The MRI's NMR basis
Who
Isidor Isaac Rabi, Galician-born American Jewish physicist who discovered nuclear magnetic resonance.
When
1938
Where
Columbia University, New York, USA
In 1938 Isidor Isaac Rabi discovered nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), the way atomic nuclei absorb and emit radio-frequency energy in a magnetic field, earning the 1944 Nobel Prize in Physics. NMR became the physical basis of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), now central to medical diagnosis. Rabi was a Jewish physicist born in Galicia who emigrated to the United States as a child.
Part of “The Gifts of the Jews” — verified Jewish contributions to the world, with sources.