrence who, after becoming dismayed by the delay, began to investigate the possibility on his own in 1940. Lawrence did think uranium could be used to make a bomb and his team of scientists at Berkeley, using the cyclotron, discovered two new transuranic elements: neptunium and plutonium. Lawrence was convinced plutonium could also be used to make a bomb. Still nothing happened with Briggs. Finally British physicist Mark Oliphant came to the US in the summer of 1941. He was a member of a British committee looking into the possibility of an atomic bomb (he also worked on the cavity magnetron) and their assessment was it could and should be done. Briggs had ignored their report and Oliphant wanted to know why. Finally, because of Oliphant, after all that time wasted, the atomic bomb project began to move forward. Finally in the summer of 1942 locations for a site to be used to construct an atomic bomb were scouted. It could have, and should have, happened in the summer of 1941. I think that was a tragedy. Think what might have resulted from an atomic bomb ready for use in August of 1944 instead of 1945. In August of 1944 the Western Allies were still tied up in Normandy. So much death and destruction could have been avoided if Britain and America could have rained atomic bombs on Germany.
This book is primarily a biography of Alfred Loomis describing his upbringing, education, personal life, how he amassed a fortune, became a scientist and a prime participant in the two most critical technological enterprises of the Second World War. We have never heard of him before because he wanted it that way. He did not seek fame or fortune from any of his discoveries and inventions, like Loran navigation. After the war he insisted that the MIT lab be closed. It had been necessary for government to become involved in radar because of the war. Now, after the war, it should go to industry. And a billion dollar industry would be created. In 1945 it would be accidentally discovered by a Raytheon engineer (Raytheon was one of the companies that built radar sets for the military) that microwaves can heat food, another industry was born. And, in 1947, experimenting with microwaves beamed at hydrogen, Willis Lamb would discover the Lamb Shift, greatly further the understanding of quantum electrodynamics and win a Nobel Prize. The cavity magnetron made all that possible. It was the extraordinary collaboration between Britain and the US that won the war and greatly influenced progress in science, industry and the quality of life.
There is a very personal reason Jennet Conant wrote this book: her grandfather, James B Conant, was director of the National Defense Research Committee that oversaw the radar and atomic bomb projects, among others. There is also another family connection that ties directly into the Loomis “palace of science.” It is a very interesting and tragic part of the tale that the author opens this book with. In all I got an extremely fascinating story of the development of radar and the atomic bomb as well as an extremely fascinating look into the life of the man who contributed so much to making those efforts a success: Alfred Lee Loomis. Everyone should read this outstanding book!
I have been deeply interested in how it was America, profoundly resistant to becoming involved in another European war, was actually so prepared to fight by the first year of the war. It is fashionable among historians to tout the dismally small size of the US Army in 1939 and put that forward to demonstrate America’s unpreparedness. And it was true, in 1939 the US Army was pathetic. But it is also true that by 1942, the first year of the war, America was suddenly ready. Not completely ready but able to take the offensive by that first year. Even with the losses at Pearl Harbor the US Navy was ready, two new fast battleships entered action at Guadalcanal by November of 1942. The four carriers lost in 1942 were replaced in 1943. The Army had the men and amphibious craft necessary to launch a major assault on North Africa in November of 1942. And radar was ready in 1942! The atomic bomb project began in 1942 and my research shows me that represents a late start but many don’t see it that way. Jennet Conant’s book is a fabulous contribution to understanding how so many Americans saw the coming storm and made sure America was ready.
For more on the Tizard Mission see The Tizard Mission: The Top-Secret Operation That Changed the Course of World War II by Stephen Phelps
For more on US / British cooperation see Eisenhower's Armies: The American-British Alliance during World War II by Niall Barr
January 19, 2023
The history behind this book is fantastic. As a textbook it would be great. As a novel it was trodden and boring. This was a bookclub book and no one would say anything until it was determined the person who nominated it was not there. Then 12 out of 12 said how horrible it was.
June 1, 2014
It started off with such promise, then quickly plummeted. While I now have a better understanding of how some of the scientific advances of WWII got pushed through because of the dedication of Loomis and other scientists, I haven't any better idea of what those advances are. No where in the book did the author take the time to explain what radar really is- and apparently there are different types! I know about speed radar, a beam (of what?) is sent out, when it hits something, it bounces back, and the speed is then calculated based on how long it takes to return to you. But when they started talking about using radar to identify subs, there was no explanation of how they could distinguish submarines from say, a whale. Or how a pilot was able to land a plane blind but then there's a marathon session on how to fix the glitch that loses the plane in the final descent. Did the pilot get lucky? Or was there some new error that came up? Why did the army and navy want thousands of these blind landing radars when it failed to work for days? What does a magnetron do? What does a cyclotron do? I have some physics background in high school and college, but I've been out of both long enough that I don't remember much about these physics and engineering devices. As an author, YOU NEED TO EXPLAIN THIS STUFF TO YOUR READERS!!! Or else leave it out of the book and talk exclusively about the social aspects of this research and the researchers involved. And what the hell did the relative's suicide at the beginning of the book have to do with anything???
November 11, 2008
I picked this book to read after seeing a reference to it in a recent presentation on renewble energy development. The message was that we need a new Tuxedo park of our century and a man like Loomis to drive the developments needed for the energy crisis of our current situation. I really ejoyed this book, but got a little bored by the details in the secnd half. Unless you have a deep interest in radar technologies and cyclotrons, most of the details will be noise.
Loomis and the other characters are inspirational. They alsways pushed the limits and valued scientific progress for its own sake, even in the midst of financial gloom.
I would reccomend this book if you are into technology, interested in WWII history, or how modern physics including radar, radiation, the atom bomb, radiation therapy, prticle colliders and many others got their start.
Loomis and the other characters are inspirational. They alsways pushed the limits and valued scientific progress for its own sake, even in the midst of financial gloom.
I would reccomend this book if you are into technology, interested in WWII history, or how modern physics including radar, radiation, the atom bomb, radiation therapy, prticle colliders and many others got their start.
September 20, 2012
This was a quick read that told me a story I never even realized I wanted to know and am thankful I now do. It has some great information about physics circa WWII and how one particular individual intersected with so many physicists, even becoming one himself. The personal tie-in was kind of lame and ends early on (making it an even odder mention, like it was a half-baked idea), and there are definitely moments that I wanted more scientific detail, but overall this is about telling the story of an amateur physicist who made a boatload of money and funded a whole lot of science with it, doing a lot of good for a lot of people.
I'd definitely recommend this to fellow physicists wanting a quick, light historical read on the mid-20th C. while only minimally covering the oft-discussed Manhattan Project (it's in there, but it's a sidenote).
I'd definitely recommend this to fellow physicists wanting a quick, light historical read on the mid-20th C. while only minimally covering the oft-discussed Manhattan Project (it's in there, but it's a sidenote).
May 9, 2018
Excerpted from an email from Nancy Welbourn to her granddaughter Katelyn:
Hello, dearest Katelyn. I HAVE to talk to you on the phone, but until the right time comes, I must tell you of how hooked I am on the book, TUXEDO PARK which you found in your Library! Basically, it's about the invention of Radar and the Atom Bomb during the early part of WWII. All of this stuff was going on under everyones noses in Tuxedo, but because of the huge implications of the military necessity of these two items, there was a need for ABSOLUTE SECRECY the whole time. And while the brains behind all this, and the owner of the huge old house, and the large, modern laboratory he built, named Alfred Loomis,was a "socialite" he would have nothing to do with that aspect of life in Tuxedo which was why the place was founded in the first place!
Hello, dearest Katelyn. I HAVE to talk to you on the phone, but until the right time comes, I must tell you of how hooked I am on the book, TUXEDO PARK which you found in your Library! Basically, it's about the invention of Radar and the Atom Bomb during the early part of WWII. All of this stuff was going on under everyones noses in Tuxedo, but because of the huge implications of the military necessity of these two items, there was a need for ABSOLUTE SECRECY the whole time. And while the brains behind all this, and the owner of the huge old house, and the large, modern laboratory he built, named Alfred Loomis,was a "socialite" he would have nothing to do with that aspect of life in Tuxedo which was why the place was founded in the first place!
November 28, 2009
A fascinating history of how a Wall Street financier used his fortune and interest in physics to form a group of world renown scientists that helped developed some of the earliest forms of instruments (cyclotron,radar). What I learned is how influential Alfred Loomis became, so much so that during World War 2 the Roosevelt administration chose him to head up a top secret task force to develop enhanced tools for warfare and how this naturally evolved into the discovery of nuclear fission that was used as a basis for the development of the atom bomb.
September 18, 2010
getting near the end, I am enjoying the historical aspect of this book and some of the personalities even if the main character of this book seems somewhat aloof and unreal. I would give this a solid 3.5/4 stars as the historical aspects are worth the time spent alone. Alfred Loomis was truly a man who knew how to use his vast resources to spur others on to accomplish great things. Not without his own personal foibles Loomis was arguably one of the Driving forces in helping the allies achieve victory in World War II.
October 10, 2016
Excellent book on the Rad Lab and the development of radar technology during World War II. Conant's father was close to Loomis, so the primary sources and perspectives are quite interesting when combined with the author's relaxed writing style. Briefly touches on the Manhattan Project and Loomis's private life but the focus is the radar development problem throughout. Very well written and an excellent reminder that state-sponsored professional science can still learn from motivated and engaged gentlemen scientists too.
June 3, 2016
I threw the book down in disgust at 'They brought about the so-called clock reaction, in which a transparent solution quickly changes to dark blue, and also appeared to be able to change paraffin into a crystalline form'. Three weeks later I picked it up again, but only to close it.
If you want to know what research is going on in a laboratory, or the scientific community in general, it is best not to ask the gossipy secretary of the finance committee.
If you want to know what research is going on in a laboratory, or the scientific community in general, it is best not to ask the gossipy secretary of the finance committee.
June 9, 2009
I had never heard of Alfred Loomis until I read this book, but he was a really remarkable guy. You might call this book a companion to 109 East Palace (which tells the behind the scenes story of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos). This book covers the radar project that preceded it, and in some ways may have been more important to the outcome of the war.
August 8, 2013
Contrary to the misconception that the atomic bomb had anything to do with winning WWII, this book describes the critical part that radar played in the Allied forces victory over Germany. But the book is really about the role of an unsung hero in that effort, Alfred Loomis, lawyer, Wall Street magnate, turned physicist.
October 3, 2007
Very interesting book about the development of Radar. I got the book from my Grandfather, shortly before his passing. I would recommend it to anyone who likes science, technology, and WWII history. It was a very engaging book. Once I started reading it, I had to finish it.
January 24, 2008
I love local history and this book didn't disappoint. This book details a part of Alfred A. Loomis' life and how he played a part in the development of radar and the atomic bomb. He did so out of his house is none other than Tuxedo Park, NY. Awesome book!
April 8, 2010
This was a really interesting chapter of history I was unaware of. Alfred Loomis, a millionaire amateur scientist opened a private laboratory which did important work on the development of radar and the atomic bomb.
May 14, 2011
This was one of the men that made the radar a reality. He was an odd man but had the right interest in science, a first rate lab, and the means to draw all the talent necessary to make the radar happen.
There are a lot of names in this book, but stick with it.
There are a lot of names in this book, but stick with it.
January 3, 2013
This was the first book I read by Jennet Conant, and I found it an amazing piece of history with great insight into the development of nuclear power in a Tuxedo Park, a location which would not seem to be the home of the work that was done there.
October 7, 2009
Fascinating book about a little known aspect of WW II. Very well written although loaded with facts and names it held my interest.
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