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To Harvard: Tintin in America (1946–1947)

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Nico Bloembergen

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Abstract

April 1946 Isodor Rabi comes to visit the Lyman Lab, where Bloembergen is working. For Bloembergen (aged 25), Rabi, now 47 years old, is the leading figure in nuclear magnetic resonance. Edward Purcell, Bloembergen’s group leader, fails to show Rabi the nuclear magnetic resonance signal, because it is not easy to balance the detector. Purcell is quite disillusioned about this. After their departure, Bloembergen sorts everything out and within an hour he gets a signal. He runs from the basement upstairs, where Rabi is still present and shows the delighted Rabi and Purcell the signal.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A cyclotron is a circular particle accelerator used to accelerate electrically charged atomic particles. These particles can then be made to strike a plate, for example, to release neutrons. Nowadays, cyclotrons are used primarily to produce isotopes for medical research, as a source of radiation to treat cancer, or to produce (positrons) isotopes for a positron emission tomography (PET) scan (a functional imaging technique used to observe metabolic processes in the body). en.wikipedia.org.

  2. 2.

    Time-of-flight (TOF) is a collective name for a number of methods that measures the time that an object, particle, or electromagnetic wave takes to travel through a medium.

  3. 3.

    Before the development of photographic copiers, a carbon copy—not to be confused with the carbon print family of photographic reproduction processes—was the under-copy of a typed or written document placed over carbon paper and the under-copy sheet itself. en.wikipedia.org.

  4. 4.

    Magnetic susceptibility is the extent to which a material becomes magnetic by magnetization (e.g., moving a magnet over the material) or due to exposure to a magnetic field.

  5. 5.

    Paramagnetism is a form of magnetism, with no spontaneous magnetism occurring in the absence of an external field. If a magnetic field is applied, then the spins of the atoms align themselves with the field lines of the magnetic field. At higher temperatures, the effect gets smaller as the vibrations due to the higher temperatures tend to disturb the arrangement.

  6. 6.

    Relaxation refers to the return to the equilibrium state. For example, if a magnetic field is applied (at low temperature) and this is suddenly switched off, the return of the spins of the atoms of the non-equilibrium state during magnetization to the equilibrium state without magnetization is then called relaxation.

  7. 7.

    For comparison, the Earth's magnetic field at the surface is about 50 μT.

  8. 8.

    Calorimetry is a method for measuring the heat capacity of a substance or the heat of a chemical reaction on the basis of energy absorbed.

  9. 9.

    Mass spectrography, currently called mass spectrometry, is used to separate and identify molecules. To this end, a sample is ionized and the ions formed are accelerated by an accurately controlled electric field. After that, the ions follow a circular path through an applied magnetic field. The ions are spatially separated different their different mass to charge ratios and subsequently detected.

  10. 10.

    Magnetic induction occurs in nuclei when a strong radio frequency field is applied across a magnetic field. The effect occurs across the radio frequency field and can be measured with a coil.

  11. 11.

    Precession is a motion of the axis of rotation of a rotating object under the influence of an external force, as seen, for example, in a spinning top.

  12. 12.

    The torque is a measure of the rotational effect of a force, such as the force needed to loosen or tighten a bolt.

  13. 13.

    Polar fluids are good current conductors. Examples are water and ethanol (alcohol). A-polar liquids do not conduct, or hardly conduct at all, e.g., toluene, turpentine, chloroform, and alkanes such as paraffin. The permittivity (formerly the dielectric constant) is the tendency of a material to polarize in the presence of an electric field. Water has a high permittivity, that is, it can be easily polarized, whence an electric current can flow.

  14. 14.

    A quadrupole is one of a sequence of configurations of, e.g., electric charge or current, or gravitational mass that can exist in an ideal form, but is usually just part of a multipole expansion of a more complex structure reflecting various orders of complexity.

  15. 15.

    Paramagnetism is a form of magnetism whereby certain materials are weakly attracted by an externally applied magnetic field, and form internal, induced magnetic fields in the direction of the applied magnetic field.

  16. 16.

    Ferromagnetism is a form of magnetism whereby spontaneous magnetization occurs without the application of an external magnetic field. The best-known example of this is iron.

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  1. Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Rob Herber

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Correspondence to Rob Herber .

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Herber, R. (2019). To Harvard: Tintin in America (1946–1947). In: Nico Bloembergen. Springer Biographies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25737-8_7

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