| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
Born in New York City|New York City, New York, Loomis was the son of Henry Patterson Loomis and Julia Stimson. He did his undergraduate work at Yale University, graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1912, and worked in corporate law after graduation.
In 1917, with the United States' entry into World War I, Loomis volunteered for military service. He was commissioned as a captain and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He worked in ballistics at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, where he invented the "Aberdeen Chronograph", the first portable instrument able to measure muzzle velocity and striking power of bullets. At Aberdeen, he met and worked with Johns Hopkins physicist Robert W. Wood, under whose influence Loomis's longtime interest in inventing and gadgetry evolved into a serious pursuit of experimental and practical physics.
In the 1920s, Loomis collaborated with his brother-in-law Landon K. Thorne to take their firm, Bonbright and Company, from the verge of bankruptcy to becoming a preeminent U.S. investment banking-house specializing in public utilities. In the process, he became very wealthy. Just prior to the 1929 stock market crash, Loomis liquidated his holdings, thereby avoiding financial ruin. He proceeded to use his personal wealth to support scientific research over the ensuing two decades.
Loomis established the Tuxedo Park Loomis Laboratory, some thirty miles north of Manhattan, in what had been a summer resort for wealthy New Yorkers. Throughout the 1930s, prominent scientists lived on the grounds while collaborating on research, which in its early years focused on timekeeping and on electroencephalography. The facility was also visited by internationally prominent scientists, including Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner HeisenbergWerner Karl Heisenberg ( December 5, 1901 February 1, 1976) was a celebrated physicist and Nobel laureate, one of the founders of quantum mechanics. He was born in Wurzburg, Germany and died in Munich. Heisenberg was the head of Nazi Germany's nuclear ene, Vannevar BushVannevar Bush ( March 11, 1890 June 30, 1974) was an American scientist. Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, Bush was educated at Tufts College, graduating in 1913. He joined the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technolog, Enrico FermiEnrico Fermi ( September 29, 1901 29 November 1954) was an Italian- American physicist most noted for his work on beta decay, the development of the first nuclear reactor and for the development of quantum theory. Fermi won the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics, and James FranckJames Franck ( August 26, 1882 May 21, 1964) was a German physicist and Nobel laureate. He was born in Hamburg, and did research in the United States regarding quantum physics. For this work, he received the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics. He was the chairma.
In 1939, Loomis began a collaboration with Ernest LawrenceErnest Orlando Lawrence ( August 8, 1901 August 27, 1958) was an American physicist and Nobel laureate best known for his invention of the cyclotron. Born in Canton, South Dakota, Lawrence attended St. Olaf College in Minnesota, but transferred to the Uni, and was instrumental in financing Lawrence's project to construct a 184- inch cyclotronA cyclotron is a machine designed to accelerate beams of charged particles by using a high frequency alternating voltage across a magnetic field to spiral the beam out and eventually deflect it once the beam's radius equals its container's. At this point. By this time, he had become a prominent figure in experimental physics, and had moved his Tuxedo Park operations to Cambridge, Massachusetts2000 Cambridge is a city in the greater Boston area in Massachusetts, United States. It was named in honor of Cambridge, England, the town where its founding fathers had studied ( Cambridge University). Cambridge is perhaps most famous for three things: H, where he entered upon a joint operation with the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMotto Mens et Manus ("mind and hand") Established 1861 School type Private President Charles Vest (successor Susan Hockfield to take office in December 2004) Location Cambridge, Mass. USA Enrollment 4,112 undergraduate, 6,228 graduate Faculty 974 Campus U.
Through much of his career as a scientist, Loomis was viewed with skepticism by academicians who considered him a businessman who dabbled in science. Scientists who worked personally with him however were convinced of his capability and industry. Due to his expertise and his demonstrated ability to raise funds for research, he was selected during World War II to chair the Microwave Committee of the National Defense Research Committee . Much of his work involved the problem of creating a light system for plane-carried radar. In these years he invented LORAN, the long-range navigation system whose offshoot LORAN C remains in widespread use. Loomis also made a significant contribution to the development of ground-controlled approach technology, a precursor of today's instrument-landing systems, which used radar to permit ground controllers to "talk-down" airplane pilots when poor visibility made visual landings difficult or impossible.
President Roosevelt recognized the value of Loomis's work and described him as second perhaps only to Churchill as the civilian most responsible for the Allied victory in World War II.
He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1940, and received honorary degrees from Wesleyan University (D.Sc.,1932), Yale University (M.Sc 1933), and the University of California (LL.D 1941).