Magnet Academy: Felix Bloch (1905 1983)

Physicist Felix Bloch developed a non-destructive technique for precisely observing and measuring the magnetic properties of nuclear particles. He called his technique "nuclear induction," but nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) soon became the preferred term for the method, which was a notable advance upon an earlier technique developed by Isidor Rabi. Bloch received half of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1952 for this work, sharing the award with Edward Purcell, who independently developed a similar method of achieving and detecting nuclear magnetic resonance at approximately the same time. NMR is the basis of an important medical imaging technique, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).