Alfred Lee Loomis (November 4, 1887 – August 11, 1975) was an American
attorney,
investment banker,
philanthropist,
scientist/
physicist, inventor of the
LORAN Long Range Navigation System, and a lifelong patron of scientific research. He established the Loomis Laboratory in
Tuxedo Park, New York, and his role in the development of
radar is considered instrumental in the
Allied victory in
World War II. He invented the
Aberdeen Chronograph for measuring muzzle velocities, contributed significantly (perhaps critically, according to
Luis Alvarez) to the development of a
ground-controlled approach technology for aircraft, and participated in preliminary meetings of the
Manhattan Project. Loomis also made contributions to biological instrumentation. Working with
Edmund Newton Harvey he co-invented the microscope centrifuge, and pioneered techniques for
electroencephalography. In 1937, he discovered the sleep
K-complex brainwave.