Background
Felix Bloch was born on October 23, 1905, in Zürich, Switzerland, to Jewish parents Gustav and Agnes Bloch.
(The 1952 Nobel physics laureate Felix Bloch (1905-83) was...)
The 1952 Nobel physics laureate Felix Bloch (1905-83) was one of the titans of twentieth-century physics. He laid the fundamentals for the theory of solids and has been called the father of solid-state physics. His numerous, valuable contributions include the theory of magnetism, measurement of the magnetic moment of the neutron, nuclear magnetic resonance, and the infrared problem in quantum electrodynamics.Statistical mechanics is a crucial subject which explores the understanding of the physical behaviour of many-body systems that create the world around us. Bloch's first-year graduate course at Stanford University was the highlight for several generations of students. Upon his retirement, he worked on a book based on the course. Unfortunately, at the time of his death, the writing was incomplete.This book has been prepared by Professor John Dirk Walecka from Bloch's unfinished masterpiece. It also includes three sets of Bloch's handwritten lecture notes (dating from 1949, 1969 and 1976), and details of lecture notes taken in 1976 by Brian Serot, who gave an invaluable opinion of the course from a student's perspective. All of Bloch's problem sets, some dating back to 1933, have been included.The book is accessible to anyone in the physical sciences at the advanced undergraduate level or the first-year graduate level.
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Felix Bloch was born on October 23, 1905, in Zürich, Switzerland, to Jewish parents Gustav and Agnes Bloch.
Bloch's early interest in mathematics and astronomy prompted his family to enroll the boy in an engineering course at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich in 1924. His first year's introductory course in physics revealed to Bloch what his true career would be. After completing his studies in the Division of Mathematics and Physics at the Institute in 1927, Bloch studied at the University of Leipzig in Germany under Professor Werner Karl Heisenberg, who was engaged in ground-breaking research in quantum mechanics. Bloch earned his Ph. D. in physics from Leipzig in 1928 with a dissertation on the quantum mechanics of electronics in crystals.
Returning to Zurich, Bloch worked as a research assistant from 1928 to 1929. A Lorentz Fund fellowship allowed him to do research in 1930 at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, and later that year he returned to Leipzig to do more work with Heisenberg. An Oersted Fund fellowship took him to the University of Copenhagen in 1931, where he worked with Niels Bohr, director of the university's Institute for Theoretical Physics. From 1932 to 1933 Bloch once again returned to the University of Leipzig, where he was a lecturer in theoretical physics. In the spring of 1933, he had to leave Germany following Hitler’s ascent to power, as he was Jew. The next year, he accepted a position at Stanford University and became the first professor for theoretical physics at Stanford. In 1938, he began working at the University of California to determine the magnetic moment of the neutron. The following year, he received the United States citizenship. During World War II, he worked on nuclear power at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and later joined the radar project at Harvard University. After the war, he focused on nuclear induction and nuclear magnetic resonance, which became the fundamental principles of MRI. In 1946, he proposed the "Bloch Equations" which determined the time evolution of nuclear magnetization. In 1954, he became CERN's first Director-General. However, not much interested in administrative work, he left the organisation after a year. Nevertheless, he left back a huge and positive influence. He returned to Stanford University, where in 1961 he was made Max Stein Professor of Physics. In 1965, he became President of the American Physical Society and attempted to develop a simplified physical theory of superconductivity. Following his retirement, he began writing a book on statistical mechanics. However, he couldn't complete it before his death. His notes were later organised by J. D. Walecka and published with the title "Fundamentals of Statistical Mechanics".
Felix Bloch died of a heart attack on September 10, 1983, at the age of 77, in Zurich, Switzerland.
(The 1952 Nobel physics laureate Felix Bloch (1905-83) was...)
Quotations:
"Free imagination is the inestimable prerogative of youth and it must be cherished and guarded as a treasure. "
"It is inevitable that many ideas of the young mind will later have to give way to the hard realities of life. "
"It seems that this situation is not restricted to science but is more generally human. "
"Instead of explaining the sober facts of mechanics and electricity, I want to say a few words about the debt which we owe to youth; and with your permission I shall consider you as representing here not only the academic youth of Sweden nor even of Europe but also of America. "
Felix Bloch was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the immensely prestigious German Honour Society called Pour le Merite.
Felix Bloch was a witty man and admired truthfulness, wisdom, innovation, and compassion. A man of strong principles and opinions, he disliked arrogance. He had an honest appreciation of the contributions he made.
Although he was a friendly person, he would sometimes prefer isolation. He would take long walks alone when thinking about a difficult problem.
In 1940, Felix Bloch married Lore Misch, the couple had four children.