October 12, 2011

Wow! That’s a Big Magnet

It’s finally here. At long last, the 800 MHz NMR magnet rolled up behind Bagley Hall last week on a very big truck in a very big box (see pictures below). The move of a 3-ton object from Europe to the basement of Bagley was only achieved after considerable planning and with the help of many experts. Among other things, the planning included assuring ourselves that the magnet in transit from the loading dock to its new home would not choose to travel suddenly from the ground floor to the sub-basement (meaning, cause the collapse of the suspended concrete slab that serves as the floor). Disaster did not ensue: the magnet is now in its new home, resting on a concrete slab directly in contact with mother Earth. Stay tuned as the super-conducting coils are cooled within a few degrees of absolute zero and are brought to the electrical current needed to achieve an 18.8 Tesla magnetic field. Congratulations and thanks to Professors Drobny, Klevit, and Varani for winning the grant that purchased this new instrument that will benefit so many research projects. And mega-kudos to Chemistry’s Director of Technical Services, James Gladden, who has so capably led the Department’s planning efforts for this installation.