Tuxedo Park : A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World
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Tags: atomic bomb, cyclotron, history, loomis, loran, manhattan project, radar, technology, wall street, world war II
- Started reading:
- 14th October 2007
- Finished reading:
- 24th October 2007
Review
Rating: 7
As an electrical engineering students getting an education in the late 60’s, everyone knew the MIT Radiation Series of reference texts. The distinctive black binding of the 27 volume set stood out plainly in the college library engineering section. Quite often a single volume might be used as a text book in a course. At the time all most of us knew about these books was that they documented once classified work from WWII. The specifics of the hardware were well out of date by the 60’s but the theoretical descriptions and fundamentals of electromagnetics based on physical laws were (and still are) excellent references. BTW, the entire set is now available on CDROM for under $500! But, what does all this have to do with Tuxedo Park?
This book is the story of Alfred Loomis who was driving spirit, financier and contributor behind what became the MIT Radiation Lab. As a member of the Loomis family, Jennet Conant was provided unique access to Loomis family materials. As a result she has written the definitive source for Alfred Loomis’ life and role in the development of radar and LORAN navigation.
Loomis was born to privilege and started his career as a Wall Street financier of the 20’s. Along with his partner and life long friend (Landon Thorne), established the first electrical power industry financing company. In the process both men became fabulously wealthy in the boom times of the late 20’s. Loomis had superior foresight throughout his life and one prime example occurred in 1929. Worried that the stock market and economy was over heating and couldn’t be supported by the fundamentals, Loomis moved his personnel wealth into a heavy cash position. In October he was proved right with the stock market crash and economic depression. Disillusioned by much of the government’s reaction to the depression and at the height of his Wall Street leadership, Alfred Loomis completely abandoned his financial career for a life promoting science at his personnel laboratory at Tuxedo Park.