Isidor Isaac Rabi (1898-1988), Nobel Prize for Physics in 1944, developed the resonance method for recording the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei.
The method is based on measuring the spin of the protons in the atom’s core, a phenomenon known as nuclear magnetic moments. With the application of his magnetic resonance method, several mechanical and magnetic properties, as well as the shape, of an atomic nucleus can be deduced. The precise measurements yielded by this method made possible such subsequent applications as the atomic clock, the maser, and the laser, as well as the nuclear magnetic resonance imaging used in diagnostic medicine. Rabi’s method provided the central technique for virtually all molecular and atomic beam experimentation. [1]