
Tuxedo Park
A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II
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Narrated by:
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John Kroft
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By:
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Jennet Conant
This is the untold story of an eccentric Wall Street tycoon and the circle of scientific geniuses he assembled before World War II to develop the science for radar and the atomic bomb. Together they changed the course of history.
In the late 1930s, legendary financier, philanthropist, and society figure Alfred Lee Loomis gathered the most visionary scientific minds of the 20th century - Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr, Enrico Fermi, and others - at his state-of-the-art laboratory in Tuxedo Park, New York. 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.
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Narrator is easy to listen to. But, their are quite a few mispronunciations and the editing is quite sloppy- odd timing and many occasions of the talent clearing his throat, etc. seems like the B team did the edit.
Fantastic book, weak technical execution
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Remarkable biography
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Mr. Loomis, WWII’s man behind the scene
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Truly, amazing story!
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Gets much better after the first chapter
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One of the most interesting books!
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One of the most instructive aspects of Loomis' life was his willingness to finance and assist other scientists. If he saw talent and and interesting subject, he would make sure (through his personal wealth and connections) that money was not an issue. He helped advance the careers of many important scientists. At the same time, he was personally involved in a lot of the projects, even though he often tried to avoid taking credit.
It takes a little while to get into the book, but once you do, it moves along nicely. Two nits: 1. The author tries to wrap the story from the very beginning around a novel by a relative who committed suicide and had some ties to Loomis. To me, this was not an effective literary device, but simply distracting. 2. The narration is generally OK, but there are a lot of mispronunciations.
There is a PBS American Experience piece on Tuxedo Park that makes a nice accompaniment. You can find it on the Internet.
Worth your time.
Amazing and Largely Unknown History
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Fantastic book about one of America’s unsung heroes
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Tom
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Slow start but great lesson on the birth of radar
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