Description

Overhead photo of Francis Bitter working with large magnetic lab equipment. Original caption: "Developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Dr. Francis Bitter (shown here) of the Department of Mining and Metallurgy, this compact magnet is capable of producing the highest permanent magnetic field ever attained, with an intensity of 150,000 times greater than the earth's field. It will be used for fundamental studies of the effects of intense magnetic fields on matter, especially at low temperature in he neighborhood of absolute zero, or 459.69 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. The Magnet itself, only eight inches long and six inches in diameter, is housed in a bronze shell through which water is circulated to dissipate the enormous heat generated by the power load equal to the requirements of a small town. Note the big copper bus-bar conductors which carry the outputs of two huge direct current generators to this little magnet. From John J. Rowlands, Director of News Service, Mass. Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. For release on Sunday December 20, 1936. Archives info, Source: Karl Taylor Compton Papers, ACC# 77-41, Folder #23, Folder title: A-K-1935-37."