Tuxedo Park : A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II

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Summary: The Physics of World War II Revealed
Review: Did you know that a man's Tuxedo suit was named for the soirees at this luxurious secret palace called Tuxedo Park in New York? Up on the hill in this suburb, the top scientists of the US joined together to create technology that enabled us to triumph in World War II. Alfred Lee Loomis the protagonist in this nonfiction story that often reads like a novel gathered phyicists together to create advanced radar systems and much more. The real intrigue is behind the scene though where the gossip, the parties and the affairs show how human these brilliant men really were. Conent, a New York writer is a descendant of one of those famous men and she chronicles the era with flair and precision.

Rating:
Summary: Slow going
Review: I stumbled upon this book at one of the many geek sites I visit on the web and immediately ordered it. When it arrived I read it straight through. While I consider myself a trivia geek I had never heard about Alfred Lee Loomis. Alfred was a brilliant man who enjoyed success in several areas. After making millions in banking and finance he pursued his true love in science. We are indebted to him in several areas which contributed to our winning the second world war. This is a good read about a fascinating person who made a major contribution that changed the world.

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Summary: Life changing....what a life this man lived.
Review: Never have I read something so exciting, meaty, romantic and adventurous. This is the life I can only imagine living. Loomis had it all, good looks, intelligence, but most of all...class and style. His way of life gives insight into what good breeding is all about. More than that, his ability to use common sense in dealing with business, and science and every aspect of his life and relationships gave me the confidence to venture out a little further and try and reach for the apple way up at the top of the tree. Reading this book forever changed my life and I tried to find a way to send the author, Jennet conant, a letter telling her that but I could not find her address on the website, so I guess this will have to do.

Jennet, even after death, Alfred Loomis continues to succeed, your story is worthy of his calibre. Beautiful.

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Summary: Conant fails to tell the truth about Loomis: uncritical
Review: Nowhere in the book does Conant talk about how Loomis used his regulated utility holdings to subsidize the unregulated holdings... and he charged regulated customers for the subsidiaries' huge profits. The Public Utilities Holding Companies Act (PUHCA) of the 1930's was enacted and made illegal the very things that Loomis made his fortune on. Check out the SEC for PUHCA. But there is no mention of this. Conant writes a biased and uncritical account of one of her relatives. Bad.
Also, many scholars attribute the Public Utility Holding Companies with causing the Stock Market Crash of '29. And Loomis was at the head of this. Nowhere does Conant mention this.
Also poorly written. Incoherent writing style that blends scientific writing with prose. makes for muddled and unnatural reading. Also fails to describe sufficiently, important scientific advances discussed in the book, namely the Cyclotron, which I had to go look up what it was. bad

Rating:
Summary: A very poorly written story
Review: The subject of Tuxedo Park, Alfred Loomis, is an absolutely fascinating individual whose life story is so unique and so amazing that, were this book fiction, the reader would likely not believe it. Loomis, who undoubtedly was a brilliant left-brained rational thinker, was educated as a lawyer, rose through the ranks of a law firm, then quit to become one of the wealthiest bankers on Wall Street. He foresaw the 1929 stock market crash and cashed out beforehand, and then gave up his finance career to educate himself so that he could work on the very leading edge of scientific research in multiple fields, including biology, physics, astronomy, and (at the very end of his life), computer science. Because he possessed immense wealth, brains, and leadership qualities, as well as patriotism and a savvy understanding of geopolitics, he became a key individual who put together the multiple scientific labs and projects that helped the Allies win World War II.

Jennet Conant succeeds admirably in the primary objective of her book: to describe the many technical and leadership contributions Loomis made to the scientific efforts, especially the development of radar systems, that ultimately produced victory for the Allies in World War II. She makes a very strong case that without Loomis's leadership, the development of both radar and the atomic bomb would have been delayed, endangering the Allies' chances of success and resulting in many more lives lost. Loomis's World War II efforts and achievements occupy half the book; the remainder covers the rest of his biography.

Besides being a fascinating, engrossing story, Tuxedo Park has much to teach the reader. The common impression is that the development of the atomic bomb was the greatest scientific achievement in the Allies' victory; however, as one of the scientists says, "radar won the war, and the atomic bomb ended it". Radar was the weapon the Allies used to defeat the Germans' submarines, superior air force, and rocketry. Tuxedo Park also shows the interconnected web of relationships at the pinnacles of the worlds of science, academia, government, and business in the mid twentieth century. Rational thought alone does not produce results; all accomplishments involve humans, and Loomis was able to navigate these worlds and relationships with remarkable aplomb. The book also shows the negative side of Loomis and genius in general: the toll it exacts on family life, and the depression and suicide that plagues certain families.

I have only minor quibbles with Tuxedo Park. Loomis's pre-World War II achievements were so impressive and interesting that I would have enjoyed more detail about those years. When Conant describes the many inventions of Loomis and others, I often had difficulty visualizing them; some line drawings would have helped. And there are a few errors in the book, such as referring to the RAF when the author means the USAF.

I would recommend Tuxedo Park to anyone interested in biographies of scientific figures, as well as anyone who would appreciate a history lesson on the role science played in winning the last major world war.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating portrait of a brilliant man of science &business
Review: The subject of Tuxedo Park, Alfred Loomis, is an absolutely fascinating individual whose life story is so unique and so amazing that, were this book fiction, the reader would likely not believe it. Loomis, who undoubtedly was a brilliant left-brained rational thinker, was educated as a lawyer, rose through the ranks of a law firm, then quit to become one of the wealthiest bankers on Wall Street. He foresaw the 1929 stock market crash and cashed out beforehand, and then gave up his finance career to educate himself so that he could work on the very leading edge of scientific research in multiple fields, including biology, physics, astronomy, and (at the very end of his life), computer science. Because he possessed immense wealth, brains, and leadership qualities, as well as patriotism and a savvy understanding of geopolitics, he became a key individual who put together the multiple scientific labs and projects that helped the Allies win World War II.

Jennet Conant succeeds admirably in the primary objective of her book: to describe the many technical and leadership contributions Loomis made to the scientific efforts, especially the development of radar systems, that ultimately produced victory for the Allies in World War II. She makes a very strong case that without Loomis's leadership, the development of both radar and the atomic bomb would have been delayed, endangering the Allies' chances of success and resulting in many more lives lost. Loomis's World War II efforts and achievements occupy half the book; the remainder covers the rest of his biography.

Besides being a fascinating, engrossing story, Tuxedo Park has much to teach the reader. The common impression is that the development of the atomic bomb was the greatest scientific achievement in the Allies' victory; however, as one of the scientists says, "radar won the war, and the atomic bomb ended it". Radar was the weapon the Allies used to defeat the Germans' submarines, superior air force, and rocketry. Tuxedo Park also shows the interconnected web of relationships at the pinnacles of the worlds of science, academia, government, and business in the mid twentieth century. Rational thought alone does not produce results; all accomplishments involve humans, and Loomis was able to navigate these worlds and relationships with remarkable aplomb. The book also shows the negative side of Loomis and genius in general: the toll it exacts on family life, and the depression and suicide that plagues certain families.

I have only minor quibbles with Tuxedo Park. Loomis's pre-World War II achievements were so impressive and interesting that I would have enjoyed more detail about those years. When Conant describes the many inventions of Loomis and others, I often had difficulty visualizing them; some line drawings would have helped. And there are a few errors in the book, such as referring to the RAF when the author means the USAF.

I would recommend Tuxedo Park to anyone interested in biographies of scientific figures, as well as anyone who would appreciate a history lesson on the role science played in winning the last major world war.

Rating:
Summary: THE LAST GREAT AMATEUR
Review: Today with university and industrial labs conducting research using multi-million dollar grants and government contracts, it is amazing that in before the 1930s a brilliant banker had established, financed and staffed a private research lab that was superior at the time to university laboratories. This book by Jennet Conant is the story of Albert Lee Loomis who not only established his lab in Tuxedo Park, NY, he also personally conducted research there. Outstanding scientists such as Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, Neils Bohr, etc. visited his lab with Einstein describing the lab as a "place of science."

Loomis while interested in science at Yale nevertheless when to Harvard Law School and upon graduation entered the New York law firm of Winthrop & Stimson; Stimpson was a cousin of Loomis. During WWI, Loomis jointed the army, received a commission and was sent to Aberdeen Proving Ground where he struck up a friendship with Robert Wood of Johns Hopkins University, considered America's most brilliant experimental physicist, who later became Loomis' mentor. One year after WWI Loomis went to work in the investment business and later with his brother-in-law as partner purchased their employer. Recognizing the approaching financial crisis of 1929, the partners took appropriate action, with Loomis making $50 million during the first years of the Depression.

Loomis had established his lab at Tuxedo Park in the 1920s leaving the day-to-day running of the lab to a lab manager. Loomis worked in the lab evenings and on weekends, working alongside accomplished scientists. In 1934 he quit Wall Street for good devoting fulltime to his lab. The text notes "He played a major role in the development of the electroencephalograph, which went on to become an extremely valuable diagnostic tool and is used routinely in hospitals to detect epilepsy as well as many other diseases."

Loomis and other scientists became concerned about reports of German advanced weaponry; and aided by MIT, Tuxedo Park, devoted its work to the development of secret war-related radar systems to detect airplanes. When the 1940 British technical mission came to America, they brought their magnetron oscillator; Loomis immediately recognized that a major breakthrough had occurred in radar development. Loomis lead the establishment of a secret radar lab at MIT, closed his lab and shipped his valuable equipment to MIT. "For the next four years, he would drive himself and his band of physicists almost without break to develop the all-important radar warning systems based on the magnetron." Also, Loomis conceived the basis for and directed the development of the Loran navigation system, a system critical for accurate aircraft navigation during bombing missions.

In 1941 Loomis's involvement with the MIT Lab, called the Rad Lab, became increasingly sporadic as he was pressed into service on uranium research. One leading scientist noted "...it was a great stroke of luck for the country that Loomis was involved in the uranium project from the beginning, not as an originator of ideas as much as an individual who knew how to exploit them..." contributing to "the remarkable lack of roadblocks experienced by the Army's Manhattan District, the builders of the atomic bombs."

By June 1943 nearly 6000 radar set based on the MIT Rad Lab designs had been delivered with production climbing past 2000 sets per month. In the opinion of many of his peers, Loomis' greatest contribution lay in the brilliant manner he and the Secretary of War, his cousin Henry Stimson, had overcome military resistance to the flow of innovative ideas and applications.... and the military's acceptance of new weapons and systems. The author does an excellent job narrating Loomis' wartime work outlining his contributions in many areas.

In 1945 Loomis divorced his wife and married his mistress, the wife of his former Tuxedo Park lab manager. This produced strong reverberations in his elite financial and social circles. In 1947 he completed his administrative duties associated with radar and almost from the moment that the MIT Rad Lab ceased, Loomis began to disappear. In 1948 he was awarded the highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Merit. The book closes with an EPILOGUE which gives brief accounts of the post WWII lives of the key scientists and others with whom Loomis was associated during his active career. Loomis died in 1975 at age eighty-seven.

My main criticism is the account of Oppenheimer's opposition to the H-bomb in the EPILOGUE which concludes with the statement "Oppenheimer was ousted from power and publicly disgraced" leaving the impression Oppenheimer spent the rest of his life in disgrace. The text fails to tell that later the Atomic Energy Commission cleared Oppenheimer of all charges and in 1963 awarded him their highest honor the Enrico Fermi award. Oppenheimer served as director of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton from 1947 to his retirement in 1966.

This was a difficult book to write, not only because of Loomis' countless activities, but because he destroyed his papers before his death. Consequently, the book does not always read smoothly. Nevertheless, the book provides valuable material not available from other sources.

Rating:
Summary: Tuxedo Park is an impressive achievement
Review: Tuxedo Park is a factual history lesson, in a vein similar to The Devil in the White City, only without the serial killer.

Tuxedo Park takes place a bit later, pre-World War II. It starts with the death of one of the scientists who used to visit Tuxedo Park, a veritable fortress of technology and leisure. The suicidal scientist posthumously published a fictionalized book about the goings on there and sold it as science fiction. It was so bizarre that of course, nobody suspected, although the primary subject of the novel, Alfred Loomis, knew better.

Alfred Loomis is the star of the story, a rich entrepreneur with an all-consuming, frightening intellect. He applies his own cold, nearly inhuman methodology to business and science and excels at both. Loomis is also charismatic and connects with people in a way that makes him irresistible. A veritable human whirlwind, he swept people up and sometimes left them broken and lost behind him, most notably his wife whom he tried to have committed and left for a younger woman.

Loomis invented electrocardiograms (those brainwave doohickeys that draw jagged lines as a patient sleeps) and radar and made fantastic leaps in refining the science of sonics and magnetics. If the book has a moral, it's that money brings freedom, and Loomis was the freest man on Earth. He developed what he wanted, hosted who he wanted, encouraged projects he felt had vision, and had enough influence to determine the course of events in World War II.

What's so striking is that the world needed Loomis. The author, Jennet Connant, makes striking connections that identify just how significant Loomis' contributions (and machinations) were in ensuring victory over the Axis powers. From the atom bomb to the British radar systems, Loomis' fingerprints are on them all. And it was through sheer force of will, coupled with his massive wealth that made things happen.

The book suffers from the same problems as Devil in the White City - some parts are more boring than others. It's entertaining to read about Loomis' inventions, but I had difficulty distinguishing between the various scientists. There are so many intellects that are hosted by Loomis that they start to run together; on the other hand, the book features a lot of familiar faces like Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, and others. Still, the physics and complexities of the inventions, along with the internecine squabbling drag in some places.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the book is when one British physicist embarks on a journey to bring all the technological advances of Britain to America with just himself and a trunk full of highly classified documents and devices. The thought of what could happen to that trunk (and how it nearly gets lost a few times) is nerve wracking and the makings of an excellent short story or role-playing adventure. It's the kind of scenario that is usually considered to be bad form by a writer - but it really happened.

Fortunately for us, the trunk made its way safely to America. The book really picks up as the devices Loomis raced to invent are finally implemented in the war. And then, when the action finally gets going, the book is over. There is definitely a feeling of the passing of something great that people could only look at indirectly and never touch - just like the intentional destruction of the Chicago World's Fair, Loomis Tuxedo Park is abandoned, his "rad lab" of scientists disbanded, only to backstab each other during McCarthy's "Un-American" committees. Worse, Loomis' divorce left his family sharply divided - like all things, Loomis treated his relationships with an intellectual clarity that was less a romance and more calculated odds. When Loomis felt his wife was not measuring up, she was discarded along with his other failed experiments. It dims, but cannot diminish completely, Loomis' personality.

Tuxedo Park is an impressive achievement. It manages to record the origin of the American scientist, the belief that technology is inherently good, and sharply frames the slow, lumbering bureaucracies that run everything from medical achievements to military advancements. In comparison, Loomis and his teams are breathtakingly nimble at a time when the world needed speed and decisive action most. It is an important part of history and a sharp reminder that rich men, should they choose, could do great good or terrible harm. Loomis was that rare combination of brilliance and wealth that creates freedom - an aberration not likely to be seen again in my lifetime.

Rating:
Summary: An Inspiring Example of a Wonderful Life ...
Review: Tuxedo Park is an inspiring account of a truly wonderful life - a life that changed the very fabric of history, and left the entire Earth a better place for mankind to flourish. Author Jennet Conant skillfully reconstructs the details of Mr. Loomis' manifold accomplishments, in a compelling and useful work: compelling, because it presents an education in the intricacies of the feats of a singular individual, within the framework of the events and politics of America in the era of World War II; useful, because it demonstrates the power of a man's foresight, and unyielding focus on concurrently critical objectives, to better the lives of all.

Ms. Conant brings the amazing richness and value of the life of Alfred Loomis, who shunned the spotlight and is relatively unknown to us today, to our view in a way that provides a resounding example for us all. Tuxedo Park reveals a remarkable facilitator for the fortification of freedom, who felt it an obligation to become part of the creative processes so enhanced by that freedom. We are indebted to the author for telling Mr. Loomis' story, and for providing a pronounced source of inspiration in Tuxedo Park.

Bill and Robbin Pearson
On the celebration of the Birthday of our Father and Friend, Thomas Cady Hodgson, II

Rating:
Summary: A Hidden Genius, Shown for the First Time
Review: Unless you are interested in the history of physics, I will bet you never before heard of Alfred Loomis. And I bet you will not be able to forget him, once you have read _Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science that Changed the Course of World War II_ (Simon and Schuster) by Jennet Conant. World War II, more than any preceding conflict, was won by scientific and technological superiority, and one of the allies' successes was radar. There was no more daring or inventive mind on the project than that of Alfred Loomis, and we can hope that this remarkable book redeems him from obscurity.

Loomis was groomed for WASP success. He went to Yale, and to law school at Harvard, and then on to Wall Street where he made a fortune. He displayed "a high-powered intellect that could cut through a maze of difficulty with dazzling speed." He was a chess prodigy, a brilliant solver of puzzles, and a keen magician. He and a partner took over a failing bond firm, and started specializing in utilities. They realized the volatility of the 1920s market, and were among the few to make money during the crash and after it. He had one idea in finance after another, and he was dazzlingly successful. But he wasn't interested in making money. He was interested in science. He bought a rambling Tudor mansion in Tuxedo Park, the estate in which he lived, and turned it into a crackerjack private lab, where he did first-rate experiments in timekeeping, ultrasound, biology, and encephalography. Einstein called it "a palace of science." Loomis not only dabbled brilliantly in many fields, he allowed plenty of the greats to come use his lab, and set up conferences for them all to be together. When someone had a good idea but no money to pursue it, Loomis granted the money. He not only had money, but he had contacts. Having underwritten Earnest Lawrence's efforts to produce a cyclotron, he then squired him around to the princes of industry who thereafter supplied the materials and equipment at bargain rates. He had an unbelievably useful ability to make networks. He was at the heart of the development of radar, and the science behind radar (which was devastatingly successful against Nazi planes as well as submarines), and the excitement of successful testing and deployment, are well conveyed here.

Loomis loved his anonymity, he loved being able to experiment in his own way unbeholden to others, and he modestly avoided any of the fame that he deserved. "He was, by disposition, an extremely understated man who really did not care for being center stage." He would have been embarrassed had this summary of his efforts been published in his lifetime, but Conant has had access to his papers and other documents that had previously been unavailable. This is a great story of an astonishing intellect, powerfully told, bringing to light his many accomplishments and contributions to science and to public service.