Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer, Varian A-60A

Varian Associates was formed in Silicon Valley in 1948, and maintained close connections with scientists and engineers at Stanford University. Among these was Felix Bloch, the Jewish Swiss immigrant who led the team of Stanford physicists that had recently succeeded in measuring nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Along with Edward Purcell, the Harvard professor who achieved similar results, Bloch received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1952.

Varian Associates introduced its first commercial NMR spectrometer in 1953. The Varian A-60, designed for organic chemists and introduced at the Pittsburgh Conference of 1961, was a more successful instrument: relatively compact, reliable, stable, affordable, and easy to use. In time, some 1,000 examples were sold. The A-60A was more sensitive still.

The inscription on the front panel of this example reads “A-60A ANALYTICAL NMR SPECTROMETER.” That on the handle reads “VARIAN associates.”

Ref: Photograph of the Varian Associates A-60A, “the most popular instrument in the United States,” in Paint Testing Manual (ASTM, 1972), p. 566.

David M. Grant, ed., Encyclopaedia of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Historical Perspectives (1996).

Tim Lenoir and C. Lecuyer, “Instrument Makers and Discipline Builders: Case of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance,” Perspectives on Science 3 (1995): 276-345.

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