Nicolaas Bloembergen

Nicolaas Bloembergen
Born	March 11, 1920 (1920-03-11) Dordrecht, Netherlands
Residence	United States
Citizenship	Netherlands United States
Fields	Applied physics
Institutions	University of Arizona
Alma mater	Leiden University of Utrecht
Doctoral advisor	Cornelis Jacobus Gorter
Other academic advisors	Edward Purcell
Known for	Laser spectroscopy
Notable awards	Nobel Prize in Physics (1981) Lorentz Medal (1978) IEEE Medal of Honor

Nicolaas Bloembergen (born Dordrecht, March 11, 1920) is a Dutch-American physicist and Nobel laureate.

He received his Ph.D. degree from University of Leiden in 1948; while pursuing his PhD at Harvard, Bloembergen also worked part-time as a graduate research assistant for Edward Mills Purcell at the MIT Radiation Laboratory [1]. He became a professor at Harvard University in Applied Physics.

Bloembergen enrolled in 1938 at the University of Utrecht to study physics. Bloembergen left the war ravaged Netherlands in 1945 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 J. Schwinger, J. H. van Vleck, and E. C. Kemble. His thesis Nuclear Magnetic Relaxation was submitted in Leiden, where he passed qualifying criteria. After a brief postdoctoral appointment with C. J. Gorter in the Netherlands, he joined Harvard where he was named 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. Bloembergen shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics with Arthur Schawlow and Kai Siegbahn for their work in laser spectroscopy. Bloembergen and Schawlow investigated properties of 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, 1928) and finally Bloembergen's advisor, Edward Purcell (Physics Nobel 1952). Prof. Bloembergen is a member of the Board of Sponsors of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and Honorary Editor of the Journal of Nonlinear Optical Physics & Materials. His other influences included John Van Vleck (Physics Nobel 1977) and Percy Bridgman (Physics Nobel 1946).

Honors

• Corresponding member, Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences, 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
• IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial 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, Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences, Amsterdam, 1978
• Frederic Ives Medal, Optical Society of America, 1979
• Von Humboldt Senior Scientist, 1980
• Member Emeritus, United States National Academy of Engineering, 1984

External links

• Freeview video 'An Interview with Nicolaas Bloembergen' by the Vega Science Trust
• Nicolaas Bloembergen
• their contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy
• Oral History interview transcript with Nicolaas Bloembergen 27 June 1983, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives
• Autobiography at the Nobel Prize website