Alfred Lee Loomis—last great amateur of science

JAN 01, 1983

This multimillionaire banker, who for years led a double life, spending days on Wall Street and evenings and weekends in his private physics laboratory, became one of the most influential physicists of the century.

DOI: 10.1063/1.2915442

Luis W. Alvarez

The beginning of this century marked a profound change in the manner in which science was pursued. Before that time, most scientists were independently wealthy gentlemen who could afford to devote their lives to the search for scientific truth—Lord Cavendish, Charles Darwin, Count Rumford, and Lord Rayleigh come to mind. But after the turn of the century, university scientists found it possible to earn a living teaching students, while doing research “on the side.” So the true amateur has almost disappeared—Alfred Loomis may well be remembered as the last of the great amateurs of science. He had distinguished careers as a lawyer, as an Army officer and as an investment banker before he turned his full energies to the pursuit of scientific knowledge, first in the field of physics and later as a biologist. By any measure that can be employed, he was one of the most influential physical scientists of this century:

References

1. W. B. Seabrook, Dr. Wood, Modern Wizard of the Laboratory, New York, Harcourt, Brace, New York (1941), page 213.
2. Ibid, page 221.
3. E. N. Harvey, A. L. Loomis, Science 72, 42 (1930).https://doi.org/SCIEAS
4. “Amateur of the Sciences,” Fortune, March 1946, page 132.
5. L. W. Alvarez, PHYSICS TODAY, November 1975, page 84.

More about the Authors

Luis W. Alvarez. University of California, Berkeley, California.