Computing - Department of Physics - University of Illinois at Urbana ...

PHYSICS ILLINOIS NEWS • 2006 NUMBER 1 15scientists as a perceptive and strongleader of a research team, Loomis wascalled upon to head a study, ProjectCharles, to investigate methods toprotect the United States from Sovietairborne attack. President Killian ofMIT wrote of Loomis, “There isserious question as to whether anyother person could be found whocould hold together the team requiredfor the work.” For a period ofeighteen months in 1951–52, Loomisdirected Project Charles and theformation of the Lincoln Laboratory,which was operated under theauspices of MIT.In 1952, after the Korean Warbroke out, Loomis founded anddirected the Control SystemsLaboratory at the University of Illinoisto contribute to further developmentof radar—including airborne Dopplerradar having a moving target lock-on,portable “sentry” radar, and syntheticaperture radar (SAR) imaging—andthe application of digital computingto national defense. Later the name ofthe laboratory was changed to theCoordinated Science Laboratory andit pursued unclassified research.Loomis was active in affairs ofscience at the national level. In his1950 address as the retiring presidentof the American Physical Society, CanPhysics Serve Two Masters?, he gave adiscussion of the relation and role ofbasic and applied physics that standsas one of the most perceptive,balanced, yet eloquent analyses evergiven of the importance of basicresearch, of the potential dangersof government control, and of thepolicies needed for wise support ofbasic science. He stated:His style was direct and to thepoint, often spiced with dry humor.Describing himself, he once wrote,“I am married and have three smalldaughters. My avocations are yachting(15 foot nondescript) andmountaineering, or at least hilling.”In response to a graduate studentdoing research on the history ofquantum physics in the United Statesbetween 1920 and 1935 he wrote,“You ask whom I was particularlyassociated with in Göttingen in1928–29. It was James Franck. InZürich I was ‘under’ Pauli, but I spentmost of my fellowship term there ona trip back to the States to study andconsider an offer from the Universityof Illinois, which I accepted.”Loomis’s abilities as a leader ofWheeler Loomis at the tiller of “15-foot nondescript”scientists led to repeated invitationsto head major government agencies,university departments, or otherwisetake up new careers. But though hetook leaves to serve his country, healways returned to his position ashead of the physics department hehad built at the University of Illinois.He most wished to be close toworking physicists, to try to buildan active center of the finest physics.He knew he could best achieve thisgoal as department head, where hecould judge what was happeningfirst-hand, take part as a colleague indiscussions of the results of research,and help to promote that spirit ofexcitement and of the importanceof doing physics by his presence.Scientists worked hard for himThe plaque installed in Loomis Laboratory,commemorating the milestones andachievements of its namesake.because he conveyed to them his ownsense of the importance of the workin which they were engaged.In many ways, Wheeler Loomisimprinted his indelible stamp on thisdepartment and defined its character.His legacy is a physics departmentunsurpassed in its dedication toteaching, its pursuit of excellence,and its hallmark of cohesion andcollegiality. As Jerry Almy noted ata dinner on May 24, 1957, honoringLoomis on his upcoming retirement,“I am inclined to take at face value his[Loomis’s] satisfaction and pride in thedepartment and its accomplishments…And I believe that this widespreadfeeling of pride in the departmentand in being a part of it is a chiefingredient of its strength throughthe ups and downs of its fortunes.We are very grateful to Wheeler forhis important part in creating thisatmosphere.” ■The misconception that physicsis primarily a utilitarian subjectpervades even the universitycampuses, where it is studiedlargely as a tool by engineers andpremedics and studiously avoidedby our colleagues who plan thecurriculum in liberal education;or at least so diluted as to beunrecognizable. Unless one definesa humanity as a subject of whicheveryone thinks he understandssomething, or as one suitable fordinner-table conversation, physicsdeserves as high a rank among thehumanities as any disciplinewhatever, and its omission will leavejust as wide a gap as would theomission of philosophy or historyin the appreciation of the majorintellectual achievements of ourcivilization and the forces whichaffect it.UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN