loomis glass house tuxedo park


On top of a scenic mountain with nearby lakes and within beautiful gate-guarded Tuxedo Park, the Loomis Lab is a three-storey stone and timbered mansion built in 1901 One calculation has put it as high as 9,000 shells to bring down a single aircraft. His laboratory was state of the art and contained equipment that several top-tier universities couldnt afford. NARRATOR: As Alfreds personal life took on another hidden dimension, political turmoil began casting a shadow over his palace of science. NARRATOR: Loomis was working frantically, but making little progress on the transmitter. The pursuit of the unknown offered an escape, but only for a time. The saying at the Rad Lab was, The atomic bomb only ended the war. NARRATOR: For Alfred Loomis, the drama began with an urgent summons to Washington. But as the deadline for the August 20th issue approached, another story knocked radar off the front page forever. Framepool Ft. Georgian Mansion Sells for $5.1M in Asheville, North Carolina, 1699 English Colonial Home on 17 Acres in Farnham, Virginia, Unfinished 1855 Bright Bank Mansion Overlooking Hudson River with Private Bay, 1904 Brick Queen Anne Victorian Relists in Franklin, Pennsylvania, Actress Lotta Crabtrees 1887 Lakeside Manor on Lake Hopatcong in Mount Arlington, NJ. They're also Jews, and Jews are simply not allowed to live in Tuxedo Park. JACQUELINE LOOMIS: And Landon did just that. NARRATOR: Churchill had instructed his emissaries to hand over his countrys most precious military secrets to the Americans: jet engines, anti-submarine devices, proximity fuses, explosives, and more. (Here are selected photos on this topic, but full relevance is not guaranteed.)

JACKIE QUILLEN: By 1938 no Jew in Germany was allowed to hold an academic position. Im currently living in Albert Einsteins old room, says Michael R. Coleman, Director of Community Outreach for the Orange Media Group. In the fall of 1940 the fate of Western civilization hung in the balance. Alfred Loomiss ambition was finally being realized: Allied scientists were overcoming Germanys technological edge. Scientific American But the biggest news came last. The Loomis Company, headquartered in Berks County, PA, is one of the top 100 diversified insurance brokers in the United States. By admin January 20, 2023. logitech streamcam vs streamcam plus, chow chow vs german shepherd fight, asml salary netherlands, employee central shutterfly, who does elizabeth walton marry, can you bring a vape into universal studios orlando, parties primaries, caucuses and conventions icivics answer key pdf, stent placement in heart, JENNET CONANT: Alfreds brother-in-law Landon K. Thorne, who was one of the hottest young bond salesman on Wall Street. This 1870s Newport Cottage Includes an Enclosed Widows Watch! He simply wasn't at home. The wires went flying everywhere and he tried to scramble up the side of the wall, thinking he was going to put out a fire. The Rad Lab was underway. Joel Goodman But his passion was science. In the wealthy New York suburb of Tuxedo Park, a Wall Street tycoon converted his mansion into one of the most elite laboratories in the country. A recent PBS feature film based on the book by Jennet Conant, Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II, that changed the course of WWII all took place at this historic property. ROBERT BUDERI: I remember first learning about Loomis and just being blown away. Its a spectacular structure in excellent condition, and the location is within Tuxedo Park, Bruno says. Corbis Historical/Getty Images That ripple it would start spreading out, and when it would hit something. Most doctors didnt believe that brain waves existed and Loomis decided well, their equipment isnt good enough. It may seem rather cruel, but in fact they're trying to understand how these waves interact with organisms. At Tuxedo Park, Loomis and his small research staff conducted experiments into the emerging field of spectrometry, electro-encephalography, capillary waves, and the measurement of time. In his off hours he applied for patents on various small devices he had invented, ranging from a slide rule for calculating securities to a reliable fire extinguisher. And they try and disguise the one they've got by putting it in a diaper truck, which they paint in the Tuxedo Park colors. Using his connections, his money, and his brilliant scientific mind, Loomis assembled a team of the brightest scientists, and directed their efforts such that radar would arguably play a more decisive role than any other weapon in the war. DAVID ZIMMERMAN: Theres a huge advantage with shorter wavelengths, and the fact that he's doing this as early as 1939 is quite extraordinary. NARRATOR: Time magazines focus was the profound effect of radar on the war. There were some conditions where you needed to induce a fever. The newspapers have covered some of the more sensational of Alfred's experiments. I want the components at the end of 30 days. He packed up everything, found a building on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, gathered together hundreds of scientists, including six future Nobel laureates, and spearheaded the MIT Radiation Laboratory, forever known hence as the Rad Lab. And ultimately what it does lead to is a safe way to look at things like a fetus. If he could build a device that used high frequency radio waves, called microwaves, it would be more more compact, precise, and versatile than any radar system in the world. You know, he locked her away. The Secret of Tuxedo Park: Directed by Rob Rapley. JENNET CONANT: Everyone knew that his father was unfaithful, everyone knew that he drank too much. Wood talked about an experiment he had seen in France during the war. WebLoomis integrated technology solutions offer the tools you need to manage cash across financial, retail, education, government, jewelry, Our dedicated in-house team builds NARRATOR: Even as Loomis was conquering Wall Street, he kept in touch with the scientists he had met at Aberdeen. Loomis avoided their advances. By force of logic and enthusiasm and energy, he just made things happen. It heralded the dawn of a new type of warfare. NARRATOR: The device was ready for testing just four months after Pearl Harbor. Eureka! And Ellen just floated in the back. And yet, the Rad Lab was actually bigger than the bomb project and far more important to the war. James Conant (front, center) at a meeting at the Radiation Laboratory, with some of the countrys leading scientists (from left) Ernest Lawrence,Arthur Compton, Vannevar Bush, Karl Compton, and Alfred Lee Loomis. And I remember when I was married there was a picture of me in the New York Times with my husband. Head office Loomis AB. P.O. Box 702. SE-101 33 Stockholm. Sweden. Visiting address: Drottninggatan 82, 4th floor. Tel: +46-8-522 920 00. E-mail: info@loomis.com. The elegant bedrooms and lounges, grand salon and ballroom, were fitted out to house the scientists that Loomis began inviting to Tuxedo Park. Lauren Prestileo. She tried to be housekeeper, helpmate, and doer of odd jobs, to have some role in this new scientific hobby that seemed to consume all of her husband's passion and time. The scientist who developed the radar that helped win WWII also has a few other patents to his name.

On top of a scenic mountain with nearby lakes and within beautiful gate-guarded Tuxedo Park, the Loomis Lab is a three-storey stone and timbered mansion built in 1901 for Spencer Trask, philanthropist and founder of art colony Yaddo. Their efforts to please usually went unnoticed, as when Farney came home from boarding school, confident that he was finally good enough to play chess with his father. Sync Sound, Inc. Supervising Sound Editor & Re-Recording Mixer

But behind the polished faade was a raw, unformed ambition and a most unusal mind. Alfred Lee Loomis was born with the bluest of blue blood in 1887. WebIn the wealthy New York suburb of Tuxedo Park, a Wall Street tycoon converted his mansion into one of the most elite laboratories in the country. This full episode is available to stream on demand through Jan. 17, 2021. Tony Pipitone, Dialogue Editor & Voice Over Recording Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas At Austin Oct 12, 2022. During August of 1901, Spencer Trask begain building a house at Tuxedo Park, New York. "Trayaddo" was the home and laboratory of financier Alfred Lee Loomis, who covertly conducted research in Loomis Laboratories, leading to the Archival Footage: MICHAEL HILTZIK: Within the scientific community there were tales of this mysterious hilltop laboratory, fabulously equipped, owned and operated by this millionaire who moved in the background, like a shadow. NARRATOR: For Loomis, the prospect of a lifetimes worth of soirees, socializing, and corporate law had become unbearable. No visits from the children, no calls from the husband. Streamline Films, Inc. Loomis soon focused all his energies on the next generation of a vital new technology: microwave radar. I dont really believe in that, but there is definitely an energy here., Rosy Red Details and Accessories to Decorate Your Home, Writer, Filmmaker, Adventurer: The Intrepid Endeavors of Jon Bowermaster. But if you were a top-flight talent, the invitation would come from Alfred Loomis. Most of all, they want no more participation in foreign wars. UCLAFilm & Television Archive In the late 1930s Manettes husband left Tuxedo Park for an extended research program. But as the aircraft moves, the spot where the pulse is maximum shows the direction that the aircraft is moving. Jen has worked at KPBS since 2000. Lizzy Mcglynn In the fall of 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered a small team of scientists on a clandestine transatlantic mission to deliver his countrys most valuable military secret a revolutionary radar component not to the U.S. government, but to a mysterious Wall Street tycoon, Alfred Lee Loomis. You can then have a system which moves the radar atenna to track the aircraft. what happened in barrhaven today; charlie ross antiques road trip elephant; ellen hamilton latzen mad max Posted April 7, 2023. Carrie Phillips, Audience Engagement Editor Cori Brosnahan After the Japanese surrender, when their story could finally be told, the radar men could justly claim the Bomb only ended the war, radar won it.. Pond5 Phillips Academy Archives and Special Collections, Andover, Mass. #AmericanExperiencePBS. The Tuxedo Park house changed hands a few times, was turned into apartments in the 1950s, and is now owned by developer Michael Bruno, owner of the Tuxedo Hudson Company. > > > loomis glass house tuxedo park elevenses biscuits 1970s Aip Emilio Segr Visual Archives, Goudsmit Collection WebThe Loomis Museum, also known as the Loomis Visitor Center, the Manzanita Lake Visitor Center and the Manzanita Lake Museum, was built by Benjamin Franklin Loomis in 1927 JENNET CONANT: For Alfred Loomis this is like heaven. loomis clarion exploreclarion With conical scanning you're not trying to hit the aircraft directly with your radar pulse. TUXEDO PARK On any given day, Michael Bruno can be found in the central wood-paneled dining room of the Loomis Laboratory, overseeing the team he has put together to run Tuxedo Hudson Company. I suppose its an unlikely sanctuary because Tuxedo Park was a residential community for the elite, says Johanna Yaun, Orange County Historian. JENNET CONANT: Robert W. Wood was quite an eccentric, flamboyant physicist, one of the foremost experimental physicists in America. Periscope Film Llc It was Compton who came up with the suggestion. WebLoomis shuttered his private lab at Tuxedo Park when he set up what became known as the Rad Lab at MIT. Engineers had mastered long wave radar transmitters, but nobody knew how to build a microwave device. And you start climbing up these winding, narrow roads, passing forty-bedroom mansions with stable houses and guest houses. He shared his misgivings with kindred spirits like Karl Compton, the head of MIT, and Vannevar Bush at the Carnegie Institution. Wood suggested that they could start by asking why. Under any circumstances, the prospect would have been unsettling. U.S. Patent And Trademark office Air Force Cambridge Research Lab Tech Photo Branch, WebSubscribe. The Loomis Lab is on the market for $6.2 million with Sally Bruno of Tuxedo Hudson Realty Corp. Web25 Tower Hill Loop, Tuxedo Park, NY $4,995,000 Main House: 9 Bedrooms, 8.5 Bathroom Staff Apartment: 3 Bedrooms, 1 Bathroom Guest House: 3 Bedrooms, 2 Bathrooms Acreage: Aprox. Bohr and Fermi left Tuxedo Park the next morning.
Produced by Nazenet Habtezghi and Rob Rapley. NARRATOR: One of the few women who was welcome inside the male world of Tower House was Manette Hobart, the wife of Loomiss longtime protg. But that was just the beginning.

This thing happened and nobody knows about it? American experience is a production of WGBH which is solely responsible for its content. Einstein refers to Loomis's compound as a palace of science, and it truly is. The WPA Film Library, Original funding for this program was provided by Film Audio Service/Getty Images Smithsonian Institution Archives WebThe Secret of Tuxedo Park, a PBS American Experience production that premieres Tuesday at 9 p.m. ROBERT BUDERI: The Rad Lab was still relatively small, and this group felt a tremendous amount of pride in the fact that they had helped their nation be more prepared than ever would have been imaginable without them. Whats a mountain got that a slag pile hasnt? His microwave radar program was all but dead, along with his notions of countering the Nazis. Explosions Rattle the China Jennet Conant remembers hearing stories about the lab from her grandfather, A portion of that energy would come back to where it started. He wouldnt have wanted it otherwise. WebAlfred Loomis made millions on Wall Street, then went on to develop the technology that helped win WWII. The Trasks sold this home in 1907 to Joseph Tuckerman Tower.

NARRATOR: By the beginning of 1939, when Niels Bohr and Enrico Fermi came to Tower House and raised the specter of a Nazi super-bomb, Loomis knew he had to do something. Accurate muzzle velocity means more accuracy hitting targets. Installed on ships, submarines, bombers, and fighter planes, radar conferred the same, crucial, advantage: : an ability to see the enemy before being seen. Hitlers armies were encamped along the English Channel, preparing for an invasion of Britain. Following the war, Loomiss plan was to amass enough of a fortune to pursue science full-time. Susana Fernandes, Director of Audience Development For five years, Loomis bridled his restless mind at Tuxedo Park. Radar was important in virtually every military theater, every type of military operation. The Loomis Company was established with one thing in mind, Customer Care. The Rad Lab consisted of a few dozen people; their experimental facility an unheated tarpaper structure on the roof of Building 6. Alfred said to me that was a real warning bell for him. WebLoomis integrated technology solutions offer the tools you need to manage cash across financial, retail, education, government, jewelry, Our dedicated in-house team builds innovative solutions that are proven to streamline operations, reduce risk, and pave the way for the needs of tomorrow. JENET CONANT: The American admirals were very standoffish, and were very distrustful of this sort of scientific exchange with England; they did not want to reveal the Navy's secrets. NARRATOR: The Rad Lab at MIT closed its doors at the end of 1945, and was soon all but forgotten. Loomis had for years led a double life, spending his days earning vast fortunes on Wall Street and his weekends working with the worlds leading scientists at his private laboratory in Tuxedo Park, outside New York City. Every now and then, if other scientists came over for a drink and to reminisce, they would refer to this Wall Street tycoon who played this incredible role in the war, Jennet Conant says. Webloomis glass house tuxedo park .. Welcome to AAB aka All about American Braids Contact; Head office. President Franklin Roosevelt had created a science advisory board, the National Defense Research Committee (which included James Conant). ROBERT BUDERI: With radar, you're sending out a wave of energy, imagine if you dropped a pebble in a pond. On October 24 1929 stock prices plummeted, and stunned investors saw their entire net worth wiped out overnight. Once, when the sensors indicated that the boy was in a deep sleep, Alfred whispered that Henrys beloved sailboat had caught fire. WebEmbora goste de ficar plantado no ataque, especialista em se posicionar corretamente na pequena rea para marcar gols. Then, in 1917, he got a reprieve when the United States went to war with Germany. And the stature of the lab was elevated instantly. Home; Uncategorized; loomis glass house tuxedo park; Posted on January 19, 2023; By . Yet the story of this secret lab and this eccentric genius was virtually forgotten until only recently. The Tuxedo Park house changed hands a few times, was turned into apartments in the 1950s, and is now owned by developer Michael Bruno, owner of the Tuxedo Hudson Company. Well, against that came the incredible innovation of the Allies able to track them and shoot them down. As author Jennet Conant says of Tower House, Its beyond a scientific playground. David Farnsworth, The Historic Flying Clothing Company, Derby, England When Alfred Loomis died on August 11 1975 at the age of eighty-seven, his passing attracted little notice. After graduating from Harvard in 1912, he took a job as a corporate lawyer on Wall Street, made a good marriage, started a family, and settled in the village of Tuxedo Park, forty miles outside Manhattan. Ruth Tenenbaum, Special Thanks Churchill Archives Centre, The Papers of She is originally from Las Vegas and attended UNLV. She thought she had been dumped there and abandoned.. After that war he left the law and switched to finance, making gobs of money funding the electrification of the country. And Landon came to him and said, you and I should team up, and finance the electrification of rural America. Photography and information found on agents listing. ROBERT BUDERI: This was an incredible innovation right there. And there was a fight. She tried to keep up, she tried to have a sort of lively interest in his inquiries. NARRATOR: Microwave radar revolutionized war. Historical & Special Collections, Harvard Law School Library She was the new woman, the modern woman. And she really lived the rest of her life pretty much as a recluse, cared for by nurses. JACQUELINE LOOMIS: Henry flew out of the cot. The oldest part of the house, an ell adjacent to the main house, is believed to have been built between 1640 and 1653 by Joseph Loomis who came to America from England in 1638. This property is a history and architectural buffs dream. Features include Tiffany windows and spectacular vaulted ceilings in many rooms with stunning plaster ceilings and many large fireplaces. Prelinger Archives/Getty Images They took Wall Street by storm, and he started making money hand over fist. National Library of Medicine NARRATOR: For the sleep experiments, Loomis enlisted his son Henry, who had a knack for falling asleep despite the web of wires and sensors that were applied to his head and body. (c) 2018 WGBH educational foundation You can feel the energy here, whether you are spiritual or not, he says. And it's through Loomis' work that the basic stages of sleep are for the first time measured and systematically described. On the surface, there was little that distinguished Loomis from any number of his well-bred peers. NARRATOR: In the days and weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans were shocked to discover the sorry state of their countrys military. Katharine Duffy Tarvainen, Digital Courtesy Aip Emilio Segr Visual Archives Six or eight or ten papers came out of Tower House every year. All rights reserved. This house included "an elaborate double envelope" with a 2-foot-deep air space conditioned by a Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division The fiercely private Loomis shunned publicity but the comings-and-goings of foreign scientists gave rise to rumors and speculation about what was transpiring at his mysterious lab. For years Loomis had been hearing rumors of the work going on in German labs: jet engines, tanks, artillery, synthetic fuels, ballistic missiles; and now, nuclear fission. The Library Company of Philadelphia Taking advantage of his considerable wealth, Loomis increasingly indulged his interest in science. Hidden inside was a world-class laboratory, the consuming passion of a secretive millionaire. Footage Farm Usa It was a thousand times better than anything the American's knew of. Loomis marks the end of the gentleman scientist with his private research laboratory. In this first few weeks, they attracted six future Nobel laureates to this lab. ). JENNET CONANT: It's beyond a scientific playground.

University of South Carolina Mirc Alfred P. Sloan Foundation From Loomiss apartment, the most famous physicist in America started making calls.

Alfred Lee Loomis in his Tower House lab, Tuxedo Park, N.Y. NARRATOR: Loomiss automatic antiaircraft gun had the potential to fundamentally change that equation. And hopefully, the Americans will reciprocate. Even as he was conquering Wall Street, Loomis kept up with the scientists he had met during the war, including physicist Robert Wood. It's such a quantum leap forward in the technology, Loomis can not believe that such a thing is possible. Leroy Farrell DAVID ZIMMERMAN: One of the reasons Loomis is so successful in the 1930s is because he has immense wealth. This amazed and amused my grandfather.. And they try and disguise the one they've got by putting it in a diaper truck, which they paint in the Tuxedo Park colors. And they're running this truck all over the golf course while Loomis's youngest son, Henry, pilots the plane for them to track. Aip Emilio Segr Visual Archives, Physics Today Collection Home; Uncategorized; loomis glass house tuxedo park; Posted on January 19, 2023; By . AMERICAN EXPERIENCE is a production of WGBH Boston. He and his small staff conducted pioneering studies in spectrometry, high-frequency sound and capillary waves, electro-encephalography, and the precise measurement of time, chronometry. NARRATOR: There were other signs that there was more to Alfred Loomis than met the eye. He was motivated purely by the facts of the case, purely the adventure.. Its one of the most extreaordinary events of the Second World War. WebAdditionally, Loomis' 1937 house in Tuxedo Park by architect William Lescaze is regarded as an early experiment in double-skin facade construction. He never set foot in his Tuxedo Park home again. U.S. Alfred And Jane Hobart

loomis glass house tuxedo park. Watch the opening scene of The Secret of Tuxedo Park. Original Music by Tom Phillips. The Loomis Lab is on the market for $6.2 million with Sally Bruno of, Eclectic $1.47M Jeff Brandner-Designed Home in Bozeman, Montana, $6.8M A. Quincy Jones-Designed Modern Home in Pasadena, California, $11.99M Mark Nasrallah-Designed Modern Masterpiece on Lake Butler, $2.29M Trinity Lakes Chteau For Sale in Oak Brook, Illinois, 1967 Circular Sun House by Frank Lloyd Wright For Sale in Phoenix, Mean Girls Star Jonathan Bennett Selling $1.15M Mai Tai Manor in Palm Springs, Late Comedian Bob Hopes 5-Acre Estate on Toluca Lake Sells for $26M, Inside Yankee Candle Founders Sprawling $23M Estate in Leverett, Massachusetts, Inside Russell Wilson & Ciaras 11,000 Sq. Airs Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020 at 9 p.m. on KPBS TV NARRATOR: Alfreds marriage was the perfect expression of his rectitude. NARRATOR: Over the next months, as stocks soared, Loomis and Thorne quietly pulled their money out of the market. Able to fly without pilots, to bomb enemy targets. NARRATOR: There was one huge hurdle: in any radar system, the echo of a distant target is incredibly faint. JENNET CONANT: You get off at the train station and Alfred Loomis' Rolls comes up and picks you up, and drives you through these enormous stone gates. So they discovered that even when were in deep sleep, we're still conscious of activity around us. The property hit the market in May 2020 for $6.8 million. My dad described his father as not having any of the emotional pieces, none of the sentimentality that you would associate with fatherhood. (It should be noted, though, that later on, during the war years, when many Jewish scientists were forced to flee their homes, Tuxedo Park became a sanctuary where they could live and continue their research under the patronage of Alfred Lee Loomis, Yaun adds.). Image courtesy of Tuxedo Hudson Company. Pinterest. He had seen Hitlers Germany with his own eyes, and had helped scientists many of them Jews escape the Nazis. Webloomis glass house tuxedo park It can take place in Ukraine, in the US, or even in a third country if you both dream about a destination wedding. Under these circumstances, it was terrifying: nuclear fission had been discovered in Hitlers Germany. As a successful and wealthy financier Alfred Loomis owned property in the New York state gated community called Tuxedo Park. It soon became clear that some of the Americans in the room still wanted nothing to do with Britains war. The authors marveled at the scale of the operation: the Rad Lab had grown into an organization of nearly 4000 people spread over fifteen acres of floor space, with a budget close to $4 million a month.
When Churchills emissaries arrived, they delivered the most precious item in their collection a revolutionary radar component to a mysterious Wall Street tycoon, Alfred Lee Loomis. Alfred Loomis made millions on Wall Street, then went on to develop the technology that helped win WWII. An Apograph Productions film for AMERICAN EXPERIENCE in association with Rena Shulsky David and Sami David. This property is a history and architectural buffs dream. There is nothing like it anywhere in the world. Loomis couldnt know it, but even as he prepared to report his failure to Washington, British prime minister Winston Churchill was setting in motion a plan to turn the tide of war, that would put Loomis himself at center stage. JENNET CONANT: The representatives said that they thought that they could possibly get their bids in under a month. I mean, she was called the most beautiful girl in Boston. He was looking away from it, possibly on the telephone in another room, and the moves were called out to him. 6.6K views 4 years ago. Tuxedoites took note of the odd comings and goings at the big house on the hill, and the lab and visiting scientists soon became the subject of rumors: Strange outlanders with flowing hair and baggy trousers were settling down for weeks and months on end, Conant writes in her book. ROBERT BUDERI: The cavity magnetron was that extremely powerful microwave transmitter that Loomis was looking for. Tuxedo Park Library, Tuxedo Park, NY NARRATOR: Loomis immediately focused on the next generation of the technology: microwave radar. (Quel scandale, part deux!) Ft. Lake Washington Retreat, Inside Derek Jeters $6.5M Tiedemann Castle on Greenwood Lake, $8.9M Neo-classical Mediterranean Mansion Used in The Princess Diaries Hits the San Francisco Market, Skytop: 1901 Gilded Age Estate Asks $3.5M in Tuxedo Park, NY, Brookside: 1891 American Shingle Style Retreat on Tuxedo Lake. ROBERT BUDERI: The British had a reward for anyone who could kill a sheep from a hundred yards, with the idea that that would lead to a death ray that could zap enemy pilots in the cockpit. A Rad Lab navigation system directed the invasion force, while radar-controlled guns protected the infantry from air attack. For years, Loomis had been sending Ellen off to sanitariums, allegedly for her health. After graduating from Harvard in 1912, he became a corporate lawyer on Wall Street, married well, and settled in the upscale suburb of Tuxedo Park, outside New York City. During World War I he was a ballistics expert and invented a gadget called the Loomis Chronograph to measure the muzzle velocity of artillery shells. He never needed the approval of other people, a colleague recalled. With every passing day, the need grew more urgent.

The Documentary Investment Group: Marjie And Robert Kargman, Senior Contracts & Rights Manager His friends knew he was an amateur scientist who, for years, had funded a laboratory in the Tower House of his stately mansion. MICHAEL HILTZIK: There was so much that went on at Tower House. The March of Time/Getty Images When Loomis died in 1975, his passing attracted little attention. Learn More. NARRATOR: The Rad Lab was going to need thousands of components antennas, power supplies, and the like - and fast. It's very private, it's all up on it's own, and he decides that this would be the perfect laboratory for a gentlemen scientist.