Month: May 2023

This is also the place to thank Dr. Leslie Gelbaum for all he has done for the NMR at Georgia Tech and more importantly for all students, post-docs and scientists who have worked with him over the years.

Les is a true NMR pioneer in the sense that he has been using NMR instruments since they were commercially available. From 1994 until the spring of this year (2023) he was manager of our NMR center. He was instrumental in the initial setup of the Georgia Tech NMR lab (1994 in Boggs) in its move to the MoSE Building (2006) and our major upgrade in 2016. But there is one thing, where Les can rightfully be most proud of: he has taught more than 1000 (!!!) researchers how to use an NMR spectrometer.

Les and Hanno in 2016 during the installation of our 700 MHz magnet.

Our NMR magnets have a variety of vintages. Believe it or believe it not – out 300 MHz solid-state NMR magnet is more than 40 years old! Older magnets are unshielded, they have a much larger stray field and you should be much more careful about bringing any ferromagnetic materials close to them. The size of a magnet is not an indication of its stray field.

So make it a habit: when working with an NMR instrument empty empty your pockets and do not bring the following close to the magnet: your wallet (credit cards and coins), keys, cellphones, watches, penknives etc. If any of these items comes too close they might be destroyed and/or sucked into the magnet, which can cause a very expensive damage and serious injuries might happen as well.

Pls also watch what you are wearing in your hair. Our instruments are named after star-wars characters but the princess amidala hairdo, which required a lot of hairpins, is not a good idea!

My experience with jewelry is that it is usually safe as far as it is made of stainless steel, gold or silver is ok; jewelry form the dollar store often is not. I had to tell one user to back off very slowly from the magnet because their otherwise dangling earrings were now pointing towards the magnet.

In case of doubt: we do have a very strong permanent magnet, which can be used to test jewelry, watches, etc. for their safety.

P.S. Wireless earbuds have become very popular. Those contain ferromagnetic components. So for everybody’s safety, pls do not wear them in the NMR lab.