Nicolaas Bloembergen
God’s Gift to Science
July 25, 2006 | by brett | Permalink
Nicolaas Bloembergen is one very smart man. In his little 86 year old, 5’ 5” frame, he articulately explained, in a Dutch accent, how he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1981 for his work with non-linear optics and lasers. He talked about other technologies such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and nuclear spin relaxation mechanisms with such simplicity and ease that it immediately made me wish I had better prepared for the interview. But how could I? This guy is a natural-born genius!
Nicolaas has helped develop a technology (NMR) that led to the development of MRI’s. On his ‘wall of fame’ in the Optical Sciences Building at the University of Arizona, there is an article referencing his “creation” of the non-linear optics field. This research was instrumental in developing fiber optic communications, in other words, the internet. His work with masers was later used in proving the Big Bang theory by detecting a “cosmic background.” This background is essentially a curtain of residual radiation from the Big Bang. Without Nicolaas’ maser, this astonishing discovery would never have been made.
Being an accounting student and receiving a “D” in the only science class I ever took, I was in complete amazement by his accomplishments. Even though I didn’t understand most of it. In preparation for the interview, I read some of his Nobel Prize speech, which began with him talking about “masers and lasers.” At the time, I thought it was just a catch phrase he used to capture the audience.
In the interview, I was taken back with the knowledge that he possessed and the accomplishments that he was a part of. After hearing about the Big Bang, MRI’s and the Internet, some of the biggest breakthroughs in the 20th century, I asked him about where technology was headed in the future. The conversation went something like this:
PTP: “So, can you kind of foresee, like, the future? Can you see where science and technology are headed?” (In other words: Are you God?)
NB: “Well, I uh” (thinking the question over) No. I can’t but I wish I could.” (Translation: No, I am not God.)
Nicolaas’ story is one of a Dutch immigrant who came to America and has contributed to some of the largest breakthroughs of modern times.
Born in 1920 Nicolass went to school in Utrecht and was the valedictorian at his high school. It was in his senior year that he decided he would study physics at the university level. In 1938, he enrolled at the University of Utrecht and majored in physics because it presented the biggest challenge to him. He is self-admittedly the type of person that welcomes challenges.
In 1939 World War II started and in the middle of 1943 the Nazis overran the Netherlands. Consequently, all of the country’s universities were closed. Fortunately for him, a few weeks previous he passed his final qualifying exam for his doctorate degree. This meant that he was no longer a student. He also avoided the Nazi mandated declaration of loyalty that students at the time had to sign. If they did not sign the document, they would be taken prisoner and forced to work as laborers in concentration camps.
He became a member of the fire brigade for a year, which allowed him to show his face without fear of the Germans. In 1944 he was forced to go underground to hide from the Germans until 1945. While in hiding he and his family survived off of tulip bulbs. They would boil them for six hours until they were nutritious enough for human consumption.
At this time he also read by the light of a storm lamp, which ran on heating oil. The Nazis had taken all of their kerosene. The lamp needed cleaning every twenty minutes because of the oil. It was by this dim lit fixture that Nicolaas taught himself quantum mechanics. Pretty amazing!
When asked how this experience shaped him today, Nicolaas said that more than anything it taught him to be steadfast and not give up or be discouraged.
In May of 1945, the situation in Europe was just as grim. Nicolaas longed to continue to do research physics. But where? On the advice of his older brother, he applied to three American universities including Harvard, UC Berkeley, and the University of Chicago.
He never heard back from Chicago and still holds a grudge against them to this day. He says that he has always responded to mail, no matter what, and thinks that everyone should do so as well. UC Berkeley said that they could not accept international students while the war was going on. This came as a shock to Nicolaas because he thought the war was almost over. He proved to be right, when two weeks later the A-Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Around the same time, he heard back from Harvard, who was the only school willing to take a chance on him. In early 1946, Nicolaas was headed for the United States.
He joined an elite group of people there and started working as a research assistant to professor Purcell. Purcell had just discovered nuclear magnetic resonance in condensed matter. This technology, also known as NMR, is used to study the molecular structure of pure materials as well as the composition of liquids. The discovery was notable enough to earn Purcell a Noble Prize in 1952. Nicolaas wrote his thesis on NMR, and his input is a part of one of the most cited physics papers in science, commonly known as BPP.
In the summer of 1947, a visiting professor by the name of C.J. Gorter invited Nicolaas to a postdoctoral position at Leiden, where he would earn his PhD. There he developed the nuclear spin relaxation mechanism, an accomplishment he says he values more than the Nobel Prize in Physics.
He returned to Harvard in 1949 and started working as a teacher. He remained there until June of 1990, when he was forced to retire because of school policy regarding age limitations. Despite Harvard’s policy, at 86 and at the University of Arizona, Nicolaas is jas articulate and on top of his game as anyone I’ve ever met.
I asked him about his Nobel Prize, and how it felt to win. He said that it didn’t make a difference really. The only difference it made in his life is that he learned how to say no because he was receiving all types of dinner invitations. I was thankful that he didn’t implement what he had learned towards our interview invitation.
In conclusion, Nicolaas is a man that lived through the largest-scale war in human history by living underground. He migrated to the United States, struggled through a language barrier and economic limitations. He has also contributed to society in ways none of us could ever imagine.
We asked for his advice regarding making decisions in life. His answer was put in a simplistic, matter of fact tone.
“Do what you want to do. Don’t give up and if professors argue against you, don’t give up. You have to be strong-willed and passionate about what you want, and if you are passionate about it, you are likely to succeed. Champions are not born, they are bred. Chess grand masters do it because they are motivated and they train to make brain circuits to help them succeed. If you train persistently, you persevere. In every experiment, it is 99% sweat, and 1% ingenuity.”
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