Felix Bloch

It’s the birthday of Felix Bloch, who was born in 1905 in Zürich, Switzerland. Bloch began his university education at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule as an engineer, but he switched to physics. With Werner Heisenberg as his adviser, he earned a PhD at Leipzig University. His thesis topic, the application of quantum mechanics to the conductivity of solids, introduced the concept of what are now known as Bloch waves. Block left Germany for a position at Stanford University soon after Adolf Hitler came to power. His research at Stanford initially focused on neutrons but then moved to the field that would earn him a share of the 1952 Nobel physics prize: nuclear magnetic resonance. At his Nobel banquet speech Bloch advocated curiosity-driven research: “While I am certainly not asking you to close your eyes to the experiences of earlier generations, I want to advise you not to conform too soon and to resist the pressure of practical necessity. Free imagination is the inestimable prerogative of youth and it must be cherished and guarded as a treasure.”

Date in History: 23 October 1905