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    Who Was Larmor and How Did He Discover His Famous Frequency?

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    Brian Benn
    Sir Joseph Larmor (1857-1942) was an Irish mathematical physicist who discovered the Larmor frequency in 1897. Larmor theorized that charged particles like electrons moving in elliptical orbits around an applied magnetic field would precess at a frequency proportional to the field strength times a constant. This Larmor frequency applies to any particle with spin or angular momentum and forms the basis of magnetic resonance used in MRI. It is given by the Larmor equation as the precession frequency equals the gyromagnetic ratio times the magnetic field strength.

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    Who Was Larmor and How Did He Discover His Famous Frequency?

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    Brian Benn
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    Sir Joseph Larmor (1857-1942) was an Irish mathematical physicist who discovered the Larmor frequency in 1897. Larmor theorized that charged particles like electrons moving in elliptical orbits around an applied magnetic field would precess at a frequency proportional to the field strength times a constant. This Larmor frequency applies to any particle with spin or angular momentum and forms the basis of magnetic resonance used in MRI. It is given by the Larmor equation as the precession frequency equals the gyromagnetic ratio times the magnetic field strength.

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    Larmor Frequency

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    Sir Joseph Larmor (1857-1942) was an Irish mathematical physicist who discovered the Larmor frequency in 1897. Larmor theorized that charged particles like electrons moving in elliptical orbits around an applied magnetic field would precess at a frequency proportional to the field strength times a constant. This Larmor frequency applies to any particle with spin or angular momentum and forms the basis of magnetic resonance used in MRI. It is given by the Larmor equation as the precession frequency equals the gyromagnetic ratio times the magnetic field strength.

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    Who Was Larmor and How Did He Discover His Famous Frequency?

    Uploaded by

    Brian Benn
    Sir Joseph Larmor (1857-1942) was an Irish mathematical physicist who discovered the Larmor frequency in 1897. Larmor theorized that charged particles like electrons moving in elliptical orbits around an applied magnetic field would precess at a frequency proportional to the field strength times a constant. This Larmor frequency applies to any particle with spin or angular momentum and forms the basis of magnetic resonance used in MRI. It is given by the Larmor equation as the precession frequency equals the gyromagnetic ratio times the magnetic field strength.

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    Larmor Frequency

    Who was Larmor and how did he discover his


    famous frequency?  

    Sir Joseph Larmor was an Irish-born mathematical physicist whose career


    spanned from the late 19th to the early 20th Century. For many years he served
    as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at St. John's College, Cambridge.  His
    contemporaries included such notables as J.J. Thomson, Lord Kelvin, and James
    Clerk Maxwell. 

    Sir Joseph Larmor (1857-1942)


    [Right] The first page of
    Larmor's famous 1897 paper
    from Philosophical Magazine.
    Larmor worked in an era when the basic structure of the atom was still being
    elucidated and quantum mechanics had yet to be developed.  His famous
    equation of 1897 had nothing to do with NMR, as this phenomenon was still
    several decades away from being discovered.  Instead it arose from attempts to
    explain the curious splitting of optical spectral lines by an external magnetic
    field described by Pieter Zeeman one year previously.  

    Larmor's theory was that Zeeman's spectral lines were produced by charged
    particles (electrons) moving in elliptical orbits.  Larmor demonstrated
    mathematically that these electrons should precess around the direction of the
    applied magnetic field.  He further calculated that the frequency of precession
    was directly proportional to the strength of the applied field times a constant.
    Larmor's constant was directly related to the particle's charge/mass ratio.
    In later years as more became known about atomic
    structure,
    Particles with γ > 0 precess according to the left-hand rule
    (ie, in the same direction as one's curled fingers when left
    thumb points along Bo). Particles with γ < 0 precess in
    opposite

     Larmor's equation was found to apply to any particle with


    spin or angular momentum, taking the form we recognize
    today: 
    fo  =  γ Bo
    where fo is the precession frequency, Bo is the strength of d
    the externally applied field, and γ is the gyromagnetic
    ratio, a constant specific to each specific nucleus or
    particle.

    The table (right) gives values of the gyromagnetic ratio (γ)


    for various nuclei and particles.  Negative values
    for γ mean that direction of precession is opposite to that
    of ¹H. 
    We see from the table that among nuclei, ¹H has the highest gyromagnetic ratio.
    The resonance frequency of any particle at a certain field strength can easily be
    calculated using this table and the Larmor equation.  For example, in a field
    (Bo) of 1.5T, the resonance frequency of ¹H would be (42.58 MHz/T) x (1.5T)
    = 63.87 MHz.  At 3.0T the resonance frequency would be twice as fast, or
    127.74 MHz.

    By comparison, an the precession frequency of an electron in a field of 1.0T


    would be 27,204 MHz (or 27.204 GHz) and in a direction opposite to that of ¹H.
    Thus to study electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) frequencies in the
    microwave region must be used.

    Advanced Discussion (show/hide)»

    References
         Bruen R. Sir Joseph Larmor. 2007.
    (http://www.lucasianchair.org/20/larmor.html)
         Larmor J. LXIII. On the theory of the magnetic influence on spectra; and on
    the radiation from moving ions. Phil Mag 1897; Series 5, Vol 44 (271): 503-
    512.
         Tubridy N, McKinstry CS. Neuroradiological history: Sir Joseph Larmor and
    the basis of MRI physics. Neuroradiology 2000; 42:852-855.

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