Loomis, Alfred L. (Alfred Lee), 1887-1975

Alfred Lee Loomis, 1887-1975, A.B. in physics, 1909, Yale University; LL.B. 1912, Harvard Law School, was a member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Corporation from 1931 until his death in 1975. He established Loomis Laboratories in 1926 in Tuxedo Park, New York, to conduct independently financed research on a wide range of scientific topics. As chairman of the Microwave Committee of the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC), he was influential in establishing the government wartime radar research lab, the Radiation Laboratory, at MIT in 1940. During World War II he was Chief, National Defense Research Committee, Division 14, Radar. He was also a pioneer in the development of the LORAN navigational system. For his wartime achievements, he was awarded the US Medal of Merit and the King's Medal for Service from Great Britain. A lawyer, financier, and physicist, he devoted much of his life to science, serving as an advisor and benefactor to such institutions as MIT and the University of California at Berkeley. In 1940 he was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

From the guide to the Alfred L. Loomis papers, 1926-1975, (Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute Archives and Special Collections)