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Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II
by: Jennet Conant |
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Binding: Hardcover Edition: Reprint. Format: Bargain Price Label: Simon & Schuster Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 330 Publication Date: April 30, 2002 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Studio: Simon & Schuster |
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| Customer Reviews | ||
  - Awesome story well toldA look into the life of a truly extraordinary man and the people and circumstances around him. A tribute to the best of the Eastern blueblood establishment with links to big science, military, finance, education, and government. Rating: - Tuxedo ParkTo quote a senior scientist, "Alfred Lee Loomis and his Microwave Technology won WWII and the Atomic Bomb finished it" I found this work compelling and well crafted and a fitting epitaph for this amazing AMERICAN. If there is no statue erected for this man, there should be. Rating: - An American Hero StoryMy first copy of this book was given to me. Since then I have bought several copies for friends. It's turned out to be one of my favorite books. It's a true American hero story, exemplifying the value of individual initiative and patriotism. A must read for anybody who needs a reason not to trust the government to take care of them or their country. Rating: - A man of such influence that hardly anyone knowsI just finished an interesting book called Tuxedo Park, about a little-known fabulously successful Wall Street financier turned amateur physicist who was responsible for vastly improving radar technology during WW2. He formed a group of scientists, including Ernest Lawrence, that would become the core at Los Alamos. Alfred Loomis shunned publicity which is the way he wanted it but his contribution towards victory in WW2 through technology cannot be underestimated. It's a fascinating story from a book that is a bit dryly written in places. His private lab that he built in Tuxedo Park, NY - moved during WW2 to MIT employing 1000s - with a western branch at Berkeley that became the Lawrence Livermore lab. He financed Laurence before the war and enabled him through his cyclotron to be instrumental in developing The Bomb. Interesting quote because the Bomb drew attention to Los Alamos - most of the accomplishments of the Rad Lab were overshadowed and largely forgotten. The Rad Lab scientists said that "We helped end the war [through their radar innovations] and the Bomb finished it". An apt description of the 2 accomplishments. I would give it 5 stars but felt the subject was a bit dry in some areas - for such a fascinating subject - I had to force myself through in a section. In all fairness to the author I acknowledge that this could simply be an isolated reaction. But it is a memorable book and one that will have built my permanent knowledge (as opposed to books one reads and largely forgets) Rating:  - No physics in a book about a physicist!My title gives my major complaint about this book. I found a lot of the details about Loomis' early life fascinating, but when he became a physicist and inventor, more about the physics should have been told. I also thought the book hurried to an unsatisfactory ending when World War II ended; the pacing should have remained consistent throughout. I really enjoyed her other book and thought she told a complete story (that book is "109 East Palace Avenue"), so it's not that Conant is incapable of concluding historical biography, just that she didn't in this case. Too bad, it's the only bio of Loomis out there. |
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