Mag Lab Timeline
1990 – 1992 – 1994 – 1996 – 1998
– 2000 – 2004 – 2006
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1989
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 Florida State University hires Jack Crow to direct its Center for Materials Research and Technology.
Crow, Don Parkin of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and Neil Sullivan of the University of Florida in Gainesville collaborate on a proposal for a new national magnet lab to be operated collaboratively by the three institutions and headquartered at FSU.
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1990
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August
National Science Board awards the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory to the consortium, shocking the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which had operated the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Francis Bitter National Magnet Lab for 25 years.
September
NSF awards the first operating grant, $60 million over five years (magnets, infrastructure put in place first four years).
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1992
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April
Pulsed Field Facility at Los Alamos acquires first magnet: 50 tesla (T) short pulse.
June
First class of undergraduates participates in Minority Scholars Program, which eventually becomes Research Experiences for Undergraduates program.
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1993
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May
Pulsed Field Facility at Los Alamos launches its scientific user program
First two superconducting magnets commissioned at FSU branch; James Brooks (then of Boston University and now professor at FSU and member of the lab’s Condensed Matter Science group) is the first user.
September
Final construction and renovation completed.
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1994
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June
Installation and successful testing of first Mag Lab-engineered and -built resistive magnet. At 27 T, it sets a new world record. First to do research in the magnet is FSU physics professor Bill Moulton.
September
NSF’s Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities Program awards $5 million to the Magnet Lab to develop a FT-ICR-Mass Spectrometry Facility. FSU chemistry professor Alan Marshall is named director. State of Florida matches with $2 million to acquire high-field superconducting magnets.
October
Lab dedicated; Vice-President Al Gore delivers keynote speech.
High B/T Facility at the University of Florida completed for user operation.
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1995
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March
Mag Lab engineers produce 30 T direct current magnet – breaking lab's previous record with the invention of new “Florida Bitter” magnet technology and tying the world record for highest magnetic fields set at MIT.
July
Mag Lab engineers produce 24 T high-homogeneity magnet, eclipsing the mark previously held by the Grenoble, France magnet lab.
September
Mag Lab installs world-record 9.4 T ion cyclotron resonance magnet system and a world-record high resolution electron magnetic resonance spectrometer of 17 T.
The lab holds its first Open House, which becomes a popular annual event.
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1996
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February
Mag Lab engineers complete 33 T resistive magnet, breaking their own record.
March
Second operating grant awarded, $87.8 million over five years.
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1997
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June
Mag Lab engineers complete resistive magnet for use on the International Space Station.
November
Mag Lab engineers install a 30 T magnet in Tsukuba, Japan – the highest field resistive magnet in Asia.
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1998
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February
Mag Lab engineers complete 25 T magnet with 12 ppm homogeneity over 10-mm Diameter Spherical Volume, surpassing their own 24 T mark in both field intensity and uniformity.
June
Mag Lab engineers complete a 20 T magnet with the largest bore in the world: 195 mm.
August
Powerful 60 T, long-pulse magnet dedicated at Pulsed Field Facility.
October
Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy (AMRIS) user program debuts at the University of Florida McKnight Brain Institute.
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1999
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June
Research Experiences for Teachers program debuts.
Mag Lab engineers complete highest field 50-mm bore magnet in the world with completion of the 27 T system.
August
FT-ICR Facility grant renewed at $5.8 million through 2004.
October
New Experiment Hall opens at Pulsed Field Facility.
December
World’s strongest magnet – the 45 tesla hybrid – reaches full field and is commissioned for user service, earning a certification from the Guinness Book of World Records.
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2000
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July
Pulsed Field Facility’s 60 T long-pulse magnet ruptures 15 months after research debut due to unusually low fracture toughness in construction material. (Since rebuilt, it serves the pulsed magnet user program once again.)
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2001
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April
Third operating grant awarded, $171 million over seven years (original five-year grant extended two years.
Mag Lab engineers complete highest field 50-mm bore magnet in the world with completion of the 27 T system.
May
AMRIS awarded $5.2 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to develop new radio frequency (RF) coils for nuclear magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance imaging.
October
Lab’s Nuclear Magnetic Resonance program awarded $8 million NIH grant.
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2003
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April
Highest field direct current (DC) magnet in Europe completed in collaboration with Radboud University (Nijmegen, Netherlands): 33 T.
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2004
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February
Greg Boebinger becomes the second director of the Magnet Lab.
April
Florida Legislature allocates $10 million for infrastructure upgrades at the FSU and UF branches of the Magnet Lab.
June
Magnet Lab awarded $1.8-million NSF grant for conceptual and engineering design of revolutionary Series Connected Hybrid magnet system.
September
14.5 T ICR magnet system – the highest field ICR system in the world – commissioned for research.
Jack Crow passes away.
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2005
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April
Tests completed on 31 T magnet with a 50-mm experimental space – the highest field resistive magnet with a bore of its size in the world.
July
A 900 megahertz ultra-wide-bore magnet for nuclear magnetic resonance, engineered and built at the Mag Lab, is commissioned.
World-record 600 MHz triple resonance 1-mm high temperature superconducting NMR probe installed at UF’s AMRIS facility.
August
Magnet Lab awarded $1.8 million grant for concept and engineering design of a free electron laser light source for high magnetic field research.
October
Applied Superconductivity Center at the University of Wisconsin moves to the Magnet Lab at FSU.
December
Mag Lab-engineered 35 T resistive magnet commissioned, setting a new world record for a continuous field electromagnet.
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2006
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February
National Science Board says it will accept a renewal proposal from Mag Lab rather than compete the award.
August
Mag Lab engineers complete new high-homogeneity magnet providing 28 T, eclipsing their previous mark of 25 T.
September
NSF awards Mag Lab $11.7 million to build next-generation Series Connected Hybrid magnet.
October
Los Alamos Pulsed Field Facility’s 100 T multi-shot magnet commissioned for user operation at 85 T.
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2007
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April
Berlin’s Hahn-Meitner Institute contracts with Magnet Lab to build $8.7 million high-field magnet for neutron scattering.
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