Purcell, Edward Mills

NMR spectroscopy is probably the most powerful research tool used in structural chemical investigations today. It was first described independently by Felix Bloch (paraffin, 30 MFIz) and Edward Mills Purcell (water, 8 MFIz) in 1945/1946. They shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1952 for their discovery. Atomic nuclei experience this phenomenon if they possess a spin the nuclei of some elements possess a net magnetic moment (ji), viz. in the case that the spin (T) of the nucleus is non-zero. This condition is met if the mass number and the atom number of the nucleus are not both even (as is the case for 12C and 160). 

This phenomenon was first discovered in 1946 by Felix Bloch and Edward Mills Purcell and won the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discoverers (who famously stated that they could not see an application for their discovery ). 

Edward Mills Purcell (1912-1997) and Felix Bloch did the work on the magnetic properties of nuclei that made the development of NMR spectroscopy possible. They shared the 1952 Nobel Prize in physics. Purcell was bom in Illinois. 

Edwards Mills Purcell (1912-1997), American physicist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. His main domains were relaxation phenomena and magnetic properties in low temperatures. He received in 1952 the Nobel Prize, together with Felix Bloch, for their development of new methods for nudear magnetic predsion measurements and discoveries in connection therewith ... 

---