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Nicolaas Bloembergen was a Dutch–American physicist recognized for his work in developing driving principles behind nonlinear optics for laser spectroscopy. During his career, he was a professor at Harvard University and later at the University of Arizona and at Leiden University in 1973.
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science · Dutch–American physicist (1920–2017) · physicist · theoretical physicist · university teacher · Nobel Prize winner · also Nicolaas Bloembergen, N. Bloembergen, Nico Bloembergen, Bloembergen
Born 11 March 1920 · Died 5 September 2017 · Q189987
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The day of Bloembergen's 100th birthday, a team of researchers at the University of New South Wales published an article in Nature, demonstrating for the first time the successful coherent control of the nucleus of a sin
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The Boston Globe: Nicolaas Bloembergen, 97, former Harvard professor and Nobel Prize winner
Physics World: Laser-spectroscopy pioneer Nicolaas Bloembergen dies at 97
Bangor Daily News: Nicolaas Bloembergen, winner of Nobel Prize in physics, dies at 97
At an assisted living facility in his hometown Tucson, Arizona, of cardiorespiratory failure at the age of 97
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Died 2017-09-05.
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A Dutch biography was published, and in 2019 an English one
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Won Bijvoet Medal (2001).
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Bloembergen said: "We took a standard textbook on optics and for each section we asked ourselves what would happen if the intensity was to become very high
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“We took a standard textbook on optics and for each section we asked ourselves what would happen if the intensity was to become very high. We were almost certain that we were bound to encounter an entirely new type of physics within that domain”
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Awarded honorary doctorate at the Laval University (1987).
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Won Dirac Medal for the Advancement of Physics (1983).
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Won IEEE Medal of Honor (1983).
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Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics — for their contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy.
Awarded Nobel Prize in Physics (1981).
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Won Frederic Ives Medal (1979).
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Won Lorentz Medal (1978).
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Won National Medal of Science (1974).
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Published “Interactions between Light Waves in a Nonlinear Dielectric” in Physical Review — cited 3,866 times.
Published “Light Waves at the Boundary of Nonlinear Media” in Physical Review — cited 1,134 times.
Won Stuart Ballantine Medal (1961).
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Published “Proton Relaxation Times in Paramagnetic Solutions. Effects of Electron Spin Relaxation” in The Journal of Chemical Physics — cited 1,197 times.
Bloembergen studied how a new structure of matter is revealed, when one bombards matter with a focused and high-intensity beam of photons
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Awarded IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award (1959).
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Awarded Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize (1958).
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Developed a crystal maser, which was more powerful than the standard gaseous version
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Became an associate professor; he then became Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics in 1957; Rumford Professor of Physics in 1974; and Gerhard Gade University Professor in 1980
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On a student hospitality exchange program; he proposed to her when they arrived in the States, and were married by 1950 on return to Amsterdam
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Bloembergen returned to Harvard as a junior fellow of the Society of Fellows
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While on vacation with his university's Physics Club
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And then was a postdoc at Leiden for about a year
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Published “Relaxation Effects in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Absorption” in Physical Review — cited 5,999 times.
And submitted his doctoral thesis, Nuclear Magnetic Relaxation, at Leiden University
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To pursue graduate studies at Harvard University under Professor Edward Mills Purcell
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During the German occupation of the Netherlands, the German authorities closed the University and Bloembergen spent two years in hiding
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In Dordrecht, Netherlands, where his father was a chemical engineer and executive
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Born 1920-03-11.
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