Isidor Isaac Rabi, an American physicist of Polish descent, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for developing a method for measuring the magnetic moments, or the spin and magnetic properties of atomic nuclei. This measurement methodology served as a foundation for further research on atomic beams, which in turn led to the creation of a medical body scanning technique known as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The approach was also utilized for testing missile and satellite guidance systems. His experiments with ‘Nuclear Magnetic Resonance’ (NMR) made it a vital tool for chemists, while ‘Magnetic Resonance Imaging’ (MRI) did the same for physicians. He also proposed the development of the world’s first atomic clock. Isidor would have followed in his father’s footsteps as a tailor if he had remained in Europe, but he was able to acquire a degree in chemistry after moving to the United States. After several years in an industrial laboratory, he enrolled in college to study physics because the chemistry was uninteresting to him. He also read books on a variety of subjects, which broadened his knowledge and enabled him to suggest new methods for doing experiments that helped both chemists and physicists.
Youth and Early Life
Israel Isaac Rabi was born on July 29, 1898, in Rymanow, Poland, which was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father, David Rabi, was a Jewish tailor, and his mother was Janet Teig.
His younger sister’s name was Gertrude.
His family came to the United States when he was an infant in 1899. His family resided initially in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and afterward in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
After completing elementary school in Brooklyn, where he was renamed Isidor, he enrolled in ‘Manual Training High School, Brooklyn’.
He received a scholarship to attend Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he initially chose electrical engineering as his major but then switched to chemistry. In 1919, he earned a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the institution.
Even though he wanted to seek a career instead of completing his chemistry studies, he was forced to study chemistry from 1922 to 1923 at Cornell University since he was unable to obtain a fellowship to study physics.
He desired to leave ‘Cornell University and enroll at ‘Harvard University in Cambridge but enrolled as a graduate student in physics at ‘Columbia University instead.
During a casual reading of John Clerk Maxwell’s “Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism,” he realized he might simplify the procedure of obtaining measurements by matching the crystal, solution, and water susceptibilities. His dissertation was submitted on July 16, 1926, and he was awarded his Ph.D. in 1927.
From 1927 to 1929, he collaborated with Erwin Schrodinger, Arnold Sommerfield, Wolfgang Pauli, and Niels Bohr during his postgraduate studies in Europe. During his time with Pauli in Hamburg, Germany, he conducted a successful experiment on the deflection of beam particles at Otto Stern’s molecular-beam laboratory using a magnetic field configuration now known as the Rabi Field.
In 1929, while working in Leipzig with Werner Heisenburg, Rabi was offered a position as a lecturer at Columbia University.
Isidor Rabi’s Career
Isidor From 1929 through 1937, Isaac Rabi began his career as a lecturer in “Theoretical Physics.”
Rabi and his first graduate student, Victor W. Cohen, were able to determine the nuclear spin of sodium with their molecular beam equipment in 1933.
In 1936, he conducted his second experiment on the proton and deuteron and was able to significantly minimize uncertainty in their magnetic moments.
He held the position of ‘Theoretical Physics professor at Columbia University from 1937 until 1940.
His third experiment, conducted in 1939, lowered the uncertainty to 0.7%, which, by any definition, is extremely precise.
In 1939, he discovered the nuclear quadrupole moment and the magnetic resonance technique for measuring atomic magnetic occurrences.
From October 1940 until 1945, he led the Radiation Laboratory Research Division at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
From 1945 through 1957, he taught as a professor of physics at Columbia University.
In 1950, he became president of the American Physical Society.
From 1952 to 1956, he sat on the ‘General Advisory Committee’ of the US Atomic Energy Commission.
From 1952 to 1956, he served as Chairman of the ‘US Atomic Energy Commission’
In 1954, he joined the “Conseil Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire” (CERN).
From 1957 until 1964, he was a ‘Higgins Professor of Physics at Columbia University.
After establishing the ‘Brookhaven National Laboratory’ in 1947, he worked there until 1967.
From 1964 to 1967, he was a ‘University Professor of Physics at Columbia University.
Isidor’s Major Opera
Isador The books ‘The Nuclear Spin of Sodium’ and ‘The Magnetic Moment of the Proton’ by Isaac Rabi appeared in 1933 and 1934, respectively.
In 1936, he wrote “On the Process of Space Quantization,” and in 1938, he released “A New Method of Measuring Nuclear Magnetic Moment.”
The 1940 publication “An Electric Quadrupole Moment of the Deuteron: The Radiofrequency Spectra of HD and D2 Molecules in a Magnetic Field” was followed by the 1947 publication “The Hyperfine Structure of Atomic Hydrogen and Deuterium.”
Awards & Achievements
Isidor Isaac Rabi won the Franklin Institute’s Eliot Cresson Medal in 1942 and the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1944.
In 1948, he was awarded the Congressional Order of Merit and the King’s Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom.
In 1959, he was named to the board of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
In 1967, he was awarded the “Niels Bohr Gold Medal” and the “Atoms for Peace Award.”
In 1982, he was awarded the Oersted Medal, and in 1986, he earned the Vannevar Bush Award.
He received the titles of ‘Officer of The French Legion of Honor,’ ‘Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,’ ‘Fellow of the American Philosophical Society,’ and ‘Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences.’
He obtained honorary Doctor of Science degrees from Harvard, Princeton, and Birmingham universities and was invited to join the Japanese and Brazilian Academies as a foreign member.
Personal History and Legacy
On August 17, 1926, he married Helen Newmark, with whom he had two daughters, Nancy and Margaret.
Isidor Isaac Rabin died of illness on January 11, 1988, at the age of 89, in New York City, New York, United States of America.
His Humanitarian Work
Isidor Isaac Rabi refused to participate in the Manhattan Project because he viewed the atomic bomb as an unnecessary “evil”; he later became an ardent opponent of all types of atomic weapons.
Estimated Net Worth
Unknown.
Trivia
In 1981, Isidor Isaac Rabi portrayed himself in the film The Day After Trinity.