NMR to MRI: Impact of the Second World War on Studies of Magnetic Resonance

By Dr Jayanta Sthanapati

The book 'NMR to MRI' is an edited version of a doctoral thesis titled 'Impact of the Second World on Studies of Magnetic Resonance: 1939-1973' by Dr Jayanta Sthanapati that earned him PhD (Arts) degree in History of Jadavpur University, Kolkata in 2013. The thesis is a historical account of the evolution of magnetic resonance research, on establishing as to how the research activities of select scientists during the Second World War, in developing microwave radar and allied technology, accelerated their discoveries in magnetic resonance and related fields, in the three post-war decades.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dr Jayanta Sthanapati
• Release date: Mar 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386903314

Dr Jayanta Sthanapati

Dr Jayanta Sthanapati, son of Mrs Malina Sthanapati and Mr Ananta Bhusan Sthanapati, was born in Kolkata in 1951. After completing schooling at Jadavpur Vidyapith, in Kolkata, he went to Jadavpur University (JU) and studied physics. From JU he received B. Sc. (Physics Honors) and M. Sc. (Physics) degrees. Sthanapati in his college days had earned First prizes from Jadavpur University, Jagadis Bose National Science Talent Search and Birla Industrial & Technological Museum for innovative scientific model making.  During 1973-78 Sthanapati was a Research Fellow in the Department of Magnetism (now Solid State Physics) of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata. Based on his experimental research work in IASC he then earned PhD (Physics) degree from the University of Calcutta.  Jayanta Sthanapati started his career in National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) as a Curator in 1978. He served the NCSM for thirty-three years and held positions of Director, Birla Industrial and Technological Museum; Director, NCSM (Headquarters); and Deputy Director General, NCSM. After his superannuation from regular service in 2011, he wrote a doctoral thesis in the history of science and earned PhD (History) degree from Jadavpur University in 2013.  Dr Sthanapati had worked as a Research Associate with Prof Samarendra Nath Sen during 1990-91 for a research project in the history of science sponsored by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA).  He had further researched on ‘History of Science Museums and Planetariums in India’ during 2013-2016 as a Project Investigator of the research project sponsored by the INSA.     

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Acknowledgement

I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor Professor Kunal Chattopadhyay, Head of the Department of Comparative Literature (formerly in the Department of History) of Jadavpur University for his guidance and invaluable suggestions and moral support which had helped me immensely in completing my thesis. The discussions which I had with him and the inputs, which he gave me, have been the building blocks of my work.

I am grateful to Dr Bernard S Finn, Chairman, Department of History of Science and Technology, and Dr Paul Forman, Curator of Modern Physics, both from National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution to whom in 1986 I had expressed my desire to study the History of Magnetic Resonance and they encouraged me to take up the work.

I am thankful to Dr Spencer R. Weart, Manager, Centre for History of Physics, American Institute of Physics, USA; Dr John Shorter, Secretary, Historical Group, Royal Chemical Society, Great Britain, and Professor Kostas Gavroglu, Department of History of Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA who in 1987 had guided me to carry out an extensive survey of history of magnetic resonance research through correspondence with pioneers in UK and USA.

I gratefully acknowledge the valuable responses  received during the years 1987 and 1988 directly from magnetic resonance pioneers, Professors Edward M. Purcell, Nicolaas Bloembergen, Robert V. Pound, George E. Pake and E. Raymond Andrew of Harvard University; Professor David Halliday of the University of Pittsburgh; Prof. Malcolm W.P. Strandberg of MIT Radiation Laboratory; Professor George Feher of the University of California, Berkeley; and Professors Brebis Bleaney, Rojer J. Elliott, K.W.H. Stevens, K.D. Bowers, David J.E. Ingram and Anatole Abragam, all from the University of Oxford.

During my short visits to USA in 2006 and 2008, prior to registration of my name and title of the present thesis with Jadavpur University in March 2009, I had held discussions with Dr Paul Forman, Curator of the Division of Medicine and Science, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution; Dr Babak Ashrafi, Associate Historian, Center for History of Physics, American Institute of Physics and Prof. Robert Friedel, Department of History, University of Maryland on various aspects on the chosen topic of my thesis. I am grateful to all of them for their interactions, which helped me to a great extent to outline the plan of action for the present study. I sincerely thank Ms Karen Lee, Curator, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution for helping me to procure many rare and valuable books from USA for my study.

The present work that culminated in 2012 was initiated in 1987. At no stage during this period, I received any financial support to carry out the work. It is my wife Mrs Mita Sthanapati, who curtailed her household budget to support my work and always inspired me to reach my goal. I wholeheartedly acknowledge her contribution.

General Introduction

Aim and Scope of the Thesis

The book ‘NMR to MRI’ is an edited version of a doctoral thesis by the present author titled ‘Impact of the Second World on Studies of Magnetic Resonance: 1939-1973’ admitted to the PhD (Arts) degree in History of Jadavpur University in 2013.

German physicist Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach laid the foundation of magnetic resonance in 1921 through an experimental study with a beam of silver atoms under the influence of the magnetic field. He received the Physics Nobel Prize in 1943. In 1936, Cornelis Jacobus Gorter a Dutch physicist conceptualised a new phenomenon of ‘magnetic resonance’ but could not detect it experimentally.

It was physicist Isidor Isaac Rabi and his team who discovered Molecular Beam Magnetic Resonance (MBMR), the first in the series of magnetic resonance phenomena, in the USA in 1938. [1] Rabi Received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1944. After that Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) was experimentally discovered by two independently working American physicist groups led by Felix Bloch and Edward Mills Purcell in 1945. Bloch and Purcell had shared the Physics Nobel Prize of 1952. 

Magnetic Resonance, however, drew the attention of the common man with the award of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to British physicist Peter Mansfield and American chemist Paul Lauterbur for their discoveries in 1973, concerning Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), a breakthrough in medical diagnostics and research. [2] The importance of magnetic resonance and its associated branches of science can be judged from the fact that ten Nobel Prizes were awarded to fourteen scientists between 1943 and 2003.

The object of the present thesis is to study the contribution of scientific, technical and instrumental developments owing to the Second World War, in immediate success and subsequent expansion of the field of magnetic resonance research in the USA, England, the USSR, and Germany. The research work hypothesizes that the massive increase in military funding and extensive work on wireless communication and radar during the war helped physicists in the USA, USSR, and England to develop a large number of apparatus and instruments which in turn they used for discovery of various methods of magnetic resonance. The present study focuses on life and works of those American, Russian, British and German physicists who discovered molecular beam magnetic resonance (MBMR), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and associated phenomena, ferromagnetic resonance (FMR), nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR), acoustic paramagnetic resonance (APR), electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR), microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (MASER), light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (LASER) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Concerning their work, emphasis has been given to know (i) the origin of line of work, (ii) the institutions that provided research facilities, (iii) about collaborators and others who influenced their thought, (iv) sources of funding for research, (v) their wartime engagement in organized research, (vi) instruments developed or major facilities used during the war and thereafter, and (vii) failure, if any, in related fields of research.

The study also examines the relationship between (i) modern warfare and science policy and research, with particular emphasis on Second World War, (ii) rise of totalitarianism and migration of scientists, and (iii) why development of science and technology, during and immediately after the war, occurred in some countries but not in others.

The significance of the Thesis in the context of other related Work

The present thesis is a historical account of the evolution of magnetic resonance research, on establishing as to how the research activities of select scientists during the Second World War, in developing microwave radar and allied technology, accelerated their discoveries in magnetic resonance and related fields, in the three post-war decades. The conclusions drawn in the thesis, to a great extent, are based on feedback sent, during 1987-1989, in response to the author’s questionnaires, by pioneer researchers of magnetic resonance. [3] No such work is found elsewhere in the literature. 

We now briefly discuss on important studies related to (i) the effects of science and technology on the Second World War, and (ii) the effects of the Second World War on science and technology in the post-war period, with a particular emphasis on discoveries in magnetic resonance.  The first detailed account of the contribution of scientific research, such as in the field of radar, operational research, the atomic bomb, etc., administered by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research of Great Britain, during the Second World War appeared in 1947. [4] Another elaborate account of organised scientific research for the Second World War was published in 1948, in the form of a report on the administrative history of the Office of Scientific Research and Development in the USA. [5] A book titled The Effect of Science on the Second World War provides an overall view of the contribution of Allied scientists in developing radar, sonar, improved radio, primitive computers, operational research and the atomic bomb, that enabled their military to win the war. [6] 

British scientists were first to examine the effects of the Second World War on the development of knowledge in (i) industrial science, [7] (ii) the physical sciences [8] and (iii) the biological sciences, [9] which appeared in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London in 1975. The work on the development of knowledge in physical sciences mentioned nuclear magnetic resonance, but without any details or clarification. 

In 2005, Michael White had argued that military conflict accelerates technological advancement. He showed that many of the inventions which we use in daily life are the spin-offs of projects that were initiated or influenced by military needs to produce decisive weapons. Examples of such final products are Laser, Nuclear Power, Credit Card, Bullet Train, Space Shuttle, Ocean Liner, and the Internet. [10] Although Laser is a spin-off from magnetic resonance, White has not shown discoveries in magnetic resonance as an effect of World War II. 

Six critical works on the influence of the wartime activities of scientists on development in physical sciences were published during 1985-1996.  As a part of the Laser History Project (1982-1989) of the Center for History of Physics at the American Institute of Physics, Jeff Hecht wrote an intriguing story of the development of laser technology, based on interviews with the scientists who made significant contributions in the field. It transpired that some of the laser pioneers were benefitted from their wartime involvement in radar research. [11] Paul Forman discussed how the physical investigation during 1940-1960 in the United States for national security resulted in the development of a new field of quantum electronics. [12] In 1995, Paul Forman had presented that physical research in various areas was either initiated or strengthened after the World War II due to the development of instruments and techniques under wartime radar development programs.  Through a survey, primarily based on published research papers, he highlighted the subject areas like radar and radio astronomy; linear and cyclical accelerators; microwave spectroscopy; nuclear magnetic resonance, electron paramagnetic resonance, and ferromagnetic resonance; high-frequency measurements of resistivity in metals and so on. This work, however, did not include any feedback or comments from the key scientists involved in magnetic resonance research. [13] Research contribution of first-grade physicists, who arrived from the mainly totalitarian countries of Europe during 1933-1945, transformed the United States into a superpower of scientific and technological innovations. Daniel Kelves wrote on the remarkable contribution of the American physicists which brought the world into a new era of science and technology in a revolutionary manner. [14] Lawrence Badash had examined the history of the development of nuclear weapons during the World War II and thereafter (1939-1963) from the perspective of the scientists, covering various events such as the discovery of fission, the Manhattan Project, bombing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the arms race and also the early steps towards arms control. [15] Robert Buderi gave a comprehensive historical account of the Radars, developed mostly by the scientists and technologists in the United States, in collaboration with their British counterpart, immediately before and during the Second World War. Buderi described some important post-war use radar techniques in meteorology, in air traffic control and also in astronomy for radar mapping of the moon and nearby planets. He further drew our attention to spin-off applications of radar in maser and quantum electronics. [16] Studies on the influence of wartime technological advances, specifically on the phenomenal progress of magnetic research in the post-war years, by researchers other than the present author, have not been significant so far.

Synopsis of Chapters and Appendix of the Thesis

Six chapters follow the General Introduction. The Conclusion follows the final chapter, and an Appendix comes after the Conclusion.

Chapter 1 gives an account of scientific discoveries, technological innovations and their influence in guiding the course of three modern wars, namely, the American Civil War, the First World War and the Second World War. We are first looking in a summary fashion at major developments in science and technology in the West from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century. The chapter then describes technological innovations, such as the rifled musket, superior artillery, railroads, steamships, submarines, telegraphs, balloons, photography, etc., introduced during the American Civil War. It also contains basic information on the invention of machine guns, flamethrowers, tanks, battleships, torpedo boats, submarines, aircraft and chemical weapons that had immensely enhanced effectiveness of the modern technology used during the First World War. Finally, the chapter describes major innovations of the Second World War, such as anti-aircraft guns, aircraft carriers, missiles, military medicines and the two significant decisive weapons, the radar and the atomic bomb.

Chapter 2 describes as to how, establishment of organisations for appropriate military research and development; close linkage among defense authorities and civilian scientists; and adequate funding for such work by the government, in the United States, and their exchange of technical know-how and scientific manpower with Great Britain, enabled the advent of microwave radar and the atomic bomb that affected the World War II decisively. While the atomic bomb ended the war, it was a radar that won the war in favour of the Allies. 

Chapter 3 describes the rise of Totalitarianism in Europe during the period between the two world wars and enactment of anti-Jewish laws in European countries, such as Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Denmark, France, and the Netherlands, between 1933 and 1945, that had forced hundreds of first grade scientists, to migrate to two democratic nations, Great Britain and the United States. Many of them were engaged in top-secret MIT Radiation Laboratory project to develop microwave radar and the Manhattan Project to create the atomic bomb, during the war. Biographical sketch of selected twenty refugee physicists, including some Nobel laureates, namely, Albert Einstein, Hans Bethe, Felix Bloch, Niels Bohr, Enrico Fermi, James Franck and Maria Goeppert-Mayer, who made significant contributions, while working with American and British physicists for the development of the atomic bomb, has been presented. 

Chapter 4 begins with a brief account of the development of atomic physics before World War II. It gives both classical and quantum mechanical description of magnetic resonance. It then describes the first unsuccessful attempt made in 1936 by Cornelis J. Gorter to observe nuclear magnetic resonance and also the first observance of molecular beam magnetic resonance (MBMR) by Isidor Rabi and his group in 1938. The chapter further describes the discovery of various magnetic resonance phenomena between 1944 and 1956, such as, Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), ferromagnetic resonance (FMR), separated oscillatory-fields method of MBMR, Knight shift in NMR, spin echo in NMR, chemical shift in NMR, Overhauser effect in NMR, nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR), acoustic paramagnetic resonance (APR), and electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR). An account of conceptualisation and development of microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (MASER) and light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (LASER) during 1953-1960. The chapter finally describes the experiments conducted from 1951 to 1973 that made possible magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). 

Chapter 5 presents a biographical sketch of 24 Americans, 9 British and 4 Russian pioneers of magnetic resonance and allied fields. In doing so their education, research career before the Second World war, activities during the war, experience in working with radar development project or the atomic bomb project, research activities after the war etc. have been critically examined. 

Chapter 6 focuses on those universities and research laboratories that facilitated discoveries of various significant magnetic resonance phenomena.

The foundation of modern physics was laid by theoretical and experimental studies conducted by physicists between the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first four decades of the twentieth century. Most of those physicists were Europeans, who carried on their research work in leading universities of that time. The concept of Magnetic Resonance too emerged in Europe. 

With the advent of the Second World War, the scenario was changed completely. Thousands of physicists from Germany and German-occupied countries migrated to England and the United States. They strengthened the human scientific resources and research capabilities of these two nations. They were deployed in wartime research on radar and the atomic bomb. These scientists, when returned to their university laboratories or research institutions after the war, were provided with laboratory facilities and research grants to carry on basic research in their chosen fields. Magnetic resonance was one such field, investigations in which were given importance by some highly reputed universities and institutes in the United States, the Soviet Union, England, and Switzerland. The result was overwhelming, and fourteen scientists representing seven research institutions were awarded Nobel Prizes for their contribution in magnetic resonance and allied fields.

Appendix.  During 1987-1989, the author had sent a questionnaire to some key researchers in the UK and the USA to carry out ‘History of Magnetic Resonance Survey’ with the primary objective to know about their wartime engagement and the impact of such involvement on their subsequent work on magnetic resonance if any.  Very valuable responses were received directly from (i) E.M. Purcell, N. Bloembergen, R.V. Pound, G.E. Pake and E.R. Andrew of Harvard University, (ii) D. Halliday of the University of Pittsburgh, (iii) M.W.P. Strandberg of MIT Radiation Laboratory, (iv) G. Feher of the University of California, Berkeley, and (v) B. Bleaney, R.J. Elliott, K.W.H. Stevens, K.D. Bowers, D.J.E. Ingram and A. Abragam, all from the University of Oxford.

References

Rabi, I.I., J.R. Zacharias, S. Millman and P. Kusch. A new method of measuring nuclear magnetic moment. Phys. Rev. 53 (1938): 318.

Lauterbur, PC. "Image formation by induced local interactions: examples employing nuclear magnetic resonance. Nature.242 (1973): 190–191.

Sthanapati, Jayanta. Jadavpur University. Thesis titled Impact of the Second World War on Studies of Magnetic Resonance: 1939-1973. Appendix (2012): 259-297.

Crowther, J.G. and R. Whiddington. Science at War. London: His Majesty's Stationary Office, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1947.

Irving, Stewart. Organizing Scientific Research for War: The Administrative History of the Office of Scientific Research and Development. Boston: Little Brown Company, 1948. Web 3 February 2010.

Hartcup, Guy. The Effect of Science on the Second World War. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Davies, D.S. and Judith R Stammers. The Effect of World War II on Industrial Science. A Discussion on the Effects of the Two World Wars on the Organization and Development of Science in the United Kingdom. Proc. Roy. Soc. London. Series A [Math. & Phys. Sc.]. 342A (1975): 505-508.

Bullard, Edward., Bernard Lovell and George Deacon. The Effect of World War II on the Development of Knowledge in the Physical Sciences. A Discussion on the Effects of the Two World Wars on the Organization and Development of Science in the United Kingdom. Proc. Roy. Soc. London. Series A [Math. & Phys. Sc.]. 342A (1975): 519-536.

Pringle, J.W.S. and Rudolph Peters. The Effect of World War II on the Development of Knowledge in the Biological Sciences. A Discussion on the Effects of the Two World Wars on the Organization and Development of Science in the United Kingdom. Proc. Roy. Soc. London. Series A [Math. & Phys. Sc.]. 342A (1975): 537-548.

White, Michael. The Fruits of War: How Military Conflict Accelerates Technology.  London: Simon & Schuster UK Ltd., 2005.

Hecht, Jeff. Laser Pioneers. Boston: Academic Press Inc. 1985.

Forman, Paul. Behind quantum electronics: National Security as basis for physical research in the United States, 1940-1960. Hist. Stud. Phys. Biol. Sci. 18 (1987): 149-229.

Forman, Paul. Swords into ploughshares: Breaking new ground with radar hardware and technique in physical research after World War II. Rev. Mod. Phys. 67 (1995): 397-455.

Kevles, Daniel. The Physicists: The History of a Scientific Community in Modern America. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1995.

Badash, Lawrence. Scientists and the Development of Nuclear Weapons. New York: Prometheus Books. 1995.

Buderi, Robert. Invention that Changed the World: How a Small Group of Radar Pioneers Won the Second World War and Launched a Technological Revolution. New York: Simon Schuster,1996. 

Chapter 1

General Considerations on Scientific Discoveries, Technological Innovations and Modern Warfare

1.1 Introduction

War is a state of open, coordinated, and often a prolonged conflict between nations or states, carried on by force, whether for defence, for revenging insults and redressing wrongs, for the extension of commerce, for the acquisition of territory, for obtaining and establishing the superiority and dominion of one over the other, or for any other purpose. A war invariably causes societal disruption and high human mortality. [1,2] 

From the earliest conclusive archaeological evidence it transpires that the earliest human attack on a human settlement took place between 12,000 and 14,000 years ago near the present day town of Jebel Shaba in Sudan. By 2000 BC, war originated independently in different parts of the world. [3] 

While wars are guided by strategy, battles take place on a level of execution of such strategic planning. Throughout recorded history of mankind, since ancient to recent times, military engagements have always had significant impact on world history. Eminent English historian Edward Shepherd Creasy identified 15 decisive battles of the world fought between 490 BC and 1851 AD. [4] Description of 100 decisive battles from the Egyptian battle at Megiddo in the 15th century to the military action in Persian Gulf War in 1990-1991, portraying the impact of such battles on the shaping of world history, has been given by Paul K. Davis. [5] Long-term impact of decisive battles, spanning over 2500 years, on the course of world history has also been studied by Geoffrey Reagan. [6] 

Historians in general agree that the Military Revolution in Europe took place due to radical change in military strategy and tactics during the period between late medieval era and the early modern period. Michael Roberts was first to propose a concept of military revolution. [7] He believed that such a revolution happened around 1560-1660, due to advancement of fire weapons. Clifford Rogers developed a concept of five successive military revolutions in the 16th century, five weapons revolution between 1580 and 1630, and finally, increase of size of European armies between 1650 and