Erwin Hahn | |
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Born | Erwin Louis Hahn June 9, 1921 Sharon, Pennsylvania |
Died | September 20, 2016 | (aged 95)
Fields | Physics |
Institutions |
Stanford University University of California |
Alma mater |
Juniata College University of Illinois |
Notable awards |
Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize (1971) Wolf Prize in Physics (1983/4) |
Erwin Louis Hahn (June 9, 1921 – September 20, 2016) was an American physicist, best known for his work on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). In 1950 he discovered the spin echo.
He received his B.S. in Physics from Juniata College and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.
He has been Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley since 1991 and was professor of physics, 1955-91. Hahn was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1971. In 1999 he was awarded the from the National Academy of Sciences. In 2013, Sir Peter Mansfield said in his autobiography that Hahn was "the person who really missed out" the Nobel Prize for his contribution to the principles of spin echoes. He also received the 2016 Gold Medal from the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM). The award, ISMRM's highest honor, was given to Hahn for his creation of pulsed magnetic resonance and processes of signal refocusing which are essential to modern day MRI. He died at the age of 95 in 2016.