Nicolaas Bloembergen (born March 11, 1920) is an Dutch physicist. He received his Ph.D. from University of Leiden in 1948 and then became a professor at Harvard University.

Bloembergen left Netherlands in 1945 due to devastation of Europe from WWII to pursue graduate studies at Harvard University. Six weeks before his arrival Harvard Professor Edward M. Purcell (along with his graduate students Torrey and Pound) discovered nuclear magnetic resonance. Bloembergen was hired to develop a first NMR machine. While at Harvard he enjoyed classes from Schwinger, Van Vleck and Kemble. His thesis "Nuclear Magnetic Relaxation" was submitted both in Leiden, where he passed qualifying criteria, and Harvard. After a brief postdoctoral appointment with C. J. Gorter at Netherlands he joined Harvard as a junior fellow of Society of Fellows in 1949 and Associate Professor in 1951.

In 1958, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

He was awarded the Lorentz Medal in 1978. Nicolaas Bloembergen shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics with Arthur Schawlow and Kai Siegbahn for their work in laser spectroscopy. Bloembergen and Schawlow investigated matter undetectable without lasers. He had earlier modified the maser of Charles Townes. Bloembergen serves on the University of Arizona faculty.

Bloembergen belongs to prolific J. J. Thomson academic lineage tree, following in footsteps of other Nobel Laureates beginning with Lord Rayleigh (Physics Nobel Prize in 1904) and J. J. Thomson (Nobel 1906), and continued with Ernest Rutherford (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1908), Owen Richardson (Physics Nobel, 1918) and finally Bloembergen's advisor, Edward Purcell (Physics Nobel 1952). His other influences included John Van Vleck (Physics Nobel 1977) and Percy Bridgman (Physics Nobel 1946).

Honors

• Correspondent, Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen, Amsterdam, 1956
• Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1956
• Member, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D. C., 1959
• Foreign Honorary Member, Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, 1978
• Associé Étranger, Académie des Sciences, Paris, 1980
• Guggenheim Fellow, 1957
• Oliver Buckley Prize, American Physical Society, 1958
• Morris E. Liebman Award, Institute of Radio Engineers, 1959
• Stuart Ballantine Medal, Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, 1961
• National Medal of Science, President of the United States of America, 1974
• Lorentz Medal, Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen, Amsterdam, 1979
• Frederic Ives Medal, Optical Society of America, 1979
• Von Humboldt Senior Scientist, 1980

External links

• Nicolaas Bloembergen
• their contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy

1920 births | Living people | Naturalized citizens of the United States | Nobel Prize in Physics winners | Dutch physicists | University of Arizona | National Medal of Science recipients | Members and associates of the US National Academy of Sciences | IEEE Medal of Honor recipients

Nicolaas Bloembergen | Nicolaas Bloembergen | Nico Bloembergen | ニコラス・ブルームバーゲン | Nicolaas Bloembergen | Бломберген, Николас | Nicolaas Bloembergen