PHYSICIST

Edward Mills Purcell

1912 - 1997

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Edward Mills Purcell (August 30, 1912 – March 7, 1997) was an American physicist who shared the 1952 Nobel Prize for Physics for his independent discovery (published 1946) of nuclear magnetic resonance in liquids and in solids. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has become widely used to study the molecular structure of pure materials and the composition of mixtures. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Edward Mills Purcell has received more than 299,735 page views. His biography is available in 72 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 63 in 2019). Edward Mills Purcell is the 196th most popular physicist (down from 175th in 2019), the 751st most popular biography from United States (up from 773rd in 2019) and the 31st most popular American Physicist.

Edward Mills Purcell was most famous for his work in astrophysics. He is best known for his discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation, which is a remnant of the Big Bang.

Memorability Metrics

  • 300k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 64.37

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 72

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 12.01

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.04

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among PHYSICISTS

Among physicists, Edward Mills Purcell ranks 196 out of 851. Before him are Wolfgang Paul, Benjamin Thompson, Robert H. Goddard, Nikolay Basov, Douglas Osheroff, and Herbert Kroemer. After him are Steven Weinberg, Ilya Frank, Anton Zeilinger, Pyotr Kapitsa, Francesco Maria Grimaldi, and Michio Kaku.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1912, Edward Mills Purcell ranks 31. Before him are Sergiu Celibidache, Robert Doisneau, James Callaghan, Konrad Emil Bloch, Lawrence Durrell, and Karl Malden. After him are Juan Pujol García, Leonid Kantorovich, Maria Mandl, Alois Brunner, Isser Harel, and Pierre Boulle. Among people deceased in 1997, Edward Mills Purcell ranks 33. Before him are Dodi Fayed, Burgess Meredith, Aldo Rossi, Clyde Tombaugh, Robert Mitchum, and Carl Gustav Hempel. After him are Dora Maar, Zoltán Czibor, Chien-Shiung Wu, Willem de Kooning, Prince Bertil, Duke of Halland, and Cornelius Castoriadis.

Others Born in 1912

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Others Deceased in 1997

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Edward Mills Purcell ranks 751 out of 20,380. Before him are Robert Mitchum (1917), Burt Reynolds (1936), James Caan (1940), Robert Altman (1925), Ali MacGraw (1939), and David Fincher (1962). After him are Richard Dean Anderson (1950), Paul Morphy (1837), Les Paul (1915), H. H. Holmes (1861), Steven Weinberg (1933), and John Huston (1906).

Others born in United States

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Among PHYSICISTS In United States

Among physicists born in United States, Edward Mills Purcell ranks 31. Before him are Josiah Willard Gibbs (1839), Charles H. Townes (1915), David Bohm (1992), Benjamin Thompson (1753), Robert H. Goddard (1882), and Douglas Osheroff (1945). After him are Steven Weinberg (1933), Michio Kaku (1947), David J. Wineland (1944), Arthur Leonard Schawlow (1921), Robert Hofstadter (1915), and James Cronin (1931).

American born Physicists

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