Bloch, Felix

(born Oct. 23, 1905, Zürich, Switz.—died Sept. 10, 1983, Zürich) Swiss-born U.S. physicist. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1933 and taught at Stanford University (1934–71). He worked on atomic energy at Los Alamos and on radar countermeasures at Harvard University during World War II. In 1954 he became the first director general of CERN. For developing the nuclear magnetic resonance method of measuring the magnetic fields of atomic nuclei, he shared with Edward Purcell (1912–97) the 1952 Nobel Prize for Physics.

Bloch, Felix (1905–83) physicist; born in Zurich, Switzerland. He made pioneering contributions to studies of superconductivity and magnetism while affiliated with several European universities. After Hitler's regime caused his emigration to the U.S.A. (1934), he went to Stanford (1934–41), investigated uranium isotopes for the Manhattan Project (1941–44), performed counter-radar research for Harvard (1944–45), then returned to Stanford (1945–71). He was the first director general of the European Commission for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva (1954–55). He was awarded the 1952 Nobel Prize (with E. M. Purcell) for developing nuclear magnetic resonance, a technique that revolutionized analytical chemistry and medical diagnostics. Several concepts and features dealing with superconductivity have been named after Bloch.