Born in Taylorville, Illinois, Edward Purcell attended public schools near his hometown before enrolling at Purdue University in 1929; he received his B.A. in electrical engineering from the university in 1933. After spending a year in Germany as an exchange student, Purcell continued graduate studies in physics at Harvard University, earning his M.A. in 1936 and his Ph.D. in 1938. During World War II, Purcell and other scientists worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Radiation Laboratory, developing microwave-based radar systems. This project was headed by Isidor Isaac Rabi who, several years earlier, had discovered a method for studying the magnetic properties of atoms. After the war, Purcell returned to Harvard as an instructor and began research on designing a new process for recording the magnetic strengths of nuclei.

Rabi's process was based upon the knowledge that an atomic nucleus will spin at a fixed rate, and that, by...